The Modern, Urbis, Manchester

[fisherman]

Who said I was a 'Foodie'? If anyone said that to my face I'd punch 'em in the nose

I actually live in Harrogate, I lived in Alderley Edge for a year 2006/2007 and struggled to find anywhere worth eating, all the places you mention appeal to their local market, who wouldn't know decent food if it hit them in the arse, the two I am more than familiar with (Alderley Edge Hotel and London Road) are the kind of over priced, under performing places you expect to find in affluent suburbs. Stanneylands has, I'm sorry to say, a pretty poor reputation locally, I'm sure things have changed recently, but news hasn't filtered through yet to the locals.

As for Mancunian closterphobia (whatever that is) It's nothing compared to the suburban claustrophobia you appear to be suffering from. I travel to find good restaurants, and always make the effort to seek out places worth trying wherever I happen to be.

[erica graham]

Unless the Moss Nock has had a drastic redo, when I went there with my boyfriend s parents in 1980's it was even then to my completely "Non Foodie" eye well past its sell by date.

I seem to remember it was the custom to frame bills over £100- or am I imagining that? Long, long time ago........, must get back to my zimmer frame!!

[ernustus]

Who said I was a 'Foodie'? If anyone said that to my face I'd punch 'em in the nose

I actually live in Harrogate, I lived in Alderley Edge for a year 2006/2007 and struggled to find anywhere worth eating, all the places you mention appeal to their local market, who wouldn't know decent food if it hit them in the arse, the two I am more than familiar with  (Alderley Edge Hotel and London Road) are the kind of over priced, under performing places you expect to find in affluent suburbs. Stanneylands has, I'm sorry to say, a pretty poor reputation locally, I'm sure things have changed recently, but news hasn't filtered through yet to the locals.

As for Mancunian closterphobia (whatever that is) It's nothing compared to the suburban claustrophobia you appear to be suffering from. I travel to find good restaurants, and always make the effort to seek out places worth  trying wherever I happen to be.

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only "foodies" travel to find good restaurants, branding a place by saying it has a pretty poor reputation is not cricket if you havent been for yourself to make up your own mind or maybe you only go and dine at places on other peoples comments and thats only if they are good comments. suburban closterphobia is something i definately not suffer from as my career path has taken me to london for 2 years and also to belfast .

[ernustus]

Unless the Moss Nock has had a drastic redo, when I went there with my boyfriend s parents in 1980's it was even then to my completely "Non Foodie" eye well past its sell by date.

I seem to remember it was the custom to frame bills over £100- or am I imagining that? Long, long time ago........, must get back to my zimmer frame!!

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[ernustus]

Unless the Moss Nock has had a drastic redo, when I went there with my boyfriend s parents in 1980's it was even then to my completely "Non Foodie" eye well past its sell by date.

I seem to remember it was the custom to frame bills over £100- or am I imagining that? Long, long time ago........, must get back to my zimmer frame!!

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[fisherman]

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only "foodies" travel to find good restaurants, branding a place by saying it has a pretty poor reputation is not cricket if you havent been for yourself to make up your own mind or maybe you only go and dine at places on other peoples comments and thats only if they are good comments. suburban closterphobia is something i definately not suffer from as my career path has taken me to london for 2 years and also to belfast .

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[ernustus]

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only "foodies" travel to find good restaurants, branding a place by saying it has a pretty poor reputation is not cricket if you havent been for yourself to make up your own mind or maybe you only go and dine at places on other peoples comments and thats only if they are good comments. suburban closterphobia is something i definately not suffer from as my career path has taken me to london for 2 years and also to belfast .

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Come on Ernustus old chap, if I haven't been somewhere, it's reputation is all I have to go on, that's how the world works. If going on other peoples recommendations is a crime, then I'm guilty as charged, as I would imagine is everyone on here. I have no interest in making my own mind up about places other people (whose views I trust) don't like, life is too short to eat crap meals, and the list of places I do want to try grows daily.

Any comments I made about Stanneylands came with the rider that I'm sure things have changed recently, reputations take a long time to change, and I'm sure the food you're producing right now is a million miles away from the food that got the place it's reputation. However until some brave pioneer tells the world that Stanneylands is the place to go, I won't be risking wasting my time and money.

