Eight good things I ate in Manchester in July
An unintentionally Scandi-tinted deluge of dill pickle and seafood
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There’s a fishy theme to my round-up of good things I ate this month which is coincidentally complemented by a supporting role from dill and pickle (note to self: these are great names for cats). I’ve been all over Greater Manchester from Levenshulme to Altrincham to Urmston as well as more local (to me) city centre spots and boy have I eaten well. This marks my last month in a full-time job as I teeter precariously on the tightrope of freelance life. So it will be interesting to see how my eating habits change without a steady income. I have some treats planned for August though because it’s my birthday month so watch this space.
Now I have a bit more time, I’m also going to start a bi-weekly round-up of wine I have tasted over on my other, sorely neglected wine newsletter Listen To Me Wine if that sounds like something you’d be interested in.
Anyway, here are the best things I ate in Manchester in July.
Grilled king scallops with crayfish cream at Street Urchin (£23)
Street Urchin is one of those IYKYK places that always seems to fly under the radar on best restaurant round-ups. I love it because it has a market town bistro charm with chalkboard menus and truly unexpected dishes. The sign of a chef given the proper free reign in the kitchen that comes from them being the co-owner. Many chefs find their creativity restricted, which can sometimes be a good thing, but here it is left to run wild in all its weirdness and all the better for it. These juicy scallops came on the shell, enveloped in crayfish cream and topped with spicy nduja breadcrumbs. On the side, there were little potato and leek croquettes. As rich as a tory PPE fraudster and far better value for money.
Som Tum Tard at Thai Kitchen No 6 (£18.95)
A pre-theatre feed before going to see the wonderfully cringe exploration of Asian stereotyping untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play at the Royal Exchange. This huge platter of Thai papaya salad and fried meaty things is easily enough for two to share. My friend and I added a plate of poached Hainenese chicken and rice and we struggled to finish the lot even though we are both very greedy and were very hungry. This dish comes on a silver tray with a pile of salty, tangy papaya said in the middle, you can have it with regular or fermented fish sauce and they can tailor the chilli spice level for you. Medium is still searing hot for those without the asbestos tongue of many Thai people. Around the edges of the plate are crispy fried chicken wings, marinated, grilled pork and mini Thai sausages on sticks, welcome plainness for contrast comes from thick rice noodles (or rice if you prefer).
More recommendations are here via a takedown of Gordon effing Ramsay.
“Wan Za Mian” from Noodle Alley (£12.80)
A few years ago, Manchester’s Chinatown, once so full of life, had become a little bit unloved. Loads of OG restaurants, some great, some not so good, plodding along doing their thing while the rest of Manchester upped its game. Now I’m not suggesting a lick of gentrification varnish was in order, oh no, but I often wondered when some fresh new blood might get involved. Well, they have now. Recent openings include Pho Cue - possibly the touch paper that lit a fire under other people’s imaginations - as well as Blue Whale supermarket, A Plus, Dragon Oriental, Kaya, and now Noodle Alley. The latter I have had my greedy little eye on for a while and I ended up going there for a business lunch to talk all things wine. My friend/sometime employer Simon and I shared pork dumplings, century egg and these incredible noodles. A new dish for me, Wan Za Mian aka “xiaomian”, consists of medium-thin noodles nesting on top of a bowl of spicy Szechuan chilli oil and topped with minced pork, yellow peas (similar to chickpeas) and pak choi. You mix it all together for an intensely spicy, mouth-numbing, umami bowl of delight. Share it alongside other dishes as we did or just devour the bowl to yourself. A resuscitation of a lunch if ever there was one.
Birria beef tacos at Madre (£9.50)
A little on the spenny end for two tacos maybe but these are hearty little buggers. I was celebrating my launch into freelance life and my pal Tom was celebrating the end of a long drawn-out legal issue that had finally come good. I’ve eaten Liverpool chef Sam Grainger’s food before at his Freight Island pop-up and other events and have had a couple of beers with him. Nice lad, and a fiercely passionate chef. Madre is a cracking little Mexican-influenced spot and was rammed on a Monday. We ordered a few different types of a taco, a couple of sides and a couple of things from the grill for three to share - washed down with some mezcal-laced cocktails. These birria tacos were the most memorable. Generous piles of spiced, slow-cooked beef and Oaxaca cheese folded into fried corn tacos served with tatemada salsa made from charred chillies, garlic and tomato. The Sinaloan sty le grilled prawns deserve an honourable mention too.
