As if the excited chatter surrounding the grand opening of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Winston Zahra’s new Stock Exchange Hotel in Manchester wasn’t loud enough already, it’s just been announced that chef Tom Kerridge will make his northern debut here. Housed on the former trading floor of the old Stock Exchange beneath a spectacular domed ceiling, Kerridge’s The Bull & Bear intends to blur the lines between sophistication and informality, with a menu that reflects the chef’s signature style of refined British comfort food.
Heavily influenced by his pubs in Marlow, Kerridge and his executive chef Dan Scott have created a small-plates menu that encourages diners to sample a variety of different flavours and combinations.
Divided into the usual three stages (but named ‘First’, ‘Second’ and ‘Third’), the menu will start with the likes of smoked chicken and ham hock terrine with piccalilli, and duck liver parfait with plum chutney, before moving on to dishes such as fish fritter of the day with pease pudding and tartare sauce, and crispy pig’s head with celeriac rémoulade and spiced date sauce. To finish, there will be desserts including hot chocolate tart with hazelnut ice cream and The Coach profiteroles with soured vanilla cream.
When it comes to drinks, Kerridge has once again enlisted the help of his Marlow staff – this time Antony Peart, bar manager at The Hand & Flowers – to design a menu of cocktails that champions British distilleries. These will sit alongside a selection of beers from Manchester’s brewing scene and Marlow-based brewery, Rebellion.
We’ve yet to see any prices, but given the opulence of the surroundings – which include green banquettes, leather armchairs and lots of gold – we’d wager that dining here won’t come cheap. That said, if the food here is any bit as good as Kerridge’s other outfits, it’ll be worth splashing the cash.