Fig and Sparrow - Manchester

The extremely stylish Fig and Sparrow logo lets passers-by know that hidden within is a 'Lifestyle Store and Coffee Bar' and just by taking a peek through the window past the people that are often eating and drinking at the front bench you can just make out lots of cutesy household goods along the walls.

   

It'd be remiss of me not to mention the "Lifestyle Store" itself despite not being the focus of this review as they offer a wide range of goodies including greetings cards, lots of kitchen kit (everything from teapots through to plates and bread bins), cushions, art prints and wrapping paper. It's clearly an extremely well curated collection, everything very tasteful and compliments the decor of the store itself. It's always a temptation to pick up a treat for the flat on the way out.

Tucked away at the back of the store past the shop section is one of my favourite spots for a quick lunch, it's a very peaceful Scandinavian inspired place to sit and hide away from the world. Picture old wooden tables (that are fixed to the floors for some reason - presumably to keep the spacing set) and stools, clear walls, everywhere free of clutter and a tasteful blue tiled area around the coffee counter.

The drinks menu is printed onto the wall large enough for even those with the worst of eyesight to see from the tables. The food menu seems to be fairly regularly rotated and hangs on clipboards for you to browse before ordering at the counter. As well as coffees, they offer a wide range of flavoured teas (inc Himalayan Darjeeling, Samovar Orange Spice, Marrakech Mint) as well as fresh and fizzy juice options.

The twist that Fig and Sparrow bring to their food offering is that wherever it's feasible the dishes or side are served within little glass jars (clearly it wouldn't be ideal for soup for example). Whilst not entirely unique to them, it's a great little idea which is certainly unique in the NQ and gives them an identity of their own. The jars are housed in a large glass fronted lit up cabinet on the counter that gives you a sneak preview of what to expect from your order.

On this occasion I went for the sourdough toast with peppered salmon and rocket, cream cheese. The little jar had more than enough cream cheese and salmon to fully cover both slices of toast which was positive to see. The bread was a high standard sourdough from Trove which is a sure sign of quality. The even better news is that the sell Trove loaves to take away, the fig and walnut being a particular highlight.

For dessert I ate the maple and pecan tart, which was a great take on the classic. Large enough for 5-6 mouthfuls and crammed with chopped pecans and a lovely rich maple syrup flavour. I had a black Americano to go with dessert and it was a pleasant mild blend, with decent flavour but not particularly strong.

In total I paid £9.25 for coffee, the smoked salmon main and the pecan tart. I hid away in the back, read a book for half an hour while I ate and as a result left completely unwound and ready for my afternoon and for that alone it's impossible not to recommend Fig and Sparrow. The sheer range of cafes within a 5 minute walk of the NQ is ever-growing and and it's getting more and more difficult to choose a favourite, Fig and Sparrow is definitely up there.

Antidote - London

Antidote caught my interest in March / April after a lot of very positive reviews and given it's central location (on a side street off Carnaby St) it seemed like an ideal lunch spot during a day trip to London. Carnaby St and Liberty are a great part of London to spend time in anyway, the streets lined with everything from high end boutiques to quirky little one offs but the  majority of places have a strong identity of their own to stand out from the rest. I have to admit setting eyes on Antidote almost immediately put me off the place - The logo is the sort of generic MS Word 95 clip art nonsense that I could knock up myself in 5 minutes and would absolutely make you think twice before heading in. Given the given the competition in London it must be responsible for so many walk people just walking on.  

The impressive blurb on the website states that "[The] kitchen is under the guidance of Mikael Jonsson, Chef/owner of Michelin starred restaurant 'Hedone'". I often wonder what 'under the guidance' actually means in these situations but am aware and appreciate that some of the top chefs have restaurants worldwide that they have to supervise. I'm a big fan of cinema and it always concerns me when a film is 'Presented by' or like that terrible Mama film that had Guillelmo del Toro's name splashed all over it only to have had an 'Executive Producer' roll - It was terrible as a result. Fortunately (bare with me), this meal was absolutely not terrible and the chef Chris Johns will be doing nothing but good things if he continues to produce food of the high standard that awaited me here. 

