At the end of a copacetically intimate Chef’s Table dinner deep under Manchester’s Northern Quarter our host, Caroline Martins, whispered to me that liquid nitrogen was back on her SAMPA bucket list. Which might mean the return of the psychedelic Jackson Pollock inspired dessert that wowed the crowd at the supper club she used to run at Blossom Street Social in Ancoats.

Maybe you recall this Brazilian chef’s signature splatfest on a platter that owed as much to the visual alchemy of Chicago super chef Grant Achatz as Pollock’s Abstract Expressionist peak. 

Our gourmet chihuahua Captain Smidge admired it from a distance. He wasn’t allowed a taste of the basil custard and coconut yoghurt scrawled across a huge black base or the dotted cubes of coconut candy, cassava biscuit and guava/banana candy. Definitely too rich for him the centrepiece – a smashed ‘bowl of, containing passion fruit mousse, rose petals, coconut granola, meringue and marshmallow.

Not just any chocolate. This was Dormouse, crafted inside the Great Northern by the city’s artisan chocolatier par excellence, Isobel Carse, using imported Brazilian cocoa beans. Great to see it remains a constant now Caroline has shifted her operation to Calcio on Dale Street, the sports she runs with husband Tim. It comes in the shape of another edible artwork – a chocolate and guava ‘mushroom’ mimicking a fly agaric.

That was the dessert climax of a 12 course tasting menu, served in the basement of the bar – remarkable value at £58 a head (drinks pairing, mostly Latin American  wines and spirits just £35, mixed cachaças £35, soft £25). When we first visited the new venue  the former Great British Menu contestant had cornered off a section of the screen-filled bar proper; the new set-up is far less distracting. 

Still, when I nipped upstairs for a ‘comfort break’ midway through I came upon a screen showing the Championship derby between Preston and my team, Blackburn Rovers. I might have been torn if the feast that was being served down the stairs was not so captivating. Eight diners at a counter, close to the kitchen action, being talked through ingredients and techniques with a vivacious passion.

In this latest manifestation of her talent Caroline, a former scientist from São Paulo, has restrained the molecular gastronomy wizardry without sacrificing the intense flavour profiles. Less showy now but her devotion to the exotic produce of her South American food heritage is, if anything, more evident.

She is keen to point out: “It is a deeply personal project, blending the rich culinary traditions of my hometown (Sampa was the city’s nickname), with incredible local ingredients and suppliers.” 


Evidence the ex-dairy cow ribeye sourced from cutting edge Littlewoods butchers in Heaton Chapel, out of which she conjured a remarkable steak experience. A big shout out also for  the locally traceable ‘Dan and the Bees’ raw honey, Chalkstream smoked trout and, further afield Eduardo Souza ethical foie gras from Spain’s Extremadura region. I first read about the latter in Dan Barber’s groundbreaking The Third Plate.

Key ingredients on the above menu, though, come from Brazil. I couldn’t resist requesting her to talk me through them.

Requeijão

“That’s a Brazilian-style cream cheese we make in the house by splitting whey/curd from Jersey milk using lime juice. After that, I emulsify the curd using butter. That’s a very traditional technique from in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. It goes well and is spreadable for bread and toast, but it also goes well with smoked fatty fish – that’s why I used it with smoked chalkstream trout.”

Cassava

“A Brazilian tuberculous vegetable. It’s very starchy and grows well in tropical countries. In Brazil we use more cassava than potatoes. I like to employ it in different forms. For the scallops I made a puree and used as a mousseline. We like to use it as a crumble for meats and fish (farofa). During summer it makes natura, chopped with mayo – like a potato salad.”

Biquinho pepper

“That’s a variety of chilli pepper used in Brazil but not very common to see here in the UK. They are sweet and fruity, with very mild hot notes. I like to use them because they are mild and don’t interfere with the flavours from other ingredients. They are also easy to ferment and preserve. I get my biquinhos fresh from Brazil and ferment them in 3 per cent brine for 1 month. After that, I preserve them in sugar cane vinegar. With a smoked quail egg they made  a perfect canapé.”

Heart of palm

“In Brazil we use the whole palm tree: the fruits for palm oil, the leaves to make recyclable plates/cups/forks for takeaways. We use the cores of the tree (heart-of-palm) by cooking them for hours in a pressure cooker until tender, then preserve in 3 per cent brine. I like to use heart of palm with scallops because the texture and mild sweetness reminds me of scallops.

Guava 

“Delicious tropical fruit – I usually see white-flash guavas here in Europe. But in Brazil we only use the pink-flesh guava. That’s my favourite fruit. I grew up eating guava fresh from the trees. In Brazil we use it fresh, or we make a paste called goiabada. For your meal I used fresh pink-flesh guava as an ice cream for dessert and also goiabada on top of the Extremadura foie gras.”

Acai berry

“That’s a berry from Amazonia, rich in antioxidants. Some people say they are one of those “superfoods” hence there are so many businesses profiting from acai bowls. In Brazil they are traditionally served with fish as pastes, marinades or in sauces, etc… With the hake I served it as a caponata by marinating black olives in acai puree and then chopping it. The ‘earthy’ notes from acai complement fishes such as hake that have mild fat content.”

Brazilian green fig 

“Brought to Brazil by the Portuguese when they colonised us. It’s a green fig slow cooked for hours in sugar syrup, then preserved in the same syrup. When we make it, I like to shave some cumaru (tonka bean) in the syrup to add another tasting dimension to the preparation.”

Canjica

“It’s a white corn, traditionally used in sweet preparations, but I’ve also been using it in savoury dishes. You had it cooked as a risotto, with lots of butter. I love the texture and the neutral flavour profile. It complements strong meats such as the wild mallard duck. I’ve been growing koji on canjica and it’s starting to taste great! I might use it as a petit four by dipping it in dark chocolate (inspired by chef Gareth Ward from Ynyshir. He does it with barley).”

Coalho 

“Colaho is a popular Brazilian cheese similar to paneer in texture. Everyone barbecues it because it does not melt away under strong heat. It’s usually served with steak in barbecues, that’s why I wanted to use it with the dairy cow ribeye, mixing it with winter truffle to stuff a raviolo.

Pão de queijo

“A Brazilian cheese bread made from cassava flour, eggs, milk and cheese. In Brazil we use ‘canastra cheese’, but here in the UK I like to use mild cheddar. It’s one of the staples of Brazilian gastronomy. Each family has their own recipe. Mine comes from my grandmother Thereza. She lived in the state of Minas Gerais (where pão de queijo was invented).”

SAMPA Brazilian-British Fusion Chef’s Table ,Calcio bar, 24 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 1FY. 

It was a wild boar that brought us together – in the shape of a glorious Barnsley chop. The dish confirmed the impressive culinary credentials of Shaun Moffat, then head chef at The Edinburgh Castle.

Hence this rhapsody: “I enjoyed one of the great meat dishes of my life upstairs at the EC – a wild boar Barnsley chop. Proper beef dripping chips and mixed kale on the side and a big puddle of Shaun’s sauce, concocted from a stock from duck carcass and pig trotters, mirepoix and herbs, then reduced and infused with pepper dulse, lemon thyme and a snifter of Julian Temperley’s Somerset Cider brandy (we enjoyed a shot later with our post-prandial madeleines).”

Such prowess earned the Ancoats hostelry a swift entry into the Top 50 Gastropubs and Shaun Chef of the Year at the 2023 Manchester Food and Drink Awards. As a senior judge I had a say in the latter.

