Dubbed “Cottonopolis”, Manchester is
famed for being the world’s first industrialised city. At its heart the grand
trading halls, ‘The Corn & Produce Exchange’ (now The Triangle) and ‘The Royal
Exchange’ helped Manchester become, for a time, “greatest industrial city in the world”.
Once infamous for its smog, grime
and general greyness, a little bit of greenery in the city centre is always
welcomed. ‘Dig The City’,
Manchester’s ‘urban gardening festival’, has temporarily turned the largely concrete expanse of Exchange Square,
leading to St. Anne’s Square and King Street into a verdant urban oasis
(complete with beer tents!)
For an added burst of colour, artist
Jason Hackenwerth has created three of his extraordinary triffid-like “Dance of the Honey Bee” sculptures.
As part of the goings-on, Harvey Nics teamed up
with Mary-Ellen McTague of Aumbry and Lisa Allen, Head Chef of the Michelin
starred Northcote. For those that are not aware of Lisa or Mary-Ellen’s cooking, check out
my posts of Northcote
and Aumbry.
Together they created a 4-course
menu for Dig the City, served in Harvey
Nichols’ Second Floor Restaurant overlooking the festival’s 'Show Gardens'. To fit with
the theme and their style of cooking, the menu featured foraged foods, local
produce and pretty (edible) flowers.
Mary-Ellen’s Amuse: Fresh Goats Milk Curd with pickled cucumber, cornflowers, rocket flower and summer
purslane – a beautiful, delicate dish and a perfect start of the evening’s
special menu.
Lisa’s Starter: Wheat Fed Goosnargh
Guinea Fowl with parfait cigar, celeriac and organic garden
salad – the dish of the night for me. The parfait in the Feuilles de brick pastry cigar was immense, along with the freshness of
the salad ingredients and acidity from tiny cubes of crunchy apple and dinky
pickled shimeji.
Mary-Ellen’s Main: 33 Day Aged Longhorn
Beef with oyster, mustard leaf, nasturtium and pickled
cockles – another fabulous plate of food, was a close contender for dish of the
night with Lisa’s starter. Nasturtiums are perhaps one of the easiest to grow,
tasty, pretty and plentiful edible flowers – in the spirit of the festival, I
urge you to plant some in your garden, window box or balcony and get using them
in your salads.
Lisa’s Dessert: English Strawberry
with meringue, Kendal
mint cake and ‘water ice’ – a delightful end to the meal; mint and
strawberry are superbly summery combination, but the presentation did remind me
of a Christmassy snow scene with the slushy ice, bright reds and green and
little meringue snowmen.
At the end of the meal, Lisa and
Mary-Ellen emerged from the kitchen to a rapturous applause and answered
questions about their careers, food philosophy and use of such wonderful
produce, such as foraged ingredients and flowers.
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