Juniper Restaurant

[Carlovski]

I know it is probably a bit far up north for most of you!

I inadvertantly started a bit of unsubstantiated abuse against the place in the general food topics forum - see Here.

Can anyone stand up for the place? I haven't been either.

[thom]

Hello,

Just done a mildly ranty response to the original thread.

I've eaten at Juniper, in the company of that esteemed restaurant scribe Mr Jay Rayner. I didn't let that spoil things though, and actually had a great night.

We ordered an 8 course tasting menu, but actually ended up having 35 dishes. Unbelivable... The lady FOH (Paul, the chef's, wife) said he often does this, as he very much follows his inspiration in the kitchen, and once he's 'in the zone' he gets carried away.

We started off with 'spaghetti puree', which was seemed to be tomato pasta pureed and then piped onto a big white plate in the form of the word spaghetti. Tasted ok, but very silly.

Dishes came thick and fast after that. As noted in the other thread you couldn't help but get swept up in his sense of fun, but the menu was also a little chaotic and this did become exhausting. Consecutive dishes clashed, and certain elements (curried mayonaises) appeared much to often.

Some of the dishes I disliked (curried aubergine fudge), some were just lunacy ('powders', which was a selection of tiny piles of coloured powders all over a plate - could be saffron or coffee, powdered red pepper or salt, you just wet your finger and dabbed).

Where the dishes were good though they were outstanding. A couple of the shot foams (old news, but hey) stood out, particularly the mango and beetroot, and the the saddle of rabbit, beef and salmon were each beautiful. Special mention also to the 'hot cross bun souffle' which was so good and witty I cant believe other chefs havent ripped it off yet.

On the whole I did enjoy the meal, but by the end I was a little jaded. If I could have cut out the dishes that were just 'background distraction' and focus on the goodies then it would have been a very special meal indeed. If I could pick my own eight dishes and make him promise to leave the mayonaise pot shut I would be back again like a shot.

Paul is a very good chef, doing some wonderful edge-of-your-seat cooking, but I think the whacky side cheapens it, and places him some way behind the steely, obsessive dicipline of Ferran and Heston.

The service was lovely, even though they could occasionally not stifle the grin as they read out the increasingly bizarre dish titles. The decor is a bit dark and quirky, and as a suburban restaurant in a mediocre suburb of South Manchester/North Cheshire the clientele is a bit eclectic and not always as appreciative as they should be.

Paul's a great guy, and if you haven't there and fancy a interesting culinary adventure then I would definitely give it a try. Ramsay and many others think the guys is a genius, Michelin have given him a star, and they cant all be wrong.

Cheers

Thom

[Carlovski]

Thom, Cheers for adding a bit of objectivity - those Americans take there steak seriously don't they!

I'll have to give it a go when I am next back in Manchester, but I doubt any of my Family would be overly impressed (Probably have toget a bag of chips on the way home!)

[thom]

Cheers for that Carlovski,

I know how your family feels. One of the first £40+ a head meals I paid for myself (as a proper 22 year old grown-up) was at Oliver Peytons very cool but now defunct Air restaurant (top floor of Mash+Air).

We had a very three course nice meal, amuse, petit four and plenty of cocktails but I still had to get off the number 42 bus in Rushmolme on the way home and drunkenly eat a Sajaan kebab.

As is tradition, I thought at the time I had successfully worked some origami magic to contain the kebab contents in the wrapper as I ate it, but in the morning I found scralet tikka juice on my jeans and shoes. How does it get there?

Cheers

Thom

[Mrs Woman]

I have also eaten at Juniper but had nowhere near the feast Thom had, although mine was for free Again, can't really remember much except a fantastically cooked chicken breast surrounded by blobs of unidentified yet tasty sauces, a great piece of sea bass, and an individual lemon tart.

My original thread is here.

[Carlovski]

Ah, Rusholme.

The true culinary centre of Manchester!

[Suzi Edwards]

i'm so glad we've got a thread about this place. andy's been keeping me amused with stories of it at each burger club.

