The Aumbry, Prestwich, Manchester

[thom]

Once more I pull a restaurant deserving of it's own thread out of the "one size fits all" Mancunian thread.

Aumbry DOES deserve it's own thread, but despite some spanking reviews (from people who's opinions I trust implicitly) I have to admit I found it a bit of a curates egg.

Firstly, the location. I knew Aumbry was in Prestwich, which is traditionally the heartland of North Manchester's Jewish population and is a pretty mixed district with a cosmopolitan feel - some parts are unarguably rough, whilst other parts are gorgeous with big houses, tree-lined avenues and plenty of disposable income sloshing around.

It's always been a puzzle in Manchester why a suburb which such a good dining demographic couldnt support a good restaurant on it's home turf (a decent Kosher Chinese, an excellent chippy, a Pizza Express and a couple of patesseries/delis were the limits of it's culinary offer). I assumed Aumbrey might be in one of the swisher stretches but on getting there it was plain it was somewhere in the skanky main shopping strip, opposite a run-down 1970's precinct.

Weirder still it wasn't even on the main street, it was tucked down a non-descript side-street and seemed to inhabit an ex-terrace house. On going inside the space was light and airy, and the service efficient and welcoming but the fit out jarred. I can well understand why it was done to a tight budget but the tightness shone through - pine tables that reminded me of a garden centre cafe, green fabric place mats etc.

On to the food though, because that's whaat really matters. A tasty little amuse bouche of chicken liver came and went pretty sharpish (my dining partner got a small cup of leek and potato soup which was velvety, indulgent, and slicked with truffle oil). The accompanying bread was a tad dull, slighly dry and thin slices of white without much in taste or texture to lift them.

Starters were great, if repetitive. I went for the leek and potato soup which, as above, was excellent (though the blending created an even texture which was a bit over-facing in a larger portion) and my colleague had... It escapes me. I was hungry! Possibly something fish related? Over to you on this one mystery dining partner (and frequent eGullet lurker).

The mains? Ohhh... the mains were pretty damn good. I had the mallard, and it was a tasty piece of breast (complete with a lead shot) though i did find it undercooked (and I like meat bloody) with a raggedy bit of scrappy blood and sinew attached to the underside which should really have been removed at prep. On the upside it was served with al dente veg and a few artful smears of jus and butternut squash which were perfectly smooth and velvety (and pleasing on the eye).

My colleague had... Uhmmm... Not sure. Like I say, I was eating, and this was a week or so ago!

Desserts were both excellent too. A chocolate fondant across the table (I remember that one!) was bang on, and hats off to the waitress for knowing that the melting centre was based around ganache and unlikely to be a raw-egg issue for my pregnant dining partner. I went for the crumble, because I like crumble, and it was again very good - quince and apple spiked with a bit of spice and a perfectly textured , if over-sweet, crust.

So all in all pretty good. The food ate well and showed flashes of real technique (though also had some niggles), the service was good, whats not to like? Well partly it was the fit-out which clashed so much with the standard and ambitions of the food that it just kept tripping me out of my eating groove, and partly it was a slight feeling of trepadation for the business.

My fears may be mis-placed, I stress I've been only once. On a Thursday afternoon, it had three tables dining, but maybe it is on budget and it will thrive. I hope so, because you can tell the guys there are putting heart and soul into it and as someone who is running his own company through these challenging times I applaud and support anyone who takes a chance and back themselves.

But for a small, suburban restaurant in an inauspicious setting well out of the city centre I'm not sure it was quite good enough to drag me back for a repeat trip. Moreover on the day we went there was no set lunch menu, and the prices for the a la carte were exactly comparable to the dinner menu - £5-8 for a starter and £13-£18 for a main course. I worry about whether the local market can support these prices.

I liked it, but I wanted to like it more, and it niggled me in a variety of ways. It's early days though, and fingers crossed they'll bed in, find their level, and go from strength to strength.

Cheers

Thom

[Nayan Gowda]

Thanks for the write-up Thom. I'm planning on going here soon.

