Proper Tea at Manchester Cathedral & Teacup Kitchen on Thomas Street

It made sense to review both places in the same post as they're both part of the same family and are just a short 10 minute walk away from each other; Teacup Kitchen located slap bang in the middle of the increasingly busy Thomas Street and Proper Tea located directly opposite the entrance to Manchester Cathedral.

The close relationship is obvious on immediate sight of either establishment as the design throughout (including font, colours, menus) is kept close to the other but due to the very different locations both spots have a clear personality of their own. There is also cross-over on the food and drink range, with both sharing the same core range of teas, coffees and cakes but with Proper Tea having a food menu that focuses more on smaller snack dishes to go with their teas.   

Both locations are fantastic to drop into casually for a drink and one of their broad range of cakes. They both cover a lot of the classics and you can safely expect to see (among others) Victoria sponge, flourless chocolate, lemon cake, brownies, rainbow cake, red velvet and more displayed on the counter for you to admire. From the point of view of a greedy customer it's excellent having the choice between these or the equally enjoyable over the top cakes that Home Sweet Home are dishing out a short walk from both spots.

Teacup Kitchen on Thomas Street

I've been into Teacup Kitchen on countless occasions now and there's often a queue out the door which speaks volumes for the quality on display especially given it's not one of those places that you see much 'hype' (horrible word, forgive me) about. The main food menu is based around brunch options and sandwiches and to accompany the food they have an imaginative tea menu, smoothies, milkshakes and coffees (which are extremely strong, a massive plus for me). There's usually a couple of daily specials as well which often showcase some real imagination and ensuring there's always something interesting to try.

I enjoy Teacup Kitchen at all times of the day, it often quietens down in the early evening on weekends making it a great place for a casual drink and chat with friends but my favourite part of their menu is undoubtedly breakfast. It's easily one of my favourite places to nurse a hangover after over-indulging the evening before.

On this specific occasion I was in early morning and had a "Royale Northern" which is their take on the classic eggs benedict, served with smoked salmon on toasted sourdough toast. All the individual elements were of a good standard, the yolks added to the sauce ensured there was sufficient moistness to the dish and leaving behind ample hollandaise and yolk mix to dip up with the leftover toast. The capers and peashoots were a great addition, genuinely adding to the hollandaise acidity and lightening up the dish.

I also tried the "Superfood Porridge" which consists of milled oats served piping hot topped with mixed seeds, roasted coconut, raisins and agave syrup. Porridge is a difficult thing to make exciting but this both looked and tasted fantastic, the syrup melted through the oats avoiding the tasteless gloop that's often hidden away at the bottom of a porridge bowl and there was more than enough fruit to ensure it didn't disappear in the first few spoonfuls. 

For dessert (that's right, breakfast dessert) I went for a slice of the red velvet cake and an Aretha Franklin smoothie, made up of apple juice, raspberries, mango and banana. The cake was exactly as I'd want - moist, plenty of icing and a big enough wedge to kill the sugar cravings for a while.

Proper Tea at Manchester Cathedral

Proper Tea is just far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city resulting in a very quiet and relaxed atmosphere. The restaurant is stunning inside, the huge windows on the corners ensure a perfect view of the Cathedral and that the place is flooded with light which really emphasises the wonderful tiled floor and white interior. They also have a couple of tables tucked outside, which on the rare occasion the sun is out are often snapped up quickly. 

Food wise, on this occasion they had just introduced the new summer menu which was stuffed with interesting sounding salads (Mackerel, chicken, salmon, goats cheese tart or halloumi with a choice of sides) as well as meaty, vegetarian and cheese platters. All sounded ideal to share or dip into yourself.

Firstly I tried the smoked mackerel which had the skin removed so there was no faffing about to do! This was accompanied by a little pot of beetroot creme fraiche and a side of green bean, feta and almond salad. The crunch of the green beans with the mackerel and creme fraiche was a delight, a really enjoyable plate of food.

The second salad I tried was the halloumi, tomato and olives (which came served warm) and was accompanied with tabbouleh, roasted vegetables and spicy avocado sauce. Of the two this was my favourite, it looked and tasted absolutely fantastic and genuinely healthy - the avocado sauce was a new one on me but added a rich creaminess to the salad, completely avoiding what could have been quite a dry dish.