[Andy Lynes]

Oh dear, have I been repeating myself?

[Suzi Edwards]

Oh dear, have I been repeating myself?

no, not at all. it's just like when i find a desert i like and i have to have it all the time...whenever i see you i make you tell me about spaghetti written in curried mayonaise.

even typing it makes me smile.

[adt]

Had lunch at Juniper recently and thought someone might be interested to hear what they’re up to with their tasting menu these days.

The first onslaught was a battery of tiny amuses, rapidly arriving and departing on a small rectangular white plates. Various squiggles of essences and combinations – basil and dehydrated banana slice, aubergine (these respectively a ‘B’ and an ‘A’ shaped squiggle as a helpful aide-memoire), apple squiggle with dehydrated spinach leaf, fig with dehydrated banana, two things collectively akin to a cereal and dried fruit bar, and yoghurt with dried capers. And probably something else I’ve forgotten.

Some of these were excellent. The yogurt with tiny, crunchy, salty capers was strangely pleasing – the capers were crispy skinned and reminiscent of miniaturised salty pistachios, and suited the particularly sour yoghurt. Also remarkable was the level of flavour extracted from a single spinach leaf. However, overall there were too many dishes of the same construction (a squiggle of typically cream-like, pastel-coloured and fairly intensely flavoured sauce/puree/essence/whatever-you-call-it, with a dehydrated item of some sort of other). Some of the dehydrated fruits were a bit chewy, like they’d used one of those food dehydrators they hawk at food fairs, which turn perfectly nice fruit into cardboard.

Also, some of the flavours could have been more intense – particularly the aubergine, which danced alone and therefore needed a bit more roasted aubergine kick and rather less background vinegar. Still, all interesting and great fun.

It was perhaps unfortunate that this overload of dried and dehydrated items was followed, after a pleasing teacup of rather yoghurty gazpacho, by some chewy dried beef with dried fig. A nice enough play on congruent textures in other circumstances.

It did make the relief offered by the next dish all the greater: an beautiful, opulent little cup of green pea-flavoured froth over some sort of savoury custard. This was delicious, although its accompanying dehydrated onion slice was rather bitter in combination.

This was followed by a very successful cube (ceramic) filled with caviar and a yeast froth. A simple and very effective combination that gave body to the dish as a whole without detracting one iota from the pleasure of the caviar. A tiny piece of salted chocolate was a good (if rather stingy) accompaniment, being partly made up of white chocolate - now de-rigueur for caviar?

Next up was some evidence of classical grounding – not sure how it was described, but essentially it was a teacup containing langoustine cappuccino, green pea oil and whole peas. The cappuccino was richly flavoured and itself somewhat yeasty – extremely similar to the article of the same name they ladle over the crab lasagne at The Capital, but more successful, I felt, in its combination with the peas.

Next, a tiny piece of artichoke heart with a tomato-based puree and argan oil. Puree an odd mix of raw tomatoey freshness and cooked tinnedness. Didn’t really get this course.

The ‘peas with froth’ theme resumed in the next course, a playful little plate of fish, chips and tomato ketchup comprising a tiny piece of barely-cooked salmon, two tiny uncoloured, soggy chips, peas laced with a touch of buttery froth, and what tasted very much like real Heinz tomato ketchup. The chips were great (but stingy again) and fitted the pastiche well, and the overall combination, if too understated on the butter front, was entertaining and enjoyable.

The savoury crescendo peaked on a delightfully messy combination of rare/blue beef fillet, carrots, mangetouts, carrot foam, oil, basil ‘cream’ (as per the earlier amuse) and crispy dried ham. The combination was pretty pleasing, although not symbiotic, and the meat was nicely dark and densely textured. The rather fluorescent green of the basil cream didn’t ‘go’ aesthetically.

Next came Fourme D'Ambert in good condition, with a charming little tin of childhood-memory biscuits – tucs, hob nobs etc., connecting with the earlier Heinz playfulness. Then, a tiny plastic medicine glass of liquorice milk, which seemed to have a touch of vanilla about it, and was pleasant and somewhat medicinal (fittingly, I suppose).

