As I write this, I’m staring out at grey skies and torrential rain – debating whether knee boots and opaque tights are acceptable, or if I should do that northern thing of wearing flip flops whatever the weather and just getting wet*.
It’s weather like this that makes us all dream of comfort food. Of bread and and potatoes, cheese and red wine, when I should be thinking of gin and olives, salads and ice cream.
But such is the British summer. For every day of sunshine, two days of grey skies or rain. Which kind of means we get the best of both worlds. We can throw on our bikinis and sandals at the slightest provocation, and make sure we still have a brolly to hand.
And when it comes to food and drink, we can mix and match. It’s like layering, but instead of involving a t-shirt, cardigan and scarf, it’s a cocktail, olives, and pizza.
Which is how myself and my date ended up treating a post work teatime in Tariff & Dale. A layering of flavours and things to nibble at.
We began simply with one of the boards – perfect for sampling while sharing a drink with friends, or as a shared starter. We mixed crisp Nocellara olives, with their rich, crisply coated pork nuggets, the soft prettily beetroot cured salmon with the heavily smoked, but light in texture duck breast.
The olives are one of the best styles of olive in the world for my money, with their buttery nature, and the nuggets have often been scoffed upstairs at the bar on a night out with the girls – soft slow cooked pork, coated in crumb and deep fried, with a creamy aioli. We’ve often started with a bowl to share, and ended up with one each – there’s always someone who doesn’t want to share once they break through the crisp outer.
The salmon was soft, beautifully pink and creamy, with the beetroot also giving it a little earthiness, while the duck was a contrast between smoky flavour and light flesh.
Throughout we mismatched our wine without a care in the world. A good rich red that somehow didn’t destroy the salmon, and coped with the duck – a good choice given our eclectic selection.
One of their famous sausage rolls was also an essential. When they first appeared, they raised an eyebrow or two, but are now almost part of the (edible?) furniture, served with either their Curious Porter, or burn onion and ‘nduja ketchup. Or if you ask really nicely and flutter your eyelashes a bit, (or are just incredibly indecisive, totally trying the patience of the poor person who has to serve you, like we did) both.
The latter isn’t as hot as it sounds, instead it gives the ketchup a sweet smoky depth, whilst the Curious Porter ketchup is lighter, fruitier. The sausage roll? We opted for the lamb and rosemary and it was the hardest fought over dish of all – crisp pastry, flavourful, good quality lamb, we carefully divided it between us.
We were somewhat wondering the bravery of our layered approach when our shared main arrived. Bacon and brie pizza.
Wood fired pizza – which Manchester is getting rather good at – with all the cheese, and smoked bacon.
Of course we battled through.
And we were ready to admit defeat. But Tariff & Dale had a little trick up their sleeves.
Let me try that from another angle.
A rather grown up jelly and ice cream.
Meringue with pink peppercorns, raspberry ribbon, little morsels of meringue, soft jelly and ice cream.
Accompanied by their Opiate cocktail, featuring Fords Gin. poppy liqueur, lemon and sugar, topped with Sumarroca Cava Reserva, it was the perfect, summery end to our dinner.
This was not my first visit to Tariff & Dale – and it’s far, far from my last. Aside from them being one of my favourite gin bars, their cocktails are great, the service is lovely, and the food is, as you can see, rather good.
*Oh and for anyone wondering I put my converse on with a pair of fishnets.
This meal and accompanying drinks were supplied for free by Tariff & Dale. As ever, this doesn’t guarantee a positive review (if anything, I tend to be a harsher critic).
I’m rather fond of the venue as a bar already, their gin selection is great, and the service always lovely, so we expected the food to be good – and it was. We left very full, and very happy with the experience.