Supper at Isinglass
Supper at Isinglass, originally uploaded by multum in parvo.
We went to Isinglass in Urmston (not such a lovely area of Manchester, nor known for its fine eating establishments) with friends on Saturday night. They are very knowledgeable about food and wine and when they say somewhere is good, we generally get excited about their recommendation.
We had heard that Isinglass was known for its impeccable sourcing of ingredients and seasonality, both are without a doubt a good thing. So we turned up at 9.30 ready for a really good meal. We sort of got what we wanted.....The menu was very interesting with lovely seasonal goodies and lots of local tasties but the finished results while looking splendid were lacking that certain something which really makes a meal really special.
My starter was by far the best of my two courses, the crab tartare was interesting and I loved the slightly pickled taste whereas the brown meat and sweet potato-cake was neither here nor there really and I felt that I missed the lovely creamy texture of brown crab meat. But it was a good starter and it got me off to a good start. My main course paper parcel looked good when it arrived wrapped up, the mixed vegetables were rather disappointingly two giant (and rather undercooked pak choi) which in my book doesn't count as very mixed. When I opened up the package there was a rather thin salmon fillet with two very ordinary (ordinary like two packs for £5 from Sainsbury's ordinary) prawns on the top. I cook this very same dish frequently at home and I manage not to over cook the salmon so spectacularly. Disappointing but yet tasty. The roast potatoes were on the other hand totally delicious as was the mayonnaise and I'm no fan of mayo. I didn't have a pudding to myself, but picked at the two cheese boards which were very nicely presented but rather low on quality content cheese wise, which was a great shame. There really is no excuse at all for a quality restaurant serving any cheese containing cranberries .
Service was friendly and efficient, the wine which I didn't choose and was very nice. My pudding was a totally delicious glass of Antique Pedro Ximanez at £4.70. It was much better value than I had expected at £32 each. So all in all a very good night with good friends with almost excellent food, I think that I would go again.