Anyway, enough bickering, get back in that kitchen and start changing peoples minds

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[fisherman]

Fair enough and I apologise for my flippant comment that started this exchange.

Turned out nice in the end

[ernustus]

Fair enough and I apologise for my flippant comment that started this exchange.

Turned out nice in the end

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[ernustus]

and now i hear eyck zimmer is leaving the lowry, and i also noticed the lowry lost 1 of their rosettes, another blow for manchester

[BertieWooster]

Eyck leaving confirmed here.

Along with the return of an old, uhhr, adversary.

[thom]

and now i hear eyck zimmer is leaving the lowry, and i also noticed the lowry lost 1 of their rosettes, another blow for manchester

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A dark day indeed for Manchester dining. Luckily, I hear everthing is peachy in the foodie-meccas of Styal and Wilmslow.

As noted Rob Kisby is coming back into the city centre at the Yang Sing Oriental hotel (doing fusion food no less) which should be interesting, and Simon Rimmer (Greens, Earle, daytime TV ad infinitum) is looking to open two more restaurants in and around Manchester.

No gossip on the Juniper site RDB?

Oh, and a very trustworthy source (well, the girl who cuts my hair) assures me that the WAG-tastic Nobu-lite restaurant/bar/members club/fine retail experience that is Ithica is finally (finally) going to open the week after next.

Except a surge on the world "velvet rope" market as demand outstrips supply in the short-term. Might be worth taking a punt on any multinational clipboard manufacturing conglomerates too.

Cheers

Thom

Edited May 2, 2008 by thom (log)

[RDB]

No gossip on the Juniper site RDB?

When I asked on Saturday I was told it was up for grabs, no one had taken it up just yet. Saying that I doubt a 'shell' will attract any major players, not really a destination and infact located in a really bad spot, with an impossible act to follow.

You never know with the whole rock star and foodie revolution, maybe Mozza, Ian Brown or Noel Gallagher might consider turning their hand to cooking up some Michelin star food and save Manchester

[ernustus]

"A dark day indeed for Manchester dining. Luckily, I hear everthing is peachy in the foodie-meccas of Styal and Wilmslow."

well at least we still hold our 2 rosettes, might mean nothing to you but it looks to be a difficult thing to keep hold of

[BertieWooster]

"A dark day indeed for Manchester dining. Luckily, I hear everthing is peachy in the foodie-meccas of Styal and Wilmslow."

well at least we still hold our 2 rosettes, might mean nothing to you but it looks to be a difficult thing to keep hold of

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Don't you find it difficult to cook carrying the weight of those chips on your shoulder?

I was more surprised to know that Thom has his hair cut like that...

[thom]

"A dark day indeed for Manchester dining. Luckily, I hear everthing is peachy in the foodie-meccas of Styal and Wilmslow."

well at least we still hold our 2 rosettes, might mean nothing to you but it looks to be a difficult thing to keep hold of

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Well done.

Of course it would play better if you hadn't been caught out shilling your Restaurant on here in the first instance. You're still doing it on this thread, recommending people try Styal and Wilmslow whilst conviniently forgetting to mention you have your own place down there.

Why do it? It's completely counter-productive. Plenty of chefs and operators here clearly flag up their own operations and people have no issue with it whatsoever. You have two rossettes! Be loud and be proud and don't hide your light under a bushel.

Cheers

Thom

Edited May 12, 2008 by thom (log)

[ernustus]

what would you like to know ?

"A dark day indeed for Manchester dining. Luckily, I hear everthing is peachy in the foodie-meccas of Styal and Wilmslow."

well at least we still hold our 2 rosettes, might mean nothing to you but it looks to be a difficult thing to keep hold of

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Well done.

Of course it would play better if you hadn't been caught out shilling your Restaurant on here in the first instance. You're still doing it on this thread, recommending people try Styal and Wilmslow whilst conviniently forgetting to mention you have your own place down there.

