This Good Friday, Jon and I were back off to Manchester again to see Sophie Ellis Bextor in the Rtiz (and a delight she was too!) Scouring the twittersphere for new places to try in Manchester we came across Beef and Pudding. After checking out the menu which appeared to be offering delicious takes on pub classics we decided to to give it a go. We booked a table and headed off for a visit. 
When we arrived we were surprised to realise that a year earlier we had visited the same place when it was quite a dingy old pub. Well, the transformation was amazing. The vibe they are going for is "Urban Pub and Kitchen" and with its contemporary design featuring wooden table tops, raised and boothed seating area this has defiantly been achieved. At 5:30pm when we arrived the place was already buzzing with large groups of friends and families and there was a great vibe going on cemented by the friendly welcome at the hosts desk. This would defiantly be somewhere you could bring a group of friends or family looking for an upbeat night out.
We had heard good things about the desserts so we didn't go for any of the starters this time around however Jon did comment that it was nice to see somewhere with a vast amount of starters on offer and I would have to agree. The "Cheese Bon Bons" sounded great for veggies and I liked the sound of the "Nearly A Pigs Ear" - a black pudding and pigs cheek dish with curry spices and gravy. For the indecisive there were 4 types of sharing planks to choose from which seems to be the starter for choice for many of the diners around us and they looked fab and I couldn't see anything being left on the planks!
Onto our mains. As it was Good Friday it was seafood for me and I went for the "Sauteed Dublin Bay Prawns" with piquillo peppers and penne pasta. This came served with a "tomato, basil,chili and garlic tea" served in its own teapot which I thought was a nice touch and good as it let you add as much sauce as you wanted to the pasta (I hate when it's swimming in sauce!). The "Tea" was really smooth and delicious and I wish I'd ordered some garlic bread to mop it all up with but I was saving room for pudding. To top everything off there was some incredible "kale seaweed" on the top which added a scrummy salty taste and crunchy texture to the dish and to be honest I could of happily sat and ate a huge bowl of that on its own. My only complaint was that there wasn't more of it!
Jon went for the veggie option of "No Beef and Pudding" - a cheese and onion filled suet pudding with mash and gravy. I tried a bit and whilst my pasta was delicious I had one of those awful moments when you wish you had ordered what someone else had as it was absolutely yummy. The cheese filling was superb and the portion size was just enough for such a filling pudding. It's great to see different veggie options on a menu other than risotto's and goats cheese tarts and I hope they keep this on the menu as it's up there with the best veggie meals I've ever tasted.
I was all up for dessert at this point and after a gentle nudge I persuaded Jon to join my in sharing the "Dessert Plank" - a taster plate of most of the desserts on offer. Please take a moment to digest with your eyes what was placed in from of us:
Trust me it was as mind blowing to taste as it looked. On your dessert plank you have Cherry Bakewell, Cheesy Eccles Cake, Banoffee Cheesecake, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Tart all served with custard, cream and chocolate/caramel sauce. All of it was demolished by us both in no time, it was all too good to leave any but my stand out had to be the Cherry Bakewell which had a nice sharp bite to it and was so moist followed by the Eccles Cake which was served warm and just melted in the mouth. This alone was worth the visit and I'd quite happily come again and just order one of these. Do give it a try if you visit - it's an absolute stand out!
For me Beef and Pudding Manchester was a winner all round. I'd love to come back again when it's not Good Friday to try some of the meat dishes and to have another go on the dessert plank. If your off to Manchester with a group of your friends book a table today - the great atmosphere, friendly staff and amazing pub food will please everyone in your party and I promise you will all leave happy and stuffed - just like we did!
Check out their website here.
No comments:
Post a Comment