Review: Winsome, Manchester

I TRUST MY instincts when it comes to choosing restaurants, especially when I have little or no prior knowledge to them. The way a menu is written, the ingredient sourcing, the wine list… these jigsaw pieces give vital info an experienced diner can decipher in order to eat well. I hadn’t heard of Winmore before making this trip so let’s hope my barometer was on point.

It’s been over a decade since I began making regular culinary trips to Manchester and the food scene has gone from strength to strength. It started when Simon Rogan and Aiden Byrne – two giants in British cooking – opened shop in the city, aiming to bring Michelin success to a city starved of stars. Although both restaurants were great in their own right, it was Mara that brought star status here in 2020, while the two heavyweights’ respective eateries no longer exist.

On this occasion, my first choice was actually Another Hand as I knew the team there from their time at the Edinburgh Castle (not the actual Edinburgh Castle!) but, unfortunately, they were closed for some filming they were doing on this visit – always next time. Winsome seemed to have a similar philosophy and, most importantly, they had a table.

The dining room had a really calm, ethereal feel to it with an open kitchen to the right-hand side where a charcoal grill captures the senses as natural light floods in from the large windows opposite. It turns out the restaurant is inside Whitworth Locke hotel where people involved with the Brit Awards, which were being held in Manchester on the Saturday, beaver around the communal courtyard with clipboards and tablets.

The menu this lunchtime is compact but perfectly formed with a proudly British edge. There are four
starters and mains, as well as a couple of large sharing dishes and a couple of snacks. We share the Tamworth pork sausage with cinderwood garlic (£14). I notice one of the chefs carrying what looked like half a pig over his shoulder, with a few other whole cuts in the back kitchen, so I assume this sausage was made in house. It was up there with the best sausages I’ve ever eaten: packed with meaty flavours, yet juicy as the day is long with a slight hint of char from being cooked over coals. The garlic was pleasant but it was a tad difficult to cut with a standard table knife. I didn’t really care because that banger was absolutely epic, especially when soaked up in the plentiful sauce that accompanied it.

I continued with the pork theme for mains with the Tamworth pork chop with Braeburn apple, costing
£32. This was another fantastic course with one hell of a slab of pig beautifully cooked and rested; as tender as you could ever dream of.  I’d bet there was some sort of brining that happened previously. The slightly sweet apple is obviously a natural foil but intertwining it with the subtle bitterness of radicchio really worked. I loved the pool of sauce as its elegance was congruent to the delicacy of meat.

Sarah fancied the plate of Sladesdown farm duck for £36, which came in two parts. First, another
mammoth portion of meat arrived, proudly blushing perfectly pink. Like mine, it was so easy to eat with the gracefully fruity sauce in tune with flavours of the bird. She wondered if presenting this way may have been detrimental to the crispiness of the skin, but I didn’t feel it detracted from the enjoyment. The second part was a radicchio and duck leg salad that was a real delight, too. There was tons of crispy skin amid the seasonal radicchio and frisee lettuce that almost alleviated the guilt of both of us having platters of meat.  We also shared a portion of skin on chips (£7) that were equally well made.

If I had to criticise one thing it would be that I’d like them to maybe flash the plates under the grill for 10 seconds just to bring the heat back up after resting. I appreciate more than most the importance of relaxing meat before serving, but it was pretty lukewarm by the time you got half way through. Other than that, service was informal and genuinely pleasant.

This was an ideal long, slow lunch so we decided that it merited puddings. The gentleman next to me had caramel ice cream and I was most definitely in need of a palate cleanser. We ordered a portion for £4 along with Tom’s treacle tart priced at a further
£10. This dessert was so typically northern in the way it just acted like a big cuddle. It had a pleasing chew to it with a hint of nuttiness, from oats I think, washed away with a calming vanilla ice cream. The caramel ice cream was subtle and did offer a bit of relief after a big meal.

This a fine example of exemplary modern British cookery and another reason why Manchester is fast becoming a go-to culinary destination in the UK. The quality of produce used and talent of the chefs was obvious and the restaurant was a wonderful place for a most memorable lazy lunch. On writing this, I’ve learned the team are involved with the V Goode pie shop that I just happened to pick up a couple of pies from for dinner after our train journey home as it was round the corner from our hotel. What was I saying about good instincts?

Web: winsomemcr.co.uk

Instagram: @winsome_mcr/

Phone: 07776 880 839

Address: 74 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6JD

Open: Mon - Sat: Lunch 12 - 3, Dinner from 5p.m. and Sunday 12 noon - 8p.m.