Already a firm favourite since opening last year, Hawksmoor Manchester is cementing its status in the city with a new Classics menu, celebrating a decade of existence. The Deansgate restaurant, which won Best Newcomer at Manchester Food & Drink Festival 2015, is offering six courses with matched drinks, to mark the opening in 2006 of its first (of seven) locations. The menu of favourites from the past decade starts with a shortrib nugget with lively kimchi ketchup, paired with either its popular Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew (an eye-wateringly gingery ale-based cocktail, which you’ll love or not – either way it’s a must) or the lighter, gin-infused Marmalade cocktail. Second round is scallops with white port and garlic, served in shells on a bed of mashed potato – for nothing more than stability – and paired with a 2005 Muscadet. Third course (pictured) is the most rounded of the six: succulent pork belly ribs sit alongside a pickled salad that works with the sweetness of the ribs. A Mathis Bastian Riesling, from Luxembourg, completes an already revelatory course. This being Hawksmoor steakhouse, the bombshell drops, as either a fillet or rib-eye (your choice – we enjoyed both, although the fillet has the edge in our opinion) arrives, surrounded by bone marrow, triple-cooked chips, spinach – plus four sauces, including the extraordinary house anchovy hollandaise. Dishes cover most of the table – and that’s before the introduction of a complex Californian pinot noir (with the fillet) or Château du Tertre from Bordeaux (with the rib-eye). Desserts include a classic sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream – partnered up with a classic cream sherry, and a final round of salted caramel ‘tributes’ – a gourmet take on the humble Rolo. The accompanying Speyside Clerk of the Works whisky is a final digestif. In fact, we’re pushed to think of a better Hawksmoor experience: regulars will love everything on the menu, which works a comprehensive introduction to Hawksmoor’s signature style for newcomers too.
Hawksmoor Manchester, 184-186 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3WB, Tel: 0161 836 6980, Classics menu £70 per person or £110 including drinks, thehawksmoor.com
- Words:
- Chris Horkan
- Published on:
- Wed 15 Jun 2016
