thom

As far as I know Roganic is definitely shutting so The French (and adjacent soon-to-launch brasserie "Mr Coopers") are his defacto solves ventures outside his Cartmel home turf. Big Hospitality reported on this a week or so ago: http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Venues/Simon-Rogan-to-close-Roganic-plans-second-restaurant-in-Manchester Good grief, the North hanging on to it's own talent?! Whatever next... Very, very exciting times! Cheers Thom

Another weekend, another review in the nationals. This time the Independent on Sunday, with a spanking 9.5/10 rating. They love the room, the ox ribeye tartare (one of their all time top ten dishes so they say) and they even like the contentious carpet. Have any other foruministas eaten there yet? Cheers Thom

Giles' review is out. In short, a sterling 8/10: "But, hell, it’s a wonderful restaurant. One of the best around." Cheers Thom

Ah yes, I remember the Nico days, but I think he was in a different room, The French has always been The French. It will be interesting to see how Simon beds in, I was in there yesterday for lunch (£29 for three courses, three 'bells and whistles' and an excellent bread basket) and it was fantastic, though it should be with Simon putting in 17 hour days! It was about a third full but apparently just about every dinner slot, weekday and weekend, is booked solid for the next few weeks, and some lunches (particularly the weekends) have been stacked too. I know it's early days, but it is also unprecedented for any high-end restaurant to launch in Manchester with that sort of traffic, particularly in a hotel. Giles Coren was in on Wednesday and tweeted indiscreetly (indistweeted?) that it was "magnificent". We shall see if that follows through into a nice Times review in a few weeks time. It would be a first for Giles in Manchester (witness the excruciating Metro-centric bile in his Aumbry review) though he did get in a dig about The French being worth the "eight hour round trip". Cheers Thom

I believed Simon Rogan, with hopefully another few top chefs leading the charge, would pique the interest and provide a story for the national press to take notice of our fair city's gastronomic blossoming. And so it begins. Manchester has been listed as one of Observer Food Monthly's Top 50 foodie highlights from around the UK and indeed the globe. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...od-interactive One swallow etc etc but a nice bit of recognition and media traction. A bit of momentum never hurt anyone and nor, in terms of economic impact, did gastrotourism (a horrible phrase but a genuine and growing leisure sector now). Cheers Thom

Harters, don't despair, the vast majority of diners when I was there were regular customers to the French (and many of them, yes, had wrinkles). In fact they seem to have once again pursued a convention-busting approach with no hugely retainered PR team, and no all-singing all dancing launch party festooned with the stars of sport and screen. Softly soft-launching seems the order of the day. I had no problem with what the French represented previously (I am a sucker for the classic chops and formal charm of Le Gavroche) but sadly it was not executed in any way well enough. My last visit earlier this year was badly disappointing, and the audience of good folk like yourself who enjoyed the status quo were a dwindling band whose special occasion visits could not sustain it as a business. So yes I like it's freshness and I like it's confidence, and as with architecture I find a bold contemporary response is usually more pleasing than a hand-wringing attempt at well-intended pastiche, except to the Prince Charles of the world. It feels like the product of a singular vision, and I like the tables, handmade from trees felled in Cheshire (though personally I do like a good bit of linen). The food was excellent, and may yet bed in to be truly brilliant, and the environment it offers still feels very special to me, and a whole bedpost of notches up on anything else in the city centre. It may become the restaurant of choice for the anniversaries, proposals and graduations of a whole new generation of Mancunians, but hopefully thid time it will be a Mecca for food-nerds too. I think you might hate the carpets though. Like Uncle Buck's hat they will anger a lot of people. And Gary, as for Bapi's lunch, we'll just have to put that to the test! Cheers Thom

I went, I ate, it was bloody spectacular. The front of house is a slightly uneasy melding of new (Rogan staff) and old (The French stalwarts) but that will resolve over time, and the fit out is bold, playful and confident - the old guard will bemoan the Scandi-chic snd un-naped tables (let alone the polarising faux wooden carpet) but personally I loved the clean modern feel and the way it offset the now restrained opulence of the room. Belting chandeliers too. The food? Not flawless (some bread has caught, and I found a recurring smidge of over-seasoning here and there, and maybe a single dish unbalanced) but brilliant, and eating at a level very close to L'Enclume which is staggering when you consider the brigade is newly thrown together and the ovens only got installed that day. I won't describe in detail, you all know what Rogan is about, but the ox ribeye tartare with charcoal oil, smoked sunflower seeds, kohlrabi balls and sunflower shoots was utterly breathtaking. Simon has absolute confidence in his team (Dan Cox et al) and says The French will improve rather than dip as it beds in. That is a significantly different dynamic to many Manchester restaurants. With Aiden Byrne still to open, along with discussions with one other Michelin star chef and a rumoured American big name, Manchester may finally have the fine-dining cherry(ies?) on the top of the seriously impressive breadth, depth and variety of it's dining scene. The French, if it sustains, is nailed on Michelin star standard. Be cynical about empire-building and ill-judged and unloved diffusion restaurants all you want, but from what I know of Simon that Is simply not his style. If he wanted a launch pad to global expansion and big money deals for four day a year consultancies in Dubai or Vegas he'd be putting his heart and soul into London. It's the high visibility gateway to the world dontcha know? He's not, because he genuinely loves Manchester as a city and it is easier for him to manage from Cartmel (a quick whizz away up the M6). Sure restaurants in the North have 'grown' big and acquired reputations and gravitas over time, but I can't think of a restaurant that has 'launched' this big in term of potential, ambition, anticipation and significance to a region's eating and drinking scene. Certainly not North of Birmingham in my dining lifetime. It's a game changer people, you need to come and try it. And feel free to hate the furniture and/or the carpets. But not the chandelier. The chandelier is magical. Cheers Thom

