Cane and Grain, Manchester

We visited Cane & Grain, a new rib joint in the Northern Quarter, during its opening weekend where they offered 50% off food. Specialising in ribs we were famished and ordered a selection to share including slabs of St Louis and Memphis style spare ribs. After recently visiting Big Easy in London for their St Louis ribs these were in contrast a disappointment. The ribs appeared to be rather small with a lack of meat and were a bit dry. Out of the two the Memphis ribs had the edge for flavouring.

I was disappointed that they had run out of the beef short rib so went for the dino rib to satisfy my beefy cravings. The dino rib was absolutely humongous when it arrived at the table, sitting in the middle as the centrepiece. The dino rib comes from the short loin and is cut with a lot of meat left on the bone, just as well given the lack of meat from the pork ribs. The rib was well smoked and the meat was tender and cut off the bone with ease. It was fun eating the mammoth meat off the bone although a little awkward as by the time we had gotten through all of it it had gone cold and was quite tough.

All ribs come with house fries which were pretty standard. We also ordered sides of truffle mac n cheese and Carolina slaw. The sauces available are quite fun, especially the Vimto and Dr Pepper. The food at Cane & Grain did not blow us away and some work is required to lift the pork ribs if that is to become their signature and calling card.

Mr Cooper's House and Garden, Manchester

Mr Coopers at the Midland hotel is the embodiment of consistency, it is rare that we frequent the same place more than three times in a year due to the variety and speed of new openings to try. Each time we have visited there seems to be new dishes on the menu and the quality is retained for old favourites.

Our latest visit to Mr Coopers was for the Sunday lunch, a great deal at 3 courses for £19. The starter consisted of tomato and lentil soup, cucumber and spring onion salsa, Korean mint, packed full of flavour, this is my favourite soup of the year although I very rarely order soup.

Mrs Nom wanted to order from the a la carte and began with wild mushroom and onion marmalade tartlets, ricotta and rocket.

The main event was roast topside of Cumbrian beef, dripping potatoes, savoy cabbage, honey roasted carrots, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire pudding and roast gravy. Quality beef with well-cooked and seasoned vegetables, just as a satisfying Sunday lunch should be.

Not wanting a full main Mrs Nom created her own surf and turf with a combination of two starters of raw beef with pickled paw paw, sweet tomato jam and toasted rye bread and hand dived glazed scallops with caper, hazelnut and shallots. The hazelnut with the scallops worked very well.

To finish we shared a honey flap jack, lemon posset and marinated strawberries.

In order unblogged visits we have tried dishes from the a la carte and set menus including the following dishes:

Nick’s meatballs with hyssop, baked apricots and tzatziki

Mussel chowder with leeks and bone marrow croutons

Cumbrian rib steak, truffle pudding and purple potato latkes

Malabar pilaf, lamb rumps, garlic, lemon and chilli

Braised pork shoulder, lentils, crispy cabbage and black pudding fritter

Viet Shack & Siam Smiles Cafe, Manchester

Two of the current venues receiving adulation from the Manchester based bloggers are Viet Shack based in Arndale Market and Siam Smiles Cafe in Chinatown who serve up Vietnamese and Thai food respectively.

Mrs Nom is a regular at Viet Shack for lunch and for the price it provides a refreshing alternative to regular sandwiches. Billed as Vietnamese street food the summer rolls with king prawn are light and packed with vermicelli and vegetables, they are great paired with the house made peanut sauce.

The bánh mì baguettes are one of the signature dishes of Vietnam and this version with chicken and pickled vegetables. The flavours of this were much more vibrant and interesting than ham and cheese sandwiches.

Out of all the dishes that we have tried the one that did not live up to the hype was the beef on rice, we found the beef a little dry.

Overall decent for a quick lunch but we can't wait until they branch out in their own space in the Northern Quarter. We've not had many pleasant experiences in Arndale Market, with limited seating and people generally leaving the tables in rotten states with rice all over the table and a lack of cleaners. Probably the most off putting is people going from table to table begging for money or food, not that we are chastising them for doing so but it is not something you want to encounter whilst eating.

Siam Smiles Cafe is essentially a supermarket with tables along the side offering a range of Thai dishes. The Thai language menu on the reverse side of the English menu is a little longer which amused me, whilst Chinese restaurants tend to have whole different menus altogether for Westerners!

We ordered a range of dishes to share including noodle and rice plates which were all a little disappointing. Kow moo krob, crispy pork belly with rice and pork sauce was quite bland with the pork belly a tad burnt and a surprisingly small portion. The kow ka moo with braised pork joint fared a little better but the advertised Thai broccoli didn't make it to the plate, being replaced with cucumber.

