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Kaleido Restaurant Revealed
Jonathan Schofield has a show-around the impressive re-invention of Modern
KALEIDO is open. This is the restaurant on top of the National Football Museum in Urbis. The site has been Le Mont and The Modern in the past.
Kaleido has good looks, exquisite looking food and the distinction of the those views.
So why an aspirational restaurant on top of a footy venue?
"It needs to be distinctive up here to work," says Paul Riley, the executive chef. "The food and the drink has to attract people up to the restaurant and bar. A generic high street restaurant five floors up would be pointless and anyway both the restaurant and the museum are ambitious. Above all I want to create a real dining experience."
The menu certainly reads very well as does the wine list - check the pictures below.
The dishes featured here were all exceptional although a full scored review will have to wait.
The dishes pictured are veal carpaccio, mojamo, quail's eggs, spenwood, pea shoots (£12), Dingley Dell pork belly, apple, thyme honey, celeriac and goats cheese (£15) and summer fruit pate, black olive caramel, yoghurt sorbet (£7.25).
Summer fruit pate
The menu is the joint creation of Paul Riley and the figurehead for the restaurant Frank Bordoni. The overall general manager is Franco Caroleo.
Kaleidoscopic wallsThe fit out has added elements of crazy kaleidoscopic colours - hence the restaurant name, reflecting the kaleidoscope of people who play football.
The design company was ABTA. They should have gone a little further with the colour - the feature wall is the right approach.
That aside, Kaleido has good looks, exquisite looking food and the distinction of those views.
I'm looking forward to riding back up those lifts to see if the food lives up to the promise.
Kaleido is at 5th and 6th Floor, Urbis Building, Cathedral Gardens, City, M4 3BG. 0161 871 8160. www.kaleidorestaurant.co.uk
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter here @JonathSchofield
Franco Caroleo and Paul Riley
Kaleido
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No tablecloth. Shame. Hope this place will be good but looking forward to Manchester house more.
Used to like the place a lot when it was The Modern...hopefully this will be just as good.
I was warned that its the biggest sideways moving lift in the world.. but it doesnt work properly... (Staff on Saturday at the football museum)
Whats the point of having the full windows with a view and then box it off with booths? Like the decor overall tho, look forward to sampling it!
Not sure about the ambiance, no cloths and a little modern for me, will give it a go though still need to find something in Manchester that floats my boat!
Agreed, looks good, but no tablecloths... Gordo is right, we must have tablecloths, love 63 degrees now because of them.
Seriously No tablecloths.............Shock!! Horror!!
Really, I can't even remember the last time I went for a meal where they used tablecloths.
I think the place looks amazing and hope to one day to dine here. Without the tablecloths
I'm sure they could add the cost of laundering the table cloths to diners' bills.....
It looks good from the photos. Food seems nice and not too pricey. Don't think they are going for posh fine dining so I don't mind no table cloths. Def giving it a go...
Can we get over the lack of tablecloths!!!!!!!!
Should we not be commenting on the food???????
Get it together people
I think restaurants like this and the one at Harvey Nichols have areally cold feel to them. Food looks good though.
12 pounds for half quail eggs and veal air? Joke
Agreed!
Really looking forward to going, but...
Has ManCon changed its policy on restaurants? It's always prided itself on being fiercely independent, not getting free meals, etc. Jonathan is never short of attacking a place for no good reason other than to amuse the readers. Have things changed?
This is the second puff-piece on Kaleido in two weeks. The last was just a cut and paste from the press release (I particularly treasured 'Paul Riley has cooked at such leading British restaurants as the Reading Travelodge and the Bristol Welcome Break'), without the usual layers of sarcasm and cynicism.
I know Jonathan nailed his colours firmly to the pro-NFM mast two years ago, but the critical edge doesn't need to go does it? You honestly found nothing to even slightly mock in the 'Food Director/Executive Chef' pretensions?
Or has something happened to soften him?
To be fair to Jonathan, they're always really clear on the site that they only do scored reviews when they are paying for it. This article is clearly him being given a look around and I don't see what the problem is with that. The article itself says they're going to go back...
Drake, dear Drake, my friend read the words. Two things as our dear Council Leader always says 1) We'll be going back to critically review; 2) You're wrong if you think I would be so cruel as to attack places for no good reason other than to amuse readers. I critique places and try to tell it as it is.
By the way we sometimes put doctored press releases up because we want to get the news out. Most clever people like you spot that straightaway - as intended.
Looks great and good to see a local Chef at the helm! Just hope they have something to block the light out unlike Modern! Also, any news with regards to Manchester House by Living Ventures?
I feared they wouldn't replace Modern. I'm glad they have and hope thay can fill it's rather good boots. A tall order IMHO.