Shaun also oversaw stablemate The Lamb of Tartary. When that shut last year he jumped ship for glitzy Manchester newcomers Maya. Small world: its chef Gabe Lea swapped to the Castle, where tenures have been as brief as Watford football managers’. Shaun’s talented predecessors included Iain Thomas (The Pearl) and Julian Pizer (Another Hand) were both Best Chef contenders at the recent MFDF Awards. I understand Gabe may be moving on, too.

A Winsome welcome for the wild boar whizz

Against this rollercoaster backdrop it’s great to seeShaun reemerging as Chef Patron of an exciting new Manchester city centre restaurant opening this spring. It’s called Winsome (maybe not a name for your pet wild boar but hey) and promises ‘Northern hospitality at its heart…  British cooking in the kitchen, Old World wines on the shelves, passion, care and detail in delivery.”

You’ll find Winsome on Princess Street (adjoining the Whitworth Locke Hotel) it sounds a perfect fit for the Moffat magic in the way that Maya wasn’t. The dream is to replicate the quality of previous stand-outs on his cv – the London likes of St Leonards, John Salt Hix (all now shut), Berber & Q and the marvellous Manteca.

The next step, Winsome, will provide him with a team geared for similar excellence.

The drinks programme is in the expert hands of Tom Fastiggi, previously of Schofield’s Bar and extends into Whitworth Locke’s Atrium hotel bar, which excites Fastiggi: “The Atrium space truly gives a unique feel to this bar. It’s a great new addition to Manchester’s hospitality scene.”

Completing the team will be Owain Williams; founder of Belzan in Liverpool, Madre and Manchester’s Medlock Canteen. 

A starry newcomer and a revitalising pioneer of the region’s food culture were the big winners at the 2024 Manchester Food and Drink Awards. Tom Barnes, once a linchpin of Michelin 3-star L’Enclume in Cumbria, won Best Chef and Best Newcomer for Skof after just six months in the city, while Sam Buckley’s Stockport flagship WhereThe Light Gets In was named Restaurant of the Year for the second time in three years. Sam also took the Outstanding Achievement Award for eight years of innovation, championing sustainability and helping put Stockport on the culinary map.

And, of course, the 18 categories up for grabs in front of 350 hospitality professionals at the New Century Hall, weren’t all about big hitters. The presence of ‘Affordable Eats’ and ‘Best Takeaway’ offered their own statement on the strength of the local scene in the face of continuing pressures on the industry. On the day of the Awards the Almost Famous burger chain went under.

The 135 contenders in the MFDF Awards were selected by a panel of judges made up of leading food and drink experts, writers and critics. Shortlisted venues were put to the public vote via the MFDF website where thousands of food and drink fans voted for their favourite winner. Scores from a mystery shopping visit, carried out by members of the judging panel, were also combined with the public vote for some of the awards to determine the winners.
Here is this year’s awards list in full (for addresses visit this link:)…

Restaurant of the Year – Where The Light Gets In

Shortlisted: Skof, Higher Ground, Another Hand, The Pearl, Restaurant Örme, Mana, Adam Reid At The French , Where the Light Gets In. 

Chef of the Year – Tom Barnes (Skof)

Shortlisted: Iain Thomas (The Pearl), Joe Otway (Higher Ground), Sam Grainger (Medlock Canteen), Patrick Withington (Erst), Danielle Heron (OSMA), Sam Buckley (Where The Light Gets In), Julian Pizer (Another Hand) , Tom Barnes (Skof).

Newcomer of the Year – Skof

Shortlisted: The Pearl, Medlock Canteen, Onda Pasta Bar, Tawny Stores, Caravan, Hakkapo , Flat Iron, Skof.

Takeaway of the Year – Fat Pat’s

Shortlisted: Chips @ No. 8, Ad Maoira, Maida Grill House, Lucky Mama’s, Codi’s Kitchen, Mrs A’s Kitchen, One Sushi , Fat Pat’s.

Foodie Neighbourhood of the Year – Prestwich

Shortlisted: Monton, Salford, Urmston, Levenshulme, Altrincham, Denton, Sale, Prestwich.

Independent Drinks Producer of the Year – Cloudwater Brewing Co

Shortlisted: Pomona Island Brew Co, Sureshot Brewing , The Salford Rum Company, Steep Soda Co, Pod Pea Vodka, Hip Pop , Balance Brewing & Blending, Cloudwater Brew Co.

Independent Food Producer of the Year – Great North Pie Co

Shortlisted: Companio Bakery, H.M.Pasties, La Chouquette, The Flat Baker, Long Boi’s Bakehouse, Yellowhammer, Half Dozen Other, Great North Pie Co.

Coffee Shop of the Year – Another Heart To Feed

Shortlisted: Grind & Tamp, Fort Coffee, Allpress Espresso, California Coffee & Wine, Bold Street Coffee, ManCoCo, Oscillate Coffee, Another Heart to Feed.

Food Trader of the Year – Honest Crust

Shortlisted: House of Habesha, The Little Sri Lankan, Cardinal Rule, Ad Maoira, Jaan By Another Hand , Baity, House of Bun, Honest Crust. 

Pop up or Project of the Year – Love From

Shortlisted: Bungalow at Kampus, Tartuffe, The Landing, Root to Flower, Sampa, Manchester Wine Tour, Midori Didsbury at Wine & Wallop, Love From.

Affordable Eats Venue of the Year – Nell’s Pizza

Shortlisted: Café San Juan, Wow Banh Mi, Hong Thai, Salt & Pepper, Nila’s Burmese Kitchen, Mia’s Arepas, Sips & Dips, Nell’s Pizza.

Plant-based Offering of the Year – Maray

Shortlisted: Lily’s , Wholesome Junkies, Allotment Vegan Eatery, Walled Gardens, Little Aladdin , Herbivorous, Sanskruti, Maray.

Food and Drink Retailer of the Year – Lily’s Deli

Shortlisted: Ad Hoc Wines, Out of the Blue Fishmongers, Littlewoods Butchers, Wandering Palate, New Market Dairy, Petit Paris Deli, La Chouquette.

Pub or Beer Bar of the Year – Mulligans

Shortlisted: Heaton Hops, Port Street Beer House, North Westward Ho, The City Arms, The Britons Protection , The Old Abbey Taphouse, Café Beermoth, Mulligans.


Bar of the Year – Hawksmoor

Shortlisted: Red Light, Flawd Wine, Speak In Code, Project Halcyon, 10 Tib Lane, Stray, Sterling Bar, Hawksmoor.

Neighbourhood Venue of the Year – Bar San Juan

Shortlisted: Restaurant Örme, OSMA, Ornella’s Kitchen, The Oystercatcher, Yellowhammer, Fold Bistro & Bottle Shop, The Jane Eyre Chorlton, Stretford Canteen.

Great Service Award – Schofield’s Bar

Shortlisted: Flawd Wine, The Pearl, Higher Ground, Skof, 10 Tib Lane, Adam Reid At The French, Ornella’s Kitchen, Schofield’s Bar.

The Howard and Ruth Award for Outstanding Achievement – Sam Buckley

Recognising people who have contributed something outstanding to the hospitality industry in Greater Manchester.

A Pondicherry fish curry in a French bistro, basmati rice from remote Piemonte flatlands and a raft of six pale ales each made from different Kiwi hops – all part of a delicious dash for freedom from the crush of Saturday afternoon Borough Market.

OK, I should have known better with a few daylight hours to spare in London. A wonderful Waiting for Godot with Ben Whishaw and Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at The British Library had quenched my cultural cravings. Now for quality time with gourmandise.