The two yellow noodle dishes we tried were kuai tiew roast duck soup with morning glory and bean sprout and kuai tiew moo dang, with roast red pork, sliced pork balls, bean sprouts, spring onion and choi sum.

The only dish that stoodout was a spicy mixed seafood salad with mussels, prawns and squid. With the flavours being interesting and with just the right amount of kick in the chilli.

Perhaps being Chinese and regularly eating quality roasted three meats has had an impact on my opinions on the rice and noodle dishes. The dishes are priced quite competitively at £5.50 and up but the portion sizes reflect it.

Moretti Gran Tour, Manchester

We were invited to the Manchester leg of the Moretti Gran Tour held by Birra Moretti featuring some of the top Italian street food vendors from London in conjunction with beer from the hosts. Held at the old Granada Studios the event was mainly indoors with a few stalls outside. Although I’m not a keen drinker of beer, Mr Nom was happily gulping down bottles of Birra Moretti in the hot weather.

Instead I was more interested in the street food on offer which included arancini balls by Arancini Brothers The porcini and taleggio was our favourite of the two on offer, the other containing tomato, saffron and mozzarella.

Pasta e Basta served up two variations of gnocchi, a beetroot version for the veggies and one with slow braised pork shoulder. I enjoyed the beetroot gnocchi more out of the two especially because of the creamy gorgonzola sauce.

Our favourite stall had to be Gurmetti who served up torta frittas. Extremely light puffed dough topped with thinly sliced pork cheek and served with parmesan cheese on the side. This was the only stall where we had seconds and we will be sure to visit them on Leather Lane next time we are down in London. 

The Cheeky Italian were serving panzerotti fritti. Deep fried calzone to order with pork & beef meatballs, tomato sauce and fontina cheese, the casing looked really heavy but it was lighter than expected. 

Outside Pizza Pilgrims were whipping up margarita pizzas. Although amazingly we witnessed that some people felt the two minute wait for the pizza to cook in the wood fired oven was too long and joined other queues which were even longer!  We weren’t complaining however as it meant we got our pizza fix quicker. The most popular stall of the night was probably Forza Win serving up porchetta sandwiches, the glistening and charred meat looked good on the spit roast but we were too full to try it.

Onto dessert which was provided by the popular Gelupo, which has to be some of the best gelato I’ve had in the UK. I was craving this the minute I saw the stall but I knew I had to try the savoury food first. I was a bit greedy and ordered three flavours during the first visit. All the flavours were too tempting so I requested smaller scoops of melon, which was so pure and my favourite, mint stracciatella and pistachio. I made Mr Nom go back for seconds. However to my surprise he came back with full sized scoops of ricotta & sour cherry and blood orange which were ideal to cool off in the sun.

What a great event it was, it gave us a little taste of Italy and if this is what we can expect to find in Italy then it will be high on our next holiday list. 

San Carlo Cicchetti, Manchester

San Carlo Cicchetti has always been a place on our agenda and surprisingly Mr Nom chose it as the nights venue as we walked past House of Fraser on Deansgate. Italian small plates as opposed to the usual starter and main format however the portion sizes were bigger than expected but we just about polished off all of the dishes. 

The first dish to arrive was duck salad, it was flavourful with pancetta and the apple balanced the dish really well with the sweetness coming through the saltiness. We had to order a pasta dish from an Italian restaurant, especially as I couldn’t remember the last time I had pasta of any description. I was looking forward to the pappardelle. There was just enough sauce to coat the fresh pasta and the fragrant truffle running through the dish. 

The suckling pig was enjoyable although I regret leaving it too late to eat. As it cooled the meat became a little tough but the meat was well flavoured with a hint of rosemary, simple yet tasty. 

The halibut was slightly bland for me but I liked the crunch from the samphire although Mr Nom thought the seasoning was about right. The lamb cutlets with a tomato sauce were cooked well although there wasn’t much to it. We also ordered a side portion of roast sweet potato which came topped with heaps of pancetta.

Dessert was not needed although we did share a pannacotta. A powerful scent of vanilla was running through the pannacotta although I wasn’t complaining because I love vanilla with berries. We finished the meal with a latte for me and a cappuccino for Mr Nom, and by end I didn't want to move because I was full to the brim.

It was simple cooking at Cicchetti with subtle flavours and enthusiastic service to match. The decor inside was bright and airy which is what I like in restaurants as dim lights sends me to sleep.