For dessert I went with the lemon cake and the coconut carrot cake which were slightly disappointing on this visit (the first time I've had issues). The sponge in both slices tasted a day past best, this visit was made on a bank holiday so all I can think is that they'd done a large bake to cover the long weekend. Both pieces still got polished off but it did take a slight shine off things on this visit. 

So, which would I recommend? I'd actually be hard pushed to choose a preference and it's great having both options on my doorstep knowing that whether I'm in the mood for a relaxed cuppa with a salad in a beautiful scenic location or a cracking brunch in a buzzing little restaurant I'm well covered. Both locations are definitely recommended.

Wahu - Manchester

I'm always on the look out for new lunch spots and despite the initial impressions of Wahu being pretty poor, I waited for the hype to die down and any teething problems to sort themselves out before heading down to give it a try for myself. Wahu is the latest spot on The Avenue in Spinningfields and offers healthy express food to eat in or take away. 

From the outside Wahu looks exceptionally cool and certainly very enticing. Lots of bright colours everywhere, huge glass windows, neon lights, giant WAHU wording everywhere - I was feeling pretty optimistic about things as I headed in as it was certainly very busy. 

The range of options is fairly broad but like another high street chain you may be familiar with - you choose a base (the carbs), then a protein, then your extras (salad bits) and a topping (the sauce). Subway anyone? For some reason Quinoa is 75p extra (healthy types need to dig deep). 

I went for the "box of the day" which was Vietnamese chicken salad with red onion, carrot and light soy sauce. I didn't notice until I got back to the office as I wasn't really paying attention whilst I took photos (entirely my own fault) but this included absolutely nothing of any substance carbs wise - I ended up with a box of plain salad leaves, with a small portion of red onion, the same paltry portion of grated carrot and then a handful of over cooked dry chicken. Soy sauce had been added but not attempt had been at mixing so the sauce just sloshed around at the bottom underneath the leaves and only really made an impact once i'd eaten away at about half the leaves by which time everything that was left was starting to get lathered in the soy sauce making everything exceptionally salty.

Honestly it was appalling, i'd estimate about £0.30 for £4.95 and around 150 calories, I was so hungry I had to stuff down some Tesco salt and vinegar mini-donuts to keep me alive for the afternoon - totally backfire of my attempt at healthy eating. I'm all for healthy eating but I was absolutely starving. Despite only opening a month ago, the website shows protein shakes (which I wanted to try) but they weren't on the drinks board in the restaurant so I ended up with a cucumber, spinach and pineapple 'raw and fresh' juice which tasted exactly like every other one of those raw juice drinks you've ever drank. 

Overall this was absolutely terrible, verging on cynical for the paltry amount of food I received for the money and there is no way i'd ever consider going back. If i'd have not gone for the special of the day i'd have been looking at nearly £10 for a really poor salad and a drink. Not even a dessert or snack for that price is verging on daylight robbery. Absolute dross.

 

Barnyard - London

Barnyard is the latest venture from Ollie Dabbous, the head chef at his eponymously named restaurant which I am yet to visit but have heard nothing but praise for. When wandering the back streets looking for Barnyard it was quite refreshing that in a row of darkened doorways it was fairly easy to spot as the entire place has been decorated as a (you'll never guess) farmhouse. A white picket fence surrounds the front of the restaurant containing within tables fashioned out of planks of wood, aged metal tiles, corrugated metal walls and suitably industrial looking lighting.

At 2.15pm on a Monday we had the entire restaurant to ourselves which was a fairly odd experience in itself, I'd hope for the restaurants sake that we'd just missed the lunch rush and at least we had very attentive service on the bright side. To be fair to Barnyard, quite a few people seemed attracted by the decor outside and wandered up to take a look at the menu only to quickly walk away.

The menu is split by food type, on this occasion the headers were Pig, Cow, Lamb, Chicken, Egg, Vegetables and Puddings with 3-4 options under each section to choose from.

We started with drinks - I had a banana and rum milkshake which came served in a slim line milk bottle with a straw and was spot on, creamy but not too thick and with a clear note of rum which was extremely pleasant.