I visited for cocktails the day after opening. I was greeted by being told that a number of cocktails weren't on today due to them not having any Malibu - despite a co-op store being around the corner!
Additionally, when I asked for a snacks menu I was told that there would only be limited snacks due to the chef focusing on the menu downstairs so I could only have peanuts or wasabi peas. I made a comment that the place was absolutely empty, could they not prepare something and bring it to the bar area and they refused. The waiter passed me a copy of the bar snack menu (which looked good) which would be used in future. I pointed out that there was bread on both the main menu in the restaurant and the bar snack menu so could I please have some bread. I got some but then got told by the waiter that he got told off for giving it to me as they shouldn't be serving that upstairs until the menue downstairs is open.
Seriously - it was the day after the opening, the place was literally dead, my friend and I were the only two people in there, you would think they would be running around trying to please us!!
Cocktails were great though and the bread and butter was nice when it finally arrived.
If you drink Malibu you get everything you deserve x
I came here last night with 8 other people, the interior is very impressive, great views over Manchester and very light! The service was great too, our waitress couldn't have been nicer and was very attentive. Out of the 9 of us, seven said they loved the food, and there's did look great. Me and my friend on the other hand made the mistake of ordering the Rib Eye Steak (Should of gone with the Chateaubriand) which was tasty except that about 50% was made up of fat! I had to leave half of it as it was just pure fat! The triple cooked chips were perfect tho, and the drinks great too (strong but very tasty mojito's). Despite the steak, I would definitely come back here and just order something different, like I said the rest of them was more than happy with their orders!
rib eye is very fatty as it has a eye of fat in it! dont complain about the cut if you dont understand it.
Big ears is indeed right; with a rib eye, it's all about the fat, it gives massive flavour to the meat. A fillet or rump is the best for no Fay, whilst sirloin is kind of in the middle...
hi
went here on saturday with my husband was going to go abode ,wish i had now,the food was terrible and tasteless and the portions were very very small came out very hungry and went to get atake away.while we were there we saw 3 people send there food back,dont think it will last long.wont reccomend it ,abode much better food and quality.
What did you have Debs? I went and loved it! yes, portions small but it is trying to be fine dine so don't expect mounds of food. loved the goats cheese with beetroot and spring chicken.
had 3 way macarel and duck .i know its fine dining so is abode ,never come away from there hungry and you can taste all the flavours in everthing you have
Went last night. Food little more than average and portions tiny. Duck small and slightly overcooked, ox pudding a bit dry, fruit pate was strawberry jam. Some good elements but overall another city centre let down.
Food was okay, tiny portions (woke up ravenous at 2am!) No ambience, cold & clinical. Should be great views but most windows are covered. Asked for duck pink, was told the chef cooked medium rare - overcooked on arrival. My friend's ox pudding was very dry. Salad was a joke at £3.50, we had approx 1 Tbs each! Better places in Manchester for same price.
Dined here last night and after reading the reviews before hand I was a little sceptical and not expecting much but I have to say it was very good!
I had the ham terrine to start which was interesting to look at as it came in a 'de-constructed' ensemble with the ham in little circles, some thin breadsticks and the pickle, cauliflower arranged around the plate- the flavour of the ham was really lovely! My partner had the crab+wasabi starter which was excellent and served at a lovely temperature. I then had the pork and goats cheese which is literally two of my favourite things and they complimented each other very well- granted the pork is a very small portion and I did need to order a side (and the side orders are still fairly small portions- definitely for one rather than sharing which is a shame) and even after the two courses I wasn't close to being full BUT the flavour was brilliant! My partner had the hot pot and the meat melted in the mouth- very good dish. We then had a cheese board which was good- quite expensive in comparison to identical cheese boards served at other a la carte restaurants and my partner had the apple dessert which we could have eaten over and over again as it was so delicious+more-ish! The service was excellent, each member of staff from the bar area through to the restaurant were friendly, helpful and charismatic. It was a surprise to hear the staff haven't tried much of/ or any of the menu as I always ask for their insight and I don't think you should under-estimate the power of a good waiter/waitress to really sell the food and the flavours. I work in an a la carte restaurant in Manchester so I have quite high expectations and I'm fairly hard to please but the food and service was very good. I do not however think the price reflects the food- especially when we have The River restaurant and Abode which offer excellent food at some cheaper prices. Don't get me wrong the food at Kaleido was very good but you have to be careful not to price yourself out. All in all I enjoyed myself and will be back again- (when I can afford it) if it was slightly cheaper I think you would get more customers returning more regularly and more people wanting to try something new and willing to take the risk on a fairly new restaurant with mixed reviews.