Bar Review: Cuckoo Prestwich

I’m concerned that this post won’t do Cuckoo justice.

You see, Cuckoo are known, not only for their artisan pizzas, hand made to order and cooked in a wood fired oven, but also for their cocktails. Cocktail queen Susie Wong and partner in crime Max Lawrence are responsible for the cocktail menu and this post, well, doesn’t include any.

I know, right? I didn’t have one on this visit. At all.

I was heading up to Prestwich to visit a friend and see her new shop premises. Given how close she is to Cuckoo and how she doesn’t even have a kettle on site yet, stopping in for a drink and something to eat was a bit of a no brainer.

I did, though, feel like I caught Cuckoo unawares. It was the morning after their 1st Birthday celebrations and for a Sunday, it was a little subdued. Even over in my little plot of Trafford,  I’ve heard how busy is gets on a Sunday for their bacon butties, but I suspect that some of the staff were perhaps a little under the weather and that the thought of catering breakfast for the ravenous hordes of North Manchester may have been a little… challenging.

I can’t blame them. Their reputation for good food and drink has flowed across the city, and it’s why they’ve been on my ‘must visit’ list for such a long time.

So this was a leisurely visit, a relaxed one, but an opportunity I couldn’t ignore.

Nor could I ignore a glass of red and a full glass of Five Foot Track Shiraz was exactly what I needed to toast my friend’s new project.

It also just happened to work well with lunch.

Given the sunshine and the hushed atmosphere, Fiona and I both kept it simple and opted for pizzas.

And I was so glad we did. If you’re going to have pizza, have one that an Italian (or someone who spends a lot of time in Italy) recommends. These are good. Very good.

Given my love of anchovies (I know, they’re not to everyone’s taste) I picked the Argento – anchovies, chilli, capers, chilli and mozzarella.

And, in an unprecedented move (certainly for an Italian – even one who admits to liking ham and pineapple on pizza) my date chose the Grecian – spinach, Feta, olives, (no onions in this case) and mozzarella.

I honestly couldn’t decide whose was better. The salty olives and Feta along with the lightly bitter spinach and creamy mozzarella looked stunning, let alone tasted.

I adored the anchovy, chilli and caper combination on mine – reminding me of my favourite pasta dish, puttanesca.

Softly sated, blood warmed by wine, we took a wander around the venue, downstairs to the lower ground floor, with it’s dark wood and hidden corners.

There are some perfect spots for canoodling, or a vociferous discussion over a beer – and I suspect one or two of those sofas would prove terribly difficult to move oneself from after a comfortable glass or two.

We popped outside for a peek at the wood fired oven and the suntrap that’s the patioed area – trying to snap carefully and not disturb Sunday diners, as well as their clever pizza chef, who was hard at work.

Though my visit was, rather brief and I know I don’t head to Prestwich nearly often enough, especially given that I married a Prestwich boy, and you weren’t at your best, I rather like you Cuckoo.

If this is you on a ‘bad’ day… I’m looking forward to visiting on a good one.