On my last capital visit I’d found much to admire at Camille at 2-3 Stoney Street opposite the food mecca, so Gallic symmetry demanded I check out Café François further along at 14-16 (restraining my urge for my habitual pint of Harvey’s Sussex Best in The Market Porter at no.9). The pub was heaving anyway, like the inside of the Market, which I had made the mistake of trying to traverse untrampled.

Overtourism is a buzz word of the moment, but who would wish to revert to earlier times at Borough Market? Maybe not the 12th century beginnings on this site when bartering turnips for gruel was trade. No, before 1998, when the old fruit and veg market was on its knees, undermined by the power of the supermarkets. Then the decision was made to switch upmarket into a bazaar of artisan foodstuffs to tantalise the tastebuds of the chattering classes. A plan that has worked so brilliantly that it is wise to choose your moment to duck the tourist hordes. The prices, though, remain on the ambitious side, even if you roll up on a Tuesday morning. Weekends are just mayhem as the queues for average ‘street food’ stretch as long as, well, a street.

A parade of fine new restaurants is a reason to brave the Borough overload

In contrast, a big plus at Borough in recent times has been the arrival of proper restaurants on the edge of the market. Also on Stoney Street, stripped back Sri Lankan diner Rambutan, which I eagerly anticipated and then enjoyed immensely.

The most hyped recent arrivals have been Akara, https://www.akaralondon.co.uk/ a West African cuisine sibling of Michelin-starred Akoya in Fitzrovia and Oma, https://www.oma.london/ a high end Greek place from Smokestak and Manteca founder David Carter.

A theme here is: big acclaim elsewhere, let’s bite on Borough. Hence Café François, which has sprung from the fancy success of Maison François near Fortnum and Mason. This more casual spin-off is also styled as an all-day Gallic-inspired brasserie and the simple, classic plates sport the joint’s name. More casual it may be but the designers have been given free rein to transform this former Paul Smith store. Stylewise it’s head and padded shoulders above anywhere else in the foodie ‘hood. 

Further good news? It’s also fun with exceptional service despite it being flavour of the moment. A well thought out French flavour. Well so is Cafe Rouge. Except the François food is light years better. It’s never going to be Bouchon Racine but it’s not aiming for that crowd (well mine and Jay Rayner’s crowd). Henry Harris’s determinedly old school French bistro above a pub in Farringdon would never run to a glass-fronted dessert kiosk stuffed with patisserie and Paris-Brests. Open from breakfast, Café François is still going strong for mid-afternoon sugar rushes.

Arriving around then I perversely ordered a curry. So should they rename it Café Indienne? Don’t forget there is a very French foothold in the Sub-continent, around Pondicherry. Hence the Vadouvan as their contribution to Indian cuisine – featuring a smoky spice mix and plenty of garlic and shallots. Quite mild this £24 bistro version with plentiful monkfish and a scattering that made an orangey mess as I prised them from the rice.

More colonial influence the presence of a soft shell crab bánh mì on the menu; the Vietnamese love (and supply most of France’s) frog’s legs but the crispy cuisses de grenouille are served with a trad sauce ravigote.

Eclectic touches aside there is a solid bistro/bouchon feel to the menu. A starter portion of exemplary if mustardy tartare du boeuf cost me £18. I drank one of my favourite rosés, Domaine de Triennes from Aix-en-Provence.

Enjoyable but my beating Borough Heart belongs to Camille. It’s a promenade de cinq minutes from La Gare de London Bridge; turn into Stoney Street, veer immediately left and you are in some modest estaminet on the Left Bank back in the Fifties. In truth it’s a plain room, untouched by any cute designer’s hand. 

Ignore the melee outside and tuck into escargots, crispy pig’s ear, frisée and apple, and smoked eel devilled eggs, as I did, before Highland Angus tartare with chestnuts and topped with a fluffy cloud of grated Lincolnshire Poacher. A tie on the tartare with its rival down the street.

Chef Elliot Hashtroudi, once of St John, is on top of his Gallic game. As dusk dropped and candles were lit I started humming La Vie en Rose. But that was a while back. On this November Saturday it was time to make my escape from Borough Market. One Underground stop away is Battersea. Present Oyster Card.

Hardly the New Frontier but Bermondsey has a pioneering buzz

I had two reasons to go to Bermondsey – the Kernel Brewery Taproom and the Ham & Cheese Co, neither or which I’d made it to previously. Indeed the Taproom is a smart newcomer, opened only in August. Not every venue in this end of town is now confined to an arch.

Ham & Cheese is. It does what it says on the label imports the finest charcuterie and cheese from Italy. Plus olives, oil, pulses, rice, capers and much, much more, all sourced directly from producers that genuinely qualify as ‘artisan’. I discovered it through the charcuterie for platters they supplied to Coin in Hebden Bridge down the Valley from us. Regular online orders proved a lifeline throughout the lockdowns. My only caveat you could only buy my favourite Mortadella whole – 2.3kg for £65. They recommend eating it with three days, too and there was a further obstacle  – I don’t own a commercial slicer.

Gioia! On the counter at their base in Dockley Industrial Estate there sat a hunk of mortadella to be sold by the 100g and cut wafer thin. Is per favore.

Their source in the Bologna Apennines, Aldo Zivieri, keeps his rare breed Mora Romagnola pigs or free range large whites in 40 hectares of pristine woodland and slaughters them at 14-16 months in his own small abattoir before applying traditional charcutier’s skills.

My prime mission was accomplished too. The new season’s extra virgin olive oil had arrived only five days before from the Abruzzo. It is made from a tough little olive called intosso, which only yields fruit above an altitude of 350m. A labour of love indeed. It has only survived as a varietal thanks to pressure from the Slow Food Movement. When I got home and opened the bottle of Casino di Caprafico the colourswas vibrantly, verdantly green with a huge, grassy perfume. At £42 for 75cl it’s a luxury to be sprinkled sparingly, but when even commercially produced olive oils are soaring price my advice is bugger £10 Berio.

I went for Abruzzo oil and came away with Piemonte basmati

A final surprise package, literally, was – alongside the customary Carnaroli rice for risotto – was Riso Gange with its remarkable back story. Let me quote the Ham & Cheese Co notes on this aromatic basmati style long grain rice also grown in Piemonte by Igiea Adami…

“In 1821 Igiea’s distant relative, Paolo Solaroli, was exiled to India for his revolutionary ideas. There he made his fortune, married an Indian princess, returned to Piedmont in 1867 and bought the tiny hamlet of Beni di Busonengo to grow rice. It is in an area of wild flatlands called the Baraggia, now a nature reserve, where poor, clay soil fed with cold waters channeled straight off the Monte Rosa massif in the Alps provides the perfect growing conditions for rice.”

And it was suitable for the ‘Riso Gange’. Each pack that Igiea sells she donates money to the Indian charity Samparc in Calcutta. Just before I wrote this piece I used it to make a kedgeree and it worked a dream.

The Ham & Cheese store only opens for a few hours every Saturday; the nearby Kernel Brewery Taproom closes Monday and Tuesday but is open up to 10 hours a day the rest of the week.

At least until the end of 2024 Kernel is hosting a kitchen residency with Yagi Izakaya, serving Japanese-inspired comfort food such as gyoza, udon and karaage. It would be intriguing to see how such dishes match with Kernel’s classic dark beers. I couldn’t resist sampling the 7.1 per cent Export Stout 1890 but balked at the 9.5 per cent Imperial Russian Stour, cleansing my palate with one of six individually hopped NZ pale ales. I took my server’s advice and went for the Rakau. It was a resinous treat. Does Kernel ever brew a dull beer? It has been 16 years since Evin O’Riordan started brewing at his original Druid Street site and it remains the benchmark for all the other breweries along the ‘Bermondsey Beer Mile’. Many were lined up in the Enid Street arches (including the London outpost of Manchester’s own Cloudwater) as I walked back to Borough Market, hoping in vain the hordes might have dispersed. 

