Restaurant Review: Pier Eight at the Lowry, Manchester

Hey,

An unexpected restaurant on the cards today - Pier Eight at The Lowry theatre!

The Lowry is a well-established theatre and arts venue at Salford Quays. Since its opening, the landscape around it has changed so much with the birth of MediaCity, home to huge multimedia companies like the BBC and ITV. In the past few years, MediaCity has become very much its own destination in Manchester, rather than just somewhere you might head to for work.

Despite all the great bars and restaurants that have sprung up in the area (like CAU, Grindsmith Coffee and The Alchemist), it's not somewhere I really consider even though it's super easy for me to get to on the tram.

I've been to The Lowry before but I didn't realise it had its own restaurant! Invited to check out their latest menu*, I was glad I'd chosen such a beautiful sunny day to visit the idyllic waterside location!

Pier Eight is on the ground floor of The Lowry, open to the rest of the building which gives it a welcoming feel. With huge windows overlooking the water and modern colourful accents through the restaurant, it has a bright and airy feel.

The menu is small and focused around fresh, quality British produce, executed with modern flair.

We hadn't eaten much through the day so were eager to get stuck in! We started things off with the home baked breads, served with tomato butter and ordered a lovely bottle of Portuguese Chianti.

Starter

For the starter, I chose the crispy pork belly, with pickled grapes, pine nuts, carrot vinaigrette, fennel and rye.

The pork belly was lovely and crisp, with really good flavour. There was a lot going on with this dish but it came together really well. I loved the grapes paired with the vinaigrette and puree (though I'm not quite sure what this was!).

Husband went for the seared salmon, with shaved fennel, apple, radish, dill buttermilk sauce - not something he'd usually go for! This dish was really tasty and light - perfect for a hot day!

Main Course

On to the mains!

When we arrived, our waitress told us that there was only one Beef Fillet dish left, so Chris was quick to get this one ordered! The grilled beef fillet was accompanied by braised beef cheek, courgette noodles, spiced aubergine and new potatoes.

I tried some of this dish an can confirm it was great! The beef fillet was quite obviously a quality piece of meat but the real star was the melty, flavoursome beef cheek! The herbed potatoes went perfectly with this too.

Now, my main comes with a bit of a disclaimer. I ordered the gnocchi with pesto, cherry tomato, parmesan and olive oil but had two different versions of it!

I love gnocchi and have it quite a lot. The first image is the first dish I received and I ended up sending it back - something I've never done before! The gnocchi was really hard and the dish in general just tasted bitter and overdone. As I was reviewing our meal, I wanted to let the staff know rather than having to speak negatively about the food.

To their credit, they did quickly get another gnocchi out to me. The chef said that due to it being pan-fried, it was as it should be but they would make the replacement dish without pan-frying it and as more of a 'traditional' gnocchi in their words. The two were honestly worlds apart; my new dish featured soft, fluffy gnocchi and the pesto tasted so much fresher - it was beautifully done! In my honest opinion, the dish is better without being pan-fried. At the least I think they should state this on the menu.

Dessert

Dessert was a difficult choice as there were so many good looking options! I eventually settled on the lemon mille-feuille with pistachio ice cream and raspberry meringue. The pastry was perfectly light and flaky, the custard rich and tasty and the raspberry meringue gave it a sweet and sharp interesting element - I loved it!

Chris chose the caramelised white chocolate parfait with toffee apple, oat biscuit and crème fraîche. The parfait was sweet and creamy and the toffee apple accompaniment took it to another level!


Despite the hiccup with the main, it was a wonderful meal. I never expected such quality food from an in-theatre restaurant! The waiting staff also deserve a mention as they were so attentive and lovely.

As there was a show in progress during our visit, I felt the atmosphere was a little lacking as it was so quiet. I would definitely dine here again however if I was seeing a show; the pre-theatre menu is great value too at just £29 for three courses!

Have you considered dining at The Lowry?

Restaurant Review: Blue Pig, Northern Quarter, Manchester

Hey,

A restaurant review from Manchester city centre today - and not another new venue that's sprung up either...

If you're familiar with Manchester, you'll have undoubtedly come across The Blue Pig before. This pretty blue traditional-looking pub sits in the heart of Manchester's Northern Quarter, close to the market side of the Arndale centre.

Not necessarily known for food previously, other than maybe a quick bowl of chips or a Sunday Lunch, The Blue Pig have relaunched their food and drinks menu with a fresh new take on pub fare! With this NQ stalwart under new management, I was happy to oblige when asked to visit to check out their new offerings*.

The new menu is perfect for grazing (my favourite kind of eating!) with their main 'Deli Menu' centred around charcuterie boards.

With a menu packed with a huge selection of cured meats and cheeses, artisan breads, pate and terrines, seafood and small plates - and all reasonably priced - this was right up my street.

We were treated to a 'tasting' evening to sample the new menu, trying a mix of some of the hero items, expertly paired with complementing drinks too.