Any opinion as to the wine list?

[Infrasonic]

Tom, I don't think there was a "fit out" per se. I know there was an all hands on deck facebook plea to help paint...(sadly I missed it, damn...)

I have to be careful what I say knowing one of the parties involved, but I think the world financial situation at the time of planning sort of scuppered the intentions of banks to lend on anything restaurant wise, so they went ahead and opened anyway...(but don't quote me on that )

I think the intention is to make some money, prove the business plan and then perhaps tart it up properly with some financial backing. Time will tell I suppose.

I didn't know there was no set lunch menu, that does seem a bit remiss.

[thom]

Infrasonic,

I totally understand their constraints (and by "fit-out" I did mean a gang of friend and family with paint-brushes and a power-drill, not some team of corporate shopfitters!) and as I say running my own company in the current climate means I really do have sympathy for anyone trying to do something amazing on a pitiful budget.

But I just didn't warm to the space. Amazing things can be done on the cheap - Though very different I love the fit out for Noho, the Northern Quarter bar, for example which must have cost about 8p including the bar - and equally money can be spent badly - see Ithaca, if you can bare it... - but I hope they get the business to enable them to evolve the space on the fly.

I did like the food though, and everyone I know who knows the guys involved (ex Ramsons, and possibly some link to the Roadhouse too or did I make that up?) says they're lovely so I have everything crossed for them. Manchester needs more restaurants with the potential of he Aumbry, and it needs them to succeed. I reckon a set lunch menu would help...

And Prestwich precinct just needs demolishing. Decent looking cheese shop though.

Cheers

Thom

[david goodfellow]

We called here today for lunch having left a message on the answer phone yesterday. As it is closed Monday and Tuesday this is the first dining day of the week proper. As is mentioned above no lunch menu is on offer, this really is odd as very few people want to pay a la carte prices at lunch time. Thankfully some of the pricing is very keen indeed so you can eat here without it costing a fortune. In a way I was grateful that we could try what is normally on offer.

At least three of the six tables (including ours) had been prompted to visit by a recent Telegraph article entitled Crunch Lunch. Its marvellous what a bit of national press exposure does as according to our server and part owner recent lunch times have been deserted. Could this be down to the lack of Table d'Hote?

Service was initially a bit slow and our server did not seem initially at ease with her role. I had however to keep reminding myself that this is not a Michelin place where we would normally be fawned over, just a neighbourhood restaurant. I did however feel that more attention should be paid to topping up wine and water.

The interior was more pleasing than I had imagined. Crisp linen tablecloths, odd white hand painted chairs suitably distressed. One wall with bold gold patterned paper and a spotlessly clean solitary loo. Table spacing seemed OK to me with twenty six covers in total.

Our table faced the open kitchen where a vocal Mary-Ellen McTague and partner Laurence Tottingham beavered away with one other helper.

A tasty amuse of Duck liver parfait with a sliver of sourdough arrived not long after the good home made bread.

Hand Dived Scallops, Granny Smith apple, crackling & lemon and thyme (£9.50) was actually one and a half scallops topped with foam, a line of pickled? apple, fabulous crackling, some very tiny dice of bacon and two slicks of apple puree. It all came together well.

My dish was Bury black Pudding, Scotch Egg, (£6) served with a mild tomato sauce and mushroom relish. The Quails eggs were just runny and along with the Black pudding wrap and crisp coating ate quite well with good bite, although the portion size to some may not seem enough.

Because we wanted to put the kitchen to the test we chose a main course as an additional fish course and thoughtfully this was individually plated by the kitchen.

Poached Irish Oraganic Sea Trout (£16.50) served with Pickled Anya potato, beetroot& vanilla vinaigrette was a decent dish, certainly not the best Sea Trout we have tasted but never the less very tasty. It was well presented topped with vivid green pea shoots showing up well against the pink trout and beetroot.

We both had Slow Cooked Leg of Goosnargh Duck (9.50) which sat on a bed of savoy cabbage a side slick of pumpkin puree to the side and five fingers of buttery chateau potatoes.