The Barnyard Iced tea was the second drinks choice and a bit of an odd one initially, the component parts of English tea, pink grapefruit, lemon, agave, Scotch whiskey and Mica beer combined resulted in an a light hint of weird scum floating on the top, almost as if the mix had gone off in some way. The flavour was similar to a good sour beer, bitter but the coldness with the hint of lemon made it refreshing at the same time. An unusual experience that got better the more I drank and I would need to try again to be clear whether it was actually enjoyable or just the uniqueness that got to me.

First starter was lard on toast, which I immediately regretted it as as clump of semi-melted lard dripped on to my trousers, presumably never to be removed. The snack itself was great, I'd pictured a thick slice of sourdough appearing but it was more of a Swedish crisp bread, lathered in the lard and with a hint of pepper which made for a fun fatty trousers destroying opener.

The asparagus dish was served cold and featured a slow cooked duck egg with lemon vinegarette and torn sourdough bread, decorated with yellow flower leaves and sunflower seeds. The vinegeratte was very tart and clumped up under the veg, it wasn't clear whether this was deliberate or had been applied too liberally but there was certainly sufficiently on the dish to make sure the flavour was transferred to all the separate parts.

Short rib - two bite sized chunks of grain-fed short rib in black treacle outer, with a slice of pickle and mustard sauce. The beef was spot on but it was a pretty miserly dish for £14 - definitely not the main-sized portion I was expecting for that price.

Chicken wings - a dish of extremely crispy chicken wings, I saw extremely and I mean as in tap the coating with with a knife and it'd crack never quite seen wings coated like these. They were generously sized wings, juicy and tender and not the soft flabby meat you often see - everything flavoured with smoked paprika, garlic and lemon that packed a punch.

Corn on Cob - another slight miss, the corn was cooked just as I like so it retains plenty of crunch and it was plenty buttery but there was just no real flavour until I took a bite of the charred section. It also came served with a dirty great bolt screwed into one end to use to hold it with. It never felt entirely hygienic if I'm perfectly honest.

Finally, a special shout out to the toilets which were up there with the most terrifying I've ever been in, I felt like I was in a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre as I wandered down a corridor lined with wood, doors with no markings and the toilet hidden away at the end of a long creepy corridor with banging in the kitchens at the side. I'll definitely be going back one day to hide away in one of the nooks playing chainsaw sound effects to make people lose their minds (not really).

I'm still a bit confused as to whether the decor is meant to be taken seriously or is just a bit of dumb fun trying to stand out from the crowd. The total bill came to £55 inc tip and drinks and whilst we had a good time and enjoyed the majority of the food, there was nothing mind-blowing that would have me rushing back, an enjoyable if a little forgettable lunch.

The Bird - Berlin

The Bird is a steak house and burger joint tucked away on a leafy street in the quiet neighbourhood of Prenzlauerberg in Berlin and do the whole 'Dirty Burger' thing better than 99% of the burger bars in the UK. The place is hugely popular with locals (always a major positive) and when I popped in early on a Wednesday evening it was fortunate I had a reservation as they were already turning people away at the door as they were so heaving.

Things got off to an immediate good start on this visit as I ordered a pint of SchneiderWeisse only to be told it was ANGRY HOUR and so another free one would be following once i'd sunk it. Is there anything better than free beer? My first insight into how a blagger must feel every time they eat out, each gulp of the free pint tasting of guilt and shame (not really).

They have a range of almost 20 burgers including some unnecessary sounding nonsense (inc fried eggs and shots of vodka) which I completely side-stepped and instead went with their Big Crack which is their version of the classic McDonalds Big Mac. It came served with a mountain of hand cut chips in lots of wonderful shapes and sizes – a lot more enjoyable to pick away at then a generic portion of french fries. The burger came served in a toasted English muffin which is a twist I haven't seen before but that worked perfectly, perfectly toasted and giving some added crunch. The best thing about the burger (as you would hope but which often isn't the case) is the meat which is "ground daily from premium german beef" and the patties are served pink giving the meat it's opportunity to shine. It was essentially a Big Mac with the flavour dials cranked to 11, the meat lathered in American burger cheese and a version of Ronald's secret sauce. The burger was huge and at times I felt like I was having to eat around it like a melting ice cream to keep things from collapsing, I refused to give in to the easy option of a knife and fork and nibbled from all angles.

