Butter Bird

It’s all change at Cutting Room Square in Ancoats: The Counter House has flown the coop and Butter Bird has moved on in. 

It’s not that Counter House was a disaster – we had many enjoyable visits over the years – but there was a vague Jack of all trades-ness to it. That’s not something that can be levelled at Butter Bird. 

In charge of the dining experience is Joe, who has seen all the ups, downs and turnarounds of the 21st century Manchester hospitality scene. He explains the basis of Butter Bird: “Do one thing, and do it well.”

And that they do. The thing in question is rotisserie chicken, and this is PhD-grade poultry, along the same highly-skilled lines as CT-faves Tartuffe. The in-house technique is tea-brining, using black tea and other aromatics to tenderise the meat before it goes into the dramatic-looking open-flame oven. No, it doesn’t taste like Earl Grey, you oaf. 

The result is some of the softest, most dopamine-sizzling chicken this chubby correspondent has ever eaten. The dark meat slides off the bone with the merest prod, while the breast meat is a world away from your typical British Sunday serving, exceptionally soft and tender. Sign me up to the tea-brine fan club, I’m all for it. 

Thanks to that big glass wall of fire, the skin is all crisped up. Dark and crunchy with whatever seasoning you select (the tarragon, Dijon mustard and wildflower honey butter is precisely as good as it sounds). 

The sides are no half-hearted addition, either. The fattoush salad is a great crunchy tangle of fresh, crisp Middle Eastern flavours, while the charred hispi cabbage (dressed in burnt lemon and olive oil) does a fine job cleansing the palate by cutting through the chicken fat. 

The same can be said for drinks. The menu heavily hypes Crémant, a French sparkling wine chosen specifically for how it slices through the butter and flame-cooked fats. We didn’t try this, being more focused on the smart range of spritz’s, but we trust the Butter Bird crew on this. They’re the chicken boffins, and we salute them.