Mr Coopers House, is the second restaurant within the Midland Hotel, and is also under the guidance of Simon Rogan. It has a much more relaxed feel than The French, and the food has some a more varied feel to it. The restaurant itself has a gorgeous decor, with lots of shades of grey, wooden tables, little alcoves at the back, and comes complete with a tree in the middle.
We started off in their bar, having a cocktail and also ordered these snack pork scratchings to go with them, accompanied by an apple gel.
For his starter, Lee decided on the Buttermilk fried oyster, kimchee purée, pear and pickled fennel. A really interesting mix of flavours, that worked well he thought, with a really big kick from the kimchee. I had trouble choosing my starter – I loved the look of most of them, but settled on the Raw beef with pickled paw paw, sweet tomato jam and toasted rye bread. It was delicious in my opinion, again some really different and intriguing flavours. The pickled paw paw was fantastic and when all eaten together the flavours really combined well.
Lee went vegetarian for his main – he loved the sound of the Roasted sweetheart cabbage steaks, teriyaki sauce, grated Wiltshire truffles and hot wasabi mayonnaise. He devoured the dish – and yet again such interesting ingredients, and something we had never seen the likes of before on a menu. I wanted to try another of the lovely sounding starters, so for my main I opted for the Caramelised scallops, cucumber sambal, jalepeno fritters and tahini dressing. My scallops were perfect, and the spice of the sambal and fritters were a lovely twist on the usual flavours you get with scallops. Another really enjoyable dish.
We had to sample a couple of desserts after reading through the options – Lee spotted a twist on his favorite carrot cake – Carrot and olive oil cake with blood orange sorbet, while I had the Caramel tart with mascarpone ice cream. Both desserts really hit the spot, simple classical flavours with the highest execution.
In my opinion, a really fantastic meal, not just due to the execution, but due to the really vibrant and interesting flavor combinations, stretching the imagination. A really wonderful find in Manchester and I’d encourage any foodie to pop along and try it if they haven’t already.
http://www.mrcoopershouseandgarden.co.uk/
Disclosure: We paid in full for our meal.
