Calcio’s a game of two halves – retro sports bar and shrine to Brazilian new wave cuisine!
Casting a quizzical eye over Manchester’s Northern Quarter in this summer of riots and rain I’m struck by the febrile reinvention of bars. PLY in Stevenson Square is a month away from re-emerging as The Salmon of Knowledge, aka an Irish joint where crispy buttermilk fried chicken boxty stacks will soak up a stoutfest of Guinness and and Cork rival Murphy’s. The equally longwinded The Lamb of Tartary (once Cottonopolis), which launched in February under the stewardship of Manchester Chef of the Year Shaun Moffat, has now turned to a ‘Silk Road Menu’ – small dishes fuelled by spices from China to the Middle East.
On the surface, then, it’s no surprise to see Calcio sports bar on Dale Street turning out a Brazilian menu. Except there is no shadow of cultural appropriation hanging over Caroline Martins’ SAMPA tasting menu. Indeed some of the unfamiliar ingredients featuring may well have made it into the hold luggage after a recent visit to her native São Paulo. Cupuacu, calamansi, cumari chilli peppers, the cassava powder farafa are all imported, though the requeijao cream cheese for the dip that accompanies her crudités is, I believe sourced in the UK. It tumbles like some Amazon waterfall from a plant pot stuffed with immaculately sourced raw corn, celery, lettuce and, a further touch of the exotic, physalis.
Corn shows up again in the ‘sweet corn butter’ to spread on her Pao de Queijo cheese-topped cassava bread (she learned the recipe in her mother’s kitchen). Except this is bitter sculpted to resemble a corn cob.
There’s a rosemary-infused beef fat candle, another of those playful Martins staples from past pop-pups at Blossom Street Social and Exhibition. Her fusion of molecular gastronomy and authentic produce was honed during (stressful) stints on Brazilian Masterchef and Great British Menu, twice. All part of a startling career change for the erstwhile theoretical plasma physicist.
So how does her cutting edge cooking style fit in with Calcio, now a permanent berth for herself and husband Tim? It’s a two-headed feast. You can still order a Madri and burger while you watch the footie. Not Samba Soccer, mind. On our visit the screens were showing the Dundee clubs playing out a 2-2 draw in their Scottish Premiership opener. There was also some top-heavy Chinese gymnast securing Olympic gold at one point.
We were sheltered from much of this by curtains and a floral trellis, but the sporty vibe might deter foodie Instagrammers and the like, here to shoot Caroline’s signature pudding. Spoon into the globular red spotted mushroom resembling a toadstool or toxic fly agaric and you unleash flavours of the guava parfait and jelly at its core plus creamy Minas cheese. The combo also contains a Genoise Sponge and a chocolate crumb from Manchester’s top producer, Dormouse, who import the cocoa beans from Brazil. It’s her take on a classic dessert from back home,’Romeo & Julieta’.
The £58 12 course tasting menu at Calcio is slightly restrained compared with previous incarnations, one of which, at Blossom Street Social, involved the sensational Jackson Pollock/Grant Achatz choc, candy, fruit splatterfest (The Dormouse That Roared).
That dish was a favourite of our late, great chihuahua Captain Smidge, who in his turn was a favourite of Caroline. She and Tim have their own canine legend in the making, eight-year-old Larry the Maltese, who seemed happy for a taste of our mega-tender barbecued ex-dairy ribeye served sizzling on the skillet.
We ensured his tithe was free of the chilli element from the assorted condiments, which included the ubiquitous farafa. My favourite refreshing salad of the summer cam on the side, palm hearts and tomato.
The beef was only topped in the meal by the starter of chalk stream trout carpaccio. It came delicately topped with vivid red cumari chillies, onion pickle and shimeji mushrooms and, the master stroke – a dressing of soy and calamansi, a yuzu-like lime hybrid that delivers a sublime citrussy wallop.
In contrast, a fish sharing main didn’t work for me. Halibut barbecued in banana leaves looked fantastic and promised much, but the halibut didn’t come put steamed and flaky, quite soft and overwhelmed by the cashew nut and ajo blanco sauce.
The slightest of blip in a captivating, good value meal, full of invention from the moment snacks of Somerset goat’s cheese and cupuaçu, a tropical fruit with hints of cacao, and gammon terrine with guava paste emerged from a rectangular smoking cloche. I suspect all this may just be the start of great things here for Sampa (or its alter ego, the São Paulo Project).
The wine list is currently limited, but not without curiosities. Anyone for a white Malbec? The pick is certainly Aurora, a late harvest Malvasia/Moscato dessert wine that hails from Brazil’s Serra Gaúcha region. With a luscious glassful we toasted Dundee’s late penalty equaliser.
SAMPA at Calcio, 24 Dales Street, Manchester, M1 1FY.
