Albert's Schloss

Peter Street, Manchester

Albert’s Schloss is ‘Manchester’s first Bohemian bier palace, cook haus and bakery’. The home of the Bavarian beer and the curried bratwurst, it’s an open-all-hours entertainment hub in the middle of one of the city centre’s most bustling hotspots. Serving breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, with nightly entertainment into the early hours, it’s one of the busiest and most sought-after venues.

Situated next door to Revolution du Cuba and opposite the Great Northern Warehouse, it’s in the middle of a choc-a-bloc entertainment district. I frequently walk past after a night at the theatre. By 10:00pm, the music’s blaring and the punters are spilling out onto the pavements. Unbelievably, on a Monday lunchtime, it’s just as busy, with most tables in the restaurant occupied with business folk having power lunches and friends meeting for a catch up.

For many of us Northerners, Christmas officially begins when you’re wrapped up, walking around Manchester’s gorgeous markets munching on a German sausage slathered in tomato and mustard. Well, Albert’s Schloss is the home of the bratwurst.

The menus change across the day. On the ‘Luncheon Service’, alongside the ‘Wurst & Wiener’, where you can choose your sausage, your toppings and your sides, are a selection of sandwiches, burgers, kebabs and traditional German dishes including Schnitzel, Bavarian pasta and pork knuckle.

Keeping it light yet traditional, I had the Classic Reuben sandwich, a meat and cheese feast which actually originated in the United States but is thought to have been invented by a German Jewish delicatessen owner, although its exact roots remain unclear. It consists of pastrami, pickles, sauerkraut (shredded, fermented raw cabbage), Emmental cheese and Russian dressing on grilled rye bread. It’s flavoursome and, as part of a £10 deal which entitles you to any sandwich, burger or pizza with a choice of salad or fries for ‘ten English pounds’, as the menu states, the price is just as tasty. It makes for an enjoyable lunchtime snack, although without the dressing for dipping it would have been a little dry. The fries were deliciously seasoned, though.

Classic Reuben Sandwich

The rest of the menu is reasonable enough. The sausages are all £13 and variations include pork, beef and mustard; chicken, tarragon and salsa verde mayo; and lamb, pork, cumin and curried ketchup. Given the size of them, it’s really not bad at all. They seem the post popular choice when I tried to casually nosey at the diners around us.

The sandwiches and fries are enough for lunchtime, but when presented with a dessert menu it’s almost impossible to resist. There’s all the standard fayre, including sticky toffee pudding and apple and blackberry strudel, which would have been my top choices, had I not caught a glimpse of the bakery.

The breakfast menu features an array of pastry based treats, including cronuts, a cross between a croissant and a doughnut. Think the pastry of a croissant containing the filling of a doughnut. They’re probably a little too sweet for first thing of a morning, but when in Rome, as they say, you have to try their specialities, so I decided to have one for pudding.  

We all love a cake and patisserie display. Window shopping is big business when it comes to selling cakes. Whilst we can appreciate that, the cronuts were all out on show without cover, which is unhygienic, especially when they’re placed near the bar, where all the staff are working. Not to mention the hundreds of sweet-toothed customers like me too-ing and fro-ing, drooling all over them, though I hope not literally. They should at least be under a Perspex dome.

I had a key lime pie cronut: sugar crusted pastry topped with zingy lime curd and refreshing cream, sprinkled with the zest of a lime. The lime complemented the sweet pastry deliciously, ensuring that it wasn’t overly sweet. Slightly disappointing, however, was the fact that, inside, it was plain pastry. I think it was in need of some filling in the middle, even if it was just a little splodge.

Key Lime Pie Cronut

I was impressed with the service. Considering it was so busy, our sandwiches arrived quickly, so if you work in the city centre you could pop in with colleagues on your lunch hour.

It was perfectly acceptable, but I wouldn’t rave about it. Perhaps it’s more about the entertainment when the joint comes to life at night.

All menus can be viewed online at: https://www.albertsschloss.co.uk/

Quote of the Week - Week commencing Monday 26 November 2018

"The key to my heart looks a whole lot like a plate of pasta."

Anon

Afternoon Tea at Bartisserie 2

2 Market Place, Ramsbottom, Bury, BL0 9HT

We all know how I’m partial to a decadent Afternoon Tea. My latest indulgence came courtesy of Bartisserie², a restaurant, bar and patisserie in the heart of the idyllic countrified village of Ramsbottom, which is now a foodie heaven.

