Panoramic – Liverpool

The Michelin guide states that the Panoramic restaurant offers  ‘formal service’ and ‘intimate dinners’ in ‘a stylish glass skyscraper with 360° views.’ All true, but when the best and most memorable part of a meal (as it was for myself) is the view, it doesn’t bode well for the food.

Billed as Britain’s tallest restaurant, Panoramic is located some 100m above sea level on the 34th floor of Liverpool’s highest building, the West Tower. On a clear day it is said that you can see the Welsh mountains in the south, Blackpool Tower to the north and views across five counties, including the Beetham (Hilton) Tower in Manchester. Sadly, it was not a clear day.

Radio City Tower to the left, the Royal Liver Building and River Mersey to the right. 

We did however have great views of some of Liverpool’s famous landmarks, both old and new. Including the Radio City Tower (that in the 1960s had it’s own high rise and revolving restaurant!); the Royal Liver Building; Albert Docks and the River Mersey, complete with ferries.

View towards the Mersey estuary.

Being close to 400 feet up, I did not fail to observe that we were dining on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre’s Twin Towers. My father once dined in the 107^th floor Windows to the World Restaurant and a number of my former colleagues from Sedgwick PLC (who had relocated to the US when the group was acquired by Marsh & McLennan) lost their lives when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into their offices in the North Tower. Subsequently, this was quite an emotional meal for me and I so wanted to enjoy the experience.

Despite only opening in 2008, I felt the dining room was a little dated. With the mustard coloured leather studded walls, brown voiles, umbers, marble columns, wood paneling and up lit tables, it reminded me of a baddies lair from a seventies James Bond film. Maybe this is the retro look they were going for?

On arrival, we were presented with a single sheet set lunch menu (reasonable at £20.50 for 3 courses). Having made our selections we were presented with two uneven breads. Naturally, I scoffed the larger, leaving the smaller one for my wife. The breads were very good with an airy texture. Sadly, we were only served one each during the course of the meal and with rock solid butter – albeit, with the restaurants logo dinkily embossed.

Ours starters arrived very quickly, my wife’s Gressingham Duck and Foie Gras Terrine, Carrot Puree with Spiced Puy Lentils was a rich and tasty dish. Flavour aside, I felt it looked a little like cat food – of course, not wanting to put her off, I didn’t say this as at the time; although, on the way home my wife did make the same comment.

My starter, the Mackerel, Red Onion Marmalade with Pickled Cucumber was a colourful and eye-catching dish. On the plus side, the mackerel and onions were very flavoursome and well cooked. More negatively however, the ‘pickled’ cucumber - texturally, they added a great crisp crunch but I failed to detect anything but the subtlest acidity. Another negative was the portion size; this wouldn’t have been so bad if this had been part of a tasting menu or if I had been offered another bread.

My wife’s chosen main was the Pork Belly, Roasted Root Vegetables, Mashed Potato with Yorkshire Pudding. She sung the praises of the smooth and creamy mash and root vegetables. The small square of pork was not a generous serving though it was of acceptable quality. The crackling, despite looking crunchy was a little tough and ‘claggy’ to eat. The biggest disappointment happened to be the biggest thing on the plate, an attractive looking but dry Yorkshire that was crying out for gravy!

My chosen main was the Parmesan Gnocchi, Mushroom Puree with Wild Mushrooms. Sadly, another dish that just seemed to lack the desired quality. The gnocchi were a pleasing texture but lacking in Parmesan flavour, surprising for such a usually dominant cheese. Thankful that the tide was in, I’m not sure if I could have eaten the mushroom puree whilst looking out across the mud flats. When I closed my eyes, I enjoyed the flavour but found the ‘mud’ and ‘slurry’ like appearance very unappetising.

To accompany my main, I also ordered a side of Ratte Potatoes with Smoked Bacon. This simple dish was one of the best and certainly most filling parts of the meal.

For her dessert, my wife chose the Summer Berry Eaton Mess - a big plus for the fresh raspberries, strawberries and plump blueberries; the tiny, tiny pieces of meringue being the major let down.  To me, it seemed like a fruity angel delight.

For my own dessert I was torn between the Chocolate Truffle Cake and the Plated Cheese Selection. I opted for the cheese on the strength of the listed condiments: a Tomato Chutney, Quince Sorbet and Pickled Carrots, especially the latter two. The quince sorbet did not let me down and was one of the nicest things I ate all day. I hoped the ‘pickled carrots’ would be ‘picklier’ than the disappointing cucumbers – they turned out to be less ‘pickly’ and even less ‘carroty’, in fact, they had a flavour much more reminiscent of a dry fruitcake.

The lounge and bar area.

