Mr. Cooper’s House & Garden - Feb 2015

Everyone worth their salt knows that whilst mine is the undoubtedly the best food blog in the North West, Cumbrafoodie aka Alan Spedding, is the best food photographer.

You may or may not be aware that ‘Sped’, has a beautiful and talented daughter Cory Spedding. As a youngling, in 2004, she represented the UK at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, coming second.

Hoping to fulfill her dreams as a singer / actress, Cory was in Manchester to meet with an agent. This meant that dad / chauffeur Alan had a couple of hours to kill around lunchtime, so I stepped forward as his date.

We are both fans of Simon Rogan’s food but this was the first time that Sped has visited Mr. Cooper’s since Simon showed us around when it was just a ‘building site’.

We started with some nibbles and two excellent starters ‘Raw beef with pickled paw paw, sweet tomato jam & toasted rye bread’ and ‘Buttermilk fried oyster, kimchi purée, pear & pickled fennel’.

To follow, I made sure Sped ordered the ‘Cumbrian rib steak, truffle pudding & purple potato latkes’, which to my mind remains one of the best dishes being served anywhere in Manchester.

I went veggie with the ‘Roasted sweetheart cabbage steaks, teriyaki sauce, grated Wiltshire truffles & hot wasabi mayonnaise’, which has to be one of the best vegetarian mains being served anywhere in Manchester.

In fact, the cabbage dish is so good I’ve since seen ‘foodie smartarse’ Thom Hetherington, ‘fusspot’ Andrew Stevenson and the ‘mad professor’ himself, Simon Rogan, singing the dish’s praises.

Sped loves his puds, so we ordered three to share. My fave was the ‘Carrot & olive oil cake with blood orange sorbet’. Sped liked the ‘Caramel tart with mascarpone ice cream’ – it’s a well known fact that mascarpone is the best cheese to use when disguising a small horse but who knew you could make ice cream from it too?

Home baked sourdough, whipped butter & salt flakes

Blue cheese puffs, celery & chilli

Pork scratchings & apple gel

Raw beef with pickled paw paw, sweet tomato jam & toasted rye bread

Buttermilk fried oyster, kimchi purée, pear & pickled fennel

Cumbrian rib steak, truffle pudding & purple potato latkes

Roasted sweetheart cabbage steaks, teriyaki sauce, grated Wiltshire truffles & hot wasabi mayonnaise

Carrot & olive oil cake with blood orange sorbet

Caramel tart with mascarpone ice cream

Lavender dusted churros, caramel & junket mousse

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