The dessert menu doesn't mess about - there was just a single option of home made cheesecake which I couldn't refuse and my god it was just as over the top of the burger. Just a text book slice of New York cheesecake, served up as a massive wedge – still cold and with sweet creamy cheese body and a thick layer of crunchy biscuit crust that needs real pressure to break up.

I do regret never having dug into the steaks and the few that I saw being served looked suitably impressive, i'll definitely head back and eat my own body weight in steak at some point but knowing that the burgers are so great makes it a tough decision to make. I look forward to heading back on my next trip to Berlin.

A Wong - London

I heard a really interesting interview with Marcus Wareing on the radio recently that really struck a chord with me, I can't remember the exact words so I'll have to paraphrase here but the gist was that he was asked whether it bothers him people taking photos of his food and posting them via social media. His measured response was that in his opinion whether you were a regular at the restaurant or you'd saved all year to eat there the food, service and the entire experience should be of an identical standard.

Honestly, my expectations of service are pretty low - as long as I'm met with a smile, the food arrives promptly and clutter is cleared away I'm happy, I appreciate it must be a mind-numbing job at times so deserves some leniency. Having said that I've seen some diabolical service over the years including a fully comped apology meal at a Michelin star restaurant to apologise for an absolute clusterfuck of a night (highlights include a course being served on fire instead of smoked and the door staff losing my brand new jacket) or the time that a maitre'd almost had a heart attack in front of my very eyes as I drew his attention to the LIVE ANTS that were crawling out of sugar bowl that had just been delivered.

I recently bought a cheapish camera to try and improve the photos on this blog, I'm enjoying writing so thought why not try and present the food in a better light. The experience at A Wong and the change in service as SOON as the camera appeared on the table made me once again question the service bloggers receive compared to being completely anonymous and snapping an occasional camera phone photo versus placing a camera out on the table.

Food-wise A Wong was certainly impressive but this was a meal that will remain memorable for all of the wrong reasons - entirely down to the poor service and attitude of the staff rather than the food itself. 

So where to begin, A Wong is a modern Chinese restaurant near Victoria station (which is a bit of a black hole for things to do) so I arrived a bit early for the 6pm booking (they open at 6 for their evening session) and there was only one other table occupied yet I was lead right to the back of the entire restaurant and sat at an extremely dark cave like table like a school child hidden away in the naughty corner.

I originally asked if I could have the taster menu but was advised it'd take over 3 hours which would've meant more of a rush for a train than was ideal, this was despite the menu itself stating you need to allow 2 and a half hours. The table next to us later tried to order, explained they were pushed for time and were told this could be accommodated with no problem by a different waitress. Great double standards.

The most basic errors then became more prevalent - no question about whether I'd like a drink before ordering food or offer of water for the table. As the taster menu wasn't going to be possible I got stuck into the al a carte and planned to order a range of snacks as a 'starter' and then several courses to make up a large selection of mains to try several dishes. The waiter started to take the order, as soon as I mentioned ribs he asked to be excused and disappeared into the kitchen then was next seen a few minutes later ushering the next lot of customers in through the main door. A waitress then came over and asked to take the order, I told her we'd already started with the waiter so she apologised, tracked him down and sent him back over showing utter disinterest throughout. 

As i'd moved to the a la carte menu I assumed the food would arrive fairly quickly and asked to move tables to somewhere with a bit more daylight as there were still very few tables occupied (it was around 6.30 by this point yet and there was still plenty of natural light outside), We were told the table needed to be returned by 7.30, which was no problem whatsoever (assuming food wouldn't be hugely delayed).

So for a selection of mixed starters I ordered the following:

Pickled cucumber, which wasn't really 'pickled' at all per se, it was just thin slices of cucumber sat in sesame oil and chilli flakes.

Sweet and sour rib with toasted sesame - these were a real treat, loaded with meat and juicy fat and the sweet and sour glaze was really subtle and didn't take away from the flavour of the meat. I could've sat and eaten a huge portion of these.

