Tea Hive, Chorlton, Manchester

On a brief visit to Chorlton last week I ended up having lunch at Tea Hive completely by chance. I was planning on picking up a few bits from Barbakan deli and it just caught my eye as I'd almost walked past, the white on black signage meaning I almost mistook it for the Marble Beer House a couple of doors down.

I'm glad I took the time to investigate further, as lunch there was very good. A flat white was well made if a little too large for my tastes. I've definitely come to the conclusion that the smaller 6oz cup size is the best, anything larger (this was an 8oz I think) and it verges into latte territory where the milkiness starts to drown out the character of the coffee. Bonus points for the novel artwork though!

My sandwich took an age to arrive, but the tardiness was acknowledged and handled well. An apology and a free drink to tide me over were offered before I'd had the chance to chase up the order.

When it did arrive, the Cheshire smokehouse hot smoked salmon with lemon mayo and rocket on granary bread was well worth the wait. Generous quantities of rich, firm fleshed, moderately smoked fish was balanced perfectly by the acidic dressing and peppery rocket.

A really fine sarnie, with one additional plus point: good butter. It's surprising how many otherwise quality sandwich shops and cafes think it's fine to use cheap sunflower spread. Don't do it. Butter or nothing at all please.

The side salad was also a proper salad, with multiple components and a balanced dressing, and as a result the £4.95 price tag for the sandwich seemed fair. The flat white was £2.35 so all in all not a cheap lunch, but a very good one, served in pleasant surroundings by nice people.


8/10

53 Manchester Road
Chorlton
Manchester
M21 9PW

http://www.teahive.co.uk

Zam Zam Tandoori, Chorlton, Manchester

A damn fine kebab this, my poor photography really doesn't do it justice. It's chicken tikka on nan. Both meat and bread were cooked freshly in the tandoor. The bread was light and crisp, the chicken was moist, succulent and had loads of lovely nubbly, smoky, charred bits around the edges, and the salad was fresh. Generous dollops of both searing hot chilli sauce and tangy yoghurt sauce to top things off. What more do you need? The only criticism I can come up with is the unnecessary red food colouring on the chicken. Outstanding value at £3.00.

The venue is a run of the mill, scruffy-ish takeaway with a few tables inside. I never have a clue with these places. Most of them serve absolute rubbish, but a few come up with the goods like this. Fortunately Flavours of Manchester comes to the rescue. Will someone please start a Flavours of Leeds blog, so I know where to get a good kebab there too? Thanks.

8/10

452 Wilbraham Road
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Manchester
M21 0AG

Barbakan Delicatessen, Chorlton, Manchester

Barbakan Deli is a rather good bakery and delicatessen in Chorlton. Up until last Saturday I'd strolled past it a few times, and even had a glance inside, but had never actually made a purchase.

On weekends they have a barbecue (they call it that but it's actually a couple of huge frying pans over a gas burner) out the front serving an interesting selection of sausages and burgers including German bratwurst, Polish smoked slaska and lamb in both forms. I nearly walked straight past, put off by the long queue, but curiosity got the better of me and I joined the back of it. It doesn't always work out that way, but in theory very popular ought to equal good.

In this case, the mob were correct. I ordered a bratwurst with fried potatoes. The bratwurst was lovely;- a dense, bouncy, porky sausage with plenty of fried onions on the top. Presumably the bread was baked on the premises, as it was much more than an afterthought. It was a large, slightly chewy roll with quite a yeasty flavour. A genuinely good example of a classic hot dog roll. With a large dollop of dijon mustard the whole thing was great fun to eat. Shame about the potatoes though, they were rubbish. Underseasoned and undercooked, they were mealy in the mouth and tasted of little.

The bratwurst cost £2.75, plus an extra pound for the potatoes.  I'd probably give the potatoes a miss next time, but the sausage was great and more than big enough for lunch. Well worth a visit. If you're lucky you might be able to grab a seat on the terrace next to the barbecue.

