Aumbry - Prestwich, Manchester

Named after a small, recessed cupboard in which medieval Lords and Abbots kept precious items; Aumbry in Prestwich, Manchester, really lives up to its namesake and can safely be called the jewel in Manchester's dining scene.

Tucked around a corner of Prestwich’s slowly crumbling high street, Aumbry's dinky dining space is a stark contrast to its external setting - the decor is understated, but high quality and as thought through as each mouthful of each plate - light colours, barely patterned papers, crisp linen and quirky highlights like the patterned boot-sale side plates. It's an intimate space with a familial feel; but a professional, well-bred family rather than the colourful chaos of many other small, neighbourhood eateries.

Aumbry interior - with thanks to The Guardian

Skimming the menu you immediately spot the bald headed molecular chef, Mary Ellen (chef/patron and one half of Aumbry’s husband and wife culinary team), has worked under; there's the odd molecular flourishes in the menu, influences from their 14th century name and modern techniques like sous vide. Unlike Heston's fare, this food is real, edible and understated - but packs a mean punch all the same (and for far less money).

Being skint, we’d chosen the Tuesday night special – five course tasting menu for £25 – this meant we could try a selection of the dishes without being too out of pocket (the usual tasting menu is a reasonable £65 for 9 courses). What we didn’t realise is that for the price you also get given a snackette, bread course and petit fours with coffee thrown in too: good value for money, even if the portion sizes match Aumbry’s diminutive dining space.

To whet the appetite we were given home-made crisps; crunchy, salty and with a sharp slap of vinegar as well as light as a button smoked cheddar gougeres – if the business fails (which it won't) Mary Ellen and Laurence certainly have a promising future in the luxury snack market. This was followed by the bread – chewy, home baked sourdough (why does mine never turn out as good as that?) served with some light as air butters (one a lovely nutty version) and a pot of dripping. Yep, that good old fashioned artery clogger, making a fashionable reappearance. Dripping, I have concluded, is not something to be snobby or health conscious about – it’s divine; deep savoury beefyness coating the mouth and soothing the soul – we were terribly cheeky and asked for more.

Dripping - the stuff my dreams (and arteries) are made of

Out followed a succession of courses – each lilliputian portion brilliantly engineered to be big, but subtle with the flavours. Each dish a clever assimilation of perfectly matching and contrasting elements – all must have been worked and re-worked painstakingly to develop that level of balance. The kitchen may be small, but there’s plenty of skill squeezed in there.

A wild garlic (ramson) soup with truffle was sweet, heady and earthy – those truffles adding a supportive ground note to the dish so it wasn’t all overly heady garlic and cream. It’s funny how such a heavy ingredient could actually lighten a dish.

We were slightly torn with the pressed hare terrine wrapped in Cumbrian air dried ham – a silky soft, melt in the mouth dish; however hares are in decline and we were perturbed about the sustainability/morality of the ingredient when eating this dish - (Aumbry holds many Sustainable Restaurant Awards) (oh, and we still ate the dish, our morals only stretch so far).

Hare today, gone tomorrow?

A dish of home smoked mackerel was just clothed in the sweetest of smokes and dashed through by the ultra red sour grenadine poached rhubarb and the fiery acidity of a mustard cream. Then the main attraction – slow cooked pork; served with part of the loin and part of the shoulder, this had obviously spent it’s life as a very happy pig. Superb quality, supported by pitch perfect cooking and, again perfectly picked apple to accompany and cut through the salty, sweet meat.

Here was an interlude; we were offered the cheese course for an additional £7 (usually £10) - a wander through speciality cheeses of Britain and Ireland, arranged in taste order; youngest and lightest first, all the way through to some uber salty, punch you in the face blue at the end. Each pair of cheeses (there were three pairs) had been paired with an accompanying chutney and biscuits made in house; as our helpful waiter told us when we asked (and we asked about everything).

Out came pudding, a dish that really split the waters between myself and t’boy; grapefruit posset with celery granita and grapefruit sherbet. I loved the intense sourness of the sherbet, the creamy delicateness of the posset and the unusual, refreshing granita on top; in my mind it totally worked. T’boy however felt that it was a let down of a pudding and refused to even touch the granita after the first bite. I would say the pudding was the least strong course, but I usually find that – the only place I’ve seen puddings match the mains is Nutters in Rochdale.

Throughout the meal the very small FOH team were superb – they looked after us brilliantly, were incredibly knowledgeable, didn’t mind me asking a million questions and kept the supply of bread constant. They’re also pretty genned up on the wine they serve - in fact you can have tasting menu of wines to match each dish, but we were pushing our budget just by being out, so we declined. Instead the staff chose two excellent glasses that would compliment the courses we were having and gave us a complete run down of what we were drinking (to read more out Aumbry’s food and wine matching click here).

Mary Ellen and Laurence, husband and wife kitchen wizardry - thanks to Manchester Made it Easy

I’m not going to deny that the portion sizes at Aumbry are as miniature as their restaurant and I know that’s been a criticism from some corners; however this was a tasting menu so I knew each plate would be small. When you take in to account the snacks, unlimited bread, cheese (extra) and petit fours; well, I had to undo the button on my trousers when driving home, so there was no issue with portion sizes for me. Maybe if you are a massive man you’d have an issue, but sometimes isn’t it better to go for quality over quantity?

Aumbry definitely is the jewel in Manchester’s eating crown and the best food I've had in the area. Get in quick as I’m sure a raft of prestigious awards will be thrown their way in the next few years (not sure why they haven't got one yet to be honest).

Ps If you're early for dinner, or fancy a night cap – pop to the pub at the bottom of the road called The Church. Lovely, low beamed affair with some alright whiskies and some cracking ale.

