The Victorian Age RevisitedManchester as the Gateway to EnglandBy Janice Rossen
If you like sight-seeing, the cathedral itself is a tranquil and lovely building, with wooden carvings of angels hovering above the choir. You can often hear sung Evensong services at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (check the schedule at the front door; Sunday evening times are different). Another truly Victorian experience can be had by entering the portals of the John Rylands Library, which now belongs to the University of Manchester, and which was built in the 1890s. It is a library that looks like a gothic church, even including stained-glass windows of Learned Worthies such as Erasmus, St. Augustine, Wordsworth and Samuel Johnson. A short tram ride from central Manchester will take you to the newly opened Imperial War Museum, just outside of town (the tourist information office by the town hall has excellent directions for reaching all of these places). If there is anything that appeals to you at the Royal Exchange (theatre) or at Bridgewater Hall (state of the art concert hall), you are really in luck. I was able to hear a concert of the Tallis Scholars, on my last visit, and I have spent many enchanting evenings there, hearing everything from Gilbert & Sullivan evenings to Alfred Brendel playing the piano. Most of the fun in Manchester lies in just hanging out. I took my friend Thys, who was visiting from Johannesburg (he is very sophisticated!), to the bar at The Restaurant Bar & Grill, which is of a positively New Yorky black, pared-down and violet-neon-light ambiance, for drinks, and he felt at home immediately. I have also had some great meals at Croma, a snappy little Italian spot that does the improbable dish of a pizza with chicken Caesar salad on top. You can also have a very Italian and modish meal at the newly opened Piccolino restaurant, where Bill and Elaine and I spent one delightful evening eating sumptuous pizzas and drinking Pinot Grigio.
As I began by saying, Manchester is a terrific point of arrive in the U.K. After you have strolled around the city and partaken of its delights, you will find that you have an easy journey to your next destination. If you would like a very country holiday, you can get on a train at the newly refurbished Manchester Piccadilly Rail Station and be in Windermere, the Lake District, in less than two hours. I recently took a train to Windermere, then a bus to Grasmere and stayed for a long weekend at the Wordsworth Hotel, sitting in front of roaring wood fires and dining on four-course suppers, walking on the hills during the day-times.
If you are in the mood for Italian cuisine, you cannot do better than lunch or dinner at Diverso. Diverso is one of those modish Italian restaurants that you thought must exist in a major city, but are sometimes difficult to find. This has the excellent location of being on Piccadilly, about two blocks away from Green Park tube station, and the cheerful and welcoming aspect of a Mediterranean spot. The waiter brings a bowl of freshly-cut tomatoes with basil to your table as soon as you sit down, accompanied by tapenade and fresh bread--and the food is terrific. Endearing itself to me forever, when I ordered an espresso at the end of my lunch, they brought an entire huge bowl of biscotti and left it on the table (naturally, I ate six). That is true hospitality. When I took Thys and Pami there for dinner ("you must try this restaurant!"), Thys ordered the ravioli, and Pami had the gnocchi with salmon, and like the excellent friends they were, all dishes were shared, to universal contentment. Dinner ended with not only the reappearance of the biscotti, but with the addition of a huge copper pan of fresh strawberries and a bowl of sugar for dipping.
by Janice Rossen, with a little help from Roger at The Victorian Chophouse Company Further information:The Famous Sam's Chop House can be found at Back Pool Fold, off Cross Street, Mancs. M2 1HN, tel. (0161) 834-3210, web-site: http://ww.samschophouse.com. Mr Thomas' Chop House, Victorian Bar Restaurant and Coffee Shop is at 52 Cross Street, tel. (0161) 832-2245. LA Fitness is at 55 King Street, tel. (0161) 831-0200, web-site http://www.lafitness.co.uk. It is actually a 'members only' club, but if you ask for Wendy, the manager, she has declared herself delighted to have travellady readers visit, and you can buy a pass for the afternoon at a nominal fee. The same is true for Livingwell Health Club, on Quay Street, tel. (0161) 832-3227, web-site http:// www.livingwell.com. The John Rylands Library is at 150 Deansgate, tel. (0161) 834-5343, and admission is free. The Manchester Visitor Center can be found at: www.manchester.gov.uk/visitorcentre. Other helpful websites are http://www.visitmanchester.org.uk.destinationmanchester and http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk The Restaurant Bar & Grill is at 14 John Dalton Street, tel. (0161) 839-1999 Piccolino can be found at 8 Clarence Street, tel. (0161) 835-9860 Croma is at 1-3 Clarence Street, tel. (0161) 237-9799. The Yang Sing Restaurant can be found at 34 Princess Street, tel. (0161)236-5934, web-site: http://www.yang-sing.co.uk 39 Steps Restaurant is at 39 South King Street, tel. (0161) 834-9155, web-site: http://www.39stepsrest.co.uk. You might want to book a table ahead at weekends, as they are often busy. The Ibis Hotel on Portland Place is a good and central location in Manchester, and can be found at 96 Portland Street, tel. (0161) 234-0600. The Wordsworth Hotel in Grasmere sits in the middle of the village, tel. (015394) 