The cheeses themselves were: a strong and creamy Petit Langres and an equally Creamy Blacksticks Blue - both quality cheeses that I have had many times before. The third cheese was a new one on me, a White Lakes Katherine, “apparently named after a friend of master producer Peter Humphries who has similar attributes: sweet, curvy and slightly nutty!”

Pier Head and a Super Lamb Banana

The new Museum of Liverpool and the Mann island Buildings.

Service was overall good and despite the little niggles the lunch menu is good value. The views are truly breathtaking; my simple summary would be, go and expect to be wowed by the views but not the food. Liverpool is an amazing city with some fabulous museums, galleries and of course the Beatles connection – it’s just a shame that Panoramic did not live up to my expectations. 

You can see the West Tower to the left of the Royal Liver Building. 

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'The Alderley Restaurant’ at The Alderley Edge Hotel

I like a challenge and the one I have set myself today is to compose a post about a restaurant in Cheshire’s Alderley Edge without mentioning Premiership footballers, Wags, Bentleys or any of the cast of Coronation Street. That should include not starting with the fact that, regular customer and Man Utd manager, Alex Ferguson officially opened ‘The Alderley Restaurant’ at The Alderley Edge Hotel, in 1994. I’m sure all this is interesting to football and celebrity fans but has been said many times before.

Instead, I’ll start with what should be more interesting to readers of a ‘foodie blog’ - the venue, the chef, the service and, of course, the food!

(Image courtesy of www.alderleyedgehotel.com)

The Venue

The fifty-roomed hotel, owned by the J.W. Lees brewing family (Look our for their new ‘all-malt British beer created by Marco Pierre White’ called ‘The Governor’; named in honour of Marco’s father’s greyhound) is housed in one of The Edge’s original grand mansions. Built in 1850 as a private residence for a rich Mancunian industrial family, the Elizabethan-Gothic style building has also been home to a family of cotton merchants, a doctor and also, during the Second World War, US servicemen.

(Image courtesy of www.cheshire-restaurant.com)

The 3 AA Rosette ‘Alderley Restaurant’ is very much a typical hotel restaurant, albeit with an extra sprinkling of quality. The bar and lounge area, features modern tub style leather chairs; comfortable leather chairs are also present in the dining room. The pièce de résistance in the room is unquestionably the baby grand piano; the pianist deftly played mellow versions of show tunes through the evening.

(Image courtesy of www.cheshire-restaurant.com)

The muted greys and creams of the walls are very sophisticated and pops of rich tonal purples, oranges and umbers add a modern note to the overall elegant feel. Artworks include black and white photographs depicting images from the surrounding Cheshire countryside. The dining room is located in a large Victorian style conservatory, the original brickwork of what would have been an external wall complete with ornate lintel make for an impressive location. A classic room with contemporary touches that reflects the chef’s cooking.

(Image courtesy of www.cheshire-restaurant.com)

The Chef

Hailing from ‘down the road’ in Rochdale, creative Head Chef Chris Holland has been in charge of the kitchen since 2006, having worked there for some years before promotion. His food philosophy is “Modern British food, locally sourced ingredients, fresh clean flavours.” This is highlighted in his daily changing Market Menu; as well as the Lunch, A La Carte and Vegetarian menus, where quality produce such as Cheshire and Cumbrian fell bred lamb, are accompanied by the North West’s finest seasonal vegetables and locally sourced and foraged produce.

All menus, but especially the Tasting Menu, also showcase the chef’s creative streak, using ‘modern’ molecular gastronomy methods to, for example, create emulsions, espumas, gels as well as ‘sous vide’ techniques to cook meat and compress watermelons.

The Service

For us, the weakest part of the evening considering the restaurant is ‘tipped for a Michelin star’. Although, I would not consider the service to be bad, with certainly no significant errors, little tweaks in this area would elevate the dining experience to being more into line with what we have come to expect form a starred establishment. In my opinion, the food that we were served wholeheartedly deserves such an accolade and matches the quality that we have received from many a starred chef.

The Food

Being a little mindful of our budget and enticed by the dishes, we opted for the cheaper Market Menu (we will definitely go back at some point and try the Tasting).

We were served a couple of different amuse bouche dishes. The first being delightful kromeski style ‘Bonbons’ with accompanying fruity gelées; the zingy lime one being my particular favourite.

Next, came a dinky espresso cup and saucer containing Tomato & Cucumber Espumas with a tomato powder sprinkled on the frothy top – lovely intense flavours, like a frothy gazpacho. This was served with a delectable Parmesan and almond biscotti.

Bread served included a white, a granary and a tomato and olive. All were delicious but the tomato and olive bread was one of the nicest rolls I have tasted in a long time – I couldn’t get enough of them! These (like most of the menu) are made fresh on the premises; you’d be surprised how many top restaurants do not make their own bread.

My wife’s chosen starter was the Carpaccio of Truffle Infused Veal, Pickled Girolles, Mushroom Gel, Tarragon – a visually impressive dish, with flavours to match. Excellent veal and delightfully acidic pickled girolles. My wife is still raving over this course!

