Destino review

When I told the husband we’d been sent by Gordo to review a restaurant for Manchester Confidential, he said “is it going to be good or do we have to eat before we get there?”

I’m a real fan of the much maligned and under-rated lentil. These were brown lentils, full of flavour, having been cooked in a delicious comforting stock, perfectly balanced on the border of becoming soup whilst retaining their smooth texture.

Destino is on Pall Mall, the pedestrianised alley off King St, a stone’s throw away from competitors Croma and Piccollino. Originally designed as a retail space, it has large front windows through which to watch the world go by. This proved to be great entertainment on Halloween weekend as we saw a parade of overweight witches in fishnets, various ghouls and even a Mr Blobby pass by.

Every customer was met warmly at the door by Rudolfo or ‘Rudi’, a giant of a fellow. We ordered a couple of small glasses of the house Prosecco (£4.50). Rudi brought over the menu.

It was totally underwhelming. Same old, same old. Various garlic breads, starters you could guess at without looking, pizzas, three salads and a few obvious pasta dishes. There wasn’t much that I couldn’t make at home. Ok I know I’m a chef, but I think prawn pasta, mushroom risotto and lasagne is pretty achievable for most people.

Rudi then brought over the huge, heavy specials board which we scanned with hungry hope in our eyes. Sea Bass with roast garlic, cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar or Chicken breast with garlic butter and rocket both at £13.95. Ok, a little better...

Then Claudio the chef/owner came out from the kitchen. “We also have the duck.” “Sell it,” urged Rudi. “Well...it’s duck with lentils. I cook it pink, crispy skin. If you don’t like it pink, order something else.”

Mussels

Now, this kind of talk appeals to me. He is the chef, I am a customer. I go to his restaurant to eat what he’s chosen to prepare to illustrate his ability using produce he has chosen from suppliers he’s hand-picked. Then again, hospitality and catering is a service industry. Surely a paying customer is entitled to choose the way they want their dish to be cooked despite the fact that this may ruin it?

I tentatively asked Claudio what today’s ravioli della casa was (£5.95 to start, £9.95 as a main). Much to my pleasure he told me it was pumpkin with ricotta and walnuts with sage butter. Now we’ve started ignoring the generic Italian menu-monkey and started talking directly to the organ-grinder, we’re getting somewhere.

The ravioli was superb - a well balanced, seasonal dish. The walnuts provided a crunchy autumnal contrast to the delicious velvety sweet/savoury pumpkin filling. Four perfectly sized parcels bathed in lashings of creamy sage-scented butter. (Though I think having it as a main course could be too much of a good thing.)

My husband chose mussels (£5.95) which he spotted on another specials board above the bar. They arrived amongst lots of flavoursome bi-valve cooking liquor complete with a few whole smashed garlic cloves. The only problem? No bread. That broth was much too intense to be eaten on its own and we didn’t fancy paying another £1.95 for the ‘house bread’ to mop it up with. Also, three of the mussels wouldn’t open - a pretty amateur mistake which could have been headed off at the pass.

Sea Food Risotto

Duck with Lentils

My husband was put out that I’d laid claim to the duck main course, so he opted for another special of seafood risotto £12.95. It’s a deceptively difficult restaurant dish to get right as it relies on strict timing to optimise the liquid absorption/rice texture ratio. What can be perfectly cooked in the kitchen can be overdone by the time it reaches the table and if it leaves the kitchen underdone, well, it’s anyone’s guess...Anyway, he was pretty impressed as we’ve been served some really poorly cooked ones before at some places that should know better.

My duck was served pink, as promised, but cooked through, with no hint of that liver-coloured sheen you get when duck is served raw rather than medium rare. I’m a real fan of the much maligned and under-rated lentil. These were brown lentils, full of flavour, having been cooked in a delicious comforting stock, perfectly balanced on the border of becoming soup whilst retaining their smooth texture.

We ordered a bottle of Primitivo Massiera Torre Rossa 2009 at £19.95, a smooth Italian wine from Terre di Sava, an area in Puglia which is renowned for the production of exceptional fruity reds. I thought we should keep it local and was glad we did. It danced across the throat like red chiffon.

Pumpkin Ravioli, tastes as good as it looks

For dessert, we thought we’d go for the litmus test of Italian puddings that is tiramisu (£4.50) to share. We were assured that it was made on the premises and not bought in. Creamy, and not too claggy with that warm rum nudge that comes in just to make sure the creaminess doesn’t get too carried away with itself. In short, everything you’d hope for in a tiramisu if that’s your kind of thing.

There was just one little surprise.The duck turned out to have a rather large bill - £17.95. A bit steep considering the other special main courses were £13.95. I couldn’t complain though as it’d been described to me by the chef, was not written down anywhere, and I hadn’t thought to ask. With a couple of pints of Moretti (£4.50), the total came to £83.65.

Pretty expensive for two but at least we’d been well fed and didn’t have to go for a kebab on the way home – which my husband appreciated. The point is, Claudio can obviously cook, now he just needs to learn how to write a decent menu.

Destino's exterior

Rating:	14/20
Breakdown:	7/10 food 3/5 ambience 4/5 service
Address:	Destino Restaurant 50 Pall Mall off 82 King Street Manchester UK, M2 1AQ Tel: 0161 832 4600

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