35592, web-site http://www.wordsworth.bestloved.com Cork and Bottle Wine Bar is at 44-46 Cranbourn Street on Leicester Square, tel. (0207) 734-7807, web-site: http:// www.donhewitsonlondonwinebars.com. If you want to have dinner there, it is best to book ahead, as everyone loves this spot; but you can also just pop in for a glass of wine and mingle with The Locals Diverso is at 85 Piccadilly, Mayfair, tel. (0207) 491-2222. The Crusting Pipe Wine Bar and Restaurant is at 27 The Market, Covent Garden, tel. (0207) 836-1415; since this is a very popular spot, especially in summer, it is wise to book ahead. Their web-site is: http:// www.davy.co.uk Mon Plaisir is at 21 Monmouth Street, tel. (0207) 836-7243, web-site http://www.monplaisir.co.uk The London Graphic Centre can be found at 16-18 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, teol. (0207) 759-4500, web-site http:// www.londongraphics.co.uk. Alistair Bag, 20 Earlham Street, (0207) 240-3032, and you will see these works of art beckoning to you through the shop window. |
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If you like watching Dickens novels produced on 'Masterpiece Theatre,' and feel a natural inclination towards the Victorian Age, Manchester is the spot to start a vacation in the U.K. It looks, it feels nineteenth-century, except that everyone wears t-shirts and leather jackets instead of hoop skirts and cravats. The building facades are quaint and old-fashioned, there is a beautiful cathedral to stroll about in, the people are incredibly friendly, and you can have some fantastic meals. It is a big city on a small scale, and a perfect place to struggle out of jet-lag and bounce into a holiday mood.
I always head directly for Sam's Chop House, which is open for lunch and dinner every day except Sunday, and is right in the center of town. This will put you in a Victorian setting immediately, as the bar is gleaming brass, the light fixtures are exquisitely anachronistic, and the restaurant (just beyond the bar proper) looks like a set for a period film, with black and white tile floor and wooden tables. The menu offers hearty sort of English-y fare, with things like fish and chips, and game pate, and a slow-roasted chop with crispy onions and mustard and horseradish yummy gravy to pour all over it. Whatever you decide upon, however, you must designate one person at your table to order the corned beef hash, as nothing on earth tastes so good, and forks will be poised to dive in, followed by moans of contentment. Rob, the chef, is inventive and excitable. He knows where all of his ingredients come from, starting with the hand-dived scallops from Scotland and going on to the game (some of which he has shot, himself), and the menu is filled with enticing designations such as "a Most Excellent Game Pie" or a "ferociously roasted chicken" garnished with "unruly thyme." But the best thing about Sam's is that they will look after you there.
The best antidote to jet-lag (sorry, I am still on this theme, as it is such a vivid experience) is to rush out for a swim and then stretch out in the sauna, in the late afternoon, when you feel your eyes cannot keep open a minute longer. This was Steve's suggestion (of Sam's Chop House fame), a few weeks ago on the afternoon of my arrival in England, and I found it stunningly restorative. You can go straight across the street to LA Fitness, which has a very snappy gym, a pool, steam room and sauna, and you will be fully awake. I have also had many great work-outs at Livingwell Health Club, where there is a very large pool (with a Victorian sea-side mural on the wall) and three saunas. This will set you up for the evening.
Another fun thing to do in Manchester is to go shopping, especially if you have had the good luck to arrive there during July (summer sales) or January (winter sales). Kendal's, the huge department store on Deansgate, is overwhelming in variety, and there are wonderful specialty shops such as the Pen Shop (fountain pen aficionados should beware before entering) and Mulberry (fabulous luggage and leather bags). There is a Neal's Yard shop on John Dalton Street, with all kinds of aromatherapy oils. A Victorian building called the 'Triangle' has Muji, a very trendy sort of oriental, scaled-down style of clothing and dishes and so on. Caffe Nero is absolutely the best espresso you could find anywhere, and there is one café in the Triangle (overlooking the cathedral) and another on Deansgate, and yet another just across from the Town Hall, which is a most magnificent building. Each of these spots has its own character, and the coffee remains superb at all of them.
The big-city aspect of Manchester can also be seen in the fact that it has a Chinatown, as the banners flying to announce the Yang Sing Restaurant on the face of a quintessentially Victorian building announce. This restaurant is famous throughout the UK, and justly so. It is worth planning a Sunday noon-time into any visit, as the Dim Sum luncheon, which starts at the Yang Sing around noon and continues to a full house for the rest of the day, is always a highlight. Raymond is the brilliant orchestrator of this whole, complex saga, which is like watching a ballet of waiters rushing from the kitchen through the sea of tables. It is a perfect Sunday afternoon meal. You can order a series of little bits of things--strange and wonderful dumplings with seafood or pork, barbequed spare ribs, fried shrimp with red bell peppers, and whatever else takes your fancy. And so on and on, nibbling food and sipping tea until you feel like strolling around the city.