My starter was Massalla Spiced Brown Shrimp “Crumble”, Apple and Celeriac Slaw, Watercress – I adore brown shrimp, and regularly buy them from the fishmongers in Manchester’s Arndale Centre but have usually eaten them straight from the bag before I even get them home! Next time, I will do my best to resist the temptation and have a go at recreating this dish. Good texture combinations and lovely, clean flavours.

My wife’s main was something along the lines of Cheshire Beef, Charred Leeks, Summer Truffle Doughnuts, “Oxo” and “Guinness” with Ken Holland’s Beets. I can’t be 100% sure if I’ve got that right because I was enjoying mine so much that I forgot to take a proper mental note. I did manage to sneak one of the truffle doughnuts, which was delicious and swipe a chip though the intense, sticky reduction - wonderful strong flavours.

My main was the amazing Cornish Lemon Sole, Smoked Salmon and Crab Boudin with Corn Broth. Lemon sole is a favourite fish of mine and the accompaniments that Chef Holland and his team prepared certainly did it justice – the boudin (or sausage) of salmon and crab added additional dimension of seafood flavour to the dish that complement the sole. The small dark spheres that you can see in the picture that look like olives were actually beetroot. Further great flavours and texture came from the kernels of corn and crunchy samphire.

To accompany the dishes we ordered sides of Triple Cooked Chips and a Truffle Scented Mash – not that we needs them as portion sizes were generous; just because we wanted to see what they were like. They didn’t disappoint.

The chips were, to my mind, perfect! Crisp on the outside, fluffy in the middle! Strange isn’t it? You can take all this fancy ingredients and modish cooking techniques but a well-cooked chip is hard to beat!

My wife was equally impressed with her mash – she’s a bit of a mash aficionado and even I who am not a huge mash fan had to concede that the truffle touch elevated this to another level.

Pre dessert was a delightfully sharp and sour palate cleanser featuring a Mint granita with a lime espuma topped with a sprinkling of matcha. I loved this; the lime was too sharp for my wife, which meant that I had two… bonus!

As we waited for our desserts, one of the front of house team approached to say that there would be a slight delay as the chef was not happy with the soufflé and that they would provide a complimentary cheeseboard while we waited. An unnecessary but very welcome measure. The ‘homemade’ condiments included an intense, fruity plum chutney and a slice of rich fruitcake.

After the cheese, a Hot Banana Soufflé with Cluziel Chocolate Ice Cream that met the chef’s high standards made its way to the table. All I can say is that it was well worth the wait. Perfect.

My choice od dessert was the Treacle and Hazelnut Cake, Poached English Pear, Salted Caramel Ice Cream – its now September and pears and treacle are classic Autumnal flavours but this dish was cleverly created light enough to be enjoyed in the tail end of Summer. Salted caramel (and chocolate) is bang on trend moment; Heston even has a Salted Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream in his new Waitrose range. For my taste, this one could’ve taken a little more salt but what was especially good was the pear crisp - a delightful dessert. 

After the meal, we opted to take our coffee in the comfort of the lounge area to further enjoy the pianist at closer quarters. The petit fours consisted of two beautiful chocolates made in house and a mini strawberry macaron. I love macarons and made some for myself for the first time the other day; so now that I am an ‘expert’, I’d say that the batter had been over beaten as it was too dry and meringue like - still very tasty though and a great end to a fabulous meal.

As I said earlier, the Alderley Restaurant has been hotly tipped for a Michelin star and from my experience of dining in starred establishments they are surely not far off. Food wise, they are pretty much there and I’ll certainly be going back to enjoy the tasting menu as soon as possible.

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Teacup on Thomas Street

Driving into the city centre for the first time since the ‘riots’ it was good to see the ‘I Love MCR’ logo on shop windows, peoples’ T-shirts and huge advertising hoardings. In the wake of the “protests” which were ‘fuelled by social exclusion’ and a desire for new trainers and plasma TVs, the ‘I ♥ Manchester’ campaign was started to show the world that the Manchester people are proud of their city and are united against anti-social behaviour.

Being in sunny Spain when it all kicked off, I watched the news and read the internet reports with a mix of horror and, as a school teacher who works in Wythenshawe (an area where many of the scoundrels who took part in the disturbances came from) intrigue. Of course, I’m sure none of my pupils would have been out looting but am still looking forward to reading some of my classes ‘what I did during the holidays’ essays and will be very suspicious of any child that comes to school decked out head to toe in Armani.

Whilst in Spain, my wife and I reaffirmed our plans to move there permanently… pledging not to eat out so much in order to save money to do so. Seeing the ‘I Love MCR’ signs got me to thinking, ‘Do I love Manchester and will I miss it when we move?’ Firstly, I am not a native Mancunian… I am a Londoner – I certainly love London and of course, I love New York. I love Barcelona and after my recent trip, I also love Singapore. But do I love Manchester? The honest answer is no, I don’t.