Some special treats to add to your Bermondsey basket

My tip: stop off at the Maltby Street Market on the Ropewalk for your street food, having stocked up at some of the classy food outlets clustered around Ham & Cheese and Kernel on the Dockley Road Industrial Estate. Most of therm do online retail. I liked the look of The Fresh Fish Shop at Unit 8, foraged mushroom and truffle specialists The Wild Room at Unit 3.

In the adjacent Apollo Business Park I recommend Maltby and Greek at Arch 17, a real Hellenic Aladdin’s Cave (sic) from the UK’s leading importer of Greek foods with an impressive wine selection, too, and at Arches 1-11 the cheesy cornucopia that is Neal’s Yard Dairy. Less hectic than the Borough branch, naturally. I rest my case.

FACT FILE

I stayed at the Z Hotel Covent Garden, 31-33 Bedford St, London WC2E 9ED, a delightful bolthole which backs on to St Paul’s Church and overlooks Covent Garden Piazza. It’s a haven of quiet despite being in the heart of the tourist action (you’ve gathered I don’t like crowds). There’s so much to do in this area of great restaurants and theatres, including the Royal Opera House. For my Borough Market/Bermondsey break-out I caught the Jubilee Line at Westminster.

It’s beginning to feel a lot ike Christmas, Bring on the twinkly lights and the cocktails. Fun as well as food is part of the festive feast…

‘Parallel universes’ spring to mind. The restaurant and chef of the year shortlists for the recent This Is Manchester Awards had only a single nomination in common with similar categories in the Manchester Food and Drink Awards, whose results will be announced in January. 

That was Skof with its profile hard to ignore. At the helm Tom Barnes, who ran the 3 Michelin starred L’Enclume for Simon Rogan. Yet even this seems an afterthought on a list majoring in fancy venues. Take your pick of the other restaurants from 20 Stories, Australasia, EastZeast, Fazenda, Fenix, MAYA, MUSU, Ribeye, San Carlo Alderley Edge, The Ivy Spinningfields.

Skof can’t be accused of such flash, rehashing that old bare brick/post-industrial trope. Another recent incomer Blacklock the chops specialist follows that interior template too as they bid to ‘fit into’ Mancunia.

The Manc Mykonos – Fenix rising 

The boot, spangly, on the other foot, step forward Fenix as ‘Leading Restaurant (Formal)’. Yes formal can include a shimmeringly glam take on some Mykonos windmills of the mind, featuring curvy, sea cave surfaces, an ‘olive tree’ and lighting that glows like an Aegean sunset in the bar, while the upstairs restaurant boasts “ash-toned driftwood dining chairs paired with decadent marble tables and refined tableware.” 

Still I don’t have insurmountable issues with that choice. Across three visits I have had some outstandingly good refined Greek food. And the cocktail offering is playfully mythic. I’d recommend Heracles’ Eighth Trial.

It also shared (strangely since it opened last November) the ‘Outstanding Debut of the Year’ award with Sexy Fish, which I’ve visited twice for cocktail and fine wine related dinners. Yes, that fantasy on the former Armani site is all about Instagrammable piscine pzazz. but I didn’t feel a fish out of water. It was fun with some fine Japanese-inspired food, even if it lags behind the menu at nearby three AA rosette MUSU (or KAJI as it has morphed into, still lavishly glam, too, even when promoting fire-based cooking as one element, 

Still this is a shark eat shark world in the tussle for the glitzy dollar. Leaving aside Sexy Fish’s relentless stablemate The Ivy, the golden touch, homegrown at that, seems currently to belong to the Jones Brothers.Trading as the Permanently Unique Group, Adam and Drew have already successfully extended their upmarket Chinese brand Tattu to London and plans are advanced for a Fenix and a Louis to follow.

Elevated veal shank and broken down tarts

Ah, Louis. Maybe it was the crooning or the presence of celebs I couldn’t recognise (good luck with the Jungle, Colleen) but only the rip tide of Champagne buoyed me through the launch party in Spinningfields. A return visit to road-test the Italian-American menu has won me over big time. It was a comped meal with the inclusion of one of my favourite Chiantis, but such largesse would never subvert my critical faculties. 

The osso buco alla milanese was especially magnifico. This rich, braised on-the bone veal shank dish with saffron risotto was a favourite of Frank Sinatra’s. So it’s perfect for Manchester’s own homage to a colourful New York past where guys dined dolls after Manhattans on the rocks. Such affectations may grate with some folk but when paired with spot-on service go with the flow.

Slow-cooked shank, pulled lamb this time, shows up in a Fenix dish that has survived the recent menu change. A parsnip bechamel, truffles and mushrooms are baked with it tarte tatin style in delicate pastry. It is served on crockery appropriate to  its name, Broken Down Tart, a playful nod to the Greek tradition of plate smashing. I preferred it to the inevitable plate of wagyu.

Let’s get lit up for Christmas… and the Octopus Oasis

Fenix also upholds another swanky tradition by draping its facade in a myriad seasonal lights. Celeb haunt Rosso back in the day exhausted considerable wattage in the same way and its successor up in Spring Gardens, Cibo, offers a more muted version. Neither can provide a back storey to match Fenix’s. Their lights are “inspired by the story of Karavari – a Greek custom where children carried illuminated boats while singing carols to bless the sailors of the Aegean seas”. 

Meanwhile, back at Sexy Fish, where the decor is an entire Aegean Sea in its own right (check out the Octopus Oasis, next to the main bar).I do recommend a generous wine and matching food event in the Tropical Reef Private Dining Room that should be a regular fixture in the New Year. It’s called ‘Wine and Waves’, the  latter their name for the those Japanese-influenced small plates.

Some seriously goo/d wines featured in the W&W debut – Krug Champagne, Leflaive Burgundy and and a glorious Alsace Riesling from Rolly Gassman, presented by knowledgeable head sommelier Davide Rinaldi.

If that’s not your £125 a head bag, book in for Sexy Fishmas: “Immerse yourself in a sparkling holiday wonderland with a limited-edition omakase menu and festive cocktails, surrounded by thousands of golden fish baubles for a truly unforgettable Christmas experience.”

MUSU is now KAJI and Moffat is at MAYA

A real fish, in the shape of a giant bluefin tuna being butchered, was one of the unlikeliest restaurant attractions in 2024 Manchester (followed by a meal) and we may not see such sell-out session again as the John Dalton Street venue reinvents itself as the Musu Collection. Sushi/sashimi led omakase will return inn 2025 along with a basement fined dining showcase for new chef Steve Smith. For the moment he’s leading fire-based dining experience KAJI in the main dining room, which has re-jigged its giant screen-led decor without shedding the glitz. A relaunch meal showed no sign of slipping standards. 

Smith made his name helming Ribble Valley gastropub. Interesting to see how it goes. Ditto with Shaun Moffat, whose very British approach and technical skills at the Edinburgh Castle gastropub in Ancoats won him Chef of the Year in the 2023 MFDF Awards. He’s now charged with turning around the kitchen at MAYA.