If you like an old-fashioned ambiance, the absolute pinnacle is Mr Thomas' Chop House, on Cross Street, and which has been pronounced (truthfully) by an admiring journalist as a 'Victorian Fantasy.' There are wonderful porcelain tiles on the walls, Guinness on tap, and the food (again, very English) is fabulous. In the summer time, you can sit outside on the square, dining on fish and chips or goat cheese and roasted bell peppers. Like any European city, Manchester is built for pedestrians, which means that you can sit for awhile over a pint of beer, or an espresso, or a pot of Chinese tea, before setting off on the next adventure of the day. It is an excellent spot for relaxing in, partly because it is more of a working city than a Tourist Destination, per se--which means that, although there are some interesting things to see and some fabulous restaurants, you can sit and observe what is going on around you.
But do not leave Manchester without going to the 39 Steps, or you will be missing something truly spectacular. It is a small restaurant, down a short flight of stairs, and you will see Eugene rushing about in the kitchen at the back of the room. He has been thinking with fierce concentration about whatever he is going to serve that day, and he is the sort of chef who has personally been to the market and chosen his own essential ingredients. Fresh herbs are his passion--well, in addition to fresh everything that goes onto a plate. It is an absolute favorite restaurant of my friend Jan, who is a fantastic cook himself, and we have admired Eugene's skill on many occasions. Once Jan and I had a delicately broiled goat cheese with tiny strips of candied orange peel and garnished with berries and plums. The next time we ordered this dish, a couple of weeks later, the plums had given way to raspberries--it all depends on what calls out to him. The restaurant describes its cuisine as 'French and Italian,' which is a good short-hand phrase--but whatever you order will have lots of brilliant taste, and will be presented with amazing garnishes. Eugene served us a plate of grilled sardines, the other evening, followed by a specially concocted crab dish set on top of mushrooms and flavoured intensely with parmesan (I know this sounds improbable, but we could barely eat it, for commenting on its deliciousness). He uses fresh lime juice to spark fish dishes; and his lamb shank (as a main course) made us weep, it was so rich and gorgeous. Eugene is a chef with a passion for cooking, and this is clear in everything that he does.
Or you might take a direct train south from Manchester to London, and arrive in about two and a half hours. (Note: you might want to travel in the middle of the day, as train fares vary a great deal according to time.) I must here put in a word for a few favorite spots in London. If you like Wine Bars, the Cork and Bottle Wine Bar, in Leicester Square absolutely hits the spot--their ham and cheese pie in particular is a worthy specialty. A particularly enthusiastic afternoon of champagne corks popping, among several friends, made this an instant favorite restaurant for me. Then there is The Crusting Pipe, in the Covent Garden Market--the plate of ham which adorns this paragraph will give you an idea of what Plain English Fare looks like, and it is yummy. You can also hear live performers singing or playing in string quartets all afternoon. We had everything from operatic arias to Pachelbel's canon in the course of a long and joyous luncheon. As my friend Pami points out (and it is she who introduced me to this restaurant) wine bars specialize in wine, and you can both dine and drink very well there.
My favorite London meal on this trip was at Mon Plaisir, a restaurant so quintessentially French that it seemed to exist in a time warp from the 1950s. Vintage travel and museum posters line the walls, and the menu boasts fresh oysters served with red wine vinegar and shallots, terrines and pates, and a Normandy fish stew that arrived at the table in its own iron cooking pot, with at least a dozen different kinds of seafood wafting their fragrance into the air. The French bread itself is a Proustian experience, upon first bite. If you are in the mood for shopping, it is a wonderful neighbourhood for browsing. Just around the corner from Mon Plaisir you can find the most fabulous handbags, made out of richly textured cloth and old carpets, at Alistair's carpet shop on Earlham. Also close by is the London Graphic Centre--say, rather, the Flagship Store, which offers the most enormous and also selective assortment of calligraphy equipment, art supplies of all kinds, and exquisite writing notebooks. If you love writing or drawing, enter at your peril! Pami is devoted to their fountain pens in colours ranging from purple to red to hot pink to green, which made stellar debuts at many points in the trip.
The north of England has its own style, and Manchester in particular has an eccentric quality of big-city, urban hip-ness and also relaxed friendliness. It makes a great place to jump into Europe, with a small airport and vastly reduced stress levels accordingly. For the same reason - and also, in order to dine at Sam's and at 39 Steps one last time - I always fly home from there as well. Am I plotting a return? Of course.