Located opposite the landmark earn, Bartisserie² serves meals across the day using the finest and freshest local ingredients. It’s local, Northern fine dining at its best.

Chef and founder Ethan Ballan, born and bred in Bury, set up the local bistro with the aim of bringing together the best of both worlds from French and British cuisine.

At the age of just 26, Ethan already boasts an impressive CV. After studying cookery at Bury College, he discovered he had a passion for patisserie whilst undertaking a culinary diploma at the Ashburton Chef’s Academy. Ethan went on to put his passion to good use working at Michael Caine’s Abode Restaurant in Manchester. For over two years, he worked as a pastry chef and prepared afternoon teas as London’s prestigious Dorchester Hotel and, in 2016, was part of the team who catered for The Queen’s 90^th Birthday Party. Now that’s the ultimate high tea.  

Bringing his expertise of all things patisserie back up North, after spending time working with the San Carlo group, he fulfilled his ultimate career ambition of opening his own Bistro and Bartisserie² was born.

It only opened earlier this year but I’ve read and heard great things about it. When you walk past the shop front, you’ll see the artistically constructed cakes and pastries delicately placed in full view in the front window and if that doesn’t tempt you to add it to your ‘to dine’ list, I don’t know what will.

Afternoon tea at Bartisserie² is a unique experience. Gone are the towering cake stands with your sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle and the cakes on top. Instead, it’s served in three courses: sandwiches and quiche first, scones second and a selection of desserts to finish. This is a genius idea. You’re much more likely to take your time as you’re not overwhelmed by what’s in front of you. Each course is delivered to your table by Ethan himself. He talks you through what he’s prepared for you, which is a nice personal touch; the kind of thing that makes an experience special.

Arriving first were four fresh finger sandwiches and two mini quiches. The sandwiches were decent sizes, the bread wasn’t dry and there was plentiful filling. There was smoked salmon, sliced chicken with pea puree, tomato and mozzarella and cucumber and cream cheese. Often, on an afternoon tea, the flavours can be a little bit boring and the bread is somewhere along the scale of dry to going stale. These, however, were beautiful. The quiches were creamy goats cheese and caramelised red onion in a buttery pastry. They were a welcome addition to the savoury course and helped set you up nicely for the sweet.

Sandwiches and Quiches

On the second course were two small but perfectly formed scones – one plain, one fruit – served warm with homemade chunky raspberry jam and whipped cream. Clotted cream may be more traditional, but, personally, I prefer the lighter, fluffier texture that comes with the whipped alternative. This is where serving the afternoon tea in courses proves to be a good idea, as we could tuck into the scones whilst they were still warm. Naturally, I made sure they were laden with copious amounts of jam and cream.

Scones

The third and final course, the spectacular finale, was a selection of four miniature patisseries from the cake fridge. With nothing too sweet for my palate, this is really what an afternoon tea is all about. We had a passionfruit tart topped with zingy Italian meringue, a raspberry macaron, a chocolate mousse encased in a solid chocolate and hazelnut coat and a millionaire’s shortbread topped with chocolate orange piping. Half fruity, half chocolate, it was the perfect mix and all four were faultless. Presentation was equally superb; they looked almost too good to eat. With every mouthful, you could taste the passion that had gone into its creation.

Cakes

Millionaire’s Shortbread is one of my favourite sweet treats, and this was the best one I’ve ever had. With a thick, crunchy shortbread base and a generous layer of caramel, the ratios were on point and the chocolate topping was elegantly decorated with a stave and musical notes. Finished off with chocolate orange piping – one of my very favourite combinations – it made me wonder why every slice of Millionaire’s shortbread can’t taste like this.

With hot drinks of your choice to wash it all down, it’s well worth the £20 per person. The quality of the food, the attention to detail in the cakes, the friendly attentive staff and the sophisticated playlist make for an impeccable experience.

With different menus available at all times of the day, I look forward to returning to Bartisserie² for another dining experience soon.

If you’re looking to treat someone special for their birthday, an afternoon of indulgence at Bartisserie² would make the perfect present.

All menus are available online at: http://bartisserie2.co.uk/

Quote of the Week - Week commencing Monday 19 November 2018

"Bacon: the main reason you are not a vegetarian." 

Anon

Quote of the Week - Week commencing Monday 12 November 2018

"You can't live a full life on an empty stomach." 

Anon

Quote of the Week - Week commencing Monday 5 November 2018

"There should be a calorie refund for things that didn't taste as good as you expected." 

Anon