Aside from the logo, the restaurant itself was a delightful space - a fairly traditional looking dining room with clean, white table clothes, but with large open windows overlooking the back street of Carnaby street and the restaurants on the other side of the street. It was very open, with clean white walls throughout, very well lit (this was helped that it was a perfect spring afternoon) and airy with window boxes stuffed with flowers as the background for the meal. I was eating early but it was worryingly quiet for a lunch time on a Saturday, I'm talking 3 other tables of people within the hour it took for this meal. 

The menu changes daily which can often be a little too Russian roulette for my liking but fortunately it was hit after hit on the day I visited. 

The amouse bouche was a prime example of the risks though, I know fennel definitely has that marmite effect and boasts a flavour and consistency that can completely drive people up the wall but I love love love fennel and so this dish of pickled fennel with fennel sorbet was right up my street.

The freshly baked sourdough had been raved about elsewhere and was reassuringly out of this world, I'm trying to think back to a better in-house baked restaurant bread and only the loaves at St John (naturally) and I had early days Upstairs at Ten Bells (which led to an internal dialogue of "do you think I could get away with buying one of these to snack on afterwards"- I didn't) comes close for me. Sure, your Troves and Baltic Bakes up here do the classics exceptionally but they're from full on bakeries. Suffice to say, the first portion was polished off quickly and the offer of a second bag of bread could not have been snapped up quicker.

Green asparagus, brown shrimp and confit lemon

A very impressive looking plate of food - several large portions of mixed asparagus that were lightly cooked and perfectly tender, the knife needed very little pressure for the veg to give. The brown shrimp were dotted around the veg and herbs alongside pools of a sauce that tasted almost like marie rose sauce, which made for a subtle reminder of a prawn cocktail.

Jersey royal, crispy chicken and wood sorrel

A really special plate of food - hidden away were several variations on the chicken theme including rich balls of chicken liver, chicken liver mousse, and shards of crispy chicken skin and wood sorrel placed over the top which added a real tang to everything. A great mix of textures and the different takes on chicken all retained their own distinct flavours. Great to see some good old fashioned spuds appear on a starter like this, used sparingly they added some nice weight to the opener.

Cornish pollock, artichoke, puettome and mussels

The pollock was a very flavorsome piece of fish, which melted in the mouth. The mussels were well cooked but retained some lovely wet juiceness. Sea purslane was dotted around to add to the presentation but the crispy shoe string potato was the real winner looks and taste wise - a great accompaniment to the tenderness elsewhere. The artichoke had been charred and looked wonderful on the plate but as ever didn't overly impress me with it's lack of real flavour.

Suckling pig, spring cabbage and lovage

The plate here hadn't done the presentation much justice as it was all at one end and the juices looked like they'd slid a fair bit during delivery to the table. The three sections of pig were all excellent, with a lovely fine layer of crackling as shown above. The hasselback style potato added some further crisp to the whole dish and the cabbage and tangy tomato sauce were very good as sides.

Apricot, elderflower and almond meringue

Another serving that looked to have slid around the dish slightly, leaving it looking a little messy. The apricots and chunks of biscuit were sweet and worked really well, the meringue I found to be quite odd - it tasted quite artificial, a really strange end to the meal.

The options are 2 courses for £19, 3 courses for £23 or 4 courses for £40. I skipped cheese and only tried one dessert so the bill for two came to a very reasonable £70 including wine and tip. The starters and mains were certainly very imaginative and felt very fresh flavour wise but the dessert fell a little flat. Despite this I would definitely be tempted to go back and keep an eye on the menu regularly to see what treats i've been missing out on.

Manchester House - Manchester

Since I originally made the booking for this meal, the Restaurant Wars show was announced and shown on the BBC and partially spoiled my enthusiasm as let's be honest Manchester House didn't come across particularly impressively. I did take this partially with a pinch of salt as the program makers seemed to have been trying their best to portray Manchester as some sort of backwards small town that didn't deserve fine dining. I appreciate that most TV shows will be carefully cut to try and keep things interesting as possible but Aiden came across as trying too hard to please his new Living Ventures overlords, who in turn had pissed millions up the wall on what appeared on TV to be a monstrosity of a restaurant.

