Opus One, Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel - Manchester

After my dirty meat munching last week, it was healthy respite to find myself in the spacious, opulent surroundings of Opus One at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester.

Decked out in red and black with starched white cloths the cosy, upmarket bar opens out in to the capacious dining room. The staff are professionally absent, yet there as soon as you need them. They’re polished, knowledgeable and the place runs like unstuffy clockwork.

Interior of Opus One - with thanks to Sage Door

The menu is a nod to the current trend for seasonal, sustainable, local and British; interspersed with ingredients such as Vimto, Burt's Blue, organic Framgord salmon, hand dived scallops and ‘rooftop thyme.’ I’m hoping this is off the actual hotel roof; I like to think of the little KP having to risk life and limb, scaling the front of the building and climbing on to the roof, all wind swept and thinking gallantly, “I must succeed to feed the diners of Manchester with the freshest and highest quality of produce..”

Back in the dining room (and away from the roof) I couldn’t resist the Burt’s Blue Tempura with vegetable pressing and am glad I chose it - little gooey blobs of Burt's blue oozing out of rooftop thyme scented, light as a feather batter - the rich cheese set off beautifully by the cool terrine of British veg. The only down side was the the leek the terrine was wrapped in was a little slimy - no worries it hardly mattered and I slid it to one side.

Brilliant Burt's Blue and roof top thyme - bad photo

My companion (yes we're all posh in this post, so it's companion) opted for the hand dived scallops - I may have just declared that those eaten at Grenache were the most massive ever, but these were a very close second. The accompanying crab, sweetcorn and scallion broth provided a wonderful sweet, earthy warmth to the shellfish and didn't overpower at all - we could have just had a big bowl of the sauce and been quite happy.

The Radisson has got their service spot on, we waited for our mains - not too long, not too quick - enough time to listen to Lucy Hope who they had singing. Singing in a restaurant you say? Well I've never been keen but this was surprisingly unobtrusive, her repertoire limited to 'old crooners' and softly, softly in the background. If we hadn't been able to see her it could just have been a very good CD.

My main of seabass was just cooked and arrived on a bed of samphire - not the overly salty, flaccid stuff you usually get; this was crunchy and just steamed perfection. The shrimp croquettes were massive and full to brim of the shrimpy little blighters (just the way I like it). The smoked cod broth was delicious and brilliant with the croquettes - all this was cut through by the tempura fennel - a great addition and created a well rounded and properly through out dish.

Sea bass with samphire, shrimp and fennel - big plate for a fair price

The main of butter baked turbot was sumptuous luxury to say the least - super creamy, but with much less on the plate than the seabass, just some saffron potatoes, greens and an accompanying sauce - however this was such a rich dish that it was ballsy/brilliant of the kitchen to send it to table so pared back and let us choose what accompaniments we though suitable - we chose saute potatoes with bacon, way too decadent, but we didn't regret it (our waistlines did though).

Butter baked turbot - rich and wonderful

To this point the food had been brilliant - we'd even had an inspired amuse bouche of prawn dumpling (light, salty, sweet, moreish) and kiwi gazpacho (spicy, tart, brilliant combination) and some very good homemade cheese bread - but now puddings came out and I was a little disappointed.

Textures of rhubard

The texture of rhubarb was all one texture - soft. The was a very creamy parfait with the barest whiff of rhubarb, a little shot of compote with far too much cream on top and a crumble brulee - translated as overly sweet rhubarb compote with a brulee topping. The marbled ice chocolate parfait followed the same formula of three things on the plate - a creamy parfait, some melted chocolate in a pot and three of the tiniest skewers of marshmallows you have behold in your life - not worth £6.85. Shame, another great Manchester restaurant is let down by overly expensive, poorly executed puddings. Beware rant coming - restaurants need to look at their pudding offerings and stop using them as an excuse to make shed loads on some very basic ingredients. If you do need to make money this way, at least do something interesting. Rant over.

Et voila, pudding two, same formula

Bar the puddings Opus One is a fabulous place - it's calm, serene, polished, a little posh without being stuffy or exclusive and most of the food is very, very good.

Price for two starters, two mains, one side and two puddings (amuse bouche and bread are included gratis with the meal) - £71.60

Food - 9/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
Service - 10/10
Value for money - 7/10 (let down by over expensive puddings, the other dishes are expensive, but are good sized portions and are very well executed)

Total - 34/40

Go again? Yes the food, service and setting are lovely - posh without being overbearing and a nice quiet space from the hustle and bustle of the city. I won't be ordering pudding again though.