Next a sweet, intense bucks fizz sorbet, topped with sour yoghurt and a rather pointless little dot of apricot. The childhood theme was, perhaps unintentionally, resumed, the sorbet being reminiscent of being allowed orange squash scarcely diluted, rather than the usual watery ratio.

Next, a sound crème brulee, the sugar pleasingly thin and crisp, but the advertised earl grey flavour far too subtle for me. This was followed by a tart of some sort, and petit fours, both of which I had to take with me as I was running out of time. (I had asked if the tasting menu could be fitted into a relatively short time slot, which was done very efficiently, although from the attitude of the place it wouldn’t have surprised me if even more courses had appeared, were this constraint lifted). I should mention that the staff were extremely friendly, and the whole place nicely informal, I felt a real affinity for it straight away.

Overall, a very interesting and enjoyable lunch, with some real high points. I’m undecided on the thematic elements running through the meal, which at times were verging on repetitiveness. Also, there’s too much dehydrated stuff, and overall rather too much emphasis on small, starchless components, which didn’t leave a concrete sense of satisfaction. I don’t normally leave so craving a mashed potato and chip sandwich after a tasting menu – not through hunger (the desserts portions were relatively large) but through desire for a bit more ‘solidity’. I’d like to go back in the evening and do the conventional meal/two starters thing, to see how his cooking translates.

Oh yes, the petit fours, or chocolates rather, turned out to be a simple but absolutely gorgeous substance somewhere between ganache and caramel, just dusted with cocoa. He could do a line in these, they’re in a different world to those atrocious supermarket ‘just desserts’ that Ramsay (oddly) allows his name to be put to.

[Rian]

Ate at Juniper for a joint celebration last Saturday evening. We arrived on time for a 7.30 table and were immediately led downstairs to the bar area to peruse the menu. The bar itself was cosy enough. I had a glass of the house champagne with the Japanese rice crackers on offer. The waitress forgot to put gin in my brother’s gin and tonic, but she was nice about it, so we’ll let her off. Having swiftly decided on the Gourmet Surprise menu, we had a brief discussion with the same waitress regarding wine (there seems to be no real sommelier here) and settled for a Gewürztraminer on the basis that there would be only a single red meat course.

The dining room itself is intimate, but there were enough occupied tables to give the place some vibrancy. This is no place for hushed tones. A platter of bread arrived which the staff struggled to manoeuvre onto the table, nervously. The front of house is young, and the service throughout was a little jittery. Bread itself was ok, uniform slices of soft brown. Good butter.

First dish: red pepper gazpacho with a white chocolate biscuit

To kick-off, a pairing of savoury and sweet which was to pervade the whole meal. The gazpacho was sharp and sweet, seasoned in part by a floating caper. Accompanying biscuits were nice enough – chewy in a flapjack kind of way – though we were puzzled as to what they added to the dish as a whole. Almost immediately we had a ‘gift from the chef’. ‘Gift’ is dubious: dried banana with dried mushroom and blackberry. Now, I’m a fan of dried fruits (and ‘shrooms) but these were sliced so thinly that they had taken on the feel of stale fruit n’ fibre (don’t ask). It seems that Kitching has not lost his taste for dehydration since adt visited last year.

Cottage cheese, tomato jelly, avruga caviar and cheese foam: possibly my favourite dish of the evening, this was the second of 6 shot-glasses we received. I think it was the friction of textures that did it for me – the frothiness of the foam, the creamy cottage cheese, sweet, thick jelly, and the soft saline burst of caviar. This was the first demonstration of Kitching’s ability to give a real depth of flavour to the fashionable foam.

Grape juice with yeast foam: another course, another shot glass. Again the foam was very good, threatening to taste of marmite but pulling back at the last minute. Strong, stocky flavour. In combination with the light sweetness of the juice, an accomplished dish.