Whilst I like to read about food and restaurants, I also had concerns that running through the courses in such detail on the show would result in a menu I was already over-familiar with leaving no surprises for me. The good news was it was an almost entirely refreshed menu which seemed somewhat toned down from most of the dishes i'd seen on the show that at times seemed to have lost focus on preparing good food and aiming for the spectacle of the whole thing.

The decor was fairly typically tasteless identikit Living Ventures warehouse chic (I hate myself for using that term), ie decoration that says nothing about anything throughout. A massive plus point is having to walk past the well-lit open kitchen and being able to see the chefs at work as you're seated - I love feeling like everything is on show like that, it creates a fantastic first impression.

The menu was presented and explained as being made up of a bread course, 3 snacks, 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts to finish. The wine list and cocktail menu itself was huge, frustratingly the index in the cocktail menu suggested page numbers for the details of the drinks but the book itself had no page numbers - a minor oversight but a tedious one all the same. Even the beer list had some thought gone into it with a couple of locals (Tickety Brew pale, Marble Manchester bitter) and a crisp fresh Camden Brewery lager to cover several bases and keep any beer fans relatively happy.

I tried several cocktails, which were all made to a high standard. The real highlight was the imperial tea which was served warm via the device shown in the photo which infused chamomile into the booze.

The bread course which opened the meal was a Parmesan and onion brioche which was lovely and light with the flakey pastry still warm from the oven.  It was accompanied by a small glass of onion consomme which was like a perfect chilled French onion soup with a thick luscious parmesan foam on top.

First of the snacks was "Tomato consommé, basil and mozzarella" which was the most disappointing course for me, a simple take on a Caprese salad made up of a small piece of tomato (described as the heart), a piece of mozzarella rolled in basil powder and then a liquid ball of basil that could either be popped into the basil consommé or in your mouth. I braced myself for an intense hit of flavour as I burst the basil ball in my mouth but it was really toned down and enjoyable.

Second snack was "Foie Gras and hazelnut mousse". Hidden in the mousse was a generous chunk of foie gras which had been cured in salt, sugar and lemon. It was just as rich as it sounds but the extra sweet and salty flavours took the edge off the richness of the foie gras making a for a very enjoyable treat. Hawthorne flowers were an added attractive decoration sprinkled over the top of the dish.

Final snack was "Sardine Rice Crisp" made up of Nori seaweed cracker, sprinkled with Sardine mayonnaise, pickled sardine, green and purple seaweed and sardine caviar. The Cracker was wonderful, each bite was like a mouthful of something fresh from the sea. The pickled sardine and sardine mayonnaise were fishy but not overwhelming and it all combined perfectly, the crunchy crisp, the pickle, the soft seaweed - just fantastic.

First of the starters was "Confit pigeon, gingerbread and spiced cherry". This was one of the most fun and imaginative courses presentation wise - especially the cherry which was made up of a Foie gras and palm sugar combination, and came served with a pistachio tweel which provided a satisfying crunch. The confit Pigeon was well cooked and flavoured. The elements of the dish arrived on a soft gingerbread base and the plate was further decorated with vinegar and cherry emulsion adding some needed sharpness to the whole course.

Second starter was "Charred smoked salmon, fresh goats cheese and leeks". Another course that was beautifully presented with the charred leek rings used as little pools, two filled with goats cheese emulsion and the third with salmon snow. The salmon itself was a generous chunk of perfectly tender fish and with salmon roe dotted around the plate again adding further consistencies and richness.

Final starter was "Aylesbury snails and wild garlic tartlet". This almost looked too good to eat and I admit to taking my time and admiring it for a short time before getting stuck in, the freeze dried garlic and flowers on the top disc looked stunning. Looks were slightly deceiving as the filo pastry discs appeared light but were quite dense - I expected it to snap with a tap of the fork but the pastry just crunched down squashing the ingredients below and spoiling the effect somewhat. It came served on a bone marrow emulsion which gave the snails a lovely meaty flavour (as you'd expect bone marrow to do).

