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REVIEW | Hawksmoor | Deansgate
Jonathan Schofield loves the confidence, steak and scallops

REVIEW | Grill On The Alley
Ruth Allan looks at an established restaurant in a city that's changing

REVIEW: Rogan & Company | Cartmel
Gordo on great food and unscrupulous locals

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London-based Glendola Leisure are reportedly bringing their steak and gin restaurant to Manchester

REVIEW: The French By Simon Rogan
Jonathan Schofield tucks into the £50 lunch

PREVIEW: Charles Campion On Hawksmoor
The Masterchef panel expert and restaurant critic on what to expect from MCR's next major player

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Grill on the Alley

Jonathan Schofield keeps going back to a model of successful dining

Written by Jonathan Schofield. Published on November 4th 2008.

The Grill on the Alley is a clever operation.

From the welcome on arrival, through to service at the table there’s rarely a bum note with the food often hitting the highs. In terms of consistency it gets it right nine and a half times out of ten.

This hasn’t always been the case.

I first reviewed Grill for the Manchester Evening News shortly after it opened. This was when we (Confidential and the MEN) were friends, linking arms and skipping through clover together. In other words, before Confidential was deemed dangerous competition.

I didn’t think Grill was too clever on that first visit.

I thought it was stilted, inconsistent in food quality, and trying too hard to be slick. I felt like a cog in a well-oiled machine that cared too much about appearances and too little about content.

I could sniff the theme, feel the focus groups. I imagined myself as one of those little figures in architectural models of new developments. Hey, I thought, I don’t want to be a marketing ideal, a profile of a professional customer with a certain sort of car, a specific type of aspiration and a house in a particular kind of street.

A few years down the line and that’s changed. Now the content seems to have caught up with the appearance. Grill has settled into its role, matured, it feels comfortable, but given its popularity, exciting and full of people watching potential. It feels successful and that’s always appealing.

I’ve been three times recently.

These are some the dishes I've sampled: Irish rock oysters (£8.95 for six), beef carpaccio with rocket and lemon (£7.50), garlic roasted Portobello mushrooms with tomato and pesto (£5.25), ribeye steak (£17.25 for an 11oz), fajitas with onions, peppers, guacamole, sour cream, tomato salsa and tortillas (£13.50), yellow fish curry with garlic rice (£13) and smoked haddock rarebit with babyleeks and tomatoes (£13.50). Sides have included home cut chips (£2.75), plain mash (£ 2.75), roasted beetroot (£2.95) and so forth.

The standout dish of these was the ribeye. It was a beautiful, succulent cut of flesh, bursting with flavour and cooked exactly as requested which was medium rare. The contrast with a recent experience at Restaurant Bar and Grill (click here) was notable. Grill’s version was a carefully cooked gem, RBG’s a burnt mess.

The yellow fish curry was another babe at Grill, a subtle blend of sharp flavours set off by an exquisite garlic rice, both main elements a model of restraint and strength. The fajitas were a hit too, the carefully cooked steak working well with a riot of other elements.

As for the starters my favourites were the oysters (although it’s hard to go wrong as long as the choice of mollusc is right and Grill gets that right) and the lovely sweet and sharp beef carpaccio accompanied by the bitter earthy tang of rocket.

Throughout these experiences the service has been exceptional: compliments to the frizzy haired Johnny Borrell lookalike on the last visit. He was professional and pleasant even when he’d mucked up and given me the wrong soup of the day - a very good carrot and coriander as it happens. His apology was so well-delivered that it didn’t matter.

If I had to be churlish (and I have to be) there are some areas of concern. It’s just plain wrong, even though it is standard restaurant practice, to charge extra for the sauces to accompany the meat dishes (£1.95 for a peppercorn sauce), and while the winelist is decent (the full Sauvignon blanc reserve: the Boshendal Paarl from South Africa, 2006, was exceptional) the beers include nothing British – in a city region with 21 family and micro-brewers.

The most annoying feature though is the copy on the homepage of the website.

Get this: ‘All of our beasty-based foods are sourced only from farmers whose wellies are splattered in honest, hormone-free muck, and are in possession of a healthy, ruddy-glow, a clear indicator of time spent chasing livestock around the pasture. Similarly, our sea-produce, while not exactly required to be still jumping up and down on the plate or intoning 'ahoy there matey' as proof of provenance is as fresh as the proverbial daisy. The quality of the meal is in the base produce - the chefs will lightly threaten the produce with a little heat and then arrange it - simply.’

You effing what? Fish as fresh as a daisy? Slow down Grill, this reads like our April’s Fool parody of Gordon Ramsay opening in Manchester – click here. Get rid of it Grill, it gives the wrong impression.

These trifles aside Grill on the Alley is quality. If you’ve not been for a while give it whirl: it’s got good looks, great food and superb atmosphere.

In short it’s a proper night or lunch out, with all the right components in trim working order: overseen by an equally trim, good-looking and fiercely driven under-manager in her twenties. I expect her to be running the whole company in about three years. Maybe going for PM.

Finally, if you’ve got kids there’s a good children’s menu at £7.95. There’s also regular live music and the Christmas menu is out starting at £21 per person.

Venues are rated against the best examples of their kind: fine dining against the best fine dining, cafes against the best cafes. Following on from this the scores represent: 1-5 saw your leg off and eat it, 6-9 get a DVD, 10-11 if you must, 12-13 if you’re passing,14-15 worth a trip,16-17 very good, 17-18 exceptional, 19 pure quality, 20 perfect. More than 20: Gordo gets carried away