To whet our appetite, we started with a cocktail: the Negroni Bramble - a refreshing mix of Tanqueray gin, Lillet and Pampelle grapefruit liqueur.

This was paired with pork crackling with fennel and coriander. This was incredible! I love pork crackling and you could tell some effort had gone into this. We were told that this was made with the Sunday Roasts at the weekend. It was so tasty and crispy - and huge!

Next up was the best bit for me - cured meats, cheeses and crackers!

This board was amazing; piled high with salami, extra mature cheddar, red Leicester, homemade fennel crackers, pickled vegetables and chilli jam.

You could taste the quality in all the components. The fennel crackers and cheeses in particular were really good.

Accompanied by a large glass of Spanish house red, this was definitely my favourite course. You can't beat cheese and red wine!

Continuing our feast was another sharing board! This time stacked with nibbles from the Small Plates and Seafood dishes.

The biggest eye-drawing item on the board has to be the vegetarian scotch egg! Created with a runny duck egg in the centre, sat atop ginger and rhubarb jam and encased in a beetroot falafel shell. As beautiful as this looked, it just wasn't for me - I think I love real scotch eggs too much! I found the beetroot falafel a little bland but the egg in the centre was gorgeous.

The board also featured feta-stuffed crispy olives with romesco sauce. I actually don't like olives but the beautiful sauce, creamy feta and crispy coating made these just about okay which is a big win for me!

My two favourite items were the tempura jerk prawns with citrus mayo and the Asian pork bon bons with pickled mooli and wasabi. The jury's out on which dish I favoured most - both were delicious. Did I know what mooli was? no (it's a type of radish, by the way); did I care? Absolutely not, it complemented the sweet and tender pork bon bons perfectly. The prawns were also awesome; lightly battered with great seasoning and a bit of a kick and juicy inside!

Last but by certainly no means least - dessert!

Our dessert was paired with a superb cocktail - the Lemon Curd Collins. Created with Ketel One Citron, Limoncello, real lemon curd, vanilla syrup, orange bitters and a splash of soda, it was both refreshing and sweet - the perfect palette cleanser. I'll definitely be back to order a round of these!

Then the pudding, oh the pudding. A classic chocolate fondant is one of my firm favourites and this one was wonderfully rich and gooey on the inside as it should be. The perfect size too to top of our tasting evening.


All in all, I was thoroughly impressed with The Blue Pig's new menu - I never expected to find food like this in such a setting. I'm ashamed to admit that I would have happily walked by The Blue Pig previously and would never consider visiting for something to eat but the quality, care and thought that's gone into their new menu is incredible.

There's so much on the menu that I know I'll love so I can't wait to go back, especially as everything is so reasonably priced - like their all-day charcuterie and cheese board offer of any 3 for £7, or 5 for £10. It's the perfect sharing lunch option for a catch-up with friends over a few cocktails!

Have you ever visited The Blue Pig for food and would you go back for this new menu?

Restaurant Review: Mr Lau's Dim Sum Bar & Restaurant: Warrington

Hey,

Another restaurant review for you today - and once again I've strayed from Manchester city centre!

I was kindly asked to try out Mr Lau's Dim Sum Bar & Restaurant*, a well-established eatery in Warrington town centre.

Warrington is not too far from us at all (in fact, we technically have a Warrington postcode!) but it's not somewhere I've thought to try for a meal out.

I'm a big fan of Chinese food but usually opt for a takeaway rather than a sit-in dining experience so I was unsure what to expect from a restaurant I'd not heard of before.

Mr Lau's is definitely deceiving! It doesn't look like much from the outside but upon walking through the door and ascending the stairs, you'll find a real feel-good atmosphere. The music is pumping and the bar area has a great buzz about it - it becomes clear that this is not simply somewhere to just eat Chinese food!

The seated restaurant is found down another set of steps - a large, modern space with low level lighting and an open kitchen at the back for all guests to see.

We were promptly greeted by our cheerful and friendly server who ushered us towards the cocktail list while we browsed the vast menu (seriously, I wanted to take a picture of how large it physically is but couldn't get it in shot!).

Encouraged to get two cocktails as it was Happy Hour, I didn't need much convincing to oblige and ordered a couple of Lychee Martinis which were absolutely delicious!

Starters

Unlike a lot other Chinese restaurants, Mr Lau's is specially dedicated to Dim Sum - small dishes of traditional bites and steamed dumplings or buns, usually shared around the table. I love this style of eating so I was more than happy to try a few different items for our starter.

The easiest dish for us to choose was the Char Siu Bao - a small plate of beautifully fluffy steamed bao buns, filled with sweet and sticky roasted pork pieces. These were totally divine and tasted really authentic and homemade.

