"Down with 'em! Chop ‘em down my brave boys:
give them no quarter they want to take our Beef
& Pudding from us!”
Don’t worry this isn’t a
quote from Beef & Pudding’s @gobbychef (his corner man @Cheshire_Wine) or @SoLiTaNQ’s Franco. Two seasoned
restaurant promoters with more mouth than Don King; neither
of whom
are known for pulling any punches and the two main rivals squaring off in Manchester’s
newly declared #BrunchWars
The line comes from George Cruikshank’s caricature of the
Peterloo Massacre – a great reference to the area’s history and excellent name
for the Cheshire based New Moon Pub Company’s
first venture in the city centre.
The Contenders:
Regular readers of my
blog will already know about SoLiTa with their heavyweight burgers and grill
menu; whose brunch offering has become increasingly popular, especially since
AA Gill named them as one of the top 3 places to brunch un the UK.
Beef & Pudding are
no upstarts - having eaten at their Old Sessions House and The Lord Binning, I’ve been keen for them to
open since the first announcement a few months back.
With the recent closure
of the Mark Addy and the unreliability of food at the otherwise charming Marble Arch Inn, I believe
the town centre will benefit another pub serving traditional favourites to
rival The Oxnoble and the Chop Houses.
Enviously
watching my Twitter timeline during the ‘week of soft openings’ as various down
and out bloggers, blaggers and freeloaders, filled their breadbaskets and seemed to come
to the majority decision that their food tasted good, I intended to give
it a week or two before weighing in with my opinions.
The
call of the brunch menu however was too much to bear. I love what they have
done with the place - formally the grotty, sticky carpeted ‘Crown’ on the
corner of Fountain Street and Booth Street; a short walk up from Primark or
down from the Town Hall.
Round
1: Beef & Pudding’s Eggs Benedict
with House Roast Ham - I love a good “Eggy Benny” but unfortunately I’ve
had some ropey ones over the years, especially in Manchester.
So
what was this one like? First, let me say this - I’ve ‘warned’ a couple of
people about ‘overhyping’ Beef & Pudding, whose technical decision is to
serve good, honest ‘pub grub’ and not become the next Hand & Flowers, that
said – this barnburner was better than the one I had at The Wolseley! Knockout!
Round
2: Beef & Pudding’s The ‘Brunch
Plank’ (which serves two or can be a follow up to Eggs Benedict, if you’re
me!) does not need any hyping – the picture speaks 1000 words and is guaranteed
not to leave a Rumble in your Tumble! (Did
I just type that?)
The
plank include the standing eight count of: 1) Minute steak & egg, 2) kedgeree,
3) corned beef hash, 4) gunpowder smoked salmon, 5) bacon, 6) Pig & Co
sausage, 7) grilled tomatoes & Portobello mushroom & 8) toast – it all tasted good… although, if I
was feeling critical, I’d say I prefer a dryer corned beef hash and kedgeree.
Round
3: Solita’s Bacon & Eggs Benedict.
Another good Eggy Benny but controversial decision though it may be, if they
went toe to toe, pound for pound, I’d have to give the bout to B&P’s roast ham
version.
One
dish of Solita’s which is certainly no palooka is their unorthodox veggie version California Eggs Benedict – a
combination of English muffin, baby spinach leaves, avocado, plump caper
berries and Hollandaise sauce.
Round
4: Solita’s Salt Beef Hash (made
with Boyko’s London brine salt beef). A rough and ready brawler of a dish,
which for me, was right on the button.
The
Verdict:
At
the moment, I have them marked on the cards as a draw. I’m yet to go the
distance with Solita’s big hitting “Full English Toad in the Hole” or Beef
& Pudding’s “The Fully Manc” -
On
the ropes, SoLiTa have announced that, in a couple of weeks, they plan to hit
Beef & Pudding on the break with a revamp to their menu and come back with
a flurry of counterpunches – who knows what they may have in their locker?
Steak & ‘Kidney Punch’?
One
thing for sure – neither Solita nor Beef & Pudding will be throwing in the
towel and now matter how dirty the fighting gets, I’ll be ringside until a
winner is declared and the best brunch in Manchester is unanimously decided.
As
long as both combatants remember what Ali once said, “It's not bragging if you can back it up.”
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