Now this was a really beautiful piece of cooking, a thoroughly enjoyable and bargain priced plate of food.

Desserts were Treacle Tart with lemon jelly & Earl Grey cream (5.50) and Lemon Posset with olive oil biscuit and blackberies £5.50).

Both desserts were moderate to good, my Posset was good however the line of blackberries looked and tasted well past there best, strange considering the general quality of the kitchen.

We skipped coffee as is normal for us.

The bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon that I chose was not good drinking on its own without food, but I;m the first to admit this is an area that does not really interest me too much. I need to brush up in this area.

I was really concerned that we may not enjoy this place as much as others on here, but I'm pleased to report that this really is a bit of a find and we are hopeful that it gets the full support that it deserves

It would be interesting to know how much local support they get, but as has been pointed out they do need to make the place a little more accessible with a set lunch option.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/7623805/Crunch-lunch-Aumbry-Prestwich.html

[david goodfellow]

Edited May 5, 2010 by david goodfellow (log)

[david goodfellow]

Almost forgot this one. Good to see chefs beavering away, doing what they are best at doing.

[MaLO]

I had lunch here last Saturday.

There is now a lunch menu - two choices per course plus amuse for about £18.

We ate Cheshire beef & horseradish roulade with some sliced beetroot and a reduction of port.

White or brown bread was served with salted butter or nut brown butter.

For Starters we both chose the black pudding Scotch egg, as pictured above. Nice runny egg, piping hot black pud and a crispy coating.

We took one main from the lunch menu - slow cooked pork leg with crackling carrot puree and some other bits I can’t quite recall. The lunch dish had a similar sounding version on the alc but garnished slightly differently so I can’t recall what was what! It was good though. Very tender and flavoursome with really great crackling. As lunch progressed different parts of pig were used for other tables.

I chose the alc Dressed Cornish crab with samphire and cucumber jelly starter for my main. I paid a reasonable supplement for a larger portion. It was good. It came with some sphered crab bisque, lightly jellied cucumber and the only enjoyable samphire I remember eating.

I didn’t fancy dessert so we shared cheese from the set lunch. Six cheeses with some quince paste, tomato confit and some pear chutney were served up with bread and oatcakes.

Presentation was neat and tidy and the flavours were good too. Service was good, helpful and friendly. There were about a dozen people in for lunch. It was decent value and I would go back.

[Harters]

It was pure coincidence that we went to Aumbry on the day that the Good Food Guide declared Mary-Ellen McTague its “up and coming” chef of the year. However, she was not in the kitchen this evening – taking it easier until her baby is born.

I quite liked the vaguely quirky nature of the place. You’re invited upstairs to the lounge area where a drink was served along with a decent cheese beignet and some even better homemade crisps. Downstairs, there’s a smallish dining room – just 26 covers and, in truth, a tad cramped for this number. It means you do get to feel almost part of the next table’s conversation – which means that you can no longer hear the orders being called in the kitchen which is opens onto the room.

There was a nice amuse of two discs of pork, wrapped in air-dried ham, which came with piccalilli. A similarish presentation also appears on the menu proper under starters. Bread was also offered – decent if nothing to write home about.

What was certainly worth writing about was the Bury black pudding Scotch egg. Perfectly runny quail’s egg, wrapped in the black pudding and with a good crisp coating. There are two of them. They sit on a mushroom. The plate is decorated with a slick of home made brown sauce and one of ketchup. Loved them – two is not enough. No, two is really not enough.

The other starter was a lovely light summery starter. Three small quenelles of dressed crab, cucumber jelly, tomato confit and little heap of samphire. This was clever – rich seafood, delicate slithery jelly, the slight crunch of samphire.