I said this too, in a previous post (apologies for lack of chronological ordering): "Yeah Holly, that's pretty much it. Very much echos my own thoughts (albeit much more articulately). I was a bit of a cynic about social media generally (I am still deeply sceptical about Facebook) and was thus late (begrudgingly late) to the party. I knew I had to get to grips with social media when it started turning my exhibition marketing campaigns on their head - my marketing team were using terminology I knew nothing about and that's never a healthy thing (or at least not when I'm a relatively young 37!). Since then I haven't looked back. I follow around 625 people and have about 800 following me, and I have built this community up organically over less than twelve months. As you say in terms of local/regional coverage it's unparalleled, and the mechanics that, with very little tangiable structure, tend to bring like-minded people and content on twitter together is uncanny. The vast majority of my followers are posting about restaurants in Manchester/England's NorthWest, on topics that are directly relevent to me, and are absolutely up to the minute and news-worthy. That is compelling. Amazing new seasonal menu in a restaurant? Twitter tells me first, and probably has images of the signature dishes and a link to the full menu. A popular Mancunian restaurant closes? Chances are one of my twitter-buddies will walk past it that same day, notice, and tweet it, meaning word spreads within hours. It's the minutia, immediacy and relevance that makes it so addictive. The other thing I love about twitter is it always encourages you to reach out to new people and pursue new content (click through rates on links far outstrip Facebook) whereas Facebook seems to be talking to a group of people you already know (or knew). Because of the way twitter works I can ask questions about a pub that does good steak and ale pie in the Peak District, or the best way stuffing for a belly of lamb, or whatever happened to the chef from a long-gone restaurant and have a pretty good chance of getting a constructive answer (or indeed answers) within minutes. Thinking about it (and most of my posts on here are a little stream of conciousness so apologies!) I have also noticed that the most prolific posters on eGullet UK tend to be older/retired, which wasn't the case five or ten years ago. It seems as an older generation embraces websites the younger folk (in relative terms) are moving on to social media. It was ever thus! Also thinking about it the people who make up my twitter family are exactly the sort of passionate, informed and articulate people I would have seen all over eGullet a few years ago and now I know for a fact that the vast majority of them haven't even heard of it, let alone posted there. legions of fanatical foodies, chefs and restaurateurs (the net-worky "heads up" type who get involved in discussions, committees, charity work etc rather than those chained to their stoves!), consultants, and worse still restaurant media folk, PR's and journalists. These people should be all OVER eGullet, but twitter (and the websites it points them to to cherry-pick plumb bits of content) is more than enough for them. It takes time to get into twitter (I had one false start before I went back to it months later and finally got a toe-hold) but try it, once you have a little gaggle of mates on there it really will revolutionise the way you exchange and consume restaurant information. I guarantee you'll end up better informed than you ever were before! Right, semi-literate rambling over for the night. Bed is calling. My better half used to hate me keeping the lamp on to read (I stay awake much later than her) so now I keep the light off and tap away on my phone as a wind-down, perusing the BBC or catching up on sports articles on the Guardian. But guess what will be the last site I scan through before shut-eye, not to mention the first I check over breakfast the next morning, just to check I'm not missing out on the latest? Yep, it begins with t..." In fact probably easier for you to read the thread, here it is (albeit already a year out of date, things move so fast...) To be fair the eGullet management messaged me about it and we had an interesting chat. Still a shame to lock the topic, it could have been an interesting little brainstorming session. Bloody hell, have I been on eGullet nearly twelve years? Seen so many arguments, splits, coups, software upgrades. Halcyon days, life was simpler a decade ago I swear (before I became a parent for a start...) Cheers Thom

I posted is is a similar thread some time ago: "In Topic: The Demise of Online Food Forums 03 June 2011 - 02:02 PM I agree with the sentiment above. I'm a staunch long-term supporter of eGullet (signed up since 2001 no less, ahead of my ex-company launching Restaurant Magazine) and although I havent always been the most prolific poster (though I'm sure my post-count got reset some years ago during upgrades!) I have always contributed, have always taken delight in lurking and reading, and have made some real and lasting friendships. In short it saddens me that I just don't find the site as compelling as I did, and that I spend so little time here (this thread is ironically the most engaged I have been for donkey's years!). I do think social media, and indeed blogging (most bloggers drive traffic to their blogs via their social media presence and contacts, have eaten away at eGullet's audience (and that of comparable sites), and the architecture and functionality here (as well as the underlying philosophy perhaps?) has stopped the site taking full advantage of these advances when really, as a long-established, well-populated, content-rich website social media should be a virtual panacea for traffic and profile (see how www.manchesterconfidential.com and it's staff work it in my home city). I know you can link to twitter via your profile on here, and indeed that eGullet has a twitter account but - although I'm certainly no social media expert, just a passionate user - this doesn't seem anywhere near enough (almost a token effort, or at least misguided in it's execution) and is doing what eGullet is and could be a diservice. I'm sure there is tons of content generated on here every day that half my followers would love to be connected to but I haven't the time to dig around and find it. Make it easy for me, I want to help. I would also echo another of the earlier points that at the minute this website is too broad and over-facing, a lack of focus which ironically has, I feel, contributed to a thinning of the fresh content. I know this is a chicken/egg situation with the volume and depth of postings but really although it's nice to keep up with UK dining (and indeed keep an eye on high profile international stuff) what I'm really interested in is information about the restaurants I do/could visit in my region, and the food I could/should be eating every day. Not sure what the answer is but I know from twitter that there are more than enough informed foodies (and industry professionals) with the time and web access to constantly post and produce content about their eating experiences and opinions online and it must be possible in some way to leverage or channel this through what was, to me, the spiritual home of food-nerds on the web. You're potentially a sleeping giant eGullet." In retrospect it's clearer than that. People who think twitter is about 140 characters are, sadly, mistaken. Twitter is about forming a passionate network of like-minded individuals through shared interests who direct you to fantastic content (be that personal blogs or professional content that was off my radar) either on a constant basis, or when you specifically need it. I get exposed to more interesting and useful information, from a broader and equally committed and informed set of people, about restaurants that I'm interested in (Manchester restaurants for example) on twitter than I ever would on here in it's heyday, let alone now. Probably by a factor of about 100. The gulf is almost incomparable. It comes down to fulfilling a need: i like to read and talk about restaurants, twitter does it better than forums. I see the same demise in other hobby forums I go on, from architecture to fantasy football to vintage watches. Every board has regular comments, if not specific threads, bemoaning the death of the forums, the lack of posts and the thinning of intelligent discourse. It's just the nature of online interaction changing. Interestingly all the old big beasts that used to post fanatically on eGullet (the David Goodfellows and Harters of their day!), some of whom are now good friends, others still merely avatars, are now on twitter: Bapi, Gary Marshall, Scott Friar, Vinosity, Andy Lynes, not to mention a BILLION chefs, food writers, critics (Jay, Marina et al). All bantering, constantly. There's still a place for eGullet, it's asset-base is large, but at the minute it seems shut off from social media. As if always the case it should embrace the change, it could ride the new wave better than it thinks. At the minute it's nervously sipping it's glass of wine in the sparsely populated dining room of the Internet, when the raucous and compelling party is it the kitchen. Cheers Thom

