Stow

A meal at Stow starts and ends in flames. From coal-wrapped beets to fire-cooked monkfish and a tart that tears were (genuinely) shed over. Stow is the brainchild of Matt Nellany and Jamie Pickles, owners of Trof, and simplicity is at the heart of their operation. Everything is cooked over fire. Not an oven, nor hob, and certainly not a microwave, in sight.

The restaurant is a thoughtful reflection of the food. Nothing bright, themed, or gimmicky but playful work with light and dark, and shape and texture. And lots and lots of open-flame candles.

First, peppers and beets. The beetroot, especially, is a scene-stealer. Every night, when the embers are dying down and the kitchen is closing up, the beets are wrapped in foil and ever-so-slowly cooked over the residual heat. Then, when service reopens, they’re laid over ricotta with a glorious smoky, honey finish.

Stow’s menu emphasises two elements: seasonality and local produce. The fennel sausage comes from the centre of that Venn diagram. It’s accompanied by a healthy flourish of crème fraiche and salsa rossa, submerged in warming spices, and like a lot of Stow’s meat produce, sourced from Littlewood’s butchers.

The menu is all small plates, divvied up by categories. From Proteins, the whole monkfish tail is a proper hearty portion and doesn’t stay on the table long. This is distractingly good meaty seafood with a deeply satisfying texture, blitzed with trout roe, beurre blanc and dill. I wasn’t brave enough to lick the plate, but I came embarrassingly close.

To finish, get the tart. That’s an order. You’ll be thinking about it after you leave. And the next day. And the next month. Until the day you find yourself making another reservation. It’s sweet, it’s smoky – almost a maple-bacon-ness about it, and accompanied with a seared plum and rum sauce.

Matt tells us about an industry friend who, upon trying the tart, genuinely shed a tear. No evidence required, save the tart itself. The proof really is in the pudding.

The staff have that kind of likeability that’s untrainable – there are no induction courses on authenticity. They’re knowledgeable about their wine pairings too – put your full faith in them and reap the rewards.

Stow is stripped back and minimalist in its methods – but never in its results. It’s a restaurant with genuinely filling portions, filled with genuine people and one of the most exciting new restaurants in Manchester all year. It’s also very hard not to make a pun about it being a real smoke-show. Go for the atmosphere, go for the starters, go for the proteins, but most importantly, go for the tart.