They've really done a good job of the interior. I spotted an excellent looking large booth at the far end, we made a mental note - good for large groups and birthday celebrations.
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Whitby crab & parsley risotto, salt & vinegar cockles |
This was Mrs Bacon's favourite of the night. It was lovely and comforting - a perfect texture and the subtlety of the fresh crab was a real delight. It's funny with risotto, when I have a good one, I sort of don't think of it as rice (even though of course it is,) it's risotto and logged as such in my brain. The Potato & parmesan gnocchi, sautéed wild mushrooms with parsley & garlic, slow cooked egg yolk, salted crushed hazelnuts, potato & truffle foam (£7.95) was also good, it looked pretty, again it was comforting and the flavours simply worked. Mrs Bacon desperately wanted to lick her plate clean.
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Potato & parmesan gnocchi, sautéed wild mushrooms with parsley & garlic, slow cooked egg yolk, salted crushed hazelnuts, potato & truffle foam |
I got the feeling, not for the last time that evening that years of running a very popular local restaurant had put us in very safe hands. There would be no massive leaps in creativity, (although clearly there was some) neither would we want it, it was just great cooking, nothing to scare the horses; what they do, they do it brilliantly.
For mains we had a starter Grilled Scallops, slow cooked Middle White pork belly, Bury black pudding croquette, spiced apple purée & golden raisins (£10.95.) Another good combination. I was enjoying the crackling top when I realised I'd got carried away and hardly left any for Mrs Bacon and our allotted change over. She would not let me forget this in a hurry!
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Grilled Scallops, Middle White pork belly, Bury black pudding croquette, spiced apple purée & golden raisins |
We also had the Chicken liver & foie gras parfait with rhubarb chutney & toasted potato bread (£8.95.) Whilst this was a pretty good paté, Mrs Bacon warned it wasn't quite quite foie enough for us, (see why here) but it was decent and rich.
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Chicken liver & foie gras parfait with rhubarb chutney & toasted potato bread. |
The Pièce de résistance for me was the Pumpkin Risotto with Blacksticks blue cheese, roasted chestnuts, salted pumpkin seeds & sage (£12.95.) It was just perfect. A really lovely dish, I like intense flavours, so the strong blue cheese was a real winner for me.
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Pumpkin Risotto with Blacksticks blue cheese, roasted chestnuts, salted pumpkin seeds & sage. |
Of the desserts, Pistachio Crème brulee, prune, chocolate & prune brownie, hot chocolate fudge sauce (£6.95) was our favourite. The brownie was a real treat. Proper moist as we like to say.
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Pistachio Crème brulee, prune, chocolate & prune brownie, hot chocolate fudge sauce. |
Although it looked the part, neither of us were quite as into the Butterscotch panna cotta, caramel, orange & ginger jelly, granola & hot cinnamon doughnuts with orange curd centre (£6.95) We loved the little tiny doughnuts, but I wished the panna cotta had been just a plain one.
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Butterscotch panna cotta, caramel, orange & ginger jelly, granola. |
The food at our local favourite Etrop Grange is on a different level in terms of creativity, it's higher end, more cutting edge and possibly more challenging to some (not us though.) I suppose the food here is fairly ambitious for Manchester though, (with the foam elements) but most importantly it all tasted great.
When you go to somewhere like Damson you want solid dependability great food, in a beautiful setting, and that it exactly what you get.
Pretty much everything was done perfectly, and you can't say fairer than that.
Price: About £72.68. 2 glasses of wine & 5 courses.
There is also a set menu: Two courses for £15.95 Three courses £18.95
Service: Good (although we were the only ones in there.)
Atmosphere: Beautiful interior, good & interesting views over the BBC & Media city.
Food: Great.
Star dishes:
Mr Bacon: Pumpkin risotto with Blacksticks blue cheese.
Mrs Bacon: Whitby crab & parsley risotto, salt & vinegar cockles.
7/10
*Minor point; currently you do not get your car park for free, it cost us £4.50.
I believe the restaurant are working on this.
Damson Media City
Orange Building
Media City
Salford
M50 2EQ
mediacity.damsonrestaurant.co.uk

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