Room is not bad, but also not great. On a recent judging visit I was also dismayed to see dirty heavily marked tableware throughout the meal and an assiette of desserts where the knife wasn't clean between slicing each element into portions leading to cross-contamination - not a world-ending disaster but an unfortunate indication of slack kitchen habits... San Carlo is fine, but to be honest I've never found the food above acceptable (likewise for Rosso, which has previously been accused by those in the trade of buying in sauces and desserts). Personally, on the basis of much too much personal experimentation, I'd say Cicchetti (also owned by San Carlo group) knocks them all into a cocked hat. It's slick, bustling, and yes it has plenty of "dressed up" folk but I feel equally comfortable piling in post-football in scruffs. The pasta and meat dishes are pretty good, and the pizzas are probably the best in town. The fact the menu is based on a Cicchetti small plates concept means lots of opportunity to try different dishes, mix and match or share. Otherwise as noted Grill on the Alley (or sister restaurant Grill on New York St) are safe bets for classy but accessible crowd-pleasing steaks and seafood with almost unfailingly friendly and professional service, and Gaucho isn't cheap but is great for steaks (and the divine cheese-bread). Also great for steaks is the Malmaison's rebranded restaurant Smoak, which has a slightly weird kitsch Americana fit-out but also has one of the famous Josper charcoal grills which means it's grill dishes can be fantastic (the cheap bavette/skirt steak frites with peppercorn sauce is a winner). The Chophouses, Sams and Mr Thomas's, are good too if you like pubbier pubs. Proper hearty rib-sticking fair, some decent beers and a kick-arse wine-list. The classic dishes are the home-corned corned beef hash or the home-made steak and kidney pudding (proper suet pudding - heaven!) which comes with tons of chips, fresh peas and a little jug of gravy. If you fancy a wild-card a new French restaurant has opened in the Light apartment building on Church St. First reports are good, and the menu sounded like it ticked the boxes of classic peasant cuisine. If you decide to try Asian then Red Chilli for spicy Sichuan dishes tends to get the eGullet vote, with plenty of fans for Red and Hot too. Also in Chinatown is Phetpalin which for my money is the best and most authentic Thai in town at the moment. No shortage of good Indian or at least Pakistani restaurants too - EastZEast and Akbars tend to draw most plaudits but personally I'd wonder down towards the University quarter and go for Zouk in the Quadrangle. Don't be put off by the madness of chips and bloody omelette on the menu, it has some seriously authentic dishes (like brain!) Based on recent city centre eating experiences I'd also flag up Vertigo of worthy of explanation, and Australasia offers a beautiful setting and although the pacific rim cooking/sushi isn't as knockout as at launch it's still pretty good (though Jay Rayner didn't approve). That said both offer more formal eating experiences than you may be looking for... Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more interest in specific areas. Cheers Thom

Yang Sing is 'fine', but nothing more, and is widely acknowledged to be trading on long-distant glories. Wings is also 'fine', but has ideas and prices above it's station. Red Chilli is arse-kickingly good if you stick to the authentic Sichaun stuff (hot poached mutton, French beans with minced pork, Beijing dumplings, spring onion bread are all great dishes.) Some also like the Sichuan Red and Hot, but for me it didn't quite match up, and the Hunan place in Chinatown (possibly called Hunan but I might be wrong?) Glamorous restaurant is pretty good, though Jay Rayner was underwhelmed on his last trip. It's probably on a par with the Tai Pan which is also above a cash and carry, this time on Upper Brook Steet. The place next to the McDonalds on Oxford Road (Tai Wu?) does the best dim sum in town but I have to say it's not great, good dim sum is currently a rariety in Manchester. Final choice is the Handmade Noodle King in Chinatown which, as it's name suggests, does very good noodle soups etc, and also has an addictive Korean BBQ element to the menu. Enjoy!

Pep, thanks so much for this, I'll have a look. The thing I love about having an app like twitter (on a smart-phone which generally doesn't allow multi-tab browsing) is that if I'm flicking through my twitter timeline and see a link I like I can click on it, which opens it in the phone browser, then still flick straight back to twitter as the app remains open whilst the page is loading. If I'm using eGullet on my phone browser and follow a link from the site then eGullet is gone (a whole "back" click away!) and thus has lost me. So yes, an app to let me view eGullet sounds great. The other issue is more fundamental perhaps (and I say this ahead of having checked out how the site actually appears in the app) which is that the massive bulk of content on eGullet is of no interest to me (at this current time) and it's tricky and time-consuming and click-intensive to drill down to the stuff that appeals on a regular basis (in contrast to skimming through a timeline of twitter which has what are in effect bite-size precis of content from people I have specifically chosen to follow because what they talk about tends to interest me). To solve this might require a fundamental rethinking of how eGullet functions. Sure I'd probably like to have an app which let me choose which updates I saw as standard but would it only be on a forum basis (ie subscribe to the UK forum?). To be honest I miss out on good posts from people in other forums (Food Media for example) as I just don't have enough reason to pop in there, it could be interesting to choose to follow the posts of particular posters who I find interesting no matter which forum they are on? It would be nice to feel less wedded to my home forum. Can this already be done on eGullet? Possibly, but if so it's a criminal failing that I, as a moderately web-literate nerd with too much time on my hands who has been using this site for a decade, doesn't know about it! Yeah, we're a lazy generation, we like to be spoon-fed and hand-held... I'll have a look at the app thing this weekend though, thanks again Pep. Cheers Thom