Gruyere risotto with cardamom and salted chocolate: the first real course of the evening, thankfully, since at this point my siblings wondered whether they were going to have to neck their 12 course meal from shot glasses. The surface had been caramelised, and they’d thrown in a couple of dried blueberries, natch. That said, the risotto was perfectly cooked and the cardamom added a subtle fragrance. I love salted chocolate, but this piece was a. very small, b. irrelevant, and c. milk chocolate.

Carrot soup with black truffle: a surprisingly pedestrian effort at this stage, but one that had us all smiling and scraping the insides of our teacups. The truffle lifted the vegetable from the earthy to the ethereal without dominating it. I think they had used a combination of truffle oil and truffle juice.

Trout with barley, mint, prune and dried fruits: a collective sigh of relief when they removed our spoons and set down knives and forks. Even I was beginning to tire a little of the sweet/savoury malarkey, but an ancillary advantage was that a couple of bottles of the gewurtz. carried us through the whole meal. The red barley was underseasoned and added little more than a textural interest. The mint leaf had been deep fried, I think, and it crackled against the soft prune. Trout was perfectly cooked – moist and pearlescent.

Turbot with apricot puree, caramelised almond, parsley oil, and smoked salmon: turbot is a strong fish, robust enough to hold its own with a number of combinations. Even so, this dish only just came together satisfactorily. Once more, the fish had been perfectly cooked, and I could happily haven eaten the fillet unaccompanied. A cube of salmon added the oily flavour of the sea that the turbot lacked, and I think that the former lent itself better to the juxtaposition of sweet flavours.

Chicken boudin blanc with white cookie and curry sauce: another example of Kitching’s ability to extract and distil flavour, this boudin blanc tasted more of chicken than a lot of chicken I’ve had recently. The foaming curry sauce was light and fragrant, spiked with a little asafoetida. In this case, the presence of the cookie was less jarring. This was in part because the softness of the boudin required some textural friction, and also because the cookie had been laced with ginger, providing a common theme.

Fillet of beef with custard tart, button mushrooms, fondant potato, mushroom parchment, and a balsamic sauce: fondant potato was perfectly cooked (though I find in general in tends towards blandness) and provided a nice, firm contrast to the soft mushrooms. Perhaps I have a philistine palate, but the ‘parchment’ tasted of rice paper and little else. I love mushrooms, and here they were soft, woody, and well seasoned. The meat itself was fantastic: rich, tender, perfectly cooked, and lifted by the sticky balsamic reduction. Finally, the sweet, eggy custard tart was tasty enough in itself, but failed to assimilate itself successfully into the dish as a whole. I need to give more though to this combination – has anyone else had this dish?

Cheese from Jeraboams: disappointing, though not unexpected - I live about 10 minutes walk from Jeraboams and have not once been in to buy cheese. We were more excited about the fig rolls in the biscuit tin.

Butterscotch milk: the thin consistency of cold milk with the thick, teeth sticking taste of caramel. Reminded me a little of a condensed milk dessert we used to have on trips to Bangladesh.

Buck’s fizz sorbet arrived mounted by a swirling layer of yoghurt, as adt described. It was the best of the final three sweet dishes, the tartness of the sorbet cutting through the cream.

Lemon tart inspired no complaints, but no sighs of pleasure, either. It was a solid dish, with a light and crisp base, but no more than that.

Mango crème brulee was light and creamy, and riddled with fragments of mango. The surface gave a satisfying crackle. One criticism was that the tart and the brule were too similar – they slightly sharp, sweet body beneath a caramel crust. In fact, we felt a little citrus overload towards the end of the meal. Desserts were a disappointment, especially given a. the obvious skill of the pastry chef and b. the interest in sweet flavours throughout the meal.

Petits fours of truffles and mini chocolate tarts were nice enough, and the kitchen clearly has a pastry chef of some skill.

The wine list is a decent size and offers a number of half-bottles, decently priced. For a real celebration, Krug ’88 is on the list at a remarkable £115. As a point of comparison, on Monday it was on The Ledbury’s list at £270. Ouch.