First main was "Cured monkfish with blood orange puree and asparagus". The monkfish was cured in beetroot and was a sufficiently generous slice that it gave the flavours chance to shine as well as retaining the meatiness that makes monkfish so great in the first place.  It was accompanied by rosewater sherbet, a rosewater pickled shallot, blood Orange emulsion and French tip asparagus and the plate dotted with nurstergeon leaf. Quite a sweet dish overall but that set the scene for the quality of the mains to come well.

Second main was "Sea bass, avocado and sesame puree, soft shell crab and chicken satay". A very packed plate made up a piece of sea bass, a boneless chicken wing which was coated with the satay flavour, avocado mouse, soft shell crab claw as the centre piece and a small ravioli made of a thin slice of avocado and filled with cured sea bass. 

Third main was "Rose veal fillet, english peas and lardo". A generous well flavoured perfectly cooked piece of veal with a fine layer of translucent lardo delicately sat on top. Served on a bed of shelled peas which had been chopped through with veal tongue. Another exceptional dish, veal and lardo isn't a combination i've experienced before and was clearly very well thought out, the peas tasted incredibly fresh.

First dessert was "Apple and eucalyptus sorbet, elderflower granite" which was a perfect palate cleanser that i'll measure all future palate cleansers against The ice cold granita had apple freshly grated over it by the waiter, this mixed with the eucalyptus and elderflower flavours was incredibly refreshing.

Second dessert was "Strawberries, ewe's milk ice cream and panna cotta". The strawberries were presented in several ways - fresh, freeze dried, as meringue, as a small panna cotta and dotted with marshmallows and pieces of crunchy buttery biscuit. Another dish that a huge amount of thought and balance had gone into, the various strawberries could easily have made this incredibly sweet but it had been impressively reigned in. 

Final dessert was "Macaroons". A lovely end to a meal, each macaron had it's own very distinct flavour and they were perfectly light. Flavours were chocolate and orange, pineapple cheesecake, pistachio, lemon, blackcurrant and strawberry and basil. I had a double espresso to accompany this and had no complaints, a solid dark and rich coffee.

Our waiter Ross was extremely attentive, chatty and totally on point throughout. You expect quality service at a place like this but it was of such a high standard I took the time to compliment the maitre'd on how well everything had gone.

Overall this was easily one of my favourite meals in Manchester and on reflection i'd say that it probably just shaded the French for me. The atmosphere was a lot less sterile than the French making for an overall more enjoyable evening on this occasion, I need to re-visit the French to see whether that side of the experience has improved. Aside from the early blip with the tomato salad here the food was all to an exceptionally high standard and quality, I hate to mention Michelin stars but I will be extremely surprised if they aren't awarded one next year if this level of quality and imagination is maintained.

Mr Cooper's House - Manchester (second visit)

I had family visiting a few weeks ago and after such a positive experience last time I didn't hesitate to book Mr Cooper's House - the perfect mix of interesting venue, great atmosphere, broad menu and imaginative cocktail list to wow them. It went down a storm.

I went heavy on the superlatives last time and did have slight concerns that I'd gone over the top with my praise but if anything the overall quality and experience was even higher on this second visit.

First major brownie point was that the menu had been updated since the last visit, this really shouldn't have been a surprise due to the Simon Rogan influence but it's still great to see use of seasonal ingredients and this gives me even more incentive to head back again. At first I was slightly disappointed to see that the lamb with curried lentils had been removed as O'd been so impressed with it last time but given a choice of 9 further dishes I soon got over that.

As a slight aside, after the lamb dish disappeared from the menu here Simon Rogan kindly shared it in a column in the Guardian, link included below. I find it pretty hilarious this is filed under 'quick' midweek recipes and I'm certainly planning to have a go but I'm thinking of setting a Sunday aside rather than trying to steam through it one night after work:
http://www.theguardian.com/global/2014/feb/14/simon-rogan-quick-midweek-recipes

Onto the food - on this visit, I tried the following:

Started with fresh bread which came accompanied with wonderful creamy butter and salt flakes to add as much flavour as you prefer, a nice touch. It dawned on me that I hadn't been offered bread on the last visit so I'm not clear if this is a new addition to the meal or it was just overlooked last time.