I agree with the sentiment above. I'm a staunch long-term supporter of eGullet (signed up since 2001 no less, ahead of my ex-company launching Restaurant Magazine) and although I havent always been the most prolific poster (though I'm sure my post-count got reset some years ago during upgrades!) I have always contributed, have always taken delight in lurking and reading, and have made some real and lasting friendships. In short it saddens me that I just don't find the site as compelling as I did, and that I spend so little time here (this thread is ironically the most engaged I have been for donkey's years!). I do think social media, and indeed blogging (most bloggers drive traffic to their blogs via their social media presence and contacts, have eaten away at eGullet's audience (and that of comparable sites), and the architecture and functionality here (as well as the underlying philosophy perhaps?) has stopped the site taking full advantage of these advances when really, as a long-established, well-populated, content-rich website social media should be a virtual panacea for traffic and profile (see how www.manchesterconfidential.com and it's staff work it in my home city). I know you can link to twitter via your profile on here, and indeed that eGullet has a twitter account but - although I'm certainly no social media expert, just a passionate user - this doesn't seem anywhere near enough (almost a token effort, or at least misguided in it's execution) and is doing what eGullet is and could be a diservice. I'm sure there is tons of content generated on here every day that half my followers would love to be connected to but I haven't the time to dig around and find it. Make it easy for me, I want to help. I would also echo another of the earlier points that at the minute this website is too broad and over-facing, a lack of focus which ironically has, I feel, contributed to a thinning of the fresh content. I know this is a chicken/egg situation with the volume and depth of postings but really although it's nice to keep up with UK dining (and indeed keep an eye on high profile international stuff) what I'm really interested in is information about the restaurants I do/could visit in my region, and the food I could/should be eating every day. Not sure what the answer is but I know from twitter that there are more than enough informed foodies (and industry professionals) with the time and web access to constantly post and produce content about their eating experiences and opinions online and it must be possible in some way to leverage or channel this through what was, to me, the spiritual home of food-nerds on the web. You're potentially a sleeping giant eGullet.

Yeah Holly, that's pretty much it. Very much echos my own thoughts (albeit much more articulately). I was a bit of a cynic about social media generally (I am still deeply sceptical about Facebook) and was thus late (begrudgingly late) to the party. I knew I had to get to grips with social media when it started turning my exhibition marketing campaigns on their head - my marketing team were using terminology I knew nothing about and that's never a healthy thing (or at least not when I'm a relatively young 37!). Since then I haven't looked back. I follow around 625 people and have about 800 following me, and I have built this community up organically over less than twelve months. As you say in terms of local/regional coverage it's unparalleled, and the mechanics that, with very little tangiable structure, tend to bring like-minded people and content on twitter together is uncanny. The vast majority of my followers are posting about restaurants in Manchester/England's NorthWest, on topics that are directly relevent to me, and are absolutely up to the minute and news-worthy. That is compelling. Amazing new seasonal menu in a restaurant? Twitter tells me first, and probably has images of the signature dishes and a link to the full menu. A popular Mancunian restaurant closes? Chances are one of my twitter-buddies will walk past it that same day, notice, and tweet it, meaning word spreads within hours. It's the minutia, immediacy and relevance that makes it so addictive. The other thing I love about twitter is it always encourages you to reach out to new people and pursue new content (click through rates on links far outstrip Facebook) whereas Facebook seems to be talking to a group of people you already know (or knew). Because of the way twitter works I can ask questions about a pub that does good steak and ale pie in the Peak District, or the best way stuffing for a belly of lamb, or whatever happened to the chef from a long-gone restaurant and have a pretty good chance of getting a constructive answer (or indeed answers) within minutes. Thinking about it (and most of my posts on here are a little stream of conciousness so apologies!) I have also noticed that the most prolific posters on eGullet UK tend to be older/retired, which wasn't the case five or ten years ago. It seems as an older generation embraces websites the younger folk (in relative terms) are moving on to social media. It was ever thus! Also thinking about it the people who make up my twitter family are exactly the sort of passionate, informed and articulate people I would have seen all over eGullet a few years ago and now I know for a fact that the vast majority of them haven't even heard of it, let alone posted there. legions of fanatical foodies, chefs and restaurateurs (the net-worky "heads up" type who get involved in discussions, committees, charity work etc rather than those chained to their stoves!), consultants, and worse still restaurant media folk, PR's and journalists. These people should be all OVER eGullet, but twitter (and the websites it points them to to cherry-pick plumb bits of content) is more than enough for them. It takes time to get into twitter (I had one false start before I went back to it months later and finally got a toe-hold) but try it, once you have a little gaggle of mates on there it really will revolutionise the way you exchange and consume restaurant information. I guarantee you'll end up better informed than you ever were before! Right, semi-literate rambling over for the night. Bed is calling. My better half used to hate me keeping the lamp on to read (I stay awake much later than her) so now I keep the light off and tap away on my phone as a wind-down, perusing the BBC or catching up on sports articles on the Guardian. But guess what will be the last site I scan through before shut-eye, not to mention the first I check over breakfast the next morning, just to check I'm not missing out on the latest? Yep, it begins with t...