Pps – not only do they have the best food and service, they have the best toilet too!

Price for two Tuesday tasting menus, two glasses of wine, cheese and a port – £74 (or there abouts)

Food – 9/10
Atmosphere – 9/10
Service – 10/10
Value for money – 9/10 (I think £25 for five courses and extras is pretty good)

Total – 37/40

Go again? Yes. I’d like to go back for the full tasting menu, but until I can afford that I think it’s another Tuesday night cheapo for me!

Aumbry, 2 Church Lane, Prestwich, Manchester M25 1AJ – 0161 798 841 - enquires@aumbry restaurant.co.uk - Twitter – Facebook

http://www.aumbryrestaurant.co.uk/

Please forgive the lack of photos, with such an intimate dining room and as I was enjoying myself so much, I felt it would be rude and obtrusive to take loads.

The Chetham Arms - Chapeltown, Bolton

I’m in fear of shocking you readers, but there’s something to be said about the North West’s dining scene; if you only eat in the cities because you 'know' you're guaranteed the best food, then you're getting a raw deal - the best food, the best service and the best prices are all found outside town.

I’m going to propose a theory; no matter the quality, a city restaurant it is always guaranteed custom as long as it's cheap enough or flashy enough. There’s the footfall, the tourists, the convenience, the being part of a scene (ad nauseum) and these factors ensure bums will be on seats and food will be in mouths. (Seems many restaurants in Manchester are surviving very well on just being flashy; but that's another rant and another blog).

Take an eatery out of the city and suddenly things change. There’s no guaranteed footfall bar a few pint seeking locals, so quality suddenly becomes very important; as does reasonable prices and staff that are capable of serving rather than just looking good.

One such place proving this theory is the newly refurbished Chetham Arms in Chapeltown on the outskirts of Bolton. Nestled away in a quintessentially small Northern village, it has been taken over by the powerhouse that is Chris Yates. At the tender age of 24 he already has two very successful ventures under his belt (Elephant and Castle, Shoulder of Mutton) with a raft of awards to boot and an inclusion in the Relish cookbook, along with such luminaries as Robert Owen Brown and Andrew Nutter.

The Chetham Arms - with thanks to themselves

The Chetham Arms doesn’t look anything special, in fact it looks like a local that’s had a little bit of a makeover in the main dining room; nothing stuffy or over pretentious. The staff are very welcoming and there’s plenty of good ale on tap. Even the menu is unassuming; filled with local produce and hearty sounding dishes: it doesn’t give an inkling of what’s to come.

A soup of jerusalem artichokes was rich and velvety without being overpowering; the accompanying truffle cream added a heady perfume that matched with an earthy brilliance. The cream had been foamed slightly and this added a lightness to a dish that could have suffered from being far too heavy.

Jerusalem artichoke soup and lightly truffled cream

Isle of Skye scallops were sweet, caramelised and cooked to perfection - nothing rubbery or anaemic here. I’m not one for foams when they’re just ‘there,’ but the addition of a smoked bacon foam added a salty punch that brought the dish together amazingly well.

Isle of Skye scallops - yes, this was served to me in a pub! (pint just out of shot)

Homemade black pudding with quails egg came with a moreish pineapple relish and julienned sour apple slices; a quirky slant on a well known food pairing. An accompanying fritter was light with no hint of grease - a testament to the chef's skill and one which added a lovely crunch to the dish.

 Black pudding, quails egg, pineapple relish and black pudding fitter

For mains we had burger, it would have been rude not to whilst sitting in a pub. The patties were amazing; not too salty, not too greasy, not too bland, not too much bread. Everything was spot on with this dish; from the handmade ketchup (heavy hints of star anise) to the onion relish, to the home picked onions to the toasted muffin and it was served pink to boot. Perfect!

Best burger I've ever had - please note this is a smaller portion than the usual one served

Finding space for pudding was hard, but after the quality of the proceeding dishes we reasoned we should try and find space. Rice pudding and treacle tart were very well constructed, but the most amazing pudding was the simplest – a raspberry parfait with orange rind compote. I’m not sure how the chef had managed to create such intense flavours, but the small quenelle packed a massive punch of fruity flavours -  the balance of sugary sweetness and the underlying tartness was just right, leaving you neither sugared out or pinched in the mouth.

Lovely puddings - yum yum yum

Usually in an evening there is always a bum note or some aspect of a dish you'd change. At The Chetham Arms the composition of each plate that came out was perfect; obviously Chris Yates has thought long and hard about each and every aspect of each and every dish; ensuring texture, taste, look and smell were balanced and come together to create a harmony not often found in restaurant food, let alone pub food. 

The Chetham Arms may be a simple pub with good, honest grub; but the high standard, creativity, skill and reasonable prices means this is likely to become a definite go to destination and proves that out of the city it's the food, service and price that does the talking.

Ps - I try not to go to the nth describing every dish or go in to raptures of delight on my blog, however the food at The Chetham Arms was so surprisingly good and priced so extremely fairly I'm sorry, it was needed this time!

Price for taster menu and drinks: £34.60 – as The Chetham Arms is newly opened the staff gave us a small taster menu for the same price as the three course market menu (13.95 for three courses lunch time and 5.30-7pm Mon-Fri).

Food – 10/10
Service – 9/10
Atmosphere – 6/10 (they were a bit empty, but the staff made up for it)
Value for money – 10/10

Total – 35/40

Go again? Yes, we have already booked to have Christmas Eve there and will go back time and time again.

83 High Street, Chapeltown, Turton, Bolton BL7 0EW - 01294 852279 - info@thechethamarms.co.uk

http://www.thechethamarms.co.uk/