When I reviewed the place under previous chef Gabe Lea I was disturbed by an  interior so penumbral I couldn’t read the menu. Little has changed it appears, reading a review of the new regime by the brilliant Olivia Potts for Manchester Confidential

“The enormous cocktail bar at the centre of the room is beautiful, all gold and glass and plush stools, but it’s also dominating and it leaves the dining room feeling cramped. Diners are squeezed in closely and I almost knock over the wine glasses on our table when I sidle in, which I feel very stupid about – until the table next to us does exactly the same thing when they sit down. It does rather feel like eating a sit-down, three course dinner in a cocktail bar, rather than a dining room.”

Baby Daisy or Barnsley Chop – take your pick

I introduced Olivia to Shaun’s food back at The Edinburgh Castle and I too am a huge fan, in particular of his immaculate sourcing. How all this switch will pan out, it will be interesting to see, at an entertainment  destination currently promoting (get your glad rags on for December 13) “Internationally renowned Burlesque artist, Baby Daisy, performing a brand new show created exclusively for MAYA. Playfully called MAYAnage et trois, guests can expect an evening of glamour, sensuality and dazzling allure.”

But will there be a Wild Boar Barnsley Chop? That was the Moffat EC dish that convinced me of his exceptional talent, honed by running East London kitchens such as Manteca. Funny old world. One floor of MAYA, inside a listed building, does that distressed brick/post-industrial schtick.

Cast your MFDF Awards votes online now

As a long-serving judge I might biased but these eight nominations for Restaurant of the Year are where the food does the talking:

Adam Reid At The French, Another Hand, Higher Ground, Mana, Restaurant Örme (Urmston), The Pearl (Prestwich), Skof, Where the Light Gets In. 

The closing date for votes is midnight on the 10th January 2025. Vote for your winner in all 17 categories here.

The shortlisted nominees for the 2024 Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards have been announced. The Awards are the most prestigious in the North West and celebrate the region’s outstanding hospitality talent, with winners to be revealed at the MFDF Gala Dinner at New Century Hall on Monday, January 27, 2025. 

There are 136 exceptional venues, traders, places and people nominated across 17 categories celebrating a resurgent year for Greater Manchester’s hospitality industry. This year’s roll call takes in the whole breadth of talent flourishing in our region – from talented takeaways and superb street food vendors to Michelin-star dining and some of the newest and most exciting additions to the scene. 

The shortlisted nominations have been compiled by the MFDF Judging Panel, taking into account award submissions from the hospitality industry. The panel is made up of the region’s leading food and drink critics, writers, and experts. The awards are now open to public vote on the MFDF website.

As well as the public vote, a mystery shopping period will now commence when  judges will visit nominated venues in some categories or an anonymous dining visit,  and will score venues based on their experiences. 

The mystery shopping and public voting period will end at midnight on January 10 when the polls will be counted and combined with the judges’ scores, and the winner of each category will be chosen. 

The MFDF 24 Award Winners will be announced at the MFDF Awards Dinner on Monday, January 27 and tickets can be purchased by emailing isabella@foodanddrinkfestival.com 

And the nominations are…

AFFORDABLE EATS VENUE OF THE YEAR

Café San Juan

27 St Petersgate, Stockport SK1 1EB

Nell’s Pizza

22 Minshull Street, Kampus M1 3EF

Wow Banh Mi

132 Oldham Road, Ancoats M4 6BG

Hong Thai

140 Oldham Road, Ancoats M4 6BG

Salt & Pepper

60-62 High Street, Manchester M4 1EA

Nila’s Burmese Kitchen

386 Third Avenue, Trafford Park, Stretford M17 1JE

Mia’s Arepas

11 Baring Street, Manchester M1 2PZ

Sips & Dips

994 Stockport Road, Manchester M19 3WN

Last year’s winner: Ornella’s Kitchen Denton.

TAKEAWAY OF THE YEAR

Chips @ No. 8

8 Clifton Road, Prestwich M25 3HQ

Ad Maoira

23 Radium Street, Ancoats M4 6AY

Maida Grill House

38 Liverpool Street, Salford M5 4LT

Lucky Mama’s

565 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton M21 8AE

Codi’s Kitchen

391 Bury New Rd, Prestwich M25 1AW

Fat Pat’s

88 Portland St, Manchester M1 4GX

Mrs A’s Kitchen

30 Church Street, Eccles M30 0DF

One Sushi 

St James’s Building, 75 Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 6EG

Last year’s winner: Burgerism

COFFEE SHOP OF THE YEAR

Grind & Tamp

45 Bridge Street, Ramsbottom BL0 9AD

Fort Coffee

255 Deansgate, Manchester M3 4EN

Allpress Espresso

3, Redfern Building, Dantzic Street, Manchester M4 4AH

California Coffee & Wine

3 Oxford Road, Altrincham WA14 2DY

Another Heart to Feed

10 Hilton Street, Manchester M1 1JF

Bold Street Coffee

53 Cross Street, Manchester M2 4JN

ManCoCo

85 Hewitt Street, Manchester M15 4GB

Oscillate Coffee

52 Flixton Road, Urmston M41 5AB

Last year’s winner: Grapefruit Coffee, Sale

FOOD AND DRINK RETAILER OF THE YEAR

Wandering Palate

191 Monton Road, Eccles M30 9PN

Petit Paris Deli

10 King Street, Manchester M2 6AG

Out of the Blue

484 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton M21 9AS

Chorlton Cheesemongers

486 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton Manchester M21 9AS

Littlewoods Butchers

5 School Lane, Heaton Chapel SK4 5DE

Ancoats Deli

6 Murray Street, Ancoats M4 6HS

Lily’s Deli 

102 Manchester Road, Chorlton M21 9SZ

Oseyo

Unit 90, Halle Mall, Manchester Arndale  M4 2HU

Last year’s winner: Cork of the North, Heaton Moor

FOOD TRADER OF THE YEAR

House of Habesha

Kargo MKT, Salford M50 3AG

The Little Sri Lankan

Cardinal Rule

10 Tariff St, Manchester M1 2FF

Ad Maoira

23 Radium Street, Ancoats M4 6AY

Jaan By Another Hand 

St George’s House, 56 Peter St, Manchester M2 3NQ

Baity

Kargo MKT, Salford M50 3AG

House of Bun

11 Blackburn Street, Radcliffe M26 1PN

Honest Crust 

1 Eagle Street, Manchester M4 5BU

Last year’s winner: Fat Pat’s, Manchester

FOODIE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE YEAR

Monton

Prestwich

Salford

Urmston

Levenshulme

Altrincham

Denton

Sale

Last year’s winner: Stockport.

INDEPENDENT DRINKS PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Cloudwater Brew Co

7-8 Piccadilly Trading Estate, Manchester M1 2NP

Pomona Island Brew Co

33 Waybridge Enterprise Centre, Daniel Adamson Road, Salford M50 1DS

Sureshot Brewing 

5 Sheffield Street, Manchester M1 2DN

The Salford Rum Company

33 Viaduct Street, Salford M3 7WX

Steep Soda Co

Pod Pea Vodka

Ten Locks, Fairhill Road, Irlam M44 6BD

Hip Pop 

Unit 98, North Western Street, Manchester M12 6JL

Balance Brewing & Blending

Unit 10, Sheffield Street, Manchester M1 2DN

Last year’s winner: Track Brewing Co, Manchester

INDEPENDENT FOOD PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Companio Bakery

Unit 6 Flint Glass Wharf, 35 Radium Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6AD