As per some previous posters this is an issue I have thought about on a semi-regular basis over the last year or so. As a result of my pontifications I have two main points to make: The first is that this isn't just a food fora issue. Amongst my other passions/addictions are architecture (specifically the urban built environment) and fantasy football and I also post on forums for these subjects which are near identical (scarily in terms of characters of posters as well as technical functionality) to eGullet. I hear exactly the same laments and have noticed the exact same tail-off in poster numbers/quality on www.skyscrapercity.com and http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum. It's an online fora issue across the board, gastronomy has nothing to do with it. The second is social media. Forget it being a trendy buzzword, over the past two years it has come from nowhere to seriously rewrite my business models (I organise exhibitions and events) and it has also changed my own personal online habits beyond recognition. Social media is simply a more addictive way of finding new people and new opinions about subjects I'm passionate about and also sharing my own opinions (particularly twitter, I'm less convinced about Facebook). Sure the content within the social media is more limited than forums (140 characters for example) but it directs me to indepth content/blogs/forums I would never find under my own steam. I no longer need a "home" forum to be "based" at. I guess it's like cloud computing in a way. I thought I was addicted to online forums dedicated to subjects I was passionate about. Turns out that largely I just like bantering with people I like about subjects I love in an online environment, whilst continuing to expand my "social circle" and exposure to new writing and other media. That time-slot in my day (limited by running a company as well as family and kids damn them) is now taken up by social media. The fact that it also a hell of a lot easier to use social media on a smartphone (particularly twitter) means I can fit my food-nerdism into snatched downtime on train journeys, in bank queues, in tedious meetings or whilst my kids run around a playground. In the UK at least this massive and continued switch to smartphones is driving internet usage. I should point out that over time I have found more and more of the old "big beasts" of eGullet who were great posters (authoritative, interesting, altruistic and prolific) have been cropping up on twitter. Some I was in touch with anyway as friends and didn't realise they tweeted, others I never met irl but had read so much on eGullet that seeing their user names on twitter was like seeing an old friend again! Building up this database and keeping up to date with what they're eating and where has been one of my great recent pleasures (yes, I have a sad life...). Why have none of my favoured forums got a phone specific app? It's the next step surely to ensure the many positives that sites like eGullet have (a real community, a massive bank of information) remain current, relevent and accessable as technology and people's interaction with it move on. I'm sure the eggheads at eGullet are ahead of the curve on this and are beavering away even as we speak (type)! I lurk more and I post less on all my forums, but if you want to talk to me come play on twitter. That's the way it is, for me at least, and as a very late adopter to social media I could never have predicted this even 18 months ago. Interesting times... (/inarticulate and meandering ramble) ETA: Ironically I made my first post on here for a long time today (see Australasia on UK Dining) and thus noticed my horribly out-dated signature (wrong company etc etc). I updated it as you see it below, and subsequently saw this thread the very same day. Spooky bit of coincidence considering the points I outline above. Must have been why the title subliminally piqued my interest when I saw it on the homepage.

Should have included their own website too. The slightly unwieldy menu's are on there and they also have a decent gallery of interior, exterior and food shots too: http://www.australasia.uk.com/menus/MAINMENU-02. Cheers Thom

David, good stuff, with their prices that could easily save you £60 on a three courser for two so if you get the discount you can owe me a beer! To be honest the only soft launches I ever do are on a friend/family basis so tend to be free (which is the way most places seem to work up here). I do know you often find menu's ratchet 10% or so after a first month for a new venue to get in the groove but that's about it. That said everyone seems to be doing deals at the moment (Hi-Life, Man Con, restaurants with their own mailers and club cards) regardless of whether they are launching or long-established so it's always worth asking. One of the (very) few benefits of the recession... Cheers Thom

Come on man you write like a Cheshire version of Damon Runyon! Don't tell me you haven't got your own intimidating middle name and some gangster blood running through your veins (or indeed down your hands)! To be clear I think thus far Australasia has side-stepped the listed demographics who gradually did for Mash & Air, Reform etc, though it still needs to find it's audience and Manchester is a competitive market. As we all know the double-headed monster which is San Carlo/Cicchetti has traditionally sewn up the dining money in Manchester so it will be interesting to see how things pan out. Hope the late bar doesn't tip it too wet-led. I love a bit of people-watching but in this case I don't mind so much who's on the next table, as long as they leave me in peace to eat my sushi (or the occassional pot-roast lobster, if I'm feeling extravagant). Cheers Thom

David, What sort of "soft-launch deals" were you after? I think free food is pretty much as good as it gets! As far as I know once the friends and family soft-launch trial period was over they consider themselves up and running at full-speed so all pricing is as per normal (though if you have a look on their Facebook page a couple of posters seem to mention offers). All in all I would say it is definitely worth you dropping in the next time you find yourself in glorious Mancunia. They will just have to survive without you whilst you're on your London jollies but I am sure they will be holding back a reserved booth with your name on it! Let me know what you think. Cheers Thom

