The French Restaurant, The Midland Hotel: Restaurant Review

The Midland Hotel is a Manchester institution. If by some unhappy chance you have never heard of the place, or know very little, let me introduce you. Part of the QHotel group, this spectacular Grade II listed building more than makes its mark amongst the finery of Manchester’s most splendid architecture, including the magnificent Manchester Central Library and imposing Bridgewater Hall. With a great location at the heart of the city, The Midland’s glorious past played host to wealthy merchants and captains of the cotton industry, who used the glamorous hotel as a centre for business and pleasure. Today’s clientele are not so far removed, with the hotel and all it has to offer welcoming politicians, dignitaries and the rich and famous in droves.

Quite a grand introduction. I wouldn’t usually gush, but the place has to be seen to be believed, and truly deserves such platitudes. The Midland certainly provides a sense of occasion, and I have to admit that as a first timer at the venue, I was pretty petrified. The towering entrance to the hotel enveloped me immediately, but rather than feeling overwhelmed, the welcoming hustle and bustle at reception and the intimate gatherings taking place in the nearby Octagon Lounge provided a warm and inviting feeling that I hadn’t expected.

My happy task, amidst all this grandeur and imminent sense of occasion, was to review The French restaurant, proud owner of two AA rosettes and recent winner of Life Magazines’ City Restaurant of the Year 2009/10. The restaurant regularly hosts champagne evenings of considerable popularity, and such was the case in the Ruinart hosted event I attended. The wealthy and important people of the North West and me started our evening in a stately reception room, enjoying delicious deep-fried brie canapés with a wonderfully refreshing Ruinart Brut NV, before making our way into the elegant and refined space that is The French.

If you have never experienced the restaurant before, it takes a while to become fully intimate with your surroundings on account of the finery on display. It does not take long to feel comfortable however. All my initial worries of being out of place were soothed away by the impeccable service provided by the staff. Warm, personal but never intrusive, all the guests were diligently watched over and gently attended to. The passion that seeps out of the staff is tangible, and their love for the hotel and restaurant is evident in everything from the smooth service to the ambience they help create. Lead by the delightful Anibal Cabral, only the second Maître’d at The Midland in over thirty years, it is not hard to see how The French’s service hits just the right tasting note.

And speaking of tasting notes, having digressed considerably, I finally get down to the job in hand. The French unsurprisingly serves up French food, but with just a hint of all things home grown. On the six course menu presented to our party, a succulent and rich fillet of beef from Cumbria was paired beautifully with a tangy yet smooth artichoke baragoul, and a fantastic spiced and poached pear with a magnificent fruit cake ice cream was there to excite the thoroughly British palate of the room.

The menu was very enjoyable, but it was the finishing touch on each dish that made it that little more special. An incredibly moreish braised oxtail topped our delectable steak, fantastically wholesome pistachio bread cleverly added to the sweet flavours of the cured venison carpaccio and sugared walnuts foiled the dense and creamy texture of the goat’s cheese and Waldorf salad. All clever additions which made the meal all the more pleasurable, enhanced even further by the carefully paired champagnes. As the oldest champagne house in the world, Ruinart were bound to have some gems up their sleeve, and did not disappoint with a fantastic Ruinart Blanc De Blancs accompanying the delicately flavoured Cornish lemon sole, and a Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot with its juicy and subtle flavours marrying perfectly with the beef.

With both Ruinart and The French catering for the top end of the market, the two worked perfectly together in providing a luxurious fine dining experience, the success of the evening highlighting how the top end of the market are still buying, and why establishments like The Midland are very much in demand. Head chef Paul Beckley is doing a great job at The French, and with such customers still patronising the restaurant should continue to do so, particularly if partnerships with discerning brands such as Ruinart continue.

As the place to see and be seen, the Midland quite rightly occupies a unique and exciting place in the North West food and drink scene, but what impressed me most was that despite the evident success of the hotel, the staff still openly looked for feedback with a genuine desire to keep on upping the game. With new resident manager Paul Bayliss in place, I’m excited to see what The Midland will serve up next.