Automatic

Visited on Thursday 1 September 2016

Automatic is one of Bury’s most popular venues; a trendy restaurant/bar in the heart of the town centre, just a stone’s throw away from the Mill Gate Shopping Centre. Whilst it may not be in the most glamorous of locations, the inside is much nicer than the out. It’s versatile when it comes to formality. It can be informal, perfect for a quick lunch in the middle of the day after a morning shopping or a business meeting, or formal, as in the evening the surroundings ooze sophistication.

It boasts a varied menu with something for everybody and the food has a comforting air of home-cooking about it. Breakfast is served from 10.00 am until 11.45 am, featuring everything from hot buttered crumpets to a full breakfast. There’s a lunch menu, served from noon until 4.00 pm, consisting of very reasonably priced sandwiches and ciabattas, and, if you’re on your lunch hour, a dedicated ‘Worker’s Lunch’ menu, where you can order the dish of the day, which changes on a weekly basis, with a soft drink for just £6.00. What’s more, you’re guaranteed to be in and out within the hour. You can’t say fairer than that.

In the evening, there’s a seasonal set-priced menu, where you can have two courses for £10.95 (or three for £14.95) between 5.00 pm and 7.00 pm from Sunday to Thursday. Set-priced menus are usually limited in their choices. I normally look at them and know instantly what I’m going to order, as there are only usually one or two choices which appeal to me. This is not the case with Automatic as there is a wide selection starters, main courses and desserts to choose from, some of which are taken from the a la carte menu.

I like a fixed-priced two or three-courser, so I was disappointed when my dining companion was running late, meaning we arrived too late to order from the seasonal special. Not wanting to let this spoil my evening, my thoughts to turned to the fact that at least I would have more choice on the a la carte menu. I searched for something different, not wanting to order a dish that I could have had as part of the early bird deal. Sweet potato and lentil pie was the main course that leapt off the page in my direction. I’m currently in a phase of being obsessed with sweet potato. I was late discovering it, but since I have it has brought so much joy to my life and enhances even the plainest of meals. Baked, boiled, roasted, mash; I enjoy it in all forms.

The pie came and it did not disappoint on the sweet potato front. However, I wouldn’t say it was packed with lentils or the ‘root vegetables’, as the menu promised. There was significantly more sweet potato than I anticipated. I expected the dish to resemble something of a vegetarian cottage pie, packed with lentils and vegetables with a layer of cheesy sweet potato mash on the top. What I actually got was 90% sweet potato with a few veg lying on the bottom of the dish. I mixed the picked red cabbage that came on the side into the pie, which added crispiness to the soft sweet potato. My main complaint would that it was simply too hot to eat. I’m forever burning my mouth and have to be very careful to allow hot food and beverages to cool down before I tuck into them, but this dish was having none of it. It was still steaming after 15 minutes of being sat on my plate, so much so that in the end I had to give in and just get going. I’m a firm believer that food can be too hot and above a certain temperature, the flavour is lost. This marred the enjoyment of my main course slightly.

Lentil & Sweet Potato Pie

Dessert was a classic: sticky toffee pudding. When it comes to sweet treats, Automatic has a fairly limited menu; it’s either a warm pudding or an ice cream sundae. The sponge was moist, covered in sticky treacle toffee, warm, topped with melting vanilla ice cream and lathered in toffee sauce, making for a comforting end to a pleasant meal. It’s the kind of dinner that would be a perfect winter warmer on a chilly evening as we head into autumn and the nights draw in. 

Sticky Toffee Pudding