Podium

Few places are as synonymous with Manchester as the Beetham Tower. It’s one of the city’s OG skyscrapers, reaching a towering 168.87 m (and yes, that 87 cm matters) into the Mancunian sky and celebrating its 20th birthday this year. 

It’s home to the Manchester Deansgate Hotel, formerly known as the Hilton, and new owner IHG has a whole bunch of renovations planned for the coming months. But that’s all by the by, the bottom line is a fancy big building needs a fancy restaurant to match, and that’s where Podium comes in. 

Award nerds will be cheered to hear it has 2 AA Rosettes, with the whole operation headed up by Executive Chef Dave Ashton, who took charge at the start of 2022. Dave’s thing is high-end British cuisine, which he honed during his time managing the kitchen at the five-star Lowry Hotel. 

The restaurant’s signature Lancashire cheese custard is an interesting one. It’s a little bit Alice in Wonderland, a little bit cheese fondue – dip the crunchy-but-soft sourdough into the onion tea, then the melted cheese, or vice versa, or one or the other. It’s your life. Either way, it’s salty, tangy and quite likely to be messy. 

As for the rest, take my advice and zig-zag through the menu for these, the highlights. 

The goat’s cheese starter is a dainty, delicious dish, going from creamy soft textures to crunchy candied walnut and flavour profile-appropriate baby beetroot. 

Mouthful-of-the-meal award goes to the excellent rump of spring lamb, paired with a scoop of the creamiest, richest, softest, butteriest mash this side of the town hall. Individually, both great, together they create tastebud fireworks rarely seen outside of a Tex Avery cartoon. For a Brucie bonus, there’s a plump cube of lamb belly – it tastes sinful because it is. 

The baked lime cheesecake is a cute meal-ending option. A Mario-style mushroom, made from citusy cheesecake, paired with pineapple salsa and a Thai green sorbet, of all things. It’s a fun way to sign off, no doubt, and the unusual elements work together surprisingly well. 

This menu delivers exactly what you’d expect from a chef with Dave Ashton’s pedigree: high-end, seasonal dishes, largely geared around produce and ideas from these Albion isles, but with a few deft twists and turns to keep things interesting.