Reviews

I’ve never been to a Russian restaurant before and hadn’t really ever thought about Russian food if i’m being honest. I am however always keen to learn about new cuisines so was very interested when I heard a new Russian restaurant had opened in Manchester with genuine Russian owners/chef and cooking authentic cuisine. St. Petersburg restaurant is situated a short walk from Piccadilly train …

“Be prepared for a unique experience at the UK’s first self-service beer venue.” The words of the Taps website, not mine. Although I can confirm that my experience certainly was unique  i’m not sure it was in the way they intended when they came up with that statement. Yes it was the first time that I have sat at a table with …

Even in a year where I visited one of the best restaurants in the UK, L’Enclume and the best restaurant in the world Noma my first time at Southern Eleven last July was one of my highlights on 2011. I’ve been desperate to go back ever since and yesterday I finally made it. If you don’t know about Southern Eleven it’s an American …

I’m a big fan of ‘Afternoon Tea’, what’s not to love about tea, cake & sandwiches? Afternoon Tea With A Twist I heard about ‘Afternoon Tea with a Twist’ at Beluga, the twist being that instead of tea you are served with cocktails and for a double twist they’re poured from a tea pot! Needless to say I was sold …

After two previously successful visits to Michael Caines @ The ABode Manchester I was very much looking forward to sampling the new Grazing menu. It didn’t live up to those previous visits though and whilst I appreciate it was much cheaper than the regular menu it still has Michael Caines name behind it so I would still expect the food …

Bolton isn’t blessed with fantastic restaurants, in the latest edition of the Good Food Guide only ‘The Olive Press’ is listed and it’s been closed down. One restaurant that really should be included is ‘Nam Ploy’ a Thai restaurant slightly out of town on Chorley Old Road. It’s been around for years and is always busy. All of the chefs …

This year Lisa Allen of Northcote starred again in BBC2’s Great British Menu. The concept this year was to create ‘sharing dishes’ with an emphasis on creating diner participation and interaction. For the second year Lisa was announced the North West regional winner enabling her to cook through to the finals. Unfortunately, despite Lisa’s high scores her dishes were not …

After eating at fine dining restaurants for the past couple of days we decided we’d like something a bit more casual for our last day in Copenhagen. We were spoilt for choice as there are countless cafe bars in the city. We ended up at ‘Tight’ based on some fantastic reviews and it’s location very near to Christiansborg, home of …

Wherever I ate on Noma-eve was going to have to be good if I had any chance of remembering it after eating at the best restaurant in the world. It was a hard decision as there are loads of interesting places to eat in Copenhagen, eventually I decided on Restaurant Krebsegaarden. Although i’m not particularly interested in art I was …

After leaving Restaurant Krebsegaarden I literally stumbled upon one of the best cocktail bars I have ever visited. Bar 7 is tucked away on the same side street, i’m so glad that I happened to walk that way. Coming inside almost anywhere from the cold winter Copenhagen night would have been warming but Bar 7 felt especially warm. The decor …

Ever since I first heard about Noma a few years ago I was desperate to go. My biggest culinary regret is not getting the chance to eat at the legendary El Bulli in Spain before it closed down; Noma seemed to be approaching that level of specialness so I couldn’t risk it happening again. I’d been trying to get a …

24 Bar & Grill is named rather unoriginally after it’s address, 24 Princess Street, Manchester. It occupies the basement of the Arora Hotel which was previously home to the fine-dining restaurant ‘Obsidian‘ which I visited in  late 2009. After walking down the stairs I remembered more and more of the Obsidian visit, the familiar bar hasn’t changed too much but …

When I heard that Aumbry was holding a ‘Gruffalo Lunch’ it was the perfect opportunity to take my 2 young Gruffalo loving children to one of my favourite restaurants. We arrived at the restaurant in Prestwich to find it packed full of small children crawling around the floor, the dining room decorated with Gruffalo pictures and paper cups everywhere. It …

I arrived at Vertigo knowing very little about it other than they claim on their website to be a ‘fine-dining/modern cuisine’ restaurant and the reason for my visit, that they were nominated for 2 awards in the Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2011 awards. For ‘Best Newcomer’ and their head chef Ian Armstrong was nominated for the ‘Chef of the …

Being in Folkestone I really wanted to visit Mark Sargeant’s new restaurant Rocksalt but unfortunately I had a ferry to catch and didn’t have the time. Instead I had to settle for his fish & chip shop ‘The Smokehouse’. Although to be fair I was quite excited as i’m a big fan of fish & chips, especially good ones. I …