The French by Simon Rogan - The Midland (Deansgate)

• That my meal at l'Enclume is unlikely to be superceded any time soon as the best meal I've ever eaten
• Especially with anything so subjective as restaurants
• To this hopeless fanboyism that I and a friend were invited up to Manchester last weekend to sample his latest ventures (more on his more informal spot
• So after a morning swim in the basement pool and a brief wander around Manchester in the rain (I believe this is Manchester's default weather setting)
• The dazzling selection of amuses that preceed the menu proper at the French are each mini works of art
• Chicken skin and horseradish bore a certain resemblance to a similar creation at l'Enclume but substituting the cracker for a sheet of crispy kale was a stroke of genius
• Having it all dissolve in your mouth into a riot of animal fat and cream was quite the sensation
• Puffy base laced with seaweed (I think)
• The only not entirely successful item was a black pudding and sage croquette thing which should have been right up my alley but turned out to be rather bland and pappy
• Or maybe it was just suffering in contrast to everything else
• Except there is nobody who can do vegetables like Simon Rogan
• Salty ham in an ever so slightly gelatinous sauce studded with mustard seeds
• Another type of cooked radish was so sweet and smoky and had a flavour so arresting it could have won Best In Show on its own
• Prettied up with neat little balls of kohlrabi and toasted pumpkin seeds
• Herbs and smoked roe had the trademark Rogan way with smoke and vegetables
• I wish I'd known that the roe was quite so punchy before I downed a whole puck of it in one
• Though it was so powerfully salty my squeal of surprise turned heads from more than one neighbouring table
• Consisting of at least fifty or so separate elements and presumably having taken some poor bugger the best part of the day to put together
• Was interesting seeing how it had evolved from a similar dish I tried at the Electrolux Cube when he was cooking there last year
• Plaice with carrots was a dainty arrangement of bright white
• Whether it was because it was towards the end of the savoury dishes by this point or just my delicate stomach
• Middlewhite pork belly was just about the nicest bit of pork I've enjoyed in a very long time
• The flesh hammy and bouncy and edged with a thin layer of golden crackling
• Sweet cheese and hazelnut was a pleasant if unspectacular introduction to the sweet courses
• Opening Manchester's first fine dining restaurant in its most grand and classical old dining halls is a pretty serious achievement in itself
• Michelin are an ignorant bunch of foam frotting dinosaurs who wouldn't recognise a good meal if it was tied to a brick and flung in their faces
• Robuchon) or are at least serving the kind of dishes they recognise from other restaurants they've awarded (the Greenhouse
• Le Champignon Sauvage) then you are likely to do well
• The gimmick fountain that is Bo London is awarded
• Just know this there are few better restaurants than the French
• When I first heard that Simon Rogan was to open a Manchester restaurant I was ecstatic
• Enclume a couple of years ago reamins one of my most memorable of all time and the prospect of having something similar so close to home was incredibly exciting
• The fifth dish was another new one &rsquo
• Broccoli custard and finished with amazing lovage salt
• Ms Arroz and Dr Gambas were as ever our eating partners
• The dining room is so beautiful
• You don't feel that you are on top of your other guest
• We were soon presented with the amuse bouche nibbles of rice crackers with potato mousse
• One of the best things about The French is its wonderful cheese trolley
• We hoped would be available as a supplement with the lunch menu as it is with the tasting menus
• E and topped with apple dust
• It's easy to forget how good a restaurant is if you've not eaten there for well over a year
• We were impressed yet again by the food which is even better than I remember it
• The service too is always on point
• Almost like I was sat eating in somebody else's posh living room and I didn't want to drop food on the carpet
• The lighting is not exactly conducive to great food photography though as I found out
• We were visiting Manchester for one night to visit one of this cities best restaurants
• T just one of the best restaurants in Manchester

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