The Midland Hotel is one of the grandest if not the grandest hotels in Manchester and surely there is nowhere better to enjoy cocktails on a Wednesday night especially if you have a reservation at neighbouring Exhibition.
The bar area in the Midland Hotel does remind me a little of an over-sized conservatory with some of the wicker furniture and the large olive trees.
On this visit after sitting down, we were promptly greeted by a very cheerful member of the bar staff who took our drinks order.
What we had:
An East 8 Hold Up. Made with Vodka, Aperol, pineapple juice, lime juice and passionfruit served over ice and in an Old Fashioned glass.
A Manhattan which followed the tradition of being made with bourbon, sweet vermouth and bitters plus served with a cherry. This was requested to have a balance of sweet and dry.
Both were reasonably good cocktails but could’ve packed a little more of a punch on the liquor side.
But how decadent are we – going to the Midland for cocktails on a Wednesday night?
Once our cocktails were downed, which was swiftly as we had only allowed ourselves 30 minutes for Pre-Drinks, we hot footed it around the corner to Exhibition.
I really like the concept of Exhibition, which brings together three fairly different independent kitchens in an almost pimped up food hall kind of way. However, unlike the usual food halls, which seem to be popping up everywhere, you do have to book a table, you are waited on at your table and the food is a slightly higher level of sophistication.
Right now (although this changes at the end of July) there are the following available:
Baratxuri – according to the Exhibition website they have “ethos of simple yet perfected cookery, almost every dish is kissed by fire using the traditional Rescoldo wood-fired grill.”
Osma – the name is a combination of Oslo and Manchester, which are the home cities for the two founders. The small plates on offer are built from Scandinavian origins and use local and seasonal produce.
Onda – which is a fresh pasta bar due to depart Exhibition at the end of July for pastures new at The New Cross. Onda is a collaboration between Gooey and Chef Sam Astley-Dean. All of their pasta is made fresh daily!
Upon arrival our table wasn’t quite ready, so we were asked to order drinks at the bar. Now a party of three, here’s what had for drinks at Exhibition:
A glass of Chilean Cabernet Franc rosé
A Clementine Bellini cocktail, which was made of White Peach and clementine puree, orange blossom and sparkling pignoletto.
Manchester Union Lager, which according to the menu is “Delivered to our tanks, unpasturised, within hours of being brewed just down the road. Beer doesn’t get any fresher!”
Exhibition have a special offer on at the moment for Wednesday (all night), Thursday & Friday 4-7pm) where cocktails are £6, and the Manchester Union Lager is £4. If only we had researched that before deciding to go to the Midland!
Once we had our drinks order, our table was ready, a nice little banquette table perfect for three. We took a ridiculous amount of time to choose what to order and I think the guy waiting on us gave up so when we were finally ready I had to seek someone out to take the order.
Here’s what we ordered:
We had really wanted some of the Focaccia from Onda but unfortunately by the time we ordered (albeit still before 8pm), they had run out.
Cabecero from Baratxuri, which was Cured Iberico Pork Collar with toasted corn. The meat was fairly fatty but also very tasty. Opinions were divided on the corn, which to me was almost like eating popcorn that hadn’t popped.
Cauliflower Karaage with Strawberry, Jalapeno and Sesame from Osma. One of my favourite things to eat at the moment is a cauliflower in a light batter that is slightly spiced. This karaage was a wonderful version of this kind of dish.
Tagliarini Pomodoro from Onda which was coated with Tomato, Basil, Garlic, and Parmigiano. I have to say that although I enjoyed pretty much everything that I ate, this was my favourite dish. Extremely simple ingredients but so delicious, I wish we had ordered two!
Crispy New Potatoes from Osma, which the menu mentions had a brown butter hollandaise and chive. There was definitely chive, but I can’t recall any brown butter hollandaise unless it was just what the potatoes were cooked. However, they were magnificently crispy, and I was gutted when I dropped one of mine on the floor.
Marinated Crispy Chicken from Osma. The chicken was really tender and succulent and came with a Kimchi Mayo, which paired really nicely.
Sausage Campanelle from Onda, which was made with Cumbrian pork, white wine, fennel and parmigiano. Although this had nice flavours and you could tell that the pasta was fresh, I was hoping for more of the sausage.
Crab Fettucine from Onda, which was made with Cornish crab, garlic, parsley, lemon and chilli. This was my least favourite of all the dishes. The lemon and parsley were good but again this dish lacked the presence of the one of the main ingredients, the crab and really could have more chilli to balance with the garlic and lemon.
Tiramasu from Onda which consisted of Savoiardi sponge, marsala, espresso, mascarpone and islands 65%. Now I’m not a fan of Tiramasu because I’m not keen on coffee so I didn’t order it. The sponginess along with glistening mascorpone looked so inviting I had to try it and it was pretty damn good!
To accompany all of the above we chose a bottle of Zibibbo, which is a white wine from Sicily because we were too tight to pay the additional £24 for the Albarino. Although not as deliciously fruity as Albarino, it had a good citrus flavour, which worked well with all of the dishes we ordered.
We all really enjoyed the mix of dishes that we chose and would recommend Exhibition. It will be interesting to see who replaces Onda after their departure.