We both went for the same main – cannon of Herdwick lamb. To my mind, the tastiest of the local sheep if not always the tenderest – it’s all that running up Cumbrian hills.. We were informed that it was served pink. That would have been fine if it had been. This was past medium but still a lovely bit of meat. It sat on some broad beans, a scattering of crisply fried sweetbreads and a jus. There were a few of the thinnest possible discs of crisp potato artfully arranged into an overlapping circle – again my stomach cried out for “more”. And, in a well judged touch, a small pile of dressed salad leaves. The whole plate came together very well indeed.

One dessert brought a seasonal plate of sliced strawberries accompanied by an olive oil biscuit, strawberry parfait and rose scented panna cotta. Delicious.

Equally good was an unseasonal treacle tart. Again the accompaniments lifted something that otherwise might have been quite ordinary. An Earl Grey ice cream. The Earl Grey also appearing in a teacup of warmed cream. And a little lemon jelly which was an absolute citrusy delight.

Service was generally fine throughout, perhaps the only minor glitch being what seemed a long delay in being offered dessert menus and then orders being taken. Food, aperitifs, three glasses of wine, water, tip brought the bill to just short of £110, which seemed the right value. Nice to have somewhere so good almost on the doorstep – folk with smaller appetites than we have must love it.

[david goodfellow]

Flattering piece in todays Guardian.

Anyone else been recently? Apart from John (Harters)and MalO obviously.

[Soundman]

The piece may be flattering, but shows writing about food isn't as easy as it looks, I found it cringe worthy, especially the line about brown nut butter, and the use of the word 'Moreish' There was a time when there was a clear line between professional journalists and bloggers, that line is getting more blurred and it isn't because the bloggers are getting better!

Hattenstone isn't a bad writer, but I'll be skipping the restaurant reviews in future if he's anything to do with them.

But back on topic, The Aumbry isn't so far from me, maybe it's time to visit...

[david goodfellow]

The Aumbry isn't so far from me, maybe it's time to visit...

I can't wait to read one of your reviews, it will be a first will it not?

[Harters]

The Aumbry isn't so far from me, maybe it's time to visit...

Don't go very hungry.

The reviewer's rellie "had heard portions were small". I hadn't. They are.

[Soundman]

No, I think I've reviewed places in the past, I take no pleasure in writing reviews though, so tend to go for a shorter precis, rather than the napkin sniffing photo taking approach

[ajnicholls]

I went a good while ago and am overdue a trip back. Especially as it's about 2 miles away from me.

Adam

[Infrasonic]

Best restaurant winner at MFDF...

http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Other-Food-Stories/Food-and-Drink-Festival-winners-Aumbry-wins-best-restaurant-_15600.asp

[david goodfellow]

Not sure why its taken us so long to get back here for a meal. Its not so very far away, but still, as always a trek no less.

The name cropped up when in conversation with Marc Wilkinson of Restaurant Fraiche.

Having just managed to obtain a hard to get table at his place, I asked him for suggestions for lunch in and around Manchester. This is the result of that conversation.

Still as cute as ever but having gone through a partial makeover I was interested to see if things had remained as they were or there was any progression.

Since our visit they now have a good value set menu which most of our fellow diners seemed to be eating from. This was also our choice.

I did not take a photo of the very good bread which is freshly baked on the premises. Both white and the malted brown were relished. This is the second time in weeks that we have been served beef dripping with our bread (Aiden Byrne's place). Is it a northern thing? Also on offer were two types of butter, one hand churned one from Williams of Bolton, and a nut brown one from?

This tasty little amuse got the ball rolling for us. Witness potted wild hare ensnared in Cumbrian air dried ham, pickled cucumber and a very pleasant damson jam.

My wife started with the Loch Duart home smoked Salmon, which was served with a mustard cream and toasted rye bread. It was declared to be tasty, as it should really be given its provinance, and whats more she enjoyed not only the salmon but also the rye bread on the plate and all of the bread on offer. That should tell a story as she is not a bready person.

Mushroom soup perhaps sounds a bit boring, but there is mushroom soup and MUSHROOM SOUP and this was the latter.