Surprised no one has flagged this up thus far but it's a significant and interesting opening for the city - both in terms of it's story and it's food - so I thought I should pull my finger out and give it a thread of it's own. In short, Australasia is the latest venture from Living Ventures. I'm sure most of you know them as the guys who built and sold the Living Room chain (very of it's time) and now own the Gusto and Grill/Blackhouse brands (I like both for casual dining) and also latterly hoovered up most of Paul Heathcote's empire (Grado et al) which are all being rebranded. Generally their restaurants tend to occupy the upper end of the mid-market niche, with good quality interiors, decent food and excellent service (their training and management tends to be very good). Such places will never blow one's gastronomic socks off, but equally would seldom let you down and are a useful addition to anyone's roster of regular haunts. Australasia is though a little different. It seems to be a personal labour of love for their Aussie MD Tim Bacon, and it's aspirations are pitched much higher than the rest of the LV stable. It's location sets the scene, with the restaurant occupying a basement site beneath the flagship Armani store in Manchester's prestige Spinningfields business district (think a mini-Docklands with swish glass architecture if less water) which brings an immediate catchment of the pin-stripe denizens of Bank of New York, RBS, Deloittes etc The concept should fill you with dread - pan-asian/Fusion dining - as should the idea of an "exclusive" restaurant in Manchester - arsey doormen, gangsters, wannabe wags - but thus far it’s confounding all expectations, not least mine. When I heard about what they were planning the name “Ithaca” sprung unbidden to my lips but I guess unlike the owners of that ill-fated venture these guys are professional, seasoned operators and know their markets, and indeed Manchester, inside out. I think it has officially just opened on the 28th. I’ve been for the launch and also had a full meal as part of the soft-launch. Firstly it’s a beautiful room, like Hakkasan’s non-evil brother, and is the most unbasement-y basement I’ve ever sat in. The design is light in tone and light of touch and has a breezy grown-up feel. I’d say it’s the best room in Manchester. It has a de rigeur open kitche and the booths in particular are nicely done and will become sought after in a Winner-esque fashion, and the mod-cons (winelists on iPads, an amazing transparent almost holographic lit DJ deck in the bar) don’t jar. Service was reassuringly Mancunian but had a professional, personable sheen (not withstanding soft-launch teething troubles). Drinks in the bar included an ace Hibiscus Royale (the flower, in prosecco, topped with a pineapple foam) but of course what matters is the food itself. In presentation and execution it is certainly a cut above the Mancunian and indeed the Living Ventures norm. The fish in particular was handled with a very assured touch, and if not every element was perfect – this was a soft launch after all – there was much of promise. The sushi fish was top-notch (though the nigiri rice was maybe a shade heavy – one of few gripes), the signature dish of pot-roast lobster with kaffir lime, chilli and Thai basil was exceptional (as it should be for £45!) and a dessert with an espresso fondant and walnut ice cream was brilliantly done. Really excellent. Sides were fine, though the chips are, I think, bought in (seemed to be same as Grill on the Alley). Piping hot espessos concluded a very enjoyable meal, and the considerable winelist (not yet available) is heavy on Aussie big-hitters. The price point’s are interesting – generally about £18-£20 for a main course which is significantly higher than the norm in San Carlo, which has a hold over what is surely Australiasia’s intended clientele – and ironically are echoed by Vertigo, the new restaurant which has opened with little fanfare in the old Ithaca space. Undoubtedly the quality of execution and the professionalism of the Living Ventures machine will drag punters through the door, and it will be interesting to see how the city’s dining scene reshapes around the new arrivals. I just hope, hope, HOPE that they push on from this successful soft-launch period and really nail the level to which they aspire. I’d be heart-broken if, after a strong start, they felt compelled to dumb down in order to give themselves an adequate scale of footfall. Ithaca, for all it’s spectacularly misguided décor and layout brought proper sushi to Manchester, and I was gutted when they quickly lost their way. Get yourselves over to Australasia (the entrance itself is pretty cool - a willfully understated glass triangle poking through the ground beneath an impressively cantelevered building giving no clue as to what is below) and give it a try. It may not be unique but it has taken Manchester’s dining offering outside it's comfort zone and that has to be a good thing. Interior shots here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/australasia.manchester And an excitable preview with food shots from Man Con here: http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Pan-Asian/Australasia-exclusive-this-food-could-be-the-best-yet Cheers Thom

Christina, I think there is some good feedback here, and whilst it is useful to hear the opinions from potential punters and customers like me (enthusiastic foodies!) I would also set specific store to feedback given by people like Gary Marshall or Basildog as they have run or do run restaurants like yours and will I'm sure have lived through many of the problems you are facing. My initial gut reaction here is to say NEVER GIVE UP (I speak as someone who has run businesses, some more successfully then others, through both good and torturous times) but I add the significant caveat that I think, based on what you have said (and accepting my very slim knowledge of your locale) that you could be in a dangerously limited position. It comes down to location. I would say the majority of restaurants (not all, we're talking generalisms here to illustrate points) get the bulk of their business from local custom and ‘on site’ tourism (day/overnight, business or pleasure) that is brought past their doors by a third party (local visitor attractions, conference/event facilities, major transport routes etc). In effect they only need to do initial limited small-scale marketing to locals (counting on them enjoying the experience enough to become regulars) whilst also ensuring they are visible (in location and/or marketing) and inviting to visitors who are merely passing by their door. In both cases though this market is already ‘there’, they need only to convert it. This 'on the doorstep/passing the doors' business should give a restaurant decent sustainable turnover and indeed a comfortable margin, and if that business can then attract visitors to travel moderate or great distances specifically to eat at their restaurant this will be the difference between a nice life and a bloody good life (and potential expansion!). Your restaurant does look good, and I don't doubt you could wind up in some of the guides (as noted start by filling in forms for every print/online guide going), and nor do I doubt some people might make a long trip to visit you, but I suspect it would only ever be enough to be the icing on your cake, rather than the bedrock (to mix metaphors) of your business. So the guides might work (or might not) and the reviewers may come once (or not at all) but it's won’t “save” your business. If your local "doorstep" audience (as noted this could be a resident or transitory) simply isn't big enough for your current offering maybe adapt that offering to broaden your potential market (if you can bear to dilute/dumb down your passionately nurtured concept) I don't think you could ever justify proactive investment in "national" marketing, and although the key is to maximism business in your locale I'm sceptical about the ROI from most such local advertising opportunities. As recommended above I say continue to network, plug into communities, add USPs and make sure you are visible/linked in to the major tourism drivers. Oh and good tip about Google adwords thing (Google "Google adwords" and it will tell you how to do it). Quite simply it's about the best, most effective marketing one can have (it costs pence, and you only pay when people click through to you) and if people are on the net banging the words "Restaurant" and your local town name in you want to be top of the list! I really, really hope you find a way through this, and by all means hit those guides and court those reviewers (just email them, politely and directly) but don't expect a panacea. I'd put everything you've got and more into snaring every bit of local and passing trade, and if those figures don't add up then... rack your brains some more (NEVER GIVE UP!). Cheers Thom

