Restaurant Review: Room, Manchester

I love Room in Manchester. I reviewed it for 4ManchesterWomen when Amir made an amazing cocktail for the ‘Manchester Woman in a Glass’ challenge and, more recently for the G’Vine event. Something I hadn’t had the delight of trying was their food menu, until now…

The listed building within which Room is housed is a thing of beauty. High ornate ceilings, amazing chandeliers, huge windows looking over King Street. This is just the perfect location to while away an afternoon with a cocktail or dine with a loved one. It’s also perfect for ladies who lunch and that’s exactly what we did! Well, dinner, but it’s the same thing.

We struggled to pick something from the menu due to the vast amount of food we wanted to try, so the kitchen asked if we would like a sharing platter to start so we could try a bit of everything. Never a group of ladies to refuse we went with it and were treated to a slate of wonder. You know me, I absolutely detest mushrooms and the mushroom croquettes were kept well away on the opposite side of the slate but the other ladies loved them. My absolutely favourite, as contentious as it may be, was the terrine. Topped with fois gras it was very rich with a beautiful freshness from rhubarb to balance out the flavours. The smoked salmon with vodka spiked cucumber and prawn & crab cocktail were also wonderful served with bloody Mary shots. A lovely twist on a classic.

Having looked at the menu prior to our visit (well I got hungry at lunch and was planning what to eat, I didn’t want to spoil my evening having eaten too much of an average sandwich) I knew exactly what I was going for… the BBQ tuna and pork. Wonderfully soft baby back ribs with meat that fell off the bones was served with seared tuna, belly pork and corn bread. Ever a fan of Southern American food I was so excited to see how this dish would work out. The tuna was cooked perfectly for me, no obviously ‘blue’ bits but pink and soft in the centre. The belly pork had a crisp skin that was ever so slightly overdone, nothing that meant there was much of it left on the plate mind. The cornbread was a bit overdone for my liking too… I was expecting something lighter and sweeter. Once again, something minor that didn’t have that much of an impact on my enjoyment of the evening. I LOVED the pig corn on the cob holder and the kitsch butter spray… I doused my sweetcorn liberally before devouring it in seconds. A lovely touch and something different that you won’t find anywhere else.

Onto pudding and, like the starters, we were treated to a sharing platter of desserts. I think this made me swear for the first time on Twitter on the evening itself and I’m sure you can see why. Huge portions of some of the most popular desserts including the moistest carrot cake I have ever eaten. It melted in the mouth beautifully and looked so pretty adorned with a toffee carrot. My absolute favourite was the toasted marshmallow with coriander spiced mango, coconut and passionfruit. So different and not like anything I have ever eaten in Manchester for as long as I can remember, this was sticky, not overly sweet and the fruit worked so well with the coconut. Gorgeous doesn’t even cover it. The chocolate marquis was too much for me, a dense dessert for anyone with a huge chocolate craving. It was lovely but after eating so much already, it was a step too far, even for me and my sweet tooth!

Overall verdict? I still love the place, the food matched to my expectations completely and I hope to return soon when, I will attempt, to finish that damn chocolate marquis. I’ll be sat at the bar with my Salted Mr Tom cocktail (please go, please try one) and my cake… feel free to relieve me of a spoonful. You won’t be disappointed.

*Photography by the amazing Jenny from McAvoy Photography

We dined as guests of the restaurant. This has in no way affected my review which is an honest account of my dining experience.