There’s a touch of the Billy Bunters about the name. Despite the lack of a second letter there’s a lip-licking, tummy-rubbing sense of enjoyment and cheerful lack of pretension. Scoff ye not as the late great Frankie Howard was wont to say: the mood may be chill but the food served in the heritage Manc setting is anything but casual.
It’s a large, uncluttered corner of a Grade II listed former Co-op building that combines exposed industrial brick, Victorian tiles and polished wooden floors with Japanese zen aesthetics and large windows to capture the surprisingly bright northern light. The urban area around is gradually being revived but there’s still little footfall around here, despite the proximity to Victoria Station, which enhances the sense of discovery when you arrive at the modestly signed entrance. Tom Barnes’s first standalone venture after working with Simon Rogan at L’Enclume brought an intense buzz of interest to the city when it opened in 2024 and has been booked out practically ever since. 
Robert Owen, social reformer whose statue stands nearby, may raise his stone eyebrows at the pricing but Mancunians clearly are prepared to fork out for quality scran as much as they are for football and concert tickets. The format is tasting menus: a relatively short lunch one and two longer ones that can be taken either then or in the evening. Either way, prepare for a long haul: they are not to be rushed or consumed without due respect and consideration. Your digestion will thank you for it, and be grateful for such comfortable seating either on leather banquettes or beautifully shaped curved wooden chairs.
'Barnes has picked and trained a good team'
The open kitchen occupies a large corner and the first impressions are of a hive of happy busy bees intent on prepping the ambrosial mouthfuls to come. Appropriate perhaps in a city that has the bee as its civic symbol. Along one side are stools where diners are invited to cast off from the safety of their tables and sit for a while with a ringside view of the kitchen action and a chance to have a quick chat with the chef. What is noticeable and impressive is the quickfire harmony and impeccable choreography both front of house and behind the pass. The former are impeccably drilled and informed, show sensitivity to the needs of the diner and have an easy, infectious enthusiasm. Barnes has picked and trained a good team.
The takeaway impression of his cooking is one of delicacy: this does not mean any lack of intensity or faint flavour, rather the confidence to explore textures and tastes with a light touch. And perhaps from his formative years in Cumbria (Barnes was born in Barrow) and L’Enclume immersion, he brings a ‘nostalgie’ for the fields and flowers and aromas of the region, mixed with the now mandatory East Asian references.
His food is complex and intelligent, indulgent but restrained. Lightly set miso custard with hen of the woods mushroom, truffle and mushroom dashi had superb contrasts - creamy, crunchy, earthy, tangy but although the tonal fungi variations were intriguing, in the end it was overwhelmed by its own vivid qualities. The fine piece of roast Sladesdown duck breast with a blob of silky split yellow pea puree and tart coriander and caper dressing verging on the tongue-curling was served with a loaf glazed with Manchester honey and stuffed with leg meat - alas, the stuffing was dry and peppery. Nice idea but didn’t come off.
The starters, canapés - call them what you will - arrive in rapid succession but the down-in-one mouthfuls were stellar: Dexter beef bavette with black pepper and Delice pumpkin; Spenwood cheese biscuit, jerusalem artichoke, whipped roe, shiso; cured mackerel in horseradish, potato flatbread, fermented gooseberries and dill. All faultless.
A mid-course of steamed West coast cod with whey, Roscoff onion, smoked eel and buttermilk seduced with pristine, alabaster presence. Line caught, of course. The buttermilk and yoghurt sauce was sharp and tangy enough to counter the smoothness of the cod, slippery pieces of eel and the tangles of onion hidden at the bottom of the bowl. If being super-critical (which I am!), I felt the cod was a bit overwhelmed by the other ingredients, its purity became masked - but it was still a lovely dish.
'You want to hug him'
Among the desserts the prettiest was apple poached in cranberry, woodruff cream, rose geranium and almond, as fragile as Minton porcelain, a Jane Austen of a dish. But pride of place goes to the now legendary and super-delicious Barney’ tiramisu, Tom Barnes’s homage to his father’s recipe. He serves it at the table himself, scooping portions from the family-sized dish and telling the story to the table. You want to hug him.
Though not before finishing the elderberry shrub, the last of the non-alcoholic drinks flight that is bound to be copied throughout the land. A genius idea from the non-wine-drinking Barnes, he has created a sequence of fruit and vegetable based drinks to match each course. A beetroot, blackcurrant, lapsang souchong and cocoa nibs glass was an extraordinary replica of a powerful red wine to match the duck; fermented gooseberry, tarragon and hops gave a sherbet and yeasty dimension to the potato.
There is a conventional wine flight as well, of course, culled from a smart list, but you may wish to splash out and savour a fabulous Puligny-Montrachet instead.