H.M.Pasties

Unit 11-12, Pennant Industrial, Oldham OL1 3NP

La Chouquette

812a Wilmslow Road, Didsbury M20 6UH

Great North Pie Co 

Unit 2a, Deanway, Manchester Road, Wilmslow SK9 2HW

The Flat Baker

23 Radium Street, Ancoats M4 6AY

Long Boi’s Bakehouse

40 Forest Range, Manchester M19 2HP

Yellowhammer

15 Lower Hillgate, Stockport SK1 1JQ

Half Dozen Other

Unit 17 Redbank, Cheetham Hill M4 4HF

Last year’s winner: Pollen Bakery, Manchester

NEIGHBOURHOOD VENUE OF THE YEAR

Cibus Pizza

847-849 Stockport Road, Manchester M19 3PW

Ornella’s Kitchen

10 Manchester Road, Denton M34 3LE

Fold Bistro & Bottle Shop

7 Town Street, Marple Bridge, Stockport SK6 5AA

The Pearl

425 Bury New Road, Prestwich M25 1AF

Restaurant Örme

218 Church Road, Urmston M41 9DX

Tawny Stores

1 Upper Hibbert Lane, Hawk Green, Marple SK6 7JQ

Vero Moderno 

Unit 4, Vimto Gardens, Chapel Street, Salford nM3 5JF

Bar San Juan

56 Beech Road, Chorlton M21 9EG

Last year’s winner: Stretford Canteen

PLANT-BASED OFFERING OF THE YEAR

Maray

14 Brazennose St, Manchester M2 6LW

Lily’s Indian Vegetarian Cuisine

85 Oldham Road, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7DF

Wholesome Junkies

Hinterland Bar, 16-20 Turner St, Manchester M4 1DZ

Allotment Vegan Eatery

1 – 3 Cathedral Gates, Manchester M3 1SW

Walled Gardens

Whalley Range, Manchester

Little Aladdin 

72 High Street, Manchester M4 1ES

Herbivorous

445 Wilmslow Road, Withington M20 4AN

Sanskruti

93-95 Mauldeth Road, Manchester, M14 6SR

Last year’s winner: Bundobust

POP-UP OR PROJECT OF THE YEAR

Bungalow at Kampus

Aytoun Street, Manchester M1 3GL 

Tartuffe

Side Street Studio Kitchen, ABC Buildings Corner of Quay Street and, Lower Byrom St, Manchester M3 4AE

Midori Didsbury at Wine & Wallop

97 Lapwing Lane, Didsbury M20 6UR

The Landing

Merseyway Shopping Centre Car Park, Stockport SK1 1HG

Love From 

Aytoun Street, Manchester M1 3GL 

Root to Flower

Sampa

24 Dale Street, Manchester M1 1FY

Manchester Wine Tour
Last year’s winner: Platt Fields Market Garden

PUB OR BEER BAR OF THE YEAR

Heaton Hops

7 School Lane, Heaton Chapel SK4 5DE

Port Street Beer House

39-41 Port Street, Manchester M1 2EQ

North Westward Ho

Pall Mall, 19 Chapel Walks, Manchester, M2 1HN

Mulligans of Manchester

12 Southgate, Manchester, M3 2RB

The City Arms

46-48, Kennedy Street, Manchester M2 4BQ

The Britons Protection 

50 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester, M1 5LE

The Old Abbey Taphouse

Guildhall Close, Manchester Science Park, Hulme M15 6SY

Café Beermoth

Brown Street, Manchester M2 1DA

Last year’s winner: Marble Arch, Manchester

GREAT SERVICE AWARD

Flawd Wine

9 Keepers Quay, Manchester M4 6GL

The Pearl

425, Bury New Road, Prestwich M25 1AF

Higher Ground

Faulkner House, New York Street, Manchester M1 4DY

Skof

3 Federation Street, Manchester M4 4BF

10 Tib Lane

10 Tib Lane, Manchester M2 4JB

Schofield’s Bar

Sunlight House, 3 Little Quay Street, Manchester M3 3JZ

Adam Reid At The French

16 Peter Street, Manchester M60 2DS

Ornella’s Kitchen

10 Manchester Road, Denton, Manchester M34 3LE

Last year’s winner: Hawksmoor, Manchester

BAR OF THE YEAR

Red Light

4-2 Little David Street, Manchester M1 3GL

Flawd Wine

9 Keepers Quay, Manchester M4 6GL

Speak in Code

7 Jackson’s Row, Manchester M2 5ND

Project Halcyon

Unit 2, Bonded Warehouse, St Johns, Manchester M3 3GS

Hawksmoor

184 – 186 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WB

10 Tib Lane

10 Tib Lane, Manchester M2 4JB

Stray 

1 Eagle Street, Manchester M4 5BU

Sterling Bar

4 Norfolk Street, Manchester M2 1DW

Last year’s winner: Schofield’s Bar, Manchester

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

The Pearl

425, Bury New Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 1AF

Skof

3 Federation Street, Manchester M4 4BF

Medlock Canteen

5 Owen Street, Deansgate Square, Manchester M15 4YB

Onda Pasta Bar

Circle Square, Oxford Road, Manchester M1 7FS

Tawny Stores

1 Upper Hibbert Lane, Hawk Green, Marple SK6 7JQ

Caravan

6 Goods Yards Street, St Johns, Manchester M3 3BG

Hakkapo 

13 Jack Rosenthal Street, Manchester M15 4FN

Flat Iron 

200 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3NN

Last year’s winner: Higher Ground, Manchester

CHEF OF THE YEAR

Iain Thomas (The Pearl)

Joe Otway (Higher Ground)

Tom Barnes (Skof)

Sam Grainger (Medlock Canteen)

Patrick Withington (Erst)

Danielle Heron (OSMA)

Sam Buckley (Where the Light Gets In) 

Julian Pizer (Another Hand) 

Last year’s winner: Shaun Moffat (Edinburgh Castle)

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR

Skof

3 Federation Street, Manchester, M4 4BF

Higher Ground

Faulkner House, New York Street, Manchester M1 4DY

Another Hand

253 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN

Where the Light Gets In 

7 Rostron Brow, Stockport, SK1 1JY

The Pearl

425, Bury New Road, Prestwich M25 1AF

Restaurant Örme

218 Church Road, Urmston M41 9DX

Mana 

42 Blossom Street, Ancoats M4 6BF

Adam Reid At The French

16 Peter Street, Manchester M60 2DS

Last year’s winner: Erst

Contrary to popular perception Arnold Bennett did not spend a substantial number of his mealtimes consuming the eponymous omelette. Only two years after the Omelette Arnold Bennett was created for him in 1929 by by Jean Baptiste Virlogeux, a chef at The Savoy, the author was dead at just 63. Cause was typhoid, contracted by drinking tap water in the South of France. Suicide has been suggested such was his unhappiness despite his wealth and fame. A recent biography has vividly described him as a chronic insomniac, “his brief rest ruined when ‘flatulence damnably announced itself’.”

As a best-selling author and hyperactive journalist from humble origins in the Potteries, his work was famously dismissed by Virginia Woolf and other snooty literati. I’m unsure whether his 34 novels are much read these days – even Anna of the Five Towns or The Old Wives’ Tale. Which leaves us with that Omelette.

Essentially it’s a big deep omelette (5 big eggs) cooked in a 12 inch pan – then smoked haddock, which has been lightly poached in milk. is flaked into the top of the egg mixture  while it is still liquid. Add double cream, finely grated Parmesan cheese… and grilled till lightly brown.

It’s still on the menu at the Savoy, where Bennett stayed while researching his last finished novel, Imperial Palace, which was set in the hotel. It’s still there a £14 starter on the River Restaurant menu; at the Savoy Grill for nine quid more taste how Gordon Ramsay has ‘upgraded’ it in to the ‘Arnold Bennett Soufflé’, featuring Montgomery Cheddar sauce.

