I had the pleasure earlier this summer of visiting one of Manchester's "best" restaurants, Manchester house. Located in one of Spinningfields many high rise towers, Manchester House is quite literally on 'another level'. I was quite excited for this meal, as not only was it my first tasting menu but the meal also coincided on my birthday. As this was a tasting menu of 14 courses I won't bore you with an in-depth review of all the dishes individually, rather I shall give an overview of the experience picking out highlights along the way.
A brief insight- Manchester House is one of Michelin stared chef Aiden Byrne's restaurants, however the restaurant itself does not hold any stars as of yet.
Upon arrival at Manchester House you are checked in downstairs in the lobby before entering the lift up to the restaurant, where your coats are taken and you're handed over to the care of the waiting staff. My dad being the character he is, managed to get us a spacious corner table overlooking the restaurant floor and beautiful views of the buzzing Saturday night events in Spinningfields below. He even manage to get me a birthday card signed from Aiden himself without me knowing, which was a nice addition to the night.
Each table was designated a waiter for the evening, this allowed a more personal connection to be made between diner and staff, as you always had the same waiter throughout the night, which is a level of customer care I had not ever experienced before in a restaurant. To be honest it felt a bit intense at first because you felt like they were always there, watching you, waiting to see if they needed to come and top your drinks up, etc. However, when it came to the actual meal it made their presence understandable, as with a 14 course tasting menu it is this waiter would also be the one who explained each dish to the table as it was being served, acting as almost a narrator for the night. With each course came an optional complementing wine, which of course I opted for. It was my birthday after all.
(Mushroom canapé, Razor clam, Crisp chicken skin, foie gras mousse and aged parmesan)
The first three courses were served together and I think we can all agree that the level of presentation of these dishes were spectacles in themselves. I can not for the life of me remember all the "fancy" names of these dishes so a summary description will have to do. In the left side of the above image is a mushroom based canapé, razor clam in the middle and smoked chicken skin and parmesan on the end. In my opinion, these particular dishes looked better than they tasted (I am not a fan of mushrooms or fish) but I'm sure other people would appreciate them more. However, the chicken skin and Parmesan canapé was excellent, regardless of being somewhat rich.
(Ribblesdale goats cheese and onion soup with Jabugo ham)
This soup course was one of the highlights of the night and possibly the best soup I've ever tasted. In essence it was a goat's cheese and onion soup, but, as promised, a 'new level' of soup. As you can see from the left image above it was presented to us as a frozen onion and stock flavourings, then the waiter poured over a hot goat's cheese cream, which then, combined with the frozen flavourings made one of the nicest richest soups I've ever tasted. Only a genius in the kitchen could have created this.
(Roasted pigeon with flavours of cherry)
The above image looked like one of the more simple dishes of the evening, however it was packed with hidden culinary surprises. Simply put, this is pigeon with flavours of cherry. Putting aside the perfectly cooked slice of pigeon breast, there is a cherry sauce, cherry mouse in the shape of a real cherry and a cherry and aniseed sorbet sat upon a ginger biscuit. I must admit, although it was all very pleasing flavour wise the cold sorbet with warm food was a little strange on the palate.
(Cured red mullet, confit tomato and mustard)
Just to be sure that there is no doubt that this is a fair review, I could not leave out what I feel was my least favourite fish dish of the night. If you love sushi I'm sure this dish was right up your street, however, for me this red mullet was a quick chew, swallow and reach for the glass of wine job. On the positive side it looked fantastic and I can say I ate everything on the menu. There was bound to be one dish out of 14 that was not to my liking and this was it. But each to their own, I suppose.
(Braised Ox cheek)
Before I start on this next dish, can I just say that I love these plates? That aside this dish was the braised Ox cheek. It was so perfectly rendered down and so tender it literally melted in the mouth. Paired with its rich gravy it really was the king of main dishes.
(Manchester tart ice cream)
Manchester Tart! This is Aiden's twist on the famous Manchester tart; the Manchester Tart ice cream! You maybe thinking the dry ice was just a way to show off and yes, it was exactly that, but have you ever had dry ice that smelled like bananas? It not only looked cool it actually added to the flavour experience of the dish! It was truly a spectacle you have to experience. Id return just for this dish alone.
As I said at the start of their review I was only going to cover some of the highlights, otherwise it would have gone on forever and lets face it, you'd get bored. However, I can say even though I didn't like all of the dishes, it was still one of the best meals of my life. Not only was the food amazing, the staff were all helpful, pleasant and had great knowledge of all the dishes and wines in depth.
The biggest thing I took away for this meal is that it was not just a meal, it was an experience. It taught me that food is not just food, its art, its entertainment, its an expression. Food is whatever you want it to be and I think Aiden creates this "experience" for people as an expression of himself and his cooking style and he does it excellently!
As this was only an overview of some of the dishes, these are all the photos I took at Manchester House are below.