Why do it? It's completely counter-productive. Plenty of chefs and operators here clearly flag up their own operations and people have no issue with it whatsoever. You have two rossettes! Be loud and be proud and don't hide your light under a bushel.

Cheers

Thom

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[nikkib]

Am i the only one who is bored by this now? When is the Summer menu due to start at The Modern and any hints on what we can expect?

Cheers

[BertieWooster]

Oddly (well, not so oddly as the sun is out), I was looking at a draft only today. Should be ready for the end of the month/first week of June. The duck and monkfish are staying. Different bits of lamb and cow will be served, theres a rather nice Whole Dover Sole with Morecambe Bay shrimps going on, they're talking about Salmon, but not sure whether that's happening.

And the lunch menu continues to prosper (thats not really eG material, though I'd happily put our fshnchps up against anyone in a cage fight).

More importantly there's a vast array of even more lethal cocktails.

[RDB]

I popped into Grado before going to see Leonard Cohen in concert a few weeks back. I must say after Jay and Thom's experience, I can only agree the place is a joke. I would say it rated as one of the worst food experiences I have had in a while. Granted in the past three months I have been eating amazing tapas in Barcelona, Valencia and Ripponden, so maybe I was being over critical?

Firstly service, bearing in mind I was the only person at the bar, it was the slowest service I have ever experienced. At times I felt like I was putting them out. Ordered a a glass of sparkling water which was poured from a 75cl bottle. They then left the bottle beside my glass and the head front of house would come over and ask me some questions about my life and begin to refill my glass. A very dirty trick, I only asked for a glass and they charged me for a bottle!!!!

All food is cooked in front of you, which to me is not always a good thing. Padron peppers were almost bell pepper in size, very thick and lacking any sweetness. Mushromm croquetta were dropped in a deep fat fryer which I observed were not cooked long enough. Low and behold, warm on the outside freezing in the middle, I sent these back, much to the chefs annoyance. New chef arrived who re-cooked them, served with a very bland, but 'creatively' presented romanesco sauce. Tiny pot of clams with sherry and jamon. Basically a few clams in a very very salty sauce. Horrible. That was it I decided to leave it there. Ran of to Michael Caines new place for some of his tapas, but unfortunately it was booked out for a private function.

Maybe I hit it on a bad day, but it was all over the place both with service and food. It was not a relaxing experience which to me is part of the 'tapas' experience. I would avoid it all costs.

So off I trudged with the hope that Leonard Cohen would cheer me up..........

[thom]

RDB, I wondered where you'd got to!

Yes, my own experiences have sadly echoed some of my own. Weirdly I do still pop in occasionally - mainly as a pre-tram to the football venue - and find the tapas list can yield a few gems. I know what you mean about the service though, it's all over the place - distant one minute, crawling all over you the next.

Bad luck on Abode too. I don't think they do great business mid-week so they seem to be snapping up the corporate events business where they can. It's worth making a trip back for, especially the insanely good value £9:99 lunch.

So how was Mr Cohen? On good form I hear.

Cheers

Thom

[adey73]

Where's the Abode review, fellas?

[RDB]

RDB, I wondered where you'd got to!

Yes, my own experiences have sadly echoed some of my own. Weirdly I do still pop in occasionally - mainly as a pre-tram to the football venue - and find the tapas list can yield a few gems. I know what you mean about the service though, it's all over the place - distant one minute, crawling all over you the next.

Bad luck on Abode too. I don't think they do great business mid-week so they seem to be snapping up the corporate events business where they can. It's worth making a trip back for, especially the insanely good value £9:99 lunch.

So how was Mr Cohen? On good form I hear.

Cheers

Thom

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It was an excellent gig Thom. Yeah hope to nip into Abode soon, and give it a whirl.

Are we due a little trip out soon?? I am sure Adam would enjoy making us all jealous with his El Bulli trip

[BertieWooster]

and, getting back to the topic of the thread, we had that Jay Rayner in for lunch. Or his double.

Edited July 3, 2008 by BertieWooster (log)

[thom]

and, getting back to the topic of the thread, we had that Jay Rayner in for lunch. Or his double.

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And WE need to do Abode!