In the same years when Mr Bennett was indulging in his favourite dish a large family house on the Windermere shoreline was being transformed into the Langdale Chase Hotel. Its new owners, Thwaites, closed it for most of 2023 for a multi-million pound refurbishment with spectacular results, not least a sympathetic enhancement of its period features.

Our recent visit featured a stay in possibly the pick of the 30 luxurious bedrooms, the Langdale Pikes Suite, with its sweeping views of the Lake (what fun to watch a sunset paddle boarder struggling to get back on his precarious craft!) and the sybaritic ‘Swallows and Amazons’ afternoon tea, but a delightful bonus lit up the breakfast menu. Yes, there, in the specials, under the inevitable kipper, ‘Omelette Arnold Bennett’.

Surely, it’s a bit rich to start the day with, suggested my wife? Of course not, my dear, I love a literary homage with lashings of double cream. It came, still steaming, in a searing skillet, a puffed up, golden moonscape of a dish. 

The most memorable OAB I’ve encountered since well over a decade ago I ‘author-sat’ Fergus Henderson. He was in Manchester for a Food and Drink Festival event that evening, so lunch at Sam’s Chop House seemed the perfect way to pass the afternoon. The two bottles of Gevrey-Chambertin Fergus ordered helped. Before ample platefuls of devilled kidneys (“this hits the spot, Neil”) we each indulged in an Omelette Arnold Bennett.

So is a liquid lunch the best excuse for the dish? Guardian recipe guru Felicity Cloake probably agrees with the time of day. She wrote: “Though Bennett himself seems to have enjoyed the dish as a post-theatre supper, this silky, smoky tangle of eggs, cheese and haddock is so ridiculously, deliciously rich that it’s best consumed well before bedtime … though I won’t judge you if you want to go back to bed afterwards.”

Since that Fergus epiphany I recall one disappointingly bland example at The ‘under new ownership’ Wolseley in London, where they charge a princely £19,50, and a splendiferous one for just £12 from Iain Thomas at The Pearl in Prestwich. https://www.thepearlmcr.com. It has recently returned to the menu at this benchmark indie bistro, which has just made it onto the Good Food Guide 100 Best Local Restaurant list, but it proudly illustrates their home page, so expect it back soon.

Iain used undyed smoked haddock for his version, which any chef worth his or her salt would do. Otherwise it’s about tweaks. Do you make it hollandaise-based or bechamel-based, or both? How much cream?

Here is the recipe used by the Savoy Grill under Ramsay:

Ingredients

400ml milk

3 cloves of garlic

300g smoked haddock

20g butter

20g plain flour

3 large eggs

1 sprig of thyme

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

Cheddar cheese

Gruyere cheese

Chopped chives

Chopped parsley

Method

For the smoked haddock, bring to a simmer about 400ml of milk along with three crushed cloves of garlic and sprig of thyme. Add the fish and cook for around three minutes or until the haddock starts to flake. Be careful not to over cook as it will become dry. 

Drain off the fish reserving the milk and flake up the fish into nice big pieces. With the cooking milk from the fish make a white sauce with 200ml of the milk, 20g butter and 20g plain flour. Enhance the flavour with half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, salt pepper and a few scrapes of nutmeg.

Cool the sauce slightly and add the haddock flakes. Stir lightly being careful not to break up the fish too much. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more of the milk. To cook the omelette, break three large eggs into a well buttered skillet pan, season and stir then let the egg cook out to form the omelette base. 

Remove from the heat and sprinkle on grated Cheddar and Gruyere cheeses, then add the haddock sauce mix to evenly cover the omelette. Sprinkle with a little more cheese and then place under a hot grill until lightly golden and bubbling.

Finish with some chopped chives and parsley and serve from straight from the pan.

The cosmopolitan Arnold Bennett

Virginia Woolf may well have labelled Bennett “the bootmaker”, but he transcended his provincial small town origins, living in Paris for 10 years and marrying a French woman. He was certainly a man who knew his way around restaurants. They even inspired his fiction. Here he recalls the genesis of The Old Wives’ Tale – a novel set in the Potteries but inspired by people watching in a Parisian cafe…

“A middle-aged woman, inordinately stout and with pendent cheeks, had taken the seat opposite to my prescriptive seat. I hesitated, as there were plenty of empty places, but my waitress requested me to take my usual chair. I did so, and immediately thought: with that thing opposite to me my dinner will be spoilt!’ But the woman was evidently also cross at my filling up her table, and she went away, picking up all her belongings, to another part of the restaurant, breathing hard.

“Then she abandoned her second choice for a third one. My waitress was scornful and angry at this desertion, but laughing also. soon all the waitresses were privately laughing at the goings-on of the fat woman, who was being served by the most beautiful waitress I have ever seen in any Duval. The fat woman was dearly a crotchet, a ‘maniaque’, a woman who lived much alone. Her cloak (she displayed on taking off it a simply awful light puce flannel dress) and her parcels were continually the object of her attention and she was always arguing with her waitress. And the whole restaurant secretly made a butt of her. she was repulsive; no one could like her or sympathise with her, but I thought — she has been young and slim once.”

I know the feeling. It is not just the temptation of the Omelette Arnold Bennett that has tightened the waistband of late.

In a recent The Rest Is History, on the build-up to the Great War, podcast pals Tom and Dominic reached a quirky consensus on their dislike of Russian Salad… a view I share. You’ll have to listen to episode 3 to discover the context. Clue – a Serbian ultimatum that was hard to stomach,


This digression just happened to coincide with my perusal of The Book of Pintxos (Artisan, £30), Marti Buckley’s wonderful, San Sebastián-heavy follow-up to Basque Country, her indispensable guide to that great foodie region. I have to believe her when she writes: “Ensaladilla rusa is, after tortilla española, the most ubiquitous and popular pintxo in Spain.” For pintxo also read tapa, that small plate rival across the rest of the Iberian peninsula. Indeed it remains a restaurant mainstay in (its disputed birthplace) Russia and in old school diners across the globe.

Marti, raised in Alabama, schooled in Louisiana, has spent well over a decade as the adopted daughter of Donastia (local name for San Sebastián). She’s the go-to gal to message the States that Italian and French are not innately superior cuisines to Spanish and her beloved Basque. But, as witness for the defence, Russian salad? Albeit, it HAS to be made with home-made mayo and hopefully the tuna might be canned ventresca in escabeche. Which still doesn’t in my eyes excuse a salad combining cooked potatoes, carrots and canned peas.
The author adapts her recipe from one of San Sebastián’s most acclaimed pintxos spots, the Bar Ezkurra, dating back to 1933 and physically little changed. It shifts, from its dark wooden counter, 175 pounds of rusa on busy days.

The joy of The Book of Pintxos is its depth of historical research, and pen pictures of the folk who keep the legacy alive, some by radically ‘elevating it’. A spin-off perhaps from a region boasting the highest per capita concentration of Michelin-star restaurants in the world. There’s a place for many approaches.
What unites many dishes is the toothpick. Pintxos was first promoted properly in North West England by Ramsbottom’s sadly missed Baratxuri, where at the end of a night full of bar snacks they tallied the bill according to the number of little sticks collected.
Before pintxos evolved to knife and fork this was the standard serving of simple snacks such as my old favourite to accompany a glass of tzakoli wine – Gilda. Arguably the original pintxo, this is just an anchovy fillet, pitted manzanilla olives and sharp pickled guindilla peppers threaded onto a toothpick. Hardly molecular gastronomy but at its core pintxos remain bar food.