Overall, this was a frustrating a slightly disappointing meal. I am very much of the mind that one visits a restaurant for an experience, not simply for 12 plates of sustenance. Juniper is fun, and laid-back (the diners seem to take the food more seriously than the restaurant), and serves up many playful combinations. Some work, many don’t, but there is intelligence in the cooking, and it’s liberating to take the ride. On the other hand, I would be more inclined to revisit this ‘destination’ restaurant if more of the dishes were coherent. The Fat Duck is similarly playful and theatrical, but serves up far more hits than misses (granted, at a much higher cost). The experience resonated with something I read in The French Laundry Cookbook a couple of days ago. Keller says that he serves 'five to ten small courses, each meant to satisfy your appetite and pique your curiosity. I want you to say, "God, I wish I had just one more bite of that".' At best, only 2 or 3 of Kitching's dishes inspired such a response.

The Gourmet Surprise menu is £65 for 12 courses, with a few ‘gifts’ thrown in. Our dinner for 5 with aperitifs, 2 bottles of wine, a couple of glasses of port, and some Italian dessert wine for me, came to about £450.

Edited March 26, 2006 by Rian (log)

[Bapi]

Rian that is superb- many thanks for your post.

Rather scarily -I was asking the missus whether she wanted to go to Juniper just as I was logging this evening on and lo' and behold there was your post !

I have to say that the Beef fillet and Custard tart is a quite insane combination. But the turbot dish looked excellent.

[muichoi]

Great and informative post, though to me this kind of cooking is just illiterate on many different levels. Why?it's so boring.

[Winot]

Great review.

"moist and pearlescent"

Love it.

[Andy Lynes]

Great and informative post, though to me this kind of cooking is just illiterate on many different levels. Why?it's so boring.

←

Can cooking be literate? I don't understand your point.

[Andy Lynes]

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Nope, I don't get it.

[Rian]

Rian that is superb- many thanks for your post.

Rather scarily -I was asking the missus whether she wanted to go to Juniper just as I was logging this evening on and lo' and behold there was your post !

I have to say that the Beef fillet and Custard tart is a quite insane combination. But the turbot dish looked excellent.

←

Bapi, thanks for your compliments, an encouraging response to my first real post. If you have never visited before then I would always urge you to give it a try at least, simply to expand one's horizon of experiences. That said, it probably speaks volumes that (my London location notwithstanding) I couldn't see myself returning in the near future. The Gourmet Surprise menu assimilates many elements of the a la carte, and, as I said, there were few dishes which had me yearning for a 'full-size' portion. The turbot, though, was one of these.

I have a copy of the A La Carte if you'd like an indication of that, Bapi.

Thanks also to Winot and muichoi for your positive responses. I was rather proud of 'pearlescent'.

[Winot]

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Custard tart and beef fillet?

Nope, I don't get it.

←

Been at the Kingsley Amis again Andy?

[culinary bear]

Been at the Kingsley Amis again Andy? 

←

No, the Wendy Cope

[Andy Lynes]

Great review.

"moist and pearlescent"

Love it.

←

I felt moist and pearlescent just reading it.

[Bapi]

Way too much information Mr Lynes

[Bapi]

Bapi, thanks for your compliments, an encouraging response to my first real post. If you have never visited before then I would always urge you to give it a try at least, simply to expand one's horizon of experiences. That said, it probably speaks volumes that (my London location notwithstanding) I couldn't see myself returning in the near future. The Gourmet Surprise menu assimilates many elements of the a la carte, and, as I said, there were few dishes which had me yearning for a 'full-size' portion. The turbot, though, was one of these.

I have a copy of the A La Carte if you'd like an indication of that, Bapi.

←

You are welcome Rian. I am tempted to go - but in all honesty- your Tasting menu did rather scare me. I would like to look at the a la carte if possible thanks as that may be a better choice for us. Although rather hypocritically, a recent similarly challenging a la carte meal at L' Enclume ,made my wife and I think we would have been better opting for their tasting menu.

Of course we will go at some point- living only half an hour away I would be an idiot not to try it. I am begining to worry though. What was I thinking about when I got into bed last night?

