Manchester Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel

Like its namesake(s), the Manchester Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel is as old-school Manchester as it gets. 19th-century industrial Manchester, to be exact. Built in 1844 by the Mersey & Irwell Navigation Company, this Grade II-listed structure started life as a lowly warehouse, quietly storing goods for over a century until Granada Plc stepped in.

Yes, that Granada. They don’t just do Corrie, they do mighty hotel refurbs too, transforming the near-derelict shell into a grand hotel in 1989. Back then, it was mainly used by the nearby television studio. Now under the Marriott umbrella, it’s welcoming for all-comers who want to experience the more refined side of the city.

Whether you’re here for a stay-over or a trip to the restaurant, it’s an impressive space, without being too in your face. All heavy timber, oak beams and huge windows that light up the spacious interior.

The V&A Restaurant and Bar takes up the ground floor, and the experienced kitchen crew are flexing their culinary muscles with a new weekend brunch menu: ‘Brunch, But Make It Northern’ running every Saturday and Sunday from midday to 5pm. For those unfamiliar with garbled Gen Z-speak, the concept is simple: regional comfort food, given a high-end flourish.

Northern-themed menus can often be ‘a bit cringe’, to quote our beloved Zoomers. Crowbar in a barm, gravy and mushy peas, drizzle a bit of Bez’s honey, and Bob’s your Northern Uncle Tommy. Not here. These are vastly more considered dishes, with a genuine knowledge of the region’s gastronomic heritage.

The savoury dishes put local sourcing above trend-chasing. The impressive rump steak comes seared with ale-infused shallots and a peppercorn emulsion, but the sausage crumpet is the clear headliner of this brunch showcase.

After spending decades as a mid-morning afterthought, these yeasty pock-marked cakes are having their moment in the sun, and this is one of Manchester’s best in show. It matches salty Cumbrian pork with the faintly-bitter hit of Garstang Blue – big slabs of both – with an excellent sweet-but-spicey sauce dribbled over the lot. It shouldn’t work as well it does, but it does. Strongly recommended.

The sweet options will fail your lipid profile tests, but send your dopamine levels through the roof. The brioche and bacon is fairly simple, but impossible to stop eating. Salty, crispy, crunchy strips of pork, plus soft, buttery bread? Never fails.

The Manchester Toast is another worthy contender – a clever reconstruction of the 19th-century Manchester Tart. Lovely layers of banana custard and coconut crumb on brioche that’ll get your Prince Albert tingling.

The Manchester Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel showcases a side of Manchester that often gets lost among the ever-present gimmick-led doggerel. This is the smart, graceful-but-friendly side, with cocky ideas that are executed beautifully. As brunches go, it’s a cut above.