Next up was the Siu Long Bao - another pork-based option but this time in the form of a steamed dumpling. Steamed dumplings usually divide my husband and I - I love them, while he usually finds that they're not to his taste though he's happy to try them. These ones were delicious; served in a traditional steamer basket, they were light and packed full of well-seasoned filling. They were so big, they were difficult to tackle with the chopsticks!

Finally, we opted for an item from the 'Gourmet Dim Sum' selection, Crispy Prawn Wontons. I usually find wontons a bit hit and miss when ordering them from takeaways - very often they are over-fried, resulting in a rock-hard dry outer pastry. These however were the best I've ever tried! The pastry was flaky and just the right amount of crispy, while the whole prawns inside were huge, juicy and incredibly tasty. 

Mains

Happy to continue the sharing of dishes, we chose a couple of our usual favourites for our main courses.

First, Salt and Pepper ribs. I adore the flavours of Chinese salt and pepper seasoning. I've actually recently begun to get to the bottom of a food intolerance and while I struggle with onions and garlic in particular, I'm happy to take the risk and discard the larger pieces to enjoy that classic salt and pepper flavour!

The ribs were huge and plentiful - we would definitely order these again!

Our second choice was Char Siu Peking - roast pork (at this point, I realise we had a lot of pork during this meal!) in a sticky, sweet peking sauce. I'd say that this dish was smaller in size but with plenty of large pieces of melt-in-the-mouth pork, it was more than enough to share.

We also complemented the mains with side orders of salt and pepper chips and egg-fried rice. 

The huge portions at Mr Lau's unfortunately meant we had zero room for dessert - we left feeling very full and incredibly satisfied with the standard of food and service we received.

We're not short of reasons to return either, especially with lots of offers through the week to enjoy including 'Dim Sum Mondays' (all Classic Dim Sum dishes at £2.95 each), 'Half Price Wednesdays' (50% off the entire a la carte menu) and 'Aromatic Fridays' (free crispy duck!).

We loved the party atmosphere at the restaurant, perfect for continuing your evening with friends - quite possibly at the fabulous Emily's cocktail bar next door!

Is Chinese food something you like to choose for a meal out?

Restaurant Review: New Opening - Tre Ciccio, Altrincham

Hey,

Today's post brings another exciting new restaurant opening in Altrincham, Tre Ciccio!

Tre Ciccio's concept is simple - authentic, rustic Italian food created with great ingredients and a small menu focused around classic Neapolitan wood-fired pizzas and slow-roasted chicken.

The restaurant has been trading for a few weeks but has very recently unveiled its new outdoor terrace area - just in time for the pre-summer heatwave we've had!

I popped along to the launch night of the terrace area a few weeks ago so was delighted to be invited back for the full dining experience*.

We unknowingly picked a fantastic day to visit; booking for Wednesday last week when the UK's mini heatwave kicked off. I rang ahead to ensure we were sat in the wonderful outdoor terrace area to make the most of the weather.

We kicked things off with a light house pinot grigio while we perused the menu. I loved that the wine was served traditionally in tumblers like most great Italians do!

Tre Ciccio have a great antipasti selection, made up of traditional Italian appetisers. We decided to share so ordered the Pane e Pinzimonio - a bread basket of warm focaccia, Altamura bread and crisp Carasau, accompanied by olive oil and balsamic to dip; the Cuoppo Fritto - a Neapolitan-style selection of lightly fried sea food including calamari, prawns and small whole fish served with lemon and garlic mayonnaise and lastly, Bocconcini Fritti - lightly crumbed and fried buffalo mozzarella bites with fresh basil and Marzano tomato sauce.

Though Tre Ciccio's Italian-style roast chicken was tempting, we're both big pizza fans and having been greeted with the restaurant's huge pizza oven on arrival on the top floor, there's no way we could pass them up!

The pizza menu is made up of 'Classic' and 'Gourmet' pizzas. There's a wide range of options (while still being authentic - absolutely no BBQ sauce bases or pineapple here!) and I truly struggled to choose!

I finally settled on the Salernitana - topped with sliced pancetta, fior di latte cheese, parmesan and basil. My date went for the Calzone Napoletano - traditional folded pizza with salami, prosciutto, fior di latte cheese and basil.

My pizza was so good! Amazingly tasty and fresh toppings with a wonderfully chewy and slightly charred crust characteristic of a perfect wood-fired pizza!

The calzone was awesome too - piping hot inside with the ideal amount of filling and not too doughy.

As the sun set out on the terrace, we decided to share a tiramisu too (which by this point was too dark to capture!) and it topped off a fantastic meal perfectly!

Tre Ciccio is super close to where I live so I'm excited to have somewhere this good to stroll over the bridge to after work for a few beers and great pizza.

I'd definitely recommend this unassuming Italian for perfectly executed, authentically Neapolitan pizzas with a laidback, friendly neighbourhood atmosphere. They definitely give Altrincham Market favourite, Honest Crust some honest competition (geddit)! With the added bonus of having your own table!

Will you be visiting Tre Ciccio the next time you're in Altrincham?