Restaurant Review: Bill’s Manchester

September. The time of year that means traffic is horrendous, kids are compelled by harassed parents into squeakily new school shoes, the weather often typically gives us a blast of sunshine as we all head back to work after the holidays and we all feel a bit harassed, a bit fed up and look a bit sad as we long for the summer break that’s just passed us by.

It’s time for comfort food.

Time for macaroni cheese and sweet potato fries. Time for pies and gravy, the kind of food that warms you from the inside out.

And so, for Keeley and myself, our trip to Bill’s Restaurant on John Dalton Street was perfectly timed. the last week of August, the last gasp of the summer break, just before everyone leaps back on the wagon and start thinking ahead to Christmas (yes, I said it), that Christmas do and whether that little black dress is going to fit after they let go a bit over the holidays.

Bill’s is a chain of restaurants, built on the foundation of Bill Collison’s greengrocers shop. After moving to bigger premises, the shop was damaged badly in a flood in 2000. When it was restored, they added a cafe and the rest, they say, is history.

They’ve kept the shop feel. I have to admit, I’m not sure how I feel about the thoroughly ‘Bill’s’ branded merchandise, though I did spot on the website that they sell Brewhaha tea (I’m a bit of a fan). What I do love though, is the decor. Comfy armchairs and glitzy chandeliers, industrial touches of wood and enamel, tin and steel, shopping baskets, strings of dried chillies and weathered wood.

I know it’s meant to look that way, the rough weatherbeaten, almost driftwood feel, mixed with a touch of glamour. That it’s been planned and plotted and designed. But dammit, I like it.

A lot.

It’s a softer version of the interior of Artisan, mixed with elements from Turtle Bay (though toned down in colour) and the faded glamour of Elixir. Whoever has done it is clever. Very clever.

But enough on the decor, we were here for food and drink and so after sampling a carrot, orange and ginger juice while waiting on Keeley, which was delicious (I love carrot juice), we were guided in to dine in a cosy booth.

And, while we pondered the menu, nibbled on fat green gordal olives, drizzled in fresh olive oil. Well, you know, it’s hard work perusing a menu.

And in truth, for both myself and Keeley it was. Bill’s offers lots of comfort food, lots of carbs and as we were both in training mode, that made it terribly difficult. Especially when you’re a firm lover of all things carbohydrate like me.

So, making myself a promise to return for the mac ‘n’ cheese with leeks, asparagus and mozzarella, I opted for a starter of crab chilli and prawn cakes, whilst Keeley opted for the even better behaved grilled asparagus with chorizo, baby gem and hollandaise sauce.

The asparagus arrived looking delightful. Fat sticks of green, crisp with that delicious grilled smokiness, wafers of crispy chorizo and a pot of hollandaise for dipping. The hollandaise was a little bit of a let down for me, as I prefer mine with a good kick of mustard and lemon, but Keeley was more than happy as she prefers hers creamier, like this one was. Horses for courses.

My cakes, or balls as they should be referred to, as this is what they are, were delicious. Crunchy crumb (my teeny nod to carbohydrate), but lots of delicate flesh underneath, well seasoned and, perfectly done.

I must add here that there was a comment on my Facebook picture of this, about the pips in the lemon – see pesky pips above. So in reply, let me state: darling, this is not fine dining and a couple of lemon pips are hardly going to cause me culinary distress. They were discarded at the side of my plate like a grown up would do with anything unwanted.

Onto mains and the menu gods were on our side. Keeley had spotted the chipotle, coriander and lemon marinaded chicken with chilli buttered corn, and sweet potato fries, whereas I’d headed to the seasonal menu and the pan fried hake, with avocado salsa and potato cake.

The chicken was delicious, tender and juicy and the sweet potato fries perfect and crisp.

The hake was so good, I forgot to Instagram it. Honest, call myself a blogger? Tut. The fish was cooked perfectly and the salsa creamy, with juicy pieces of tomato and crisp coriander. I did sample a little bit of the potato cake. I had  to. And I wish with all my heart I could have eaten it. Both the potato cake and the crab cakes before them had the most delicious little capers in them – morsels of fragrant saltiness.

To make up for my lack of potato cake I dipped into the sides menu, with the tenderstem broccoli with chilli and sesame seeds. Fantastic kick of chilli that didn’t overpower and the broccoli still crisp. None of this wilted mush in here.

And so to dessert. Disappointingly there were no giant Jaffa Cakes available (yes, this is on the menu, and a bargain at £2.55) and so clinging to our dietary principles, we opted for a cheese board, allowing us both to indulge in our love of all things dairy.

And we were very glad we did. The cheese is served with a lightly toasted sultana and hazelnut bread that is a brilliant alternative to crackers. The cheeses themselves were a cut above the standard solid brie, rubbery Cheddar and Stilton. The Cornish brie was creamy, the Westcombe Cheddar bit back exactly as it should and the ‘Wreckin’ Blue cheese was that divine combination of rich, creamy and acidic, that begs to be savoured.

All in all, Bill’s left us rather impressed. Yes, it’s a chain, but from the service (a note to say that the staff seem to absolutely love it there), to the food, to the wine list (there are some intriguing ones on there) to the decor, it’s very good.

And having ahem  borrowed their vegetarian breakfast idea over the weekend, I suspect breakfast, lunch and their afternoon tea, might just be a bit good too.

So. Who’s up for mac ‘n’ cheese on my next free run day?

This afternoon meal was supplied for free by Bill’s. As ever, this doesn’t guarantee a positive review (if anything, I tend to be a harsher critic). In this case, we were very happy with the service, meal and venue. Thanks again.