Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Where to Eat
VERY EXPENSIVE
For the
River Restaurant at The Lowry Hotel,
see p. 571. The
Second Floor at
Harvey Nichols
(
&
0161/828-8898;
www.harveynichols.com) is also highly
regarded for its Modern European cookery; also on the second floor, there's the
cheaper but still very good brasserie.
Michael Caines
MODERN BRITISH/EUROPEAN Widely held to be the
best restaurant in town, this stylish and award-winning venue in the basement of the
ABode Hotel
near Piccadilly Station is named after one of Britain's most acclaimed
chefs, who has other dining rooms in the same hotels in nearby Chester (p. 574),
Glasgow, and, to the south, Exeter and Canterbury. Accessible fine dining, with the
emphasis on regional produce, is the order of the day: Characteristic dishes are pan-
fried scallops and belly pork with ginger and apple purée, pork scratching, and fennel
cream sauce; and Yorkshire partridge with cumin and pumpkin purée, lentils, glazed
onions, pickled pears and quince, and cumin-scented red-wine sauce. If you're not
ravenously hungry or just wary of inflicting too much damage on your wallet, eat from
the Grazing Menu in the Champagne Bar, order “grazing” portions of a la carte dishes
at lunchtime (served within an hour if you're on a tight schedule), or dine early
(6-7pm). Or there's the
MC Café Bar & Grill
and adjoining BarMC on the ground
floor of the hotel, offering more casual eating and drinking from breakfast to late
evening (including Sun brunches and roasts). Standard
doubles at the hotel
cost
£160.
107 Piccadilly.
&
0161/200-5678.
www.michaelcaines.com. Reservations recommended. AE, DC, MC,
V. Main courses £21-£26. Mon-Sat noon-2:30pm and 6-10pm.
MODERATE
Central Manchester has the usual family-friendly chains, including
Carluccio's
and
Wagamama;
some of them also have branches in the Trafford Centre mall (p. 570).
Cicchetti
ITALIAN A wonderful newcomer to the Manchester eating
scene, Cicchetti— the name for the tapas-style sharing dishes that are a specialty of
Venice—is noisy, brash, and heaps of fun. In the rather incongruous setting of the
ground floor of the House of Fraser department store, with views into the shop, it's
perpetually crowded by Italian couples, families and groups of friends, and also
attracts its fair share of famous northern footballers. Food could be an afterthought,
but most dishes— the likes of tuna tartare, fried gnocchi with San Daniele ham, Ital-
ian sausage with spinach and chili, and arancini (Sicilian rice-balls)—is spot on, if not
specifically Venetian. Cicchetti is an offshoot of the long-established San Carlo on
the same street.
King Street West.
&
0161/839-2233.
www.sancarlocicchetti.co.uk. Main courses £4-14. AE, DC, MC, V.
Open Mon-Fri 8am-11pm, Sat and Sun 9am-11pm.
Mr Thomas's Chop House
TRADITIONAL ENGLISH Probably Man-
chester's best-preserved Victorian pub, “Tom's”—together with its nearby sister eatery,
Sam's Chop House
—offers a slice of vogueish tradition in the heart of the city.
Named after 16th-century chophouses, where businessmen came to do their deals
over hearty cuisine and fine wines or local ales, Tom's places the same emphasis on
comforting, seasonal fare served in a convivial, informal atmosphere. Expect the likes
of brown onion soup, lovingly cooked for 36 hours and served with a large Cheddar
crouton, or homemade steak and kidney pie with chips, mushy peas, and a jug of
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