The Alan

Raved about by acclaimed food critics and city-dwellers alike, a trip to The Alan is always a treat. But the last few months have seen some major changes – can the new head chef and his (almost) all-new menu, live up to its reputation?

New Executive Head Chef, James Hulme’s priorities are taste, texture and taste again

First tip: get a seat at the chef’s table. Here, you can watch the expert craftmanship at work, under the watchful eye of the new executive head chef, James Hulme. Happily, his new dishes continue the sky-high quality, while adding fresh ideas that suit the beautiful restaurant space, hand in glove.

From the small plates, only the cauliflower tikka remains from the previous menu – and it’s a wise choice. The hearty vegetable is cooked beautifully, all crispy charred edges and soft, hot tumeric-yellow flesh, scattered with bright red pomegranate seeds. It’s an Alan classic, tweaked slightly by James.

But his new dishes are where things get interesting. The aged beef tartare is something special, and very unlike the traditional tartare you’ll be used to. The tiny cubes of beef are bright and fresh, elevated by the texturally-pleasing crunchy beef fat croutons.

Then there’s cured egg yolk shaved across the lot, finished off with little white blobs that turn out – surprisingly – to be whipped bone marrow. It’s an inventive dish that puts the onus on flavour, and a strong sign of Hulme’s priorities: taste, texture and taste again.

Arguably the prettiest dish on the menu is the cured chalk stream trout. It’s an artistic display, combining blood orange, wafer-thin slices of radish and dainty pebbles of trout steeped in Pomona Island stout. If you’re looking for Manchester’s definitive springtime dish, here it is.

Less pretty, more awe-inspiring, is the 800g retired dairy cow from the large cuts section. As the name suggests, this is meat sourced from dairy cows put out to pasture and given a few years of relaxed, happy living, away from the stress and trauma of being milked every day. The meat is more mature, meaning a richer, darker and more appealing flavour, plus, if we’re going to eat meat, let’s at least try to do it as ethically as possible.

The gravy that the cuts of meat rest on is astonishingly good, and the ultimate dipping sauce for the now-legendary confit potatoes (also made with beef fat). Everyone in Manchester should try these hefty cuboid wedges at least once – they’re a salty, golden, stackable delight.

Then there are the sweet-but-umami-heavy young carrots, cooked in their own juices with sunflower seeds and miso. This is the beauty of the menu at The Alan, it might sound deceptively simple, but each dish showcases decades of cooking know-how, teasing out new flavours from traditional ingredients.

Of course, the desserts are expertly put together too. The choux bun is an intricate creation, all lattice pastry layers, with cherry and pistachio flavours, and a surefire treat for the eye. The salted caramel tart is lighter and less flashy but possibly even more impressive, bolstered by a lighter-than-air blob of chantilly cream.

It’s impossible not to be impressed by The Alan. Much more than simply a restaurant attached to a hotel, this is a destination venue that does everything right. Hulme’s new menu delivers on every level, and it’s clear this confidence has spread throughout the team, with both his fellow kitchen workers and front-of-house staff (led by the irrepressible Jan) treating diners to a delightful and truly engaging experience.