Huge depth of flavour, essence of mushroom in effect. On top was a tiny dice of toasted chestnuts and the added bonus of a teasing slick of truffle oil. This really was excellent. I was sad to reach the bottom of the bowl.

An unusual dish was on the menu, Oat Groat Porridge? Me neither, and whilst we both fancied the pork dish my curiosity got the better of me so we orderded it as an extra paid course split between us.

What you see is the porridge, bathing in a cauliflower puree with some white onion puree to the side, and a cauliflower cheese beignet.

I know your dying to know how it tasted. It actually tasted rather nice. We were not sure what to expect. It all worked together, the creamy porridge and the beignet with the surprise crunchy sliver if cauliflower lying in wait. Yes we both finished our plates.

The best dish for us was next. Slow cooked shoulder of Gloucester Old Spot Pork. I take it that slow cooked meant sous vide, whatever way it was very tender, nearly melting, but not quite. The aroma as it reached the table had us champing at the bit to get at it. The accompanying black peas and vinegar were interesting. Of course pork requires a bit of apple sauce and there it was.

The pork crackling was not just good, it was very very good. It sort of exploded in the mouth, no chewy bits of course just down to dust in no time. Saucing was good too, we like a bit of sauce, its easy to tire of emulsions all of the time.

Grapefruit posset was one of the desserts. On the spoon is grapefruit sherbet, (eat the sherbet first). We loved the miss matched old English rose type cup and saucer.

There is a growing tendancy to use vegetables in desserts (Tom Aikens) and I worried about the celery ganita, an unusual addition which actually (for us at least) worked quite well. Truth be told it worked better with a spoon of posset taken with it. An unusual but attractive dish nevertheless.

The other "dessert" was actually cheese, and my giddy aunt what a selection. Most restaurants charge a supplement for cheese, think £8, £10, £12. Not here, its included in the price.

Too many to list witness,

Rosary Goats cheese from Witshire, Berkswell, Harbourne blue, etc, etc,

Chutneys were rhubarb, tomato, and quince. Also served were oatcake biscuits.

For a lunch that costs £22 for three courses this is up there with any lunch menu that we have eaten from this year. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so much so that we are booked in next week for an evening meal, proof positive of our approval. Since our last visit they have upped there game somewhat I am pleased to say.

Our bill with an extra course, tip, a couple of glasses of wine and a peroni came to £85, but for just the food and a tip think £50. A very, very good deal indeed for this quality.

Go now.

[ajnicholls]

Going tomorrow for my birthday dinner and again with Thom, Bapi and Gary Marshall later in March. Aumbry has blown me away on a good number of occasions. Can't wait.

[david goodfellow]

Going tomorrow for my birthday dinner and again with Thom, Bapi and Gary Marshall later in March. Aumbry has blown me away on a good number of occasions. Can't wait.

The Fab Four reunion dinner sounds like a boozy wine affair Adam . Glad I'm not paying the bill.

Happy Birthday and enjoy tonight's meal.

[Harters]

Have a great time. Please tell us about it - I need convincing to have a return visit and not feel the need to get a bag of chips on the way home.

[nickloman]

David, this place looks brilliant! If I'm ever in the area this looks like a must visit ... (unlikely, I suppose). I really like the presentation of the food. Simple rather than minimalist - and very appetising looking.

[ajnicholls]

Really great meal there on Saturday night. Late table so dinner ran on well past midnight. That, and my insistance on the 9-course tasting menu. No photos I'm afraid.

Amuse was the same as David's. Rich hare and a good all round start. Bread is made there and simple, but very tasty. Served with beef dripping and roasting juices and 2 butters - salted and a beurre noisette one. Both had been whipped and were extremely light. The beurre noisette butter may be the most addictive thing I've tasted in a bloody long time!

1st course proper was home smoked mackerel with rhubarb and a slightly sweet mustard sauce. This both looked and tasted fantastic and is a regular on the menu there. Well worth ordering if you're alc or on the lunch menu.

Bury black pudding quail's eggs followed which they have been doing since they opened. My idea of food heaven, if not my dining partner's due to an aversion to black pudding.