Nowadays you'd stuggle to get turned away from anywhere in Manchester for wearing trainers (particularly restaurants/cafes as opposed to poncey bars/80's style nightclubs) so you can relax on that score! And RE food all will give you a decent foodie experience, without dominating proceedings, in busy and pleasant surroundings. In terms of Manchester's geography it is, in VERY rough terms, a kind of triangular shaped city centre (Deansgate, Great Ancoats Street and Whitworth Street form approximate boundaries) and coincidentally the places I mentioned sit at three extreme points (so don't try all three unless she, and you, are wearing sensible walking shoes!). Cornerhouse is at the top of Oxford Road, which is the main student artery into the city housing all the main academic institutions, so she'll doubtless be comfortable with that. Crowd is very mixed, with arty folk, students, 'creative tourists' as well as travellers from Oxford Rd Station and business folk. If she's an adventurous student she'll have made it North of Piccadilly Gardens to the Northern Quarter which is where Teacup sits. Imagine a cross between Soho, Hoxton and Shoreditch, if a shade grittier, and you're there. It's Manchester's creative/indie area - galleries, vintage stores, cool bars etc - and many students frequent there. And, if her student finances stretch further than mine did, she might even have made it to Manchester's posher shopping area where Cicchetti is to be found (Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and the boutiques of a resurgent King St are all close by). It's certainly not 'formal', but expect suits, Cheshire set, and minor celebs/footballers galore! Depending on your 'courting' itinerary Oxford Road gives you the Cornerhouse with the City Art Gallery and Chinatown only a few minutes away (both good, in different ways, for mooching round), Northern Quarter gives you Afflecks, The Craft Centre etc to explore, whereas Deansgate is largely shops but you're right by the impressive Christmas markets. Sure you'll be fine in the culinary/seduction stakes whichever route you take. Just wear your tightest trousers, your shirt open to the waist displaying your biggest medallion, and be sure to laugh uproariously at your own jokes whilst pointedly jangling your (luxury brand) carkeys at every opportunity (borrow someone elses if needed). Cheers Thom

Favourite of mine is Teacup: http://teacupandcakes.com Food is not bad (I'm addicted to the homous and falafal sandwich - with chillis and mint - on toasted Barbakan Norlander ryebread) and the cakes are excellent. Good drinks too, the place is owned by Mr Scruff so it serves his tea range and more. Service is friendly if a tad chaotic (better than the Northern Quarter norm of disinterested and chaotic) but it's just a great bustling place and to me is the people-watching centre of the Northern Quarter - fascinating and you really will see all life here... The Northern Quarter generally is a cracking place for a lingering lunch (especially one which persists into early evening) so there are lots of other options in and around but most are bar-based (which may or may not appeal?) or glorified lunchtime cafes. Happy to suggest some more (Earth Cafe, Olklahoma, Craft Centre etc). Otherwise for something more formal try Cicchetti, the new restaurant from the gang behind San Carlo. It's in the ground floor of Kendals department store on Deansgate so can be a bit "ladies who lunch", but it's got a great "light bites/small plates" menu, is slickly styled, and is ideal for lingering and watching the world go by. On final 'enjoy it whilst it's there' option is the Cornerhouse cafe on Oxford Road. The building houses a gallery space and arthouse cinema (shortly to relocate) but the revaped cafe is actually excellent. Again patchy service but the food is really pretty good and again the clientele and big windows onto the street make the time fly. Hope that helps, if you have any more specific criteria (style, cuisine, price, location etc) then let me know and I'd be happy to make further suggestions. Enjoy Thom