8/10 for the bratwurst (but 3/10 for the potatoes)

67-71 Manchester Road
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Manchester
M21 9PW

http://www.barbakan-deli.co.uk/
 

Cod with clams, blood oranges with whipped yoghurt

I started writing this blog with the sole intention of recording my experiences eating out. I didn't want to write about my own cooking because I didn't think I had anything much to say. I think I've changed my mind. I'm a passable home cook and recording my regular weeknight dinners would probably be very dull, but once in a while I come up with something that I really, really enjoy. Last night's supper was one of these occasions, so I thought I'd share.

I bought most of the food for this meal in Chorlton. This is worth mentioning as there are several great food shops in this area. The seafood came from Out of the Blue, which is quite probably the best fishmonger in the North. The vegetables and lemons came from the Unicorn Grocery which stocks a wonderful array of fruit and veg at reasonable prices. They have beautiful, huge fat sicilian lemons at the moment, for the same price as ones a quarter of the size in Morrison's down the road.

Cod with clams

For the main course, a piece of cod with clams in a light broth and a few greens. The key to this dish is cooking every component for the minimum time possible, until only just on the verge of doneness. The fish should just flake into big white slivers, if it flakes into little bits it's overdone. The greens should retain their colour and texture, and the clams should be soft rather than chewy. The end result is light, but packed with briney flavour, as the clams give up a huge amount of liquid when cooked. You will have plenty of this broth left over, which is perfect mopped up with some crusty bread.

You will need (for 1):
a large piece of cod (or other chunky white fish. Hake would be good)
a big handful of clams
a large glass of white wine
some greens (I used spinach and purple sprouting broccoli, samphire would be good)
olive oil
butter
a lemon
salt & pepper
crusty bread

1. Set a frying pan over a moderate heat and add a little olive oil and butter. Salt the fish on the skin side. Place the fish in the pan skin side down and keep an eye on it. You can see the heat progress up the side of the fillet as the flesh changes from translucent to opaque.

2. Whilst the fish is cooking prepare your clams and greens. The clams will probably need a rinse under cold water. For the veg I used spinach and purple sprouting broccoli. Samphire is even better, enhancing the briney flavour of the dish, but I couldn't get hold of any yesterday.

3. When the cod is about two thirds done (about 6-7 minutes for my piece) turn it over and fry flesh side down. Get two more pans on the heat, one to steam the greens and another the clams.

4. Pour a large glass of white wine (I used sauvignon blanc) into the clam pot and allow it to bubble for a minute or two to burn off the alcohol. As soon as the alcohol has burned off throw the clams in and put the lid on.

5. Check the fish. You want it just cooked through so that it flakes beautifully. If it's done transfer it to a warmed plate. If not turn it back over to finish off cooking skin side down. The total cooking time will depend on the thickness, mine took about 12 minutes.

6. Steam the greens, adding the broccoli first then the spinach a minute or two later. The broccoli should take around 2-3 minutes, the spinach no more than a minute or so.

7. By this time, the clams should be ready. They should only take 2-3 minutes or so. Remove the lid and have a look. If they have nearly all opened they are done so remove them from the heat.

8. Place the cod on top of your greens, pour on the clams and their delicious cooking liquor, season to taste (squeeze of lemon, pepper, salt probably won't be needed) and you're done.

Blood oranges with whipped yoghurt

For pudding, blood oranges with whipped yoghurt and honey. Another beautifully light, fresh, fragrant dish this. You can tell I was feeling healthy after the previous night's beer festival and curry (we went to Sheesh Mahal after the festival - review to follow) exploits. The deep, tart flavour of the oranges is offset by creamy, airy yoghurt and the sweet fragrance of honey.

You will need (for 1):
About 150ml greek yoghurt (full fat)
1-2 blood oranges
icing sugar
runny honey

1. First prepare the yoghurt. The purpose of whipping it is for the texture. As with whipped cream the yoghurt becomes aerated making it seem somehow lighter and fresher. Whip the yoghurt with a scant teaspoon of icing sugar and set aside.

2. Peel and segment one or two ripe blood oranges, removing as much pith as you can be bothered.

3. Place the segments in a bowl, keeping a couple to one side, then add the yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.

4. Squeeze over the juice from the remaining segments, and eat at once.