One of the reasons that I do not rate Manchester as a city, as I have said before, is its lack of top quality restaurants. Which, for a foodist like myself is a major thing. I do however love the North West – together Cumbria, Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester have so much to offer. Namely, L’Enclume, Sharrow Bay, Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor, Fraiche and Northcote Manor!

Fine dining and Michelin stars aside, what I often want is a good place to eat whilst shopping – my last review of a city centre eatery, ‘Dough’ was not 100% positive and it was on the back of this that I was recommended a place just around the corner, ‘Teacup on Thomas Street’ or simply ‘Teacup’ or ‘Teacup and Cakes’ as it is called on their website http://www.teacupandcakes.com. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure quite what they are called…

What I am sure of though, is that this trendy tearoom is one of the most happening eateries in Manchester at the moment. We arrived to join a short queue of people waiting to be seated. Whilst waiting, we had opportunity to browse the shelves and dressers, stocked with ‘Make Us a Brew’ tea, teaware as well as chocolate goodies for sale. We also perused the menu and looked longingly in the chiller at the wonderful cakes, truffles, tarts and slices that are all made on the premises; as well as the fresh bread selection.

‘Teacup’ has a great atmosphere. The red and brown décor, complete with spotty tablecloths, glossed red school chairs and arty murals give the place a homely feel. The soundtrack by the likes of the Fania All Stars and Black Uhuru completes the trendy vibe - this quaint, quintessentially British tearoom has been funked up and made fabulously cosmopolitan. (Among the clientele I spotted more than one Guardian reader, a gent sat with his MacBook Pro and other assorted urbanites.)

The busy, efficient and friendly staff dart around the place taking orders and serving up delicious cakes and more from their homely menu. Teacup offers a largely vegetarian menu with a few carnivorous options. The breakfast menu stars porridge (the man on the next table said it was the best porridge he had ever had and he ate porridge “Every day!”) with a range of traditional and superfood toppings and eggs, served ‘Dippy’ ‘Poached’ ‘Scrambled’ ‘Florentine’ ‘Benedict’ or my favourite ‘Royale’. Toasted bagels or rye breads with various toppings and accompaniments are also available.

Also on the menu, a range of sandwiches and salads - think haloumi, falafel, humous, olives and sundried tomatoes and you’ll get the picture. They also serve a daily selection of pies, soup and piches (a homemade quiche that wants to be a pie.) They also do Cream and Afternoon teas; with all the excellent cakes on offer this is something we will definitely going back to try.

Despite being a keen green tea drinker, I rarely order it in restaurants, as I am quite particular about quality and the way it is prepared. However, being at a place called Teacup I thought, I should and chose the Jing Organic Jade Sword Green – a nice tea, well prepared and served at a good temperature. I was very impressed. Even in Michelin starred restaurants, green tea is often not served this well; at the three starred Jean Georges, I had to send some back! Although, at The Fat Duck, I did get to try (at £16.50 a pot) some Jun Shan Yin Zhen Huang Cha Imperial Yellow Tea; the alleged favourite of Chairman Mao. At home I drink TWG’s Gyokuro Samurai.

My wife chose one of the specials, Grilled Paneer with Curried Cauliflower – served with toasted pitta, crisp salad leaves and sundried tomatoes. My wife was very happy with this dish - a generous serving of paneer and pleasantly spiced cauliflower.

I chose the Veggie Chilli – a five bean chilli served with toasted pitta and grated cheese or humous (I opted for the humous topping.) A tasty, which I thoroughly enjoyed, although I would describe it more as a bean stew as I would have appreciated a little more of a kick in the chilli.

Up next came a challenging decision, the cakes! Usually, when choosing a dessert, one will jump out from the menu at me. However, seeing them all sitting there, begging to be eaten made the whole process much more difficult! Then we had to choose, hot or cold and naked or with clotted cream… it’s a tough life!

Normally, I would go with something chocolaty but the Passion Fruit Meringue Tart caught my eye – a summery tart with a peaked meringue topping. My wife went for the Pavlova with Fruit Cream – crisp on the outside, gooey on the inside. Both desserts were delicious and we can’t wait to go back and work our way through the rest of the menu.

Of course, I couldn’t resist the chocolate completely and got my fix through a trio of Teacup’s tasty truffles. I went for the Star Anise Milk Chocolate, Rosemary & Sea Salt and the “Feast” with 70% Dark Chocolate and the surprise addition of popping candy.

My overall verdict, I love Teacup and thanks to them, I now love Manchester that little bit more. “I can’t wait to return, save me a slice of that flourless chocolate cake!”

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