Please note the restaurant knew I was there to review them and my meal was free, however all views are my own and I am under no obligation to say  nice things (as you can tell from my pudding rant).

Opus One, Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester M2 5GP - 0161 835 8904

Clarence House - Dalton, Barrow-in-Furness

Eating in a hotel is always an uneasy business; are there certain tables reserved for guests only, will you trip over baggage in the hallway and will the menu try and encompass every taste for the people stopping there?

Luckily Clarence House Country Hotel and Restaurant, has addressed the problem and feels very much more restaurant than hotel. Yes, the name includes the word hotel and when you enter there’s a bell and the front desk and the ubiquitous tourist information leaflets; but apart from that the whole ground floor is given over to the restaurant, bar and lounge; it helps that when you arrive you're immediately whisked in to the conservatory for drinks and canapes. Very suave.

Clarence House Hotel with thanks to themselves

Canapes seem to be the done thing in restaurants of a certain calibre these days and those that imitate them - sometimes you wonder whether the kitchen should have served up the lukewarm attempts at creativity at all; but at Clarence House I can report a consistently high standard - moreish chilli nuts, salty parmesan twists and pork terrine with apple sauce whetted the appetite and ensured we practically bolted in to the dining room when we were called to table.

Generous canapes

The dining room itself is understatedly sumptuous and takes up over half of the ground floor – white linens, heavy drapes and an attention to detail that is replicated in the gorgeous dishes that arrive from the kitchen and the attentive, professional staff. There's the main area, an orangery overlooking the manicured garden and the terrace for those few days of the year it's warm enough to eat outside.

Pan roast scallops with curry and cauliflower textures was a tastebud revelation. Beautifully seared the soft shellfish contrasted brilliantly with a curried nut crumble, the spiciness tempered by a beautifully silky foam; the nutty edge of the cauliflower highlighted this usually underrated vegetable and the whole dish was given a dash of freshness and colour from beautiful micro leaves (apparently grown by chef himself). 

Soft, salty, spicy, sensational scallops

Local partridge with confit leg was exceptionally well cooked; the small, sweet, crisp little leg was a salty and delectable morsel and I wish there had been more of them; sat atop fondant potatoes and drizzled liberally with a savoury and lip-smacking red wine jus, this dish screamed refinement and continued the high quality and excellent vein of the meal.

Partridge with more of chef's homegrown greens

The menu at Clarence House reads like a what’s what of the region; sitting at the bottom of the Lake District and Cumbria, they are surrounded by a plethora of exceptional produce that this region is so famous for. Thankfully there's a high level of skill present in the kitchen that puts this to exceptional and imaginative use. The menu is short, concentrating on a few exceptional dishes rather than try and cater to every different traveller's taste. Really it should be Clarence House Restaurant and Country Hotel.

Eating at Clarence House is a pleasure. The amazing, almost secret, setting with the orangery, terrace and the gardens ensures the experience is magical. And most surprisingly it’s tucked away on a residential street – you can almost drive past it, if you’re not lucky enough to know that it’s there!

Ps - although Clarence House is located in a little bit of a weird location it's actually very good for accessing the lakes or if you have business in Barrow-in-Furness (let's face it, Barrow isn't known for it's touristy side - although there is an exceptional birding site there called Walney Island, especially good for migrating sea birds and has resident populations of twites and eiders).

Price for two starters and two mains - £64

Food – 9/10

Service – 10/10

Atmosphere – 7/10

Value for money – 7/10

Total – 33/40

Go again? Yes, it would be lovely to stay there and it’s great for a special meal with a loved one or for a family gathering in the orangery.

Clarance House Country Hotel and Restaurant, Skelgate, Dalton-in-Furness, 

Nr Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA15 8BQ - 01229 462508

www.clarencehouse-hotel.co.uk

Smoak, Malmaison Hotel - Manchester

Smoak is Malmaison Manchester's new restaurant; a big, bold brasserie marketing itself as an homage to the grill, good provenance and plenty of meat.

Situated on the ground floor of the hotel you're greeted by friendly staff dressed down in jeans and converse, in a bid by the hotel to tell you that this isn't a stuffy old hotel restaurant; it's got mixologists and stripped zinc and house wine served in tumblers - it's cool don't cha know it?

