Restaurant Review: Dakota Bar & Grill, Manchester : The Pickled Ginger

It seems like five minutes since I was sampling the menu at Dakota Bar & Grill. The hotel, and it’s restaurant and bar opened six months ago.

Since then, they’ve become the top rated hotel in Manchester, top ten in the UK.

Not so shabby.

Given our experience during that opening visit an invitation to return, was most definitely, absolutely going to be met with an enthusiastic yes. Not only because we were still dreaming of that Venetian dip, but because we wanted to see if there had been any changes to the menu we sampled in it’s short form earlier in the year.

As a small aside, we were invited in to dine from to a la carte menu, but if your’re curious and want to dip your toe, rather than leap straight in, they’ve also just launched a Prix Fixe menu. So, two courses for £20, or three courses for £25 – there are time/booking limitations.

We began because we were rather early, with a cocktail. We’d also both had days from hell, so a little time and something to sip allowed us to vent our frustrations ahead of the meal itself. The cocktail menu features a number of their own creations, particularly using local spirits, and classics, which is what we both opted for. A classic Negroni for me, and a Margarita for Keeley.

Suitably relaxed, frustrations vented, if not fixed, we made our way to dinner. The bar is completely separate to the restaurant, so you can easily enjoy each independently. What does feel a little disconcerting (at first perhaps) is how dark it is. It’s rather cleverly done, especially given that there are plenty of neutral light tones, and splashes of colour. It transports you away, you could be in New York, London, almost anywhere in the world, but the traffic and hustle and bustle of the city centre, and Piccadilly Station feels like it’s miles away, rather than just being a few minutes’ walk.

As I say, it’s cleverly done.

But I digress, back to dinner. We began with an amuse bouche. Broccoli and parmesan – a soft, light as a cloud veloute, creamy, that green bitterness from the broccoli, then a little umami from the cheese. Blink and you’ll miss it.

But not to worry, there was more food on the way.

For it was soon followed by the Venetian Dip. This is not to be missed, it’s on the bar menu if you just fancy a nibble with a glass of wine. Rich tomato sauce, soft creamy goats cheese, fresh crisp from the oven warm bread.

Pre-starters enjoyed (Dakota do like you feel you well), we moved onto the main event. For Keeley, it wa Argyll smoked salmon, langoustine, caviar and courgette. Light, fresh and clean. And oh so prettily presented. Sweetness from the langoustine, creaminess from the quail’s egg, and fresh summer flavours from the courgette, and vegetables. And beneath it lay the smoked salmon, waiting to be discovered.

For me, I was feeling the chill, so my starter (and my main were on the heavy side. Pigeon, foie gras, confit duck and ceps.

Pink pigeon, rich cep puree and a little pastie of confit duck. Rich, deep flavours, pulled back from being too heavy by the bitter green of the broccoli. Winter on a plate.

That said, the dainty pan of jus that accompanied the dish, didn’t return full. As you’ll see there’s a theme where that’s concerned…

… Because my main also featured a dainty pan of jus. This time it was lamb rump. Cooked tenderly pink, accompanied by sweetbreads, a dinky little haggis, and perhaps one of the best risottos I’ve had in some time. It might be an accompaniment to the main dish, but the intense basil of the risotto with the goats cheese was downright stunning. I’d have been very happy with a bowl of that (and may have to have a go at making it myself it was so good. The goats cheese added creaminess and earthiness, the dehydrated tomato acidity to cut through it. The lamb was delicious, but that risotto was a whole other thing.

Keeley had picked the halibut, served with bacon, mussels and samphire. Tender mussels, meaty textured halibut, with the salty crunch of the samphire – which cut through the seafood sauce, which was rich and buttery.

To accompany both we selected two sides. To be honest, we really didn’t need them, but greed is an old friend. The courgette fritters with parmesan were all we could have hoped for. Soft and buttery, crisp outer, and the truffle mash was just… Buttery, creamy, with that distinctive flavour. Despite both feeling rather full, we still put a good dent in both dishes.

Here, we took a little break before pudding. Because oh yes, we were going to have pudding.

Keeley had picked the creme brulee. This classic has been given a little twist with the addition of home made shortbread, and tart citrus sauce. The sauce cuts through the sugary creaminess of the custard and the shortbread.

Whereas I was drawn by another classic, the lemon tart. Served with soft, creamy Italian meringue, passion fruit ice cream, and lemon verbena. The latter added a gentle green note, softening the tartness of the passion fruit, and adding a layer of lemon to the tart.

As we sipped a cocktail to finish (try the Smoky Nightcap), it’s easy to see why Dakota has climbed so high in such a short space of time. The only question we needed to ask ourselves, is why it’s taken us so long to return.