Editor’s Picks

The definition of a Michelin three star rating is a restaurant with exceptional cuisine that's worth a special trip. With The French's 10-course tasting menu available for £79, two hours by train from Euston, food-loving Londoners should take a long hard look in the mirror if they're not making a reservation here soon.

Our tasting menu had the perfect balance between deliciousness and innovation. Some restaurants deliver fantastic yet familiar tastes, while others serve up surprises and novelty while not necessarily being, for want of a grander word, yummy. The French sits in the sweet spot: unusual ingredients and radical preparations, but again and again strikingly delicious flavours. Our party of three argued all night about which was the very best dish. It was an intensely pleasurable and fascinating meal.

Is it utterly perfect as a restaurant experience? Not quite, not yet. The room is pleasant but not a perfect match for the innovation in the cooking; given the number of vacant historic buildings in Manchester's city centre, it's a bit odd for Rogan to have set up in this somewhat stuffy hotel. While the restaurant staff are terrific – friendly, well informed, helpful, enthusiastic – standards drop like a stone once you set foot in the hotel's bar (unaffiliated). The wine list is very short for a restaurant of this calibre but this is apparently down to having inherited some of the previous restaurant's stock and a new list is being built. Strangely, given the very fair pricing of the meal, the cheese supplement is charged at an eye-watering £18, but the staff did offer to split one order between us. None of these should be substantial enough to discourage anyone from visiting.

For me, Rogan is the best chef working in Britain today, so with the closure of Roganic and the inaccessibility of L'Enclume, the opening of The French is the best news I've had all year.

Love this place

I have been to this restaurant a number of times and can't fault it in any way. The welcome is friendly, the service efficient, the food delicious and reasonably priced. I think Jay Rayner in the Observer once mentioned that they make running a restaurant look easy and they do. I wonder why more restaurants can't find the charming staff, make the simple but tasty food, and find delicious and reasonably priced wine – but we all know they can't. I feel lucky that this is my local restaurant and will come here again and again as long as they don't change it! My favourite thing on the menu is the pasta – surprisingly priced (only around £6 for a dish) and it's beautiful. Beef shin parpadelle, spicy tomato tagliatelle, nettle spaghetti, lemon and parmesan pici – I can't remember all the ones they do but it seems to be different every time you go in. Everything is good though. I can't recommend this restaurant enough.

Go more for the atmopshere than anything other reason

My dining comrades and I had been excited about a visit to Kaspar’s given its location in the beautifully refurbished Savoy hotel. Week-old restaurants inevitably have their teething problems and one should always read reviews (mine included) with a metaphorical pinch of salt, but the only one I had seen (Fay Maschler’s – a critic whom I generally respect) had lowered my expectations, given its relatively damning assessment. We found the atmosphere superb and the service highly attentive, but the food mostly unmemorable and the pricing inconsistent. There is no doubt that the Savoy’s dining room is a gem, large windows looking out onto the river, a high ceiling, sumptuous furnishing and an art deco finish. The tables were well-spaced and the chairs comfortable. It was also pleasing to hear the tinkle of the piano’s keys from the adjoining room. And, most people seemed to be enjoying themselves. However, it would be hard to say exactly what Kaspar’s is intending to achieve with its menu. Make no mistake, the restaurant positions itself as a “seafood bar and grill,” but if so, then why offer such pedestrian 1970’s-style mittel-Europa dishes such as Wiener schnitzel too? I struggle to imagine many of the same target dining market wanting to spend £80 on 30g of caviar, say, to start, and then £19 on a beef stew (‘Bourguignon’) and mash to follow. Two of our party began with the yellow fin tuna tartare. It was presented in a curiously shaped dish where it was impossible to place one’s cutlery conveniently, and the tartare itself was somewhat overwhelmed by the cream sauce. That my other comrade left half his Caesar salad spoke for itself. In terms of the mains, my monkfish kebab was ridiculously overpriced at £24 for just four small pieces of fish in a somewhat anaemic sauce. By contrast, its side of salad for just £3 (the price of all the sides) was a relative bargain, but scant compensation for the fish. My comrade’s Thai green seafood curry seemed a somewhat incongruous menu option in an ostensibly fine dining location, but was executed competently enough, although the waiter initially failed to bring the accompanying rice with it. The third member of our group bravely went for the schnitzel, commenting that he could not recall the last time he had eaten such a dish. The potato side looked, to my mind, tangibly more edible than the overly bread-crumbed veal main. At least our bottle of Gavi from Italy was a success, well-balanced and refreshing. It was not bad value either, at £45 for a bottle, but a note to more credit-constrained diners: the list starts at £32/bottle, so hardly what one could call good value in general. If you want a similar style of food, but executed much better, then go to the Wolseley or Scott’s. If you want a fun but none too consequential experience, then it is worth going here.

Join our club

This is one Clove Club that won't leave your mouth numb, but after this meal you'll still be drooling. At £47 for 5/6 courses isn't cheap but this was worth every penny. Portions are of decent size, unlike some taster menus you definitely will not leave hungry. The venue & menu is stunning, staff are a delight.
Their experience from stints in places such as Noma and the Ledbury is clear, but they really put their own stamp on the food they serve. The only dish that didn't really inspire me much was the fennel, and that maybe due to my lack of zest for seaweed. The main is essentially a roast dinner with ruby red beef, roast potatos and greens (ransom), the quality of the beef delivers more superlatives than I can bear to type. The dessert quite unlike anything I've had before, fennel granita, sheeps milk meringue, blood orange jelly, thankfully a flavour sensation aswell as a technical masterpiece.
This is the best meal I've had in a while. If you haven't already booked up I suggest you get a move on.

What's not to like?

I liked this restaurant and the service was excellent, but the privilege of the chef's table doesn't come cheap, but I suppose we didn't exactly skimp on drinks. Four of us were at the bench/pass on bar stools so it is geared for those who want to watch staff and interact with one of the chefs. One brother was tasked with serving us and describing the dishes/processes which was great for me because I am so interested in food per se, but the disadvantage was that the four of us couldn't converse easily being seated in a line. Therefore, I wouldn't opt for the chef's table again purely for this reason, but I'd definitely re-visit. The kitchen was run in a calm atmosphere and with military precision. Saturday evening was full to capacity so the buzz and the fresh decor suited me, not to mention the spotless kitchen, at least the section in view. The lamb was a slight let down (fatty and slightly chewy – a little unwanted surprise) and perhaps not served quite warm enough. The John Dory with cider and greens was good but not ideal for my palate. But to put into perspective, enjoyment level has to be praised and there were a couple of foodie moments to note. Apart from the outstanding goats cheese beetroot tartlets with wafer thin, crisp base which we all adored, the dishes that won the day for me unusually were both sweet, one of which was carrot and thyme – different, not too sweet kind of cake-like and moreish, followed by blood orange which gave a rush of orange fragrance, was delicate in texture, and ooh…