My starter was anise crusted sweetbreads, saffron risotto and fried leeks - as luxurious as you'd imagine, the sweetbreads were melt in the mouth. Risotto is usually so stodgy but this was light enough to work well as a starter.

I also tried the mussel chowder with leeks and bone marrow croutons - the chowder was lovely and thick, the bone marrow croutons adding a wonderful fatty flavour.

For my main course I had the confit duck fritter, spiced red cabbage and roasted duck breast - the highlight for me, just thinking back to this now makes me want to head straight down there and order another one. The textures, flavours and presentation were all spot on - a completely flawless dish.

I also had a quick go on the grilled sole, ginger butternut, shrimps and bok choi - a very delicately cooked piece fish which was complimented very well by the accompanying ingredients and the bok choi which can often be over-powering but it tied everything together well here.

I couldn't resist ordering the spiced madeleines, lemon curd, apricot and orange for my dessert. The madelines were one of the highlights of the meal, fantastic fresh tasting and as you'd imagine from the mix of flavours - the entire course had deep fruit flavours which reminded me more of the type of dessert you'd expect in autumn time. The great mix of warming flavours made it very enjoyable.

The other dessert I sampled was the white chocolate cake with pineapple - a luscious piece of cake hidden away under the thick rich white chocolate sauce.

Another fantastic meal. The only slight issue was that we were charged for a glass of champagne that had been sent to another table but the maître d' was exceptionally apologetic and did go on to take the time to give us a mini history lesson of the restaurant including the delivery of that incredible marble table in the bar.

Instead of moving on, we lingered in the bar and got stuck further into into the cocktail menu - the bartenders were really attentive and happy to go 'off menu' to meet any requests. Mr Cooper's House just impresses me more and more.

Baltic Bakehouse - Liverpool

I arrived into Liverpool on a particularly miserable Saturday morning and headed towards the Baltic Triangle on the hunt for Baltic Bake. As the heavens opened I was starting to doubt whether the trudge was going to be worth it but i'd been drooling over their photos on Twitter and Instagram for weeks and I breathed a huge sigh of relief as soon as I opened the substantial wooden door into Baltic Bake;  it was love at first sight. Freshly baked loaves line the exposed brick walls, a counter jam packed full of various pastries, with the cafe pleasantly full, buzzing with chat and with a genuinely authentic rustic feel to the place. The smell of the baking coming from the ovens in the back was heavenly. One of the best first impressions I having in a new space like this for some time and somewhere I was immediately looking forward to spending time in.

I had to show real restraint when it came to the range of cakes as the buns, croissants, tarts and loaves all looked of a very high standard. I took a window seat, ordered at the counter and the food was bought over very quickly. I had a great view to watch people drive up, pop in and grab a few loaves for the weekend and then head off. I spotted more than one child accompanied by their parents holding onto loaves as if their lives (and not just their afternoon sandwiches) depended upon it. Given Baltic Bake isn't in the most convenient location (approximately 15-20 minutes from the city centre on foot), this speaks massive volumes about the high quality on display and good reputation they've cleared earned in the city.

Food wise I ordered the following:

Granola with yogurt and banana: this was perfect, the granola was crunchy and substantial but not too sweet - the yogurt and banana bought everything together so well. 

The bacon sandwich was spot on - two thick slabs of well-buttered fresh sourdough with a generous helping of bacon and sauce.

The salted caramel chocolate tart was a thing of incredible beauty. Pastry that was so delicate it crumbled at the lightest touch of a knife, lovely warming deep chocolate with a thick layer of salted caramel at the bottom. One of the finest cakes I can remember eating.

Everything had been so good that I went back for a croissant, a decision I definitely didn't regret. Pastry was the same high standard as all of the previous treats.

This was all washed down with a large french press coffee which provided enough for two cups.

The icing on the cake was the ridiculously good value for money, the price paid felt low for the quality and amount of food received. £15 for the baked goodies, the bacon sandwich, the granola and large coffee for two and I left absolutely stuffed. My only regret was not buying a loaf or two to take away but I knew it wouldn't have made it as far as the train based on the quality of everything else I tried. I'm already planning another weekend in Liverpool just so I can make a couple of visits to Baltic Bake, you can definitely count me as a major fan.