GASTRONOMY REVIEW: The Brodsky Restaurant - RNCM, Manchester.

I have lost count of the number of times I have visited the RNCM on Oxford Road in Manchester, and the countless concerts, shows and recitals that I have had the pleasure of seeing there. This evening however was the first time I had ever ventured into pre-concert dining at the venue's on-site restaurant, The Brodsky.

The restaurant is spotless, and the tables set correctly with ample space between, feeling airy and not crowded as many restaurants do. It's light and bright, which is also a very good sign. Restaurants which use 'mood lighting' or are permanently dim always to me seem to be saying, "Don't look too closely, we have something to hide!". Not here!  Served at the table, the staff are friendly, helpful, polite and obliging, without being too obvious or fussy. So far so good.

There are a good and varied choice of both starters and main dishes, and after sampling a smoked haddock and salmon fishcake for my starter - delicious and perfectly cooked - I was ready for my main. This was a braised rump of lamb - cooked beautifully and tender, and extremely lean and tasty. The lamb was served with a melange of root vegetables, a red wine and rosemary jus, and mint sauce. The plebian in me needed an extra portion of chips in order not to waste any of the delicious "gravy", and the chips were piping hot and chunky with no visible surface fat. In other words, the first two courses (washed down with a glass of Merlot) were 'ausgezeichnet!'

Unfortunately, where I was very disappointed was in the choice of dessert. The restaurant has a choice of only 3 desserts [waffles and ice-cream, churros and ice-cream, or ice-cream!] What had started as a wonderful experience, ended badly. I declined a dessert and left. To say that the menu here was minimalist in the extreme is not really an exaggeration.  The quality of the food and service as well as the layout of the restaurant impressed me greatly, and so, I found it very hard to understand why something as fundemental as the dessert menu had been so neglected and overlooked.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 1/2/20