The Pearl - Prestwich gets the bistro it’s always wanted
We shelled out for dinner to see what it was like
Prestwich needs The Pearl. Sure, there’s plenty to eat and drink in the North Manchester suburb: OSMA’s Scandi-influenced dishes that delight some and puzzle others. Grape To Grain’s cheeseboards and great wine, Lupo’s superlative Italian treats. There are low-key brunch and lunch options for days. But a proper, relaxed bistro like this is something Prestwich has always been missing. If it’s going to live up to its burgeoning foodie reputation and catch up with some of the more celebrated suburbs, it needs to get behind this new addition.
I have spent a lot of time in Prestwich, my mother-in-law’s home for 40-odd years. I did a lot of growing up as a young adult there when there really was nowhere to eat. I was thrilled when Aumbry opened and gutted when it closed. It’s always been one of the options on my ‘if I ever move out of the city for good’ list. I’m invested.
So I backed The Pearl’s Kickstarter and booked a table as soon as it opened. My visit was on the restaurant’s very first Friday in business - and boy was it busy.
We were late but our table wasn’t quite ready. Ushered to a bar stool designed for tall people (I’m looking at you, Sam Terris Taylor, owner of The Pearl), we were encouraged to get a drink while we waited. Several other couples came in and perched expectantly while waiters politely told existing diners they could take their postprandial drinks at the bar. This kind of manoeuvring is something new restaurants take a while to perfect, and these are early days for The Pearl but they managed it calmly.
The Pearl has bagged itself an esteemed chef in the form of Iain Thomas. He’s previously worked at The Alan (with praise from Jay Rayner), Wood, and Establishment which was doing high-end dining of the kind we are now familiar with before Rosso moved into that spot. I got into Ian’s cooking when he was running the lovely but now defunct Our Place supper club.
Ian’s personality is all over the menu in dishes like ‘The Pearl’s chips’ which are not chips at all but three deep-fried slabs of compressed, thinly sliced potato (de rigeur at multiple Manchester and London restaurants) sandwiching the Big Mac-esque flavours of ox cheek, mustard and pickle. These and the frilly fried anchovies from the snacks section of the menu are more salty beer snacks than light pre-dinner ones.
If only there was more room for pub-style drinking and grazing in the dining room which while utterly charming is a little, shall we say, intimate. You get to know your neighbours’ hot gossip like in the back room at The Edinburgh Castle so don’t be coming here for a covert bitching sesh. The Pearl scarcely sits 20 and every table is taken this evening. I’d seen pictures on some of the big Manchester media sites and now conclude that whoever’s taking their photos must previously have worked for Reeds Rains.
The food takes its time coming out which doesn’t bother us as we are enjoying a smooth, plum-nosed bottle of Georgian Saperavi with some dinky fresh bread rolls possibly inspired by a supermarket multipack. The bartender had told us that while all the wines here are on the natural/low intervention side, they have been chosen for their non-funky properties. Smooth Georgians but no George Clintons on the wine menu then. A good idea not to scare people too much while winning their trust.
Starters are not shy. My venison tartare with burnt onion is big flavoured and elegantly plated while an omelette Arnold Bennett manspreads across the plate opposite, all oozy with cheese sauce. Mains are fancy, my cod comes with confit chicken - unusual - and a creamy clam sauce split with bright green oil the type you might find in one of the fancier Lancashire gastro pubs.
The beef shin with creamed potato is rich and hearty but with cheffy touches like nasturtium leaf and straggly celeriac root celebrated as a garnish. We share a generously portioned ‘tea and biscuits’ dessert: Thick baked custard dotted with bergamot-scented gel and infused with Earl Grey. It’s served in a tea cup with a custardless ‘Custard Cream’ for dipping.
Elsewhere on the menu, there are ingredients you see on some of the very best city centre menus: Polyspore mushrooms, Curing Rebels charcuterie, and cheeseboards from the Crafty Cheese Man.
We enjoy the romance of the restaurant’s steamed-up windows that indicate good times in a warm, hospitable haven while the temperature drops outside.
It’s very early days for The Pearl but all the signs of a great little neighbourhood bistro are here. It reminds me a little of Hyssop in Glossop when it first opened. The menu is well-sourced and creatively put together. A little more homely than the city slickness of The Alan but with more room for adventure than within the limitations of a set menu supper club. I’m not sure my garlic-phobic, fish-n-chips-loving mother-in-law would be into it but with the more epicurean residents of Prestwich, The Pearl is already popular and long may they dine in her.
A bit spenny, but I like the bar snacks and the pud 😅 ... if there ever is one, I think it'd be nice to visit on a quieter night (not so I can covertly bitch, just so I won't feel cramped in the "intimate" venue) 🙂