Some of the 70 recipes are more complex as Marti traces the historical evolution, interviewing all the key players. Take Santi Rivera. In 1988 he took over the kitchen at his parent’s San Sebastián Old Town bar, La Viña, and perfected the one Donostian dish recognisable worldwide – Burnt Basque Cheesecake. Since then he has won a Pintxos Oscar’ in 1998 for his anchovy and cheese stuffed cone, but it is the cheesecake that shifts in vast numbers to this day – pan-burn crust on the outside transitioning into the creamiest of soft cheese custards, “the interior all jiggly and loose” in Marti’s words.
The author spreads her net beyond San Sebastián (or Donastia as the Basques call it) and covers my favourite places in Bilbao, a city I know better and have more affection for. One of my home page images was taken in Bilbao’s Plaza Nueva.

Certainly the Gure Toki’s truffled eggs and mi-cuit foie gras nougat are a step up from th humble guilda. Quality of ingredients has a role to play in the bar scene. La Vina Del Ensanche in Bilbao’s Old Town offers not just an encyclopaedic wine list but majors in the the world’s best jamon, Joselito Bellota.

If you must – Ensaladilla rusa recipe from The Book of Pintxos

Ingredients
Salt
3 large Yukon Gold potatoes peeled
1 medium peeled carrot, ends trimmed
7 large eggs
3 cups mayonnaise, preferably homemade*, divided
¼ cup drained canned green peas
¼ cup drained canned tuna ventresca in escabeche, or any good-quality oil-packed tuna, flaked
1 baguette, sliced on the bias into 15 pieces

Method
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and carrot and cook for eight minutes, then add the eggs and boil for 12 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to an ice bath. Pierce one of the potatoes with a fork; if it slides in easily, drain along with the carrot and transfer to a cutting board. (Alternatively, continue boiling until the potatoes are fork-tender.) 
Peel the eggs and finely chop five of them (set aside the remaining two whole eggs). Cut the potatoes into ½-inch pieces and the carrot into ¼-inch pieces; transfer the chopped eggs, potatoes, and carrots to a large bowl. Add 1½ cups of the mayonnaise, the peas, tuna, and ½ teaspoon of salt and use a silicone spatula to gently combine. Fold in more mayonnaise (up to ½ cup) until the mixture is creamy and soft. Season to taste with more salt if needed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 
To serve, scoop generous portions of the salad atop the baguette slices, using a butter knife to form little mountains. Remove the yolks from the remaining two eggs (reserve them for another use), then use the small holes of a box grater to grate the whites over the pintxos. Using a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip or a zip-top bag with a corner snipped off, squeeze a generous teaspoon of mayonnaise onto each pintxo.  

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.


Turned away from the House of Trembling Madness. It’s enough to turn you into a palsied leper begging for alms. It was to have been my debut at the newer, Lendal outlet of York’s quirkily monikered craft beer emporium. Like the original in Stonegate, the building dates  back hundreds of years and promises a refuge from the tourist hordes thronging the Harry Potter-haunted Shambles (or Hogwarts on Ouse, as I call it).

Back to H of TM. “Sorry we’re not allowing anyone in at the moment.” ”But there’s lots of room at the inn,” I splutter, surveying a handful of couples cradling cappuccinos. “Sorry, medical emergency upstairs.” 

Yes, I’ve failed to register the two ambulance responders outside (hope all turned out well), so instead I decamp to Trembling Madness I and its plethora of half timber and animal heads. Here I swiftly recover my equipoise over a pint and pork pie after a fraught rail journey across.
Fortunately I‘d booked the real object of my York visit for 5.30pm. Aiming for lunch, I might not have made it to Skosh. Broken Britain and all that. Still the day got better and better, culminating in that meal at the destination on Micklegate Observer critic Jay Rayner praised as “the ideal of what an ambitious, independent restaurant should be.”
That was back in 2017 when Skosh had barely been open a year. Last December it shut in order to knock through into next door – a former solicitors, also Grade II listed. The expanded Skosh looks a seamless treat, the open kitchen enlarged and room for walk-ins at the front (not that I was ever taking that chance). I eschewed the offered seat at the pass, but my solo diner’s corner table still offered a prime view of chef/patron Neil Bentinck (blow) and his team in action.

Micklegate has always been my happy place in York and an exemplary parade of small dishes has made it happier. Small plates with a generosity of invention behind them. Fusion is a tired term, so let’s call the Skosh menu ‘global melange’. Korean, Japanese, South Indian influences are all present, intriguingly yoked to some beautifully sourced UK raw materials (listed on the back of a menu that redefines eclectic.
Does it all work? Mostly. I’m still unsure of my final savoury course of tandoori octopus with lime pickle (£18). InItially brash in a smoky way, it won me over, sort of. It was a far remove from the delicate freshness of my snack opener – a sea trout papad packed with avocado, fennel and green strawberry (£4.50). The standard wine list is fine value and the carafe of Grüner Veltliner I ordered worked well with most of the dishes (a later glass of South African Grenache had work on its hands with the spiced up cephalopod).

Next up was an odd hybrid called ‘uthapam waffles’ (£8) – substituting for the South Indian semolina crepes a pair of Western style waffles. Light and friable, the conceit worked: sole caveat I would have liked larger portions of the delicious green tomato chutney and fresh coconut. But then the restaurant’s name derives from the Japanese sukoshi for “a little” or “small amount”.
Aguachile verde (£8) is Bentinck’s veggie version of the Mexican ceviche rival, featuring a kind of iced feta slush plus spring peas and broad beans. It was a verdant, tangy treat that acted as a kind of prelude to a bbq spring lamb tartare (£12), dotted with peas, heady with mint and wasabi. Almost a raw ringer for the keemas I’m sure the chef’s food-mad Indian dad used to prepare. Bentinck’s major influence without doubt is his travels in Australia, that melting pot of Pacific Rim cooking and South Eastern Asian influences, restaurants majoring in casual dining and the freshest produce.

My stand-out dish at Skosh couldn’t have been fresher. The ‘sashimi’ of day boat red sea bream paddled in a fragrant dressing of elderflower and rhubarb with a punch of green peppercorn. It was among the best dishes I have eaten across Yorkshire in the past 12 months and my gastronomic journey has taken in Mýse, the Abbey Inn at Byland, Pignut, Prashad and Bavette (do check out my reviews).
None of these have a kitchen as well-stocked with furikake, ponzu, nahm pla, xo sauce, miso pesto, gunpowder salt, gochujang and sichuan pepper. It’s OK to have access to such a broad spectrum of flavourings; it’s another thing to use them with discretion.Which the brave Bentinck mostly does. On my next visit I hope to discover how he seasons a Tokyo turnip.

Lime leaf is also a Skosh, spawning a collab can on their interesting beer list. Yet I really didn’t know what to expect from my closer of lime leaf cream, pineapple, lychee and shiso (£10). It arrived topped with what looked like a prawn cracker standing in for the clichéd tuile. It added crunch to a delightful combo.The citrussy bitterness of the shiso leaves was a beguiling counterpoint to the slightly caramelised pineapple and the muskiness of the lychee. A memorable, easeful meal for this solo diner.

Skosh, 98 Micklegate, York YO1 6JX.

And while you’re up on Micklegate…

Skosh’s neighbour, The Falcon, is effectively the city tap for Turning Point Brewery of Knaresbough, but it also offers beers from other indie operations. It has been an ale house since 1715 and is decidedly smart. Micklegate Social, at the top of the drag near medieval Micklegate Bar, has a more shabby chic vibe, as befits a music venue. A decent cask selection and surprisingly good cocktails.