Situated overlooking both The Lowry Theatre and The Manchester Canal, this airy and tastefully decorated cafe and restaurant offers French themed dishes in a very relaxed atmosphere. Without any distracting muzak playing in the background, the cafe allows guests to make their own conversation and the tables are set at a respectable distance apart. The dining area is very clean, and the toilets exceptionally clean with separate hot and cold water taps (with very hot water) and liquid soap dispensers. The only thing which would make this even better would be to have towels rather than those awful hot air hand-dryers.
Waitress service is guaranteed, and our waitress this early evening was respectful, polite and responded to our concerns with professionalism. Attentive but not gushing. In fact, almost perfect.
My companion and I chose to have a starter and a main forgoing dessert - since the menu seemed only to cater for dessert when ordering a set menu and we couldn't find any mention of desserts a la carte.
The food was a mixture of the sublime and the very poor. I had a crab and avocado Tian which was truly delicious, and my companion king prawns which again were cooked perfectly. We both opted for the same main course, choosing duck with orange sauce. The duck was slow-cooked and fell off the bone. It was beautifully cooked. Sadly the same could not be said for the dauphinoise potatoes and the green beans which were served with it. The beans were cooked, but only just, not even 'al dente', and the potatoes were almost raw and inedible! Sadly the main course was also served on a cold plate, which seems to be very much the way these days. Whatever happened to heating the plates before serving?
The wine was by the glass and so we had a Merlot and a Pinot Grigio which went down very well with our meal choises; and coffee and tea to finish. The tea was English Breakfast, and there was enough hot water to make a second cup, whilst the coffee was strong it was plentiful and again very hot.
All in all, not a bad experience, and the prices here are very affordable, and not going to rip a hole in your wallet; just a shame that the vegetables were not cooked properly. Definitely worth giving the Cafe Rouge a second try though.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 28/8/19
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