What did that poor chap Norman Kember have to suffer?

When will Blair retire as PM?

What's it like to be snuggled up to Kylie?

Nope- "Beef Fillet and custard tart- what's that like then?"

[Rian]

The current (or should that be currant?) a la carte is as follows, with parentheses as they appear on the menu:

Starters

Creamy carrot soup, 'Fruit and Nut', Granny Smith Apple Puree, Truffle Oil

Warm Scallops, Welsh Rarebit, Prunes, Curried Cream, Yoghurt

Creamy Gruyere Cheese Risotto, Chilled Avruga Caviar, Mushroom Parchment, Pimento (Simple Flavours)

Butter Baked Trout Fillet, Smoked Salmon Beignet, Saffron Soaked Apricot, Smoked Almonds, Shellfish Butter (Spring Flavours)

Gateau of Haggis, Swede Brunoise, Drambuie Soaked Sultanas, Oatmeal, Toasted Buttered Crumpet, Horseradish Cream ('Scotland the Brave')

'Boudin Blanc', Black Pudding Crisps, Blue Cheese Biscuit, Smokey Bacon, Black Olive Gateau, Yeast Cream (£5 supp.)

Mains

Baked Fillets of Turbot, Savoy Cabbage, Lemon Tart, Olive and Onion 'Gateau', Red Barley, Kipper Glaze (£5 supp.)

Seabass 'Battenburg' (sic.), Green Olives, Peas, Fig Puree, Sweet Mint Glaze (A Spring Dish)

Slow Roasted Fillet of Local Pork cooked through, Wild Rice, Saffron Aubergine Chunks, Feta Cheese, Garlic Beignet, Earl Grey Glaze

Tender Cooked Beef Fillet, Assiette of Mushrooms, Custard Tart, New Potato, Truffle and Madeira Glaze

Best end of Lamb, Saffron Noodles, Tomato and Pimento Gateau, Brazil Nut Shortbread, Rosemary and White Chocolate Drops Glaze (£5 supp.)

Desserts

French Cheese from Jeraboams (£5 supp.)

Juniper Specialty Individual Classical Glazed Lemon Tart

Milk Chocolate Tart, Salty Chocolate, Mango Creme Brulee, White Chocolate Cookie Ice-Cream

Crushed Hob Nob Creme Brulee, Classical Tiramisu, English Trifle, Oatmeal Ice Cream

'Grand Assiette of Juniper Desserts' - Selection of 7 Desserts (£7 supp.)

Coffee & PF £3.75 or Warm Creme Anglaise, Vanilla, Chocolate Drops £6

3 courses, £40

A fair few tarts and gateaux in the mix, even on the a la carte. The mind boggles. Hardly less scary than the tasting menu, Bapi, as you can see.

I hope this helps.

[muichoi]

Great and informative post, though to me this kind of cooking is just illiterate on many different levels. Why?it's so boring.

←

Can cooking be literate? I don't understand your point.

←

Of course it can. This food isn't. It has no basis in anything at all in any gastronomic culture, though it thinks it has.

[adt]

Of course it can. This food isn't. It has no basis in anything at all in any gastronomic culture, though it thinks it has.

I quite agree about the "literacy" of cooking (indeed, the parallels between gastronomy and literature are considerable), but I can't understand this comment - of course the food has its basis in gastronomic culture, both recent and classical. It is impossible for a seriously-intentioned chef to construct a menu without countless interweaved influences from "the tradition", it is a matter of the degree of agonistic challenge and reinvention that the contemporary chef brings to bear upon the canon. The degree at Juniper is significant, and its success may be compromised by inelegance or lack of judiciousness - indeed, you may believe the consequence to be a complete "artistic" (culinary) failure. However, my experience of the cooking convinced me that it's not just a case of a menu that "thinks it has" a basis in gastronomic culture, but a technique applied in the preparation of the food that reveals this to be a sham. It's divergent and not always successful, but it seems to me that its basis in gastronomic culture is indisputable.