I’D BEEN DYING to eat at the
Edinburgh Castle since we visited Manchester last summer. Unfortunately, on that occasion we could only
get a table for drinks. This time around, we were celebrating Sarah’s 40
th
birthday; I hoped this would be the ideal spot to mark the occasion.
Located in the now trendy Ancoats area, there has been a pub
on the site since 1811. A couple of
years ago the vacant building was taken over and turned into the smart gastro
pub we see today. Blossom Street is certainly becoming a bit of a foodie mecca
in Manchester. Wander a little further
up the road and you arrive at Mana, Manchester’s first Michelin starred
restaurant in over 40 years.
The main bar area is bright with walls tastefully painted
British racing green. We are led past it into a cozy candlelit room with just a
handful of tables. I believe there is
also a dedicated dining room on the second floor. I must admit the conviviality
of it all post-lockdown is still rather odd, but in a good way.
The menu is seasonally led with a focus on British
ingredients.
There’s a small snacks menu
priced between £6-7 with starters ranging from £7 to a scallops option at £14.
Mains begin at £14 to just under £30.
I was always going to order the retired dairy cow tartare
with confit egg yolk (£7). It was on the
snacks menu so I was pleasantly surprised to find four slabs of sourdough with
a generous spoonful of neatly diced beef. I’d never tried a dairy cow, but it
was buttery and melted in the mouth as I had expected. A hint of sharp shallots was welcome with the
egg yolk sauce binding it together into a rich finish. My only criticism was
that the sourdough vessels were a tad too thick.
Sarah began with scampi fries (£6), also from the smaller menu.
We didn’t order starters, but I
imagine they must be pretty humongous judging by the size of this portion, as
well as my own.
Four well-seasoned
nuggets of tender prawns were encased in citrus breadcrumbs that had been fried
at the perfect temperature to produce the desired grease-free coating.
The langoustine emulsion was creamy and
matched with another citrus sauce that balanced the dish well.
My Mangalista pork chop (£26) was cooked to perfection, rare
in the centre with an inch of melt-in-the-mouth fat that boasted a crispy top;
I could bathe in that stuff.
The salsa
verde was fresh and a fine foil for the delicious pig with a puddle of herb
sauce split with a meat jus providing lubrication. I had to resist sucking the
meat from the single rib which neatly demonstrated the contrast of meats.
We split a side of Jersey Royals in seaweed
butter for a further £4 that brought a nuttiness that made me think of the
acorns the animal would have fed on.
For her main, Sarah opted for glazed corn-fed chicken with pea velou
té, asparagus and broad beans priced at £14. The chicken was beautifully executed with crunchy skin and a juicy centre.
The fresh, sweet pea elements brought summer vibes since the Mancunian weather didn’t get the memo.
A superb value-for-money dish.
We sipped on an excellent bottle of Tannat (£35) from Uruguay that Sarah’s brother, Andrew, had kindly ordered ahead for her birthday. Tannat is a great food wine with a full body and level of acidity that’s ideal for food. The hints of plums and raspberry were met with a touch of spice that we both enjoyed.
It may have taken nearly a year, but the Edinburgh Castle was well worth the
wait. An interesting, well-priced menu
offered a great deal of enjoyment and I appreciated the balance between being a
bar that serves great food, as well as a pub you can go to just to enjoy a
drink – that’s a hard thing to pull off.
Web: ec-ancoats.com/ Instagram: @ec_ancoats
Address: Blossom Street, Manchester, M4 5AN
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