I visited Michael Caines at the Abode Manchester over a year ago and had a satisfying, if not mildly underwhelming, dinner. Michael Caines at the Abode in Chester is the latest clone from this fledgling and ever expanding empire.
On first impressions this new MC restaurant was in my opinion more impressive than the one in Manchester. It is located on the 5th floor with great views overlooking Chester racecourse and a modern and fresh, if not indistinct, interior.
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| Bar |
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| Interior |
The a la carte menu at first glance struck me as slightly disappointing, with only five options for starters and main courses. Also, the way the menu is written in that wearisome fashion with a fully descriptive style that borders on essay writing (see picture descriptions). However there was a ‘Grazing menu’ with ten or so dishes available. These are smaller dishes (priced between £5-10), some of them from the a la carte menu and you have to order a minimum of three per person but fortunately we were told that we could mix and match between the two. In the end we mainly went for the several grazing dishes in order to try a variety of dishes.
The pictures depict the separate dishes but due to the dim light in the dining area I apologise for the poor quality of the photographs. I had four of the grazing dishes myself and whilst the presentation of each dish throughout the meal was not the most exploratory, they were certainly pretty. Tomato risotto was luscious and rich and was probably my favourite of the evening. The addition of sweet lemon to the soft, herby cured salmon was wonderful, however the seafood mayonnaise was lost. Mackerel was perfectly cooked but slightly over seasoned whilst the linguine delicate and carried the flavour of olive well. Lamb was delectably tender, a fantastic piece of meat. If my last ever meal could contain a juicy piece of meat of that calibre, I’d die a happy man. It’s accompanying fondant potato was moist (normally I find fondant potatoes too dry and tend not to enjoy them) and the aubergine with lamb shoulder carried each other sufficiently, but again was slightly over seasoned. The bread service was great, with three types of hot fresh rolls available. I ended up eating two of each. Cocktails were very good and a relative bargain at eight pounds each.
Other dishes of quail tartlet, sea bream and spinach tortellini were enjoyed by the rest of the family, however I did not try them so can’t comment.
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| Tomato & parmesan risotto |
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| Quail tartlet, poched quail's eggs, confit onions, wild mushrooms |
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| Tortellini of spinach & parmesan, pea puree, braised celery, girolles a la greque & mint foam |
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| Pan fried sea bream, tomato, romanesco, baby leek, anchovy chilli butter |
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| Citrus cured salmon, sweet lemon, avocado puree, shellfish mayo, crisp ginger |
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| Neil Frost's herb crusted lamb rack, crisp lamb's shoulder, herb puree, caramelised aubergines, cumin sauce |
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| South coast mackerel, sautéed squid, confit heritage tomatoes, kalamata olive, tapenade linguine |
My dessert of rich vanilla mousse with peaches and raspberries was decent enough but was far from memorable and the champagne foam was hugely redundant. I had a taste of the banana soufflé, which was much better, especially with the toffee bananas at the bottom. Petite fours arrived with the coffee and consisted of an unmemorable small biscuit with some form of fruit cream in the centre, heavy, thick and altogether forgettable madeleines and sharp but sweet macerated cherries.
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| Vanilla mousse, Muscat poached peach, fresh raspberries and champagne foam |
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| Petit fours |
All together I certainly enjoyed this meal at Michael Caines, being much more impressed than the offering at Manchester. Dishes were mildly inventive without being groundbreaking and the cooking, despite a few blemishes, was accomplished without ever wowing. In terms of fine dining in the Northwest, I’d say this is one of the better options.
Price: £200 for a meal for 4 with drinks and service
What to do before/after: With the Abode hotel overlooking the Chester racecourse, this could be a great way to start with a day at the races before you round it off with dinner here.
Website: Click here
Location: Grosvenor Rd Chester, Cheshire West and Chester, CH1 2DJ
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