The River Restaurant at The Lowry Hotel

Few places feel as instantly relaxing and luxurious as Salford’s five-star Lowry Hotel. And in turn, few places are as relaxing and elegant as the in-house River Restaurant, headed up by Executive Head Chef Bartosz Szynaka, who has just launched the venue’s autumn menu. 

Bartosz has had a long love affair with The River Restaurant, working there in the 2010s before leaving to flex his culinary muscles on various five-star cruise ships and then returning in 2022. His love for the restaurant shines through, and the front-of-house staff speak fondly of him. 

Even the dishes have a uniquely personal touch. The crevette imperiale prawn starter is a dish created for his Portuguese fiancée, inspired by their holidays in Spain. It consists of chunky, juicy Carabinieroprawns from the Mediterranean – charred to perfection, resting on a citrusy almond espuma, and served with bonito glass, nori dust, and sea fennel tempura.

As romantic gestures go, it’s up there with the most deliciously inventive, and puts my signature loving dish – cheesy beans on toast – in the shade, somewhat.  

The vegetarian starter, celeriac mille feuille, is equally satisfying. Thin sheets of sliced roast celeriac, in a warm soup, based around red pepper and saffron. It tastes like luxury because it is, and it’s pleasing to see as much effort go into the veggie dishes as other dishes – something that seems to be slipping in the high-end dining sphere of late. 

The icelandic cod main delivers bold ideas, executed well. The smoked chickpea purée might be a surprising match for some, but it matches well with the black cabbage. Dots of tempura crumb add some pleasing texture to a gentle, smooth dish. 

Duck fan? The dry-aged British duck main is hard to beat. It comes topped with crispy duck skin, with a twirl of shiitake mushrooms on the side, plus quince and Jerusalem artichoke. The jus deserves a special mention. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and rightly so; simply a great, sophisticated take on that time-honoured sauce – sweet but not too sweet, with a tang that creeps up your cheeks. 

But it’s the desserts that truly stand out. The vacherin arrives looking like some space-age marine creature – a sphere covered in tiny pieces of crunchy-but-chewy meringue, that slices open to reveal sorbet and sponge, flavoured with pear and almond. It all sits on the most potent, punchy blackcurrant sauce this side of the Ribena factory. 

The croustade of apple is another impressive display. Rather than a simple pastry stuffed with applesauce, it’s a deconstructed tower, with layers of buttery poached apple, astonishingly thin yet sturdy pastry, topped with a glorious semi-rigid layer of thick vanilla-flavoured cream that is impossible not to eat, arteries be damned. 

A meal at The River Restaurant rarely disappoints, and this is another impressive array of French-inspired dishes, executed with the requisite level of pomp and circumstance. It’s Bartosz’s baby, and all the better for it.