Also had the cauliflower and oat groat porridge. This was the only down point of the meal. Really didn't like either the flavour or the texture of this dish. Went back half eaten as really wasn't my thing.

Fish marked a huge up-turn with turbot with frog's legs and a smoked eel pudding. Saucing was a vin jaune infused burre blanc and parsley root. This was just gorgeous. Decent tranche of turbot which I believe they sous vide and then roast. The frog's legs had been crumbed and fried and all served with a small pudding of smoaked eel. This was sublime. All the flavours worked harmoniously.

Meat course was hare. Loin and a sausage of the leg meat mixed with pig trotter. A deep sauce of roasting juices and a puree of pumpkin. Never had hare. My god, I want to again and soon!

Palate cleansing pre-dessert was the grapefruit posset with celery granita and grapefruit sherbert. All worked and was very refreshing. Sherbert similar to the pine one at TFD.

Cheese was a good choice. 6 in all - goat, ewe, Berkswell, Grubeen, a blue goat's cheese and a very strong but unable to remember blue that was amazing. Served with the same chutneys and quince jelly in the post above.

Last but not least was a quince tart with yoghurt ice cream, honey and almond biscuit. A fantastic finish to the meal.

Petit fours were chocolate truffles with rosemary and quince pastilles.

Decent bottle of white burgundy accompanied.

The 9-course isn't cheap for Manchester but represents very good value when you consider the quality of the cooking. There is a huge amount of skill that is on show from the kitchen and is one of the few places in the Manchester area that can cook food of this quality. I'm a huge fan and can only encourage people to go. It's well worth it and belies the somewhat odd appearance of a restaurant in a small cottage house in Prestwich.

Adam

[david goodfellow]

Well, very unusual for us, and indeed for most people, we made a very swift return here.

What got us back so soon was the Tuesday special, a five course tasting menu for twenty five english pounds? Now thats got your attention.

First though before I start I must apologise for the picture quality. We chose what we thought would be perhaps the most discrete corner table. However the light was so bad we could not read the menu without holding the candle to it. Resolute not to use flash I was hopeful that they could be rescued.

Having said all that the birthday party of nine at the table next to us "flashed" merrily away and no one batted an eyelid, so I may alter my stance in future depending on location.

Now then, the menu was virtually the same as we ate last week but thankfully the attentive staff remembered and altered it a bit so that we did not repeat what we had already eaten. We had most of what Adam ate above and I am in admiration of his memory. Mine is like a sieve.

Some tasty little bites were placed out for us, parsnip crisps, and a couple of Dolphinholme smoked cheese gougeres.

The bread and butters were still the same of course. Fantastic crust, the type that when you bite down hard and it disintigrates, you wonder if a bit of your moler has gone with it.

The amuse was the same potted hare from last week although this time a tiny morsel.

The first course proper was a variation on a theme, Home smoked mackerel served with a poached rhubarb jelly (poached in cointreau and grenadine) and mustard cream. Oh and some toasted rye bread.

Now then, this just really all worked together, wonderful fish, not as much in your face as mackerel can sometimes be. A bit of sweet and a bit of sour from the cream and the jelly. Jolly good stuff. A very nice eat.

Ever the gent I let my wife choose the Mushrooms and snails served with birch powder (no, me neither) malt loaf and curds rolled in hay ash. Top quality produce on show, great mushroom selection, big meaty, dare I say slimey cep, don't really know how best to describe the snails. I suppose like the mushrooms really, "earthy".

Celeriac soup with toasted chestnuts and truffle oil was in my opinion not as enjoyable as the mushroom soup we ate last week, but that was a very hard act to follow indeed. I could have had a fight with the toasted chestnuts but I would have lost, as some of them were harder than me.

I cheekily asked for another slice of the lovely bread.

Next up was Turbot and wow this smelled wonderful. It arrived behind me and the aroma made me turn around to see if the dish was at the next table. Meaty and well flavoured I had to restrict myself from wolfing it down, it was a smell the roses moment.

