The River Restaurant at The Lowry Hotel, Manchester

2 April 2022
https://www.thelowryhotel.com/dining/the-river-restaurant/

“You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth,” said Henrik Ibsen, which I think is a sound piece of advice. We had spent the afternoon at the Royal Exchange Theatre seeing a production of A Dolls House before heading over to The Lowry Hotel’s in-house restaurant for a needed post-theatre pick me up. Jane’s wonderful dad, Bob, had sent us a voucher for the hotel for our tenth wedding anniversary several months before, and between heavy work schedules, exams and big holidays in the United States, we hadn’t got around to using it. We had also both recently recovered from a bout of Covid-19, and we were looking forward to a bit of a treat.

The Lowry Hotel is one of the nicest in Manchester, often playing host to visiting football teams playing at Old Trafford. It’s actually not in Manchester, but is just over the River Irwell in the City of Salford. It wasn’t our first visit - we have had afternoon tea there previously - but it was our first dinner, and it felt quite grand turning up at a high end hotel just to eat dinner. The restaurant is on the second floor, with beautiful views of the river, and the dining room creates a sense of space with an open plan design. Staff are dressed in smart uniforms, and there are plenty of them. There are also high quality bar staff in the Lowry Lounge and Bar next door, so we had no doubt that we were going to be well taken care of.

I was in a solid mood for red meat, which isn’t typical of me, but there was lamb on the menu and I was very much in to it. With this in mind, I ordered a large glass of malbec - Eleve' Malbec, Pays d'Oc Languedoc from the part of south west France - which is the ‘original home of malbec’, which I didn’t know - and prepared myself for a meat fest. Jane spotted the Lowry Platinum on the menu, the signature cocktail celebrating the hotel’s twentieth birthday, which she really enjoyed - ginny and apply is right up Jane’s street.

The Lowry Platinum - Gin, apple, lime, egg white, and syrup

Perusing the starters, my eye immediately fell on ‘cheese custard’ and then ‘truffle butter’. That was me sorted, irrespective of what was due to arrive with them. As it happened, they came with a load of crusty sourdough bread and a really nice, cold-pressed rape seed oil with sea salt to dress. The cheese custard was “too cheesy” according to Jane (i.e. perfect level of cheese) and the truffle butter was earthy and wonderful. Jane opted for the miso crab, which was creamy and sweet and served with a sharp and cold picked lemon sorbet, samphire, and a fancy savoury, crunchy red ‘thing’ on top which added needed texture. We were off to a good start.

Sourdough bread, Lancashire Bomber cheese custard, truffle butter, and Wignalls Yallo

Miso crab with pickled lemon sorbet and sea herbs

The main course scratched the itch on the red meat front. My choice came with three large medallions of lamb rump, and a lamb rib coated in a sticky fermented chilli glaze. It’s unusual to find lamb ribs on a menu, probably because the the amount of effort you go through to extract the fairly measly amount of meat from the bone is more faff than its worth. But the meat had a really good, rich flavour and the chilli glaze had a nice depth of heat which paired well with the delicious slices of sweet, slow cooked swede. The dish also came with a potato rosti, which was fine but I’m always a bit disappointed when you get a rosti rather than a few roast potatoes. Luddite and all that.

Herdwick lamb rump, fermented chilli glazed rib, swede, and lamb fat rosti

Jane’s venison loin was tender and fully flavoured, and paired nicely with a sweet pear, savoury parsnip puree and salty, crunchy kale. There was also a kind of red cabbage parcel filled with a surprise centre of shredded venison. It was an interesting idea, but a larger serving of red cabbage would probably have served the dish better. Also, in want of some kind of starch, Jane ordered a side of the truffle and parmesan fries, which were crispy and delicious, as expected following the truffle butter success earlier. Jane was particularly impressed with the generous and even distribution of toppings across all fries - an underrated consideration, she assures me.

Loin of Highland venison, pear, parsnip, red cabbage and crispy kale

Fries with aged parmesan and truffle

It’s not often that I manage three courses on an a la carte menu these days, but we had made a deal that we’d go for it and I try to be a woman of my word. I’m also a sucker for anything chocolately, and the Manjari dark chocolate did not disappoint. There was a great balance of chocolate and espresso flavours, with a very rich chocolate mousse which was “too chocolately” according to Jane (i.e. perfect level of chocolate), a kind of Aero-like piece of bubbly chocolate, an espresso sorbet, a malted milk panna cotta, cripsy chocolate wafers, a sprinkle of chocolate soil and blobs of intense coffee sauce. My only criticism of the dining room was that there was nowhere discrete to go and have a lie down after that lot.

Manjari dark chocolate, malted milk and espresso

Jane’s dessert was a nice blend of the flavour profiles of a sticky toffee pudding and a bannoffee pie, both of which she’d say are in her top 10 (trust me, it’s a long list). There was a rich, dark date cake with brûléed banana, caramel sauce, and a cooling clotted cream ice cream. The rum kick wasn’t very strong at all, which Jane appreciated but others may find disappointing. She thought the bananas were particularly good.

Sticky date cake, caramelised banana, rum, and clotted cream ice cream

Just between you and me, we may not have made it to The River Restaurant for dinner if we hadn’t had a gift voucher to lure us in, but the quality and presentation of the food was good, the staff were attentive and, on a really bright and sunny evening, the view over the river is probably very nice. In addition, our bill including service came to a grand total of 11 quid, although it would have been about £130 without the voucher and the mandatory £10 per head holding fee which has to be made on booking. We’ve certainly been to restaurants where we felt we got better value for money (e.g. see ‘Barnacle, Liverpool’) but, to be fair, I’d go back for another serving of that cheese custard tomorrow.

And what about the toast sandwich?
Sarah: Aha! You think I’m going to say the cheese custard. It was delicious, but I knew I was going to love it from the moment I spotted it on the menu, so is it a true toast sandwich…? To avoid controversy, I’m going to throw you a curve ball and say the roast swede that came with my main. Expertly cooked and deliciously sweet, it is definitely the best swede I’ve ever eaten, and that has got to be worth a mention.
Jane: Another unexpected one to keep you on your toes. She chose the lamb rib from my main for its tender texture, great intense lamb flavour (and she isn’t usually impressed by lamb all that much), and the sticky and spicy glaze put her in mind of a good barbecue sauce, which induces all kinds of fuzzy thoughts of home.