Smoked duck, jellyfish and pork crackling salad - this was a really weird combination, the jellyfish was extremely crispy almost like a similar consistency to fennel or a root vegetable but was quite flavourless. The smoked duck and pieces of crackling added a much needed hit of flavour but the meat was few and far between.

100 year old egg in sweet, chilli soya and marinated tofu - Century egg is something that i'd somehow never got round to tasting and it was exactly as I'd expect it to be. The grey yolk pieces were incredibly creamy and soft and just so unbelievably eggy, I'd love to try it smeared on a thick chunk of toast for breakfast. The egg white (red in the picture) pieces had very little flavour and when mixed with the flavourless white tofu it was all in all a pretty odd combination - the chilli in the oil gave it all a slight flavour but not enough for me.

‘A.WONG’ Dim sum basket was the final starter and was accompanied with a side of more shambolic service. The dim sum came served in two baskets, the first containing a pork and prawn dumpling with crackling sat on top, the second was a shrimp dumpling with citrus foam. I completely missed the description of the third in the delivery of all the starters and just as I was about to tuck in another waitress rushed over to tell me that it needed to be eaten with a spoon as it was filled with liquid. Brilliant, so why was it delivered with chopsticks? "Oh I better fetch you a spoon". Turned out to be a steamed dumpling with ginger infused vinegar.

Between starters and mains I saw one of the chefs pop across to the Sainsbury's opposite and sheepishly rush into the kitchen with an orange carrier bag with vegetables tucked under his arm. I appreciate that kitchens run out of essentials from time to time but at least try and disguise what you're up to if you're popping to the local supermarket.

For the mains I went for the following items:

Crab and seafood in braised leaves - the leaf was wrapped into a ring and then heavily loaded with the crab meat and with some tiny cockles hidden away. Great delicate sea food flavours. 

Glazed Brixham monk fish cheeks - the monk fish cheeks were tender and chewy as you'd expect but the dish was quite wet resulting in soggy batter. The pomegranate added it's dry sweetness to the dish. 

Dong Po slow braised Blythburgh pork belly - Star anise was an unexpected sweet addition but that worked really well with the fatty pork. The onion, diced veg and crisps on top all added much needed crunch to add to the pork.

Scotch beef rump with salsify, preserved plum powder and oyster sauce - like a refined and much lighter version of the oyster sauce you'd have from your local takeaway. The shredded beef with the sauce was very rich and warming. 

Braised abalone with shitake mushroom and abalone butter - I can't recall ever seeing abalone on a menu over here, I'd only previously enjoyed it in Hong Kong. Here it came served with a rich foam, the finely sliced seafood came served in one of the beautiful shells. 

Razor clam with braised sea cucumber, pickled cucumber and wind dried sausage - Just a fantastic mix of textures, the pieces of sausage dotted across the top were so chewy and satisfying. 

At this stage time we were passed 7pm so our waitress asked if we'd let her pour the rest of our wine. She also steamed in with the classic "let me suggest a dessert for you" which Google translation reveals actually means "hurry up and get the hell out of my restaurant"

In the end I chose the tobacco smoked banana, nut crumble, chocolate and soy caramel as it sounded like the type of over the top sugary treat that I hoped would help end the meal on a high. It came served as a large round chocolate ball that the waitress poured hot caramel sauce over, melting the chocolate sphere and revealing the tobacco banana ice cream hidden inside. The melted chocolate ball mixed in with the the soy caramel started to partially solidify which combined with the crunchy nut crumble was just fantastic. As someone who definitely prefers savoury to sweets it says a lot that this almost saved the entire experience it was that good. 

The other dessert was a coconut ice cream glutinous dumpling. Another show-piece, it came hidden under a covering of candy floss which as it was eaten revealed the chewy dumpling which had the coconut ice cream hidden away inside. All sat on a base of crumbled biscuit. Another stunning dessert.

At this point I moved to the counter to settle the bill, this in turn resulted in rapidly served chocolates and the the maitre'd heading over to apologise and insisting that I didn't leave a tip as "we'd prefer if you came back and gave it another try". Unbelievable scenes.

Overall, yes the majority of the food was of a very high standard (especially the desserts) but for the experience alone personally I'd never head back. If you're feeling brave and fancy trying some of this wonderful food I wish you luck.