We had ummed and ahhed about going to Erst for about five years. Even though the restaurant is just two blocks away from where we live in Ancoats, Manchester.
Our reluctance (and we have found out it was not just our reluctance), was that we weren’t really sure what it was all about. We weren’t sure whether it was going to be right for us. I know this sounds ridiculous, it’s not like we were planning to enter into a long term relationship with the place but information about Erst was/is sparse.
The snippet preview for their website on Google didn’t really have anything more to offer either. “Erst is a Natural Wine Bar and seasonal small plates restaurant in Ancoats Manchester. Serving great natural wine and delicious small plates.”
If you go to the Erst website, yes they have sample menu. It still doesn’t really give you a feel for what the food is going to be like. Unless you have the inclination to Google everything on the menu in the hope of a translation. You end up screaming at the screen like the cast from Grease “Tell me more”.
When you do meet that rare person that has ventured to Erst, they provide nothing but glowing praise.
So on a cold and wet night in middle of December, this is where we found ourselves at 6.30pm on a Tuesday evening. This was the only fairly decent slot we could get given we were booking just over a week in advance.
What had finally persuaded us to bite the bullet? Well it wasn’t just the good feedback we’d heard. It was the tempting offer open to AMEX Platinum Card holders. For certain select restaurants, if you spend up to £150 then you receive a statement credit of that amount. This meant that even if we went and the food was awful it was effectively “free”.
Upon arrival at the restaurant, we immediately greeted by the host who escorted us to the table. Our reservation was for a “standard” bar table, which we had expected to be at the bar. That was not the case, in the middle of the restaurant were a couple of high top tables with bar stool seats. One of these was reserved for us. The host insisted that they took our coats and promised us that we would be able to see where they were hung from the table. I think they could sense our nervousness at the separation. Let’s not forget Ancoats, although massively gentrified is still Manchester.
The table wasn’t particularly well lit other than by candle light. At times, there was concern on my part that the paper menu may go up in flames whilst my middle aged eyes try to adjust to the light and focus in on it. However, the overall ambiance of the restaurant, albeit very bustling was also at the same time intimate and cosy. I definitely think we had one of the best seats in the restaurant. I’m not sure the lower seating with it’s excellent overhead lighting would have felt the same.
The service began with our waiter Louis, providing us with very enthusiastic wine suggestions. He started by trying to understand the flavours we would normally prefer. We divulged our love of Albarino. Obviously omitting that we usually wait until Asda has “The Best” on special offer with 25% off when you buy six.
Although there was an Albarino on the menu, Louis was keen for us to try something different with the “mineral” tones that we would get from our preferred wine. After various options were floated, Louis settled upon us trying a taste of “Apremont Vin de Savoie, Domaines des 13 Lunes 2022”. This wine was a subtle fruity tones somewhere between an Albarino and a Sauvignon. We liked it enough to progress to a glass each, whilst continuing to make our food choices.
Here are is the menu….
Here is what we went for with the small plates…
Grilled Flatbread, which was anything but flat. It was thick and puffy. Even the weight of the topping couldn’t deflate. And then there was the topping – walnut tarator and sage. The nuttiness of the perfectly chopped walnut with almost salted caramel like sauce (without the sweetness.). Then the odd sage leaf scattered over the sauce only added to the intense flavour.
I have since found out that tarator is a Lebanese sauce. Usually made with made with tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic, a pinch of salt and water to thin it out. Erst seemed to have substituted the tahini with walnut to amazing effect.
Alongside this we were served nine pieces of identical slavers of salame di finocchio. It was a well-balanced combination of meat, fat and wild fennel seeds.
As we were running through our menu selection with Louis, he recommended the beetroot. Apparently this one has been on the menu since Erst had opened it’s doors.
Having reviewed the Erst sample menu we had joked that the dishes would all be cold beetroot and raw fish. And here we were being persuaded that it should feature in what we ate tonight!
The beetroot came with ajo blanco (aka Spanish White Gazpacho) and green chilli. It is a winning combination. On my first mouthful, I missed combining the three ingredients together. I just had the beetroot and ajo blanco and I thought, this is okay but nothing special. On my second try, I added in the green chilli and realised my initial error. It was fabulous, the ajo blanco keeps the intense heat of the chilli to a pleasurable level. The chilli enhances the sweetness of the beetroot so you forget what you are eating.
My advice though would be consider ordering a plain flatbread. We grudgingly left the sauce as we had already been warned by Louis that our pick of dishes was somewhat ambitious.
As we were nearing completion on the beetroot, the Cuttlefish, chickpeas & rouille arrived. Cuttlefish is not something that I have seen on menu much in my lifetime. As we didn’t fancy raw scallops (refer you to earlier point on raw fish) and the plaice mentioned clams, this seemed like the sensible (only) choice. Described as a stew by Louis, when this arrived, the french rouille was placed on top of the stew with chickpeas dotted around the immaculately sized cuttlefish.
For a small dish, it was substantial and with a generous amount of the fish. Cuttlefish has a fairly firm texture, which wasn’t what I anticipated. I was expecting more of a flaky variety. Not that it mattered because the star of the show was the intense gravy of the stew. Once again we longed for that second piece of bread.
Luckily by this point the fried potatoes with creme fraiche and three-cornered leek was served. So we did use some of the potato to mop up the sauce. With Erst, you really do take a trip around world. This dish felt like we were now venturing into Scandinavian territory. The potatoes were crisped to the point of saturation on the outside and are very crunchy until you break through to the soft inner. They were heavily salted but thankfully we had an ample amount of the creamy sour cream and chive like sauce to dip them in (as well as the leftover juice from the other dishes)
Our final dish, was the Pork chop, green sauce and bitter leaves. I was relieved when it arrived boneless. However, my preference would have been for the fat to be a little more rendered as at one of the ends it was 70% fat and 30% meat. You might say well why didn’t you just leave the fat. Is that an option when it’s on the plate?
The pork did have a wonderful taste (probably due to the fat) and was verging on the melt in the mouth consistency that I have only experience with Iberico. The green sauce with it’s garlic, vinegar and olive oil flavours was an impeccable acidic pairing for the pork along with the radicchio leaves.
In the end, we decided to order a bottle of the 2021 Eulogio Pomares ‘Sal Da Terra’ Albarino. This wine was another level and had an almost Champagne like taste to it. It went really well with all our food selections, if perhaps a little too sophisticated for my palette.
All in all we had an enjoyable evening with some delightful food and wine plus fantastic service. After you have visited Erst, you realise the reason you can’t gauge anything about the place before you visit is because there is nowhere else like Erst. They are doing their own thing and their own thing is good. It’s definitely worth a try.
Next time, if it is still on the menu, I am up for the rib eye. That teamed with some of those crispy potatoes and a bottle of full bodied red!