#aumbry

For my birthday this year, Kieran and I decided to go to Aumbry in Prestwich for a tasting menu. I love a tasting menu – it’s typically a meal of at least 5 courses. I’ve had a tasting menu of 13 courses before! Because there are more and smaller courses, the meal becomes an event and more than just your usual dining experience.

I can’t believe we hadn’t made it up to Aumbry before, as it is literally 5 minutes up the road from where we live. As it turns out, it’s one of the best places to eat in Manchester. We were seated at a table so close to the kitchen that we could see the chefs at work on the pass – including Mary Ellen Mctague of Great British Menu fame.

Cheese Gougeres and

First, we were taken upstairs to a parlour, where we had a drink and some amuse bouche.

We were then taken to our table. The restaurant is a converted cottage, which makes it very small and intimate, with a relaxed yet chic atmosphere. I prefer this type of restaurant to dining in a big, imposing hall.

The bread was served with dripping, which was AMAZING. So much better than oil and vinegar. Actually, the dripping was a highlight for me!

Tomato consomme, cucumber and rosary goat’s cheese dumplings

Their trademark dish: a black pudding scotch egg

scallop ceviche, cocoa butter, celeriac and tarragon

I was delighted to discover that this was the first of many courses that incorporated beetroot. It’s pretty much my favourite vegetable and the pickled version complemented the oiliness of the mackerel perfectly.

Believe it or not, that is not an egg yolk. It’s spherified cocoa butter. Clever, huh?! You pop into it and all this gooey silky liquid came out. This dish was subtley flavoured and perfectly excecuted – and isn’t it beautiful looking?

Kieran HATES tomato of any kind. So he took a polite sip of the broth and then shoved it in my direction. Not a problem for me – the consomme was clear and refreshing with tomato flavour. Plus, I love a bit of goat’s cheese.

roast brixham turbot, candy beets, lincolnshire crayfish, lapsang souchong

Home smoked mackerel, roast celeriac, pickled beets, mustard cream

Slow cooked sucking pig, broad beans, yarrow and smoked bacon

Despite my love for beets, the fact that the fish and langoustines were sweet and perfectly cooked and it was all tied together with a well balanced and interesting lapsang souchong sauce, my favourite thing on the plate was actually the greens. They were so tasty, so well seasoned and with the crunch in there it provided a much needed texture to the plate. I was still talking about those greens when I got home.

I loved the sucking pig lollipop and I’d never tried yarrow before.

Mascerated strawberries with candied violet and lemon balm

British and Irish Cheeses

Beetroot and chocolate cake with bee pollen, hazelnut, milk and honey

The first dessert was FANTASTIC.

A nod to the amuse bouche, we got a chocolate and beetroot (yes, beetroot) cake with spherified bee pollen which posed as an egg yolk.

We then had various courses of cheeses, sweets, drinks, things that smelled and of course, more drinks.

Aumbry is well worth the price tag. We were there till gone midnight and the waiting staff couldn’t have been more courteous and helpful. The food was everything I expected it to be – really accomplished and inventive cookery. What else would you expect from a chef that used to work at the Fat Duck?!

Aumbry, Prestwich - The Food Marathon

It all started in a taxi on our way to Prestwich to visit Aumbry, a quaint, modest hideaway restaurant disguised as two homely terrace houses.

A cosy little abode with some big flavours.

Ran by chefs Mary Ellen McTague, who you may be familiar with as a runner up in the Great British Menu, and her husband Laurence Tottingham. We were welcomed in to the secret hideaway; it was like being invited into someones front room. Our coats were taken and we were guided up stairs for pre-dinner drinks and several little tasters:

 Smoked cheese choux pastry

Salt and vinegar black beans

Escorted with our drinks we moved down stairs for, what I would call, our “marathon” of a meal.

Delicious, inspiring and filling you with curiosity for the next course. However five hours later you just want to order your bed.

Great food, great staff, great ambience and location but just too long. Some of the delicious delights of our night:

Bury Black pudding runny yolk scotch egg

A cold infused green tea…I think with Heaton Park Honey.

Slow Cooked Kid Goat, Roast cauliflower yoghurt & sprout tops

Sauteed Mushrooms & Snails, Fresh curds in hay ash, malt loaf, garlic & parsley

Poached Hake, Radish, red cabbage, cockles & Lapsang Souchon

A delicious array for cheese and chutneys

Grapefruit Posset, Celery granita & grapefruit sherbert

What you might call a white musk kind of aroma brought to the table (maybe a little unnecessary)

Beetroot & Chocolate Cake, Bee pollen, hazelnut, milk & honey

Some Rhubarb & Custard petit fours

One of the aspects that I most enjoyed was the use of local ingredients such as Bury Black Pudding and Heaton Park Honey.

Definitely worth a visit but would go for the six or nine course menu.

Well Done Aumbry!!!

A RARE LATE MEDIEVAL OAK LINENFOLD AUMBRY OF SMALL PROPORTIONS. CIRCA 1480-1500.