Smoak's sunken bar

This theme carries in to the bar area; all leather, neon and vintage accessories, bumping out the we're cool, gritty and industrial vibe - which I suppose is what a grill feels it should be, rather than starched table clothes and silver service. There's at counter dining with a short bar menu for the pushed business man and there's a cocktail menu with the house signature, the Smoak Stack. Served a little impractically in a kilner jar (the lid kept dripping on my leg), the Smoak Stack is a very drinkable mix of buffalo trace bourbon, pear juice, caramel liqueur and smoked apple wood smoke from the 'smoaking' gun - it's a big cocktail, with a big price (£9). Lifting the lid off the smoke rises out, a wonderful scent and piece of theatre hammering home the message that all their meat is cooked on a josper grill and meat needs wood smoke, yadda yadda.

Smoak Stack

The restaurant's a two tier affair of well spaced tables - the pared back theme runs through with rough grey walls, bare faced grey columns and zinc tumblers for your water. We had a great seat opposite the meat fridge; a glass fronted affair with steaks stacked high and hanging carcasses - it was total meat porn and is worth a trip to salivate at this alter of the beast.

Meat porn, er I mean fridge...

As with all hotel menus, Smoak's is a bit of a mismatch, pleasing all punters rather than concentrating on one direction; therefore there's salads, a curry, fish fingers and pasta - we decided to order off the grill; why come to a restaurant so keen on marketing this aspect to have a dish we could get somewhere else?

Sausage sampler

The starter of steak tartare was presented elegantly and simply; a large portion of achingly tender, superb quality beef with a heady mix of shallots and capers cutting through the sweet, deep umami flavour of the beef. There's a choice of mild or spicy, however I felt the mild was lively enough, letting the top quality beef sing loud rather than end up as a backing note. A sausage sampler was all there with the flavour, but the portion was small for the £8 and the overly fiddled presentation jarred with the industrial, meaty image Smoak is trying to conjure.

Steak tartare - truly divine, best dish of the evening

The boy felt it rude not to order a steak for mains; the menu lists provenance of each cut including meat from Donald Russels and breeds such as Belted Galoways and Short Horn Cross. The fillet was perfection; exactly as medium rare should be. A tender, well flavoured and obviously quality piece of meat that had been granted the care and attention it commanded.



Side of bone marrow

The baked half shells was an impressive dish - half a lobster, crab, a fat juicy scallop, prawns, crayfish, razor clams, clams and mussels galore; all coated in a buttery garlic sauce richly flavoured with the aniseed kiss of fennel. The sauce was brilliantly and expertly tasteful, and lashings off it too; most of the dish was cooked to absolute perfection, however the lobster claws and razor clams were chewy and overcooked - a gripe I would usually overlook when the rest of the dish was so sublime; were it not for the £35 price tag.

Half baked shells

Expert cooking and flavouring followed in to the puddings; a fruit terrine, wafer thin slivers of fruit in a champagne jelly, was as excellent, light, sublime creation; an inspired bright flash of mint creating a fresh, delightful end to a meal. The baked alaska was a very sweet treat, but didn't stand up to the height standard of the terrine - the sponge weirdly tasted shop bought and was very hard and the small garnish of strawberry sauce could have been larger adding an interesting, sharp edge to a very sweet dish, rather than the red dribble it was.
The food at Smoak is, overall, very good - it's large plates of food, given the time and quality of cooking it affords with excellent, attentive and well informed service. There's a large selection of drinks and a good choice of wines by the glass from a well stocked cellar, rather than the ubiquitous vinegary pinot grigiot. The only real issue is the price; Lounge 10 is offering a fillet AND plenty of sides for £22 and Smoak's is £30 for a fillet, a small piece of bone marrow and a mushroom - whether this is a calculated ploy aimed at those on expenses or the need to recoup the installing of a josper (£18k just for the grill I've heard), I'm not sure; but don't they know there's a recession on?!

Price for one cocktail, one beer, four glasses of wine (all different), two starters, two mains, two puddings, two sides and one port (service not included) - £141.85

Food - 8/10
Service - 8/10

Atmosphere - 8/10

Value for money - 6/10

Total - 30/40

Go again - I'd go back, but only if someone else was paying! (Or I'd not order a steak as some of the other mains are pretty well priced!).

Smoak, Manchester Malmaison, Piccadilly, Manchester M1 1LZ - 0161 278 1000 - smoak.manchester@malmaison.com

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