My wife chose the Hare as described above by Adam.

Now again hare is very rarely on menus but you must try it if it is. You know when you see pictures of hares knocking the sh-t out of each other, well this one never flexed a muscle during its life.

Melting is overused to describe meat but here by golly its correct. Sous vide for thirty minutes? and flashed under the grill I need a day in this kitchen to see what I can do with the one which I have in my freezer.

Desserts next and my choice was Quince tart, with nitro poached honey yogurt, topped with bee pollen, a daquise biscuit and quice coulis.

Ever tried biting into a quince? My giddy aunt, bitter, you bet. Can't even hazzard a guess as to how much sugar was in this tart to get it to this balance of sweetness.

Don't you find nitro poached yogurt and bee pollen a bit much after a while?

We have it most days of course

Across the table was Beetroot and dark cocoa cake served with a beetroot marshmallow, dehydrated ? bee pollen, ? snow. Too much for a layman to take in.

Declared "very pleasant".

Well again I'm far from happy with my photos but at least you have chance to see the layout on the plate and the somwhat distinctive style of the kitchen. For us the room is too dark, we like seeing what we are eating or at the very least to be able to read the menu without holding a candle to it. Next time we are here a seat next to the kitchen is in order to borrow a bit of that light.

Positives next. Its great to see a restaurant turning tables on a Tuesday night. Ok so profit drops and you give your customers premium product that other customers pay top money for on a weekend, but this is recession hit Britain, so go with the flow. Best to have a full restaurant on one of the quietest days of the week than have staff standing about twiddling their thumbs, looking for stuff to do.

As you may gather another enjoyable meal, many highs, no lows as such, and a big reccomend.

Service was very pleasant, as was on our last visit, but because of the pressure of a full restaurant we were left to our own devices over wine and water. No big deal of course we can easily fend for ourselves.

Sad to say they have dropped some of the lunch services, sign of the times perhaps?

We passed a TGI Fridays on our drive home and I said to the Mrs "Thats wrong, they ought to change that to....... TFI Tuesdays"

[david goodfellow]

Ok, so I have lightened those pics as best I can. I have recently started using Picassa but for some reason or other the edited ones that I lightened up did not attach to the original post, so I did these in windows instead.

They are far below the standard that I would normall post but at least you can now make out a bit more detail.

[sped98]

Finally got around to visiting Aumbry last week....well overdue.We chose the £65 tasting menu which really was good value considering what we actually got....about 15 courses in all. Mary Ellen came out to see us and spent 20 minutes giving us the industry gossip , nice lady.

I wont really parp on about Aumbry`s history as its already been mentioned umpteen times. I`ll definitely return , even if it`s just to sample the Plaice dish with Oyster pudding....Amazing pudding , highlight of my meal which is great for someone that could never stomach an Oyster....im converted.

Keep up the good work.

Cheese gougere.

Little amuse buche , Prawn burger.

Hot Beef juice and dripping ( just for the bread )

Duck egg yolk and Malt loaf.

Bury Black pudding Scotch egg , Tomato ketchup and Mushroom relish.

Home smoked Mackerel , poached Rhubarb and mustard cream.

Potato and wild garlic soup with English truffle oil.

Cauliflower and Oat groat Porage , seared Grelots and Cauliflower beignet.

Poached Plaice , Oyster pudding , sea aster, peppermint , verjus and sea purslaine.

Milk fed Cumbrian Lamb , spring vegetables , witch hill potatoes and roasting juices.

Cumbrian wood Pigeon , grilled Grelot , braised chicory , Lemon balm and Barley grass.

Selection of British and Irish cheeses.

Grapefruit possett , Celery granita & Sherbet.

Beetroot and Chocolate cake , Caraway, hazelnut , and bee pollen.

Apple tart , Heaton park honey , yoghurt , bay and almond.

Trifle with almond sponge base soaked in Colosia Moscatel with Chamomile custard, apricot jelly and moscatel syllabub.