MC Café Bar & Grill, Manchester

Dining in Abode Hotel

© ABode Hotels

For such a splendid city in most other respects, Manchester lets itself down in the fine dining stakes. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of places to eat, there just isn’t anywhere, well, really special in the centre.

So what does a curious gourmand do? She types “Michelin star” and “Manchester” into a search engine and ends up at the ABode Hotel.

Its location couldn’t be better. On the approach to Piccadilly Station and within walking distance of the heart of the city, it’s ideal if you're on a flying visit or weekend shopping trip.

It’s best to make the distinction here. My partner and I dined in the upstairs MC Café Bar & Grill, not the downstairs Michael Caines’ Restaurant. Downstairs it’s all champagne bubbles, dim lights and a la carte. We were NEARLY downstairs though. We approached the reception to take our booking and the waitress couldn’t find our names in the diary. “Never mind,” she said, “Here’s a Joanne and Mike. Perhaps that’s you?”

It wasn’t but they insisted it would be fine and we found ourselves at a private function standing around feeling awkward. Once the confusion had passed and we had convinced the waiting staff that we weren’t there to hobnob with businessmen we gratefully took our reserved table upstairs – complete with free glasses of champers – in the bar and grill, where they’d been waiting for us all along.

The bar and grill itself is modern and city-slick, with a mixture of booth and table seating. Large, contemporary chandeliers make the high Victorian ceilings less onerous and moody lighting means it feels like a weekend even though it’s a light weeknight evening. It was around half-full at 1900 and a quick glance at the clientele showed it was mainly either businessmen or post-shopping couples.

Oh but how we wished we’d stayed downstairs. For a start, we had our very own overly-attentive and flamboyant waiter. Every order was taken with a wink and a joke, which, at first was endearing but after the fourth or fifth time, got a little tiresome. “That sounds like a plan!” he shouted after we’d ordered our starters, before clapping his hands (probably) and skipping off.

Ah, the starters. We are lucky enough to live near a café which serves what it claims is award-winning Welsh rarebit. It might not be, but it’s good enough for us to compare all other rarebits with it. No need, because the thing my partner ordered for his starter (£5.95) wasn’t rarebit at all. It was two small bits of French bread with cheese on top. My goat’s cheese terrine (£6), however, was delicious, with delicate apple and celery flavouring and in a good sized portion.

We swapped disappointments for the mains. He had the braised ox-cheek (£12.50) with potatoes dauphinoises, creamed spinach and, erm, roasting juices (cue a foodie-pedant rant: “How can you have roasting juices if something’s braised?”). He said it could have been more tender but it wasn’t bad.

My salmon nicoise (£10.50) again was unfortunately pretty dull. Halfway through the meal I realised I was bored of eating it and wished I had ordered something else.

For desserts, my partner’s passionfruit parfait, with chocolate sauce and coconut, (£6) was declared to be “quite nice”. The passionfruit was suitably tangy and complemented the chocolate sauce. But all hopes I had of enjoying my pudding were dashed when mine actually arrived.

When I plumped for the rhubarb sundae (£6), I fondly imagined a rhubarby sauce or something scrummy and creamy. What I actually got was a bowl full of huge bits of raw rhubarb, with some cream lobbed on top. It was excruciating.

If I wandered into the MC Café Bar & Grill on a lunchtime whim, and paid half the price, I’d walk away full but with no lasting memories. As it is, for an evening meal costing twice the price, I am in no rush to sing its praises.

MC Café Bar & Grill
ABobe Hotel
107 Piccadilly
Manchester M1 2DB
Tel: (0161) 247 7744.
www.abodehotels.co.uk/manchester