There’s a deftness and quality to the cooking at this new place in Ancoats. But you might want to sneak in a pepper grinder
The Edinburgh Castle, 17 Blossom Street, Manchester M4 5EP. Small plates £7-£9, large plates £15-£28, desserts £6-38, wines from £24
The Edinburgh Castle in Manchester’s Ancoats is a handsome lump of redbrick that has stood on its corner of Blossom Street since 1811, though not always with anyone in it. For years it was empty. Now, the upstairs dining room has parquet floors, comfortable midcentury modern tan leather chairs and a kitchen with principles. Those principles are the first thing we are told about, even before the offer of still or sparkling. The chef, our waiter says, does not use pepper, because pepper does not grow in the UK. Everything comes from as close by as possible. The lightly cheesy butter, scattered with flakes of salt, is churned in the kitchen. The hard-crusted sourdough comes from the Pollen Bakery five minutes’ walk away; the meat and veg from the farms on those hills you can see from the tops of the taller buildings roundabouts.
