Fine-Dining

Fraiche is one of those restaurants i’ve been intending to visit for several years but for various reasons it just didn’t happen. One reason is that despite being one of my closest Michelin starred restaurants it’s difficult to reach by public transport so i’d need to either drive home, which I don’t like to do after eating in fine dining …

It’s fair to say I was looking forward to Aiden Byrne arriving at Manchester House, I’d made a reservation at the earliest opportunity way back in March for the original opening night of August 8th. But building delays caused it to be pushed back a couple of times before finally opening on September 17th. Unfortunately due to other commitments I …

Manchester is at war! It is if you believe certain media anyway. It’s nothing to do with gangs, drugs or music though, not even United or City. This time it’s chefs; Simon Rogan Vs Aiden Byrne. Apparently they’re fighting each other in a race to be awarded a Michelin star. Simon has had a bit of a head start with …

Despite being very slightly underwhelmed on my last visit to Aumbry (something which i’ve since thought was a little harsh as everything I ate was excellent) it was my first choice when choosing a restaurant to take my Mum to for her birthday. The last time I took her out on her own was to 3 Michelin starred ‘Restaurant Gordon …

Last week Manchester was transformed into a garden city with tress, flowers and even a forrest transported to the city centre streets. It was all in aid of ‘Dig The City’ festival, an event aimed at encouraging us to ‘grow our own’. With such an interest in food I’m probably their target audience but as somebody who’s barely managed to …

A commercial property development may not be the most obvious place you’d expect to find a fine dining restaurant. MediaCityUK, home of the biggest BBC studios outside of London including BBC Children’s, BBC Learning, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Sport and BBC Breakfast as well as ITV Studios and The University of Salford digital media centre is an impressive looking set …

The Square is the sister restaurant of The Ledbury, having had such a great time at the latter just over 12 hours before, Phil Howard’s own two Michelin star restaurant had a lot to live up to. Having developed a bit of a taste for rosé champagne recently we started with a glass of Delamotte Brut Rosé, a little pricey …

I’ve wanted to visit The Ledbury since seeing Brett Graham on Masterchef in 2010, it’s taken 3 years but last Friday it finally happened. During that time both his own and The Ledbury’s reputation have continued to grow. It has retained it’s two Michelin star status and shot up the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants rankings to 13th in the …

Before Simon Rogan showed up at The French there was really only one place to go for proper fine-dining in Manchester, Aumbry. Although not strictly ‘Manchester’, Prestwich is in Greater Manchester and only 3-4 miles from the city centre and connected by MetroLink. I first visited Aumbry in early 2011 and instantly fell in love with the place, it’s one …

Last month, The French restaurant in Manchester’s Midland Hotel reopened with superchef Simon Rogan in the kitchen. I had the pleasure of being the first customer on the very first lunch service which went amazingly well as you can read here (I won’t go into detail about dishes that were exactly the same as this visit). I’ve been desperate to return ever …

Last Tuesday I had the honour of being the first guest through the door to eat at the newly opened Simon Rogan @ The French restaurant in the Midland Hotel. When I first heard that Simon Rogan was to open a Manchester restaurant I was ecstatic, my trip to L’Enclume a couple of years ago reamins one of my most …

I first heard about chef Ernst van Zyl late last summer, the more I read about him and saw his stunning looking food the more I was desperate to go and try it. However, as I had a pretty fully booked end to 2012 I decided to test my willpower and wait until January before paying him a visit. Mrs …

The third of my 4 planned festive dining trips this year (after Solita & Miracle On High Street) was at one of my favourite local restaurants Aumbry. This was my 4th time eating at Aumbry (although admittedly the last was a charity Gruffalo lunch) and it’s fair to say that I love the place. The food is seriously high end, head …

Three months ago I finally got a reservation for Heston Blumenthal’s 3 Michelin star restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’. A whole 6 years after first deciding to go. Now, it is a very hard place to get a reservation but I can’t claim that’s the reason it took so long, it’s a very long story involving fussy friends, redundancy and child birth …

As much as I love the interesting and modern cuisine that our top restaurants are serving these days there will always be a place in my heart for classic, French fine-dining. It’s where it all began for me at Gordon Ramsay’s flagship 3 Michelin star Royal Hospital Road restaurant in 2006. So I was fairly excited to hear about 63 …