So we shook the kids off for the night (a Saturday no less!) and booked in at Harvey Nichols. I'd rated it highly under the last chef, Alison Seagrave, and indeed I was not alone as it was the second highest GFG rated restaurant in Manchester and the highest rated within the HN group (ie Edinburgh, Leeds and London too). When she left they promoted from within, Stuart Thomson, but an initial lunch was patchy. I had though heard some spanking reports lately and with judging season in full swing I thought it was about time I did the place the justice of a return visit. So we got there, encountered a clipped efficient front-desk welcome and we were promptly seated in a nice spot by the window. Views of the Cathedral, Exchange Square and the wheel one way (apparently a main throughfare for a spectacular amount of hen dos) and on to St Annes Square the other - one of Manchester's more appealling vistas. The huge floor to ceiling windows which span the side of the room are a fantastic asset and make for compelling people-watching. But I'm just not convinced about the decor... It's harsh, and shiny, and slightly dated. The gloss black and white surfaces I can cope with, but the electric blue accent lighting (which I think chaged to purple and back again during the evening) is too 1990's, ironic for a restaurant that only opened in 2003. Could HN head office be persuaded to invest in a refresh? Losing the awkward mesh and cushion chairs would help, and a restaurant like this deserves the right interior. Warmer colours echoing the views of brick and sandstone might be nice? Once in the hands of the FOH we were well looked after (though a glass of house champagnge helped my perception), indeed the staff were towards the high end of service I've received in Manchester - efficient, warm, personable, but not too cloying (minimal checking if "everything is ok" which good!). Compare and contrast this with Abode which puts out wonderful food on it's day but is hamstrung but clunky, awkward and inconsistent service which seldom fails to jar. Bread was offered - white, seed and focaccia - and it was wonderfully fresh but lacked depth of flavour and all came in thin slices with homogenous texture and no more of a crust than you'd find on a Warbutons loaf. Not that I'm against Warbies of course, but in a Michelin-aspiring restaurant I expect serious artisan bread and in my opinion it should have a decent crust and chew, and I would expect variation of crumb and dough across the three bread selection. We also got some "snacks", candied, smoky pecans, and some great fat green olives, both of which were delicious. We quickly got to grips with the menu itself, and noted an interesting set up. No prices for individual dishes, but a key on the facing page outlining different structures of meals - "Main and dessert"; Starter or soup, main and dessert"; "Starter or soup, main, dessert and cheese" - which were all named after a letter of the alphabet and came at different prices (why give it a letter though, as no one will actually say "Menu A please" as they need to specific their dishes). From memory prices ranged from £35 up to about £60, with a three courser (with coffee and those "snacks" thrown in) at about £40. Not bad, if the food is up to scratch. First course was sweetbreads for me with some sticky (chicken?) stock reduction, pea puree (puree according to the online menu I consulted as an aide memoire, but I seem to remember actual peas) and an anchovy beignet. Already, we hit a high. The sweetbreads were done to perfection, firm yet springy, and clustered together into a little block wich tumbled apart when attacked, and the anchovy fritter gave a wonderful umami hit. It was well balanced, technically bang-on, and with an eye for presentation. Good start! Across the table a chicken and asparagus terrine was beautifully executed, and served with cubes of quince jelly (maybe a tad over-set), a slick of apple puree and two nicely toasted slices of brioche served under a napkin. Again the technique and presentation hinted at a skilled hand and a sharp mind in the kitchen, though most impressive in my eyes was the fact that a trio of sweet elements to the dish didn't wipe out the chicken flavours (which really came through - good quality chuck I reckon) or indeed just become cloying. The key thing at this point is that the menu (see it online at http://www.harveynichols.com/files/pdf/Restaurant%20Menu%20june%2010.pdf) just doesn't do the quality of ambition of execution of the dishes justice. I feel a little strange saying this as I had flowery or flouncey menu-speak as much as anyone, but I think I just felt wrong-footed by the dishes that came out, in a good way, and almost wanted to chastise them for underselling themselves. Tricky balance though, no-one wants an overload of purple prose and pointless adjectives... On to mains, and I went for turbot with white beans, chorizo and shellfish. This was a gorgeous hunk of fish, firm and with bounce but just about flaking under a fork, and of course a pairing with chorizo and white beans couldn't go wrong. The shellfish, mussels, squid and more came served in a tasty little broth and topped with a delicate but effective seafood foam, all served up in a razor clam shell. This was a seriously beautiful looking dish, and an unadvertised smear of red pepper puree really added to the visual flair and the tastes on the plate. Less successful was a teeny pepper stuffed with goats cheese which hung about on the edge of the plate looking embarrassed. It tasted delightful (pepper, goats cheese, winner!) but the dish didn't need it, and I don't think it worked in the slightest. I did get the feeling on a couple of occassions that a smidge of over-overcomplication was setting in, but there was such an impression of confidence and pleasure in all the dishes so it would be churlish to over-criticise the odd excess. My better half went for pork fillet, anna potatoes and peas. The pork was a tasty set of fillet chunks served on end, a perfect pink in the middle and again "extras" were all over the dish - broad beans with the peas (all of which were lush, and seasonal) and also an extra faggoty sort of thing all of which got hoovered up in short order. The anna potatoes had the right ratio of crisp to yielding, and again it was a very accomplished and well plated dish. Then we got a "pre-dessert". They said "ice creams", though apart from a creamy vanilla I would say the little boat-plate had two sorbets - strawberry and raspberry. They were all very good indeed, but a plate of three small but substantial scoops almost killed off ones craving for dessert. I know us Northerners like to leave feel well-fed but surely as a little palate-teaser one scoop would do it? Desserts were as sure-footed as the rest of the meal. A prune and Armagnac souffle, taking the standard fifteen mins, was really as good as a souffle can be, delicately flavoured and treading a fine line of being under-done at the bottom whilst still lifting away from the ramekin cleanly - great. The mother of my children had a vanilla cheesecake, which tasted almost like a mild goats-cheese with minimal sweetness, and came as a log rolled in crushed hazelnuts atop a biscuit which I couldn't identify but which was a crunchier beast than a standard base. A fig on the side added a fruity tang and worked nicely with the overt cheesiness of the, uhm, cheesecake. Oh, thoughout all this we nursed an Albarino, I forget the details of the maker but it was from Rias Baixas, and came in at about £36. A beautiful example with all the fruit and floral notes you'd expect and that wonderful salty sherry tang. Also a whiff of acorns, so Sophie said. Anyway we picked it as a hot day called for white, and with a fish/pig based menu we decided to trust in the Spanish who are pretty much masters at such things. The wine list itself is pretty impressive (and doubtless on the HN website somewhere if you want to go and nosey), as you would expect at Harvey Nichols as the restaurant sits adjacent to the in-house wine store (which is well renowned in it's own right). There's plenty in the £20's and a great spread of countries and classics with some more unusual options in there which would surely reward a level of knowledge and appreciation that exceeds my own. And oh, lest I forget, a cheeseboard, to share. The girl who served us was one of the highpoints of front of house - unaffected and chatty and displaying real knowledge and passion. She was happy to talk us around an interesting cheese trolly, and confidentally pointed out her own favourite, which turned out to be ours too. We got five decent slices - a hard cheddar, a goats, a VERY good brie, the Norfolk White Lady ewes cheese (the highpoint and a new one on me) and a suprisingly good blue made by that bloke out of Coronation St (and yay to no Bluesticks, Butlers, Kidderton ash etc - all great, but enough already!). Home made chutney was chunky, fruity and sweet, and the salt-sprinkled crackers were fantastic, though the chunky digestive things parched the mouth a little. And that, after great coffee, with little madelines on the side (a tad dry and crumby, but I'm not mad on madelines) was that. A suprising, impressive, stimulating and delicious menu, served with personality and professionalism - £115 with the wine, and I thought that decent value for a Saturday night a la carte menu of this standard. The experience was not perfect, certainly, and the room still leaves me a tad cool, but this is a great restaurant that is back on song, and Manchester needs more like that. A pity then to see the place less than full on a weekend evening. I've had many less good meals in Michelin starred restaurants and for me, based on a single recent visit, it edges Abode et al as the city's current leading fine dining experience. That said I'm hearing very good things about the River Rooms at The Lowry lately; better get another babysitter booked... Cheers Thom

Ohhh, good pics, got me hungry already and it's only 10am. I was in there again yesterday actually, with a mate who is a bit of a Vietnamese food fan (he named some area of London where there are about ten Vietnamese restaurants in a row, most of which he frequented). We had the quail which was spot on - crispy skin, tender flesh, good spicing - summer rolls and pork (as previously described) and he had the chicken pho which looked bang on too. The extra chilli sauce caught him out which was fun. He rated it, especially the value (though we got three halves of quail, did someone mention four upthread?) but I think the point above about whether we're seeing "true" Vietnamese food yet is an interesting one (arguably we're rarely seeing "true" Indian or Pakistani food even in the UK even now after 50-100 years of such restaurants). I do think it's fairly authentic though as most of the people I've seen in their are Vietnamese, and I stress just seeing people of the same ethnic group as the restaurant isn't an indicator of quality - see Americans/McDonalds - but it probably does mean the food is true to the culture (for better or worse!). It's just simple home cooking I suspect(the guy waiting on said his wife does the cooking) and sometimes that's all you're looking for. I'd certainly be interesting to try any more challenging or extreme examples of Vietnamese cuisine though. Cheers Thom