Hey Lolly / The Manchester Edit / Restaurant Reviews / WINSOME MANCHESTER REVIEW
A very good pie, a full house and madeleines worth staying for.
Any Winsome Manchester review ought to begin with the atmosphere. At 7.45pm on a Saturday, the dining room was packed, the open kitchen was working flat out and every table seemed to be having a rather good evening. Before we'd ordered a thing, I was already taken with the place.
There are restaurants you visit for the view, and restaurants where the most interesting thing to look at is the kitchen. Winsome belongs firmly to the latter. Fortunately, it also makes a persuasive case for the British pie.
A promising entrance on Princess Street.
Candlelight, white tablecloths and a little old-fashioned romance.
A Dining Room Getting Everything Right
Set within the Whitworth Locke building on Princess Street, Winsome makes an excellent first impression. Whitewashed brick, dark timber, bentwood chairs and proper tablecloths give the place an understated elegance. Then there are the chunky candlesticks, with enough accumulated wax to suggest they've witnessed some very enjoyable evenings.
Couples leaned towards one another across tables, larger groups were deep in conversation, and the open kitchen operated at a pace that suggested nobody had informed the chefs it was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday.
It was glorious. There is a particular atmosphere that restaurants spend years trying to manufacture: that convivial hum of people who are exactly where they want to be. Winsome seemed to have achieved it rather effortlessly.
The open kitchen keeps the room alive.
A little romance, with no unnecessary fuss.
British Cooking with Its Sleeves Rolled Up
Chef Shaun Moffat's menus follow the seasons, with familiar British flavours and the reassuring idea that good food needn't arrive accompanied by a lengthy explanation. The appeal is confidence rather than ceremony. Winsome has also earned a place in the Michelin Guide, although it's the food and hospitality that make the better argument for visiting.
We began with the kitchen's brawn and condiments, a neatly presented pig's head terrine with pickles and sharp accompaniments, and Scottish squid with lovage, crisp and generously served beside its sauce. Two entirely different approaches to starting dinner, neither especially interested in being delicate.
Brawn, pickles and condiments.
Scottish squid with lovage.
The opening act, in full.
Then came the main event: a Belted Galloway ox cheek pie to share, accompanied by buttered greens. A good pie has always struck me as one of Britain's more convincing contributions to civilisation. It asks little of its audience beyond an appreciation of pastry, patience and a filling worth the trouble.
Here it arrived gloriously golden, with a properly crimped crust and a generously filled interior. The greens provided a welcome contrast to all that richness. It was hearty, familiar cooking given the kind of care that makes a pie feel like a perfectly respectable Saturday-night centrepiece.
The Belted Galloway ox cheek pie. A very handsome proposition.
The sharing pie, plated.
Buttered greens, because balance is important.
We drank a bottle of Mariana, a Portuguese red from Herdade do Rocim, an entirely agreeable companion to the sort of comforting cooking that makes ordering something light seem a distant and rather peculiar idea.
The Portuguese red, very much at home with a pie.
A Saturday night rather well spent.
A Little Patience Required
An honest Winsome Manchester review must also acknowledge the one part of our evening that didn't quite live up to expectations: the wait for our food..
What made the difference was the hospitality. Despite having a hundred things to do, the staff remained warm, attentive and genuinely engaged. There's real skill in making guests feel looked after when everything around you is moving at speed, and Winsome's team deserves credit for it.
The delay was frustrating. The people made it much easier to forgive.
And Then Came the Madeleines
If there was one moment that settled any lingering debate about the evening, it arrived with dessert. Brown-butter madeleines, freshly baked to order. Beautifully presented, generously dusted and, honestly, sensational.
There's something faintly ridiculous about how much pleasure a little sponge cake can provide, particularly when it's freshly made and served at precisely the moment you've decided you couldn't possibly eat another thing.
Naturally, we managed. And because restraint had already departed the table some time earlier, we accompanied them with a glass of Sauternes.
The madeleines and Sauternes. The evening's final flourish.
Freshly baked to order and worth saving room for.
There are elaborate desserts involving architectural sugar work and ingredients requiring a brief introduction. Then there are freshly baked madeleines with a very good glass of dessert wine.
Sometimes the simplest pleasures make the most persuasive argument. I'd go back for those alone.
Would I Go Back to Winsome?
Without hesitation. Winsome combines genuinely thoughtful cooking with a dining room that has real personality. It feels special without being precious, fashionable without being self-conscious, and ambitious without forgetting the fundamental business of making people happy.
The extended wait kept a wonderful evening from being quite as seamless as it might have been. Even so, the cooking, atmosphere and particularly lovely hospitality left a lasting impression.
And next time, I'm ordering the madeleines regardless of how much I've eaten beforehand. Some things are simply non-negotiable.
The Hey Lolly Verdict
Winsome Manchester ReviewBest for: Date nights, enthusiastic eaters, long dinners and anyone who believes a proper British pie deserves an occasion.
Would I return? Absolutely. Preferably with enough time for another round of madeleines.
Winsome Ā· 74 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6JD Ā· Restaurant website and bookings
All opinions are my own; menus, prices and opening hours may change.