In the interest of transparency, the next things on my list were all kindly gifted to me as a food and drink journalist. I take this privilege very seriously and I spend my own money in indie businesses whenever I can. Nonetheless, offers to try different places come with the territory of the job I do. I don’t take every freebie I am offered but if I turned them all down, it would be kind of crazy. It’s impossible (even more now I have gone freelance) to afford to eat out all the time so this gives me the opportunity to try as many different places as I can and thus be more knowledgeable and better at my job. I will only ever write about things in my blog that I really enjoyed and I will never ever ask somebody for free food because of the writing and social media coverage that I do. I want to be honest when it’s a freebie hence this long preamble. The dishes below were all ones offered to me by the business owners for various reasons. I am very grateful for this.
Scottish mussels, peas, pickled dill at Örme (Part of a £45 tasting menu)
I was lucky enough to eat at Örme in order to write about it for Manchester’s Finest. I took my mate Sam, and as soon as we took a bite of this dish we shared a look. “Oh my god, I’m shelling peas with my grandad,” I said, “Me too but it’s my nanna! I was allowed to eat as many as I wanted as long as I did the job,” said Sam. Lightly barbecued raw peas had been tucked under a vermouth cream in which the mussels were supposed to be the star. The mussels were delicious but it was the peas that brought on this jolt of nostalgia. And isn’t that the beautiful thing about food? I had been keen to try this new neighbourhood bistro in the sticks of Urmston but was slightly apprehensive that it wouldn’t live up to expectations. Sometimes, places the locals love, especially those with lofty aspirations, don’t quite hit the mark. But I needn’t have worried. Örme is a down-to-earth neighbourhood gem. From the woman who waved to at least two of her neighbours as they strolled past with their dogs, to the outdoor loo reminiscent of old-school pubs (and houses), to the chef’s maximum Mancunianness telling us he’d nicked courgettes from his uncle’s allotment, describing the picked dill here as “burger pickle” and urging us with a smirk to “please enjoy my sausage” as he dropped off one main course. Go to Orme before the national press follow and give it a review which sees it booked up for months.
Burger at Nordie (£10.50)
I always say burgers aren’t my thing. I nearly got lynched for saying that in a review of a bang-average burger place once. But this month I have eaten at least two. The second best one was from the Butcher’s Quarter on Tib Street. I was hideously hungover and it was incredible, served straight from the barbie outside (no not that bloody barbie). But this one from Nordie just pipped it to the top spot. I wasn’t expecting a burger to be the star of the plates we shared at Nordie on a press trip to Levy but there was something special about this one. Mainly that it was light as a feather. Smashed patties, airy brioche and almost liquid burger cheese topped with a thick slice of gherkin all combined to make it easy to scoff in four precise bites. I’d have ordered another if I wasn’t in polite company.
Dill pickle Danish from Longbois (£3)
There’s a dill pickle theme isn’t there? Well, fine, because dill and pickles are something I would happily eat at every meal. When I bobbed into Longbois bakery, I thought the cakes and sweet pastries all looked pretty and all that but I don’t really care for sugary stuff most of the time. My eye was caught by this gorgeous specimen. A compact-disc-sized, bronzed pastry puff, its hollowed middle filled with a creamy, cheesy custard spiked with dill and gherkins. I took it home with me and warmed it up the next day to be served alongside a big bowl of tinned cream of tomato soup.
Prosciutto-wrapped monkfish with creamed white beans and fennel marmalade at Blanchflower Altrincham (£16)
Phil and Claire Howells, owners of Blanchflower, kindly treated me to this new special over a lunchtime chat about some freelance work. What we were discussing had nothing to do with Blanchflower and the idea wasn’t to convince me that Jeff Green, head chef at their Altrincham branch was an unsung hero of the Greater Manchester dining scene, but this dish absolutely floored me. The meaty monkfish was perfectly juicy, its accompanying lava lamp sauce indecently rich and the sweet and sharp fennel marmalade cut through it all while bringing a welcome (and classic) touch of aniseed to the party. Throw a few beans or pulses into anything and I’m on board. I think you’ve missed the opportunity to try this one-week-only special but it has given me faith that whatever’s on the specials board here is worth ordering.
I would love to hear about the best things you ate in July. Please leave a comment below.
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I actually like the burgers from Vegan Shack & Vurger ... but have to say that Nordie one looks good. I like what I've seen so far from Orme but I'm not sure I like the idea of tasting dishes, I'd rather choose A La Carte ... possibly the best things I ate (possibly in July, who knows), was a sausage roll and some pastries (A chocolate marble cake slice and a cracon) from La Chouquette (Matty F White tempted me!), all were gorg!