Kala

King Street, Manchester

Kala is the latest addition to Manchester’s King Street, the smart dining hot spot which is already home to the likes of Browns, Jamie’s Italian and Rio Ferdinand’s opulent Rosso.

It’s the latest in a string of establishments from Gary Usher. An experienced chef and restaurateur, his empire already includes Sticky Walnut in Chester, Burnt Truffle in Heswall and Hipsi in Didsbury.

Gary hasn’t done it alone. Kala has been, in part, funded by its customers, as Gary used crowdfunding to get this restaurant off the ground. It’s a risky strategy that clearly paid off, as a record-breaking £100,000 was raised in just 11 hours. It might not be the most conventional method, but Gary admits that it was necessary after his business brain let him down and he muddled up his figures. By selling meal vouchers to future customers upfront, as well as tickets to a special launch dinner cooked by TV chef Tom Kerridge, he raised the cash to open up the sixth of his string of North West bistros.

The cash has been used to transform the old Whistles shop unit into a modern and stylish all-day eatery, with a bar on ground level and the restaurant above, on a mezzanine, accessed by an immaculately polished marble staircase. The interior is an intriguing mix of casual and formal. The wooden tables and chairs don’t suit the ambience or the price range. It’s almost unsure as to what it’s aiming to be.

The a la carte menu will set you back a bit, with the majority of the main courses between £20 and £30. However, they have a set price menu, served for lunch between 12:00 and 2:30pm and as an ‘early dinner’ between 6:00pm and 7:00pm throughout the week. This gives you the opportunity to enjoy two courses for £20 or three for £23. There’s a selection of slightly tweaked versions of starters, main courses and desserts plucked from the a la carte menu.

For starters, I had chicken liver pate with rhubarb and cider chutney, served with toasted milk loaf. The pate was deliciously smooth and creamy without being overly rich, whilst the chutney was sweet and sharp. The toasted milk loaf was very nice too. There was a decent amount of pate and chutney, but the plate looked rather bland and boring. A side salad wouldn’t have gone amiss, even if it was just a few leaves of rocket or bistro lettuce. Presentation definitely needs to be improved.

Chicken Liver Pate

 My main course was a torched sea bream fillet served with shredded red cabbage mixed with mango and macadamia nuts and a dollop of tangy BBQ sauce. There were three small pieces of deliciously meaty, juicy fish, but there wasn’t very much of it. The red cabbage was a delightful accompaniment. It was very strong and pungent in flavour, with the sweetness of the mango complementing the pickled red cabbage very well, with added crunch from the macadamia nuts. I loved all three elements of the dish, but it was a strange combination of intense flavours which didn’t particularly blend together naturally. Still, they were delicious all the same.

Torched Sea Bream Fillet

Given the size of the portions, side dishes are definitely required. I ordered some parmesan and truffle chips, which were out of this world. Seven chunky chips were £4 extra, but I could quite easily have eaten a bowl to myself.

Parmesan and Truffle Chips

Don’t expect to be full after your main course, you’ll definitely have room for dessert, which is lucky, as my pudding was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. I had Yorkshire parkin with salted caramel sauce and Chantilly cream. I absolutely adore parkin. The sticky, spicy, warming cake is traditionally eaten around Bonfire Night and is the perfect autumnal accompaniment to a cup of tea. I’ve never seen it on a dessert menu in a restaurant before, so Kala have well and truly set the standard. It was oaty, it was gingery, slightly spicy, not too stodgy and not overly sweet: the perfect parkin. The salted caramel sauce added sweet to the spice. I savoured every mouthful of these amazing flavours and textures. I would have preferred a scoop of ice cream, rather than Chantilly cream, as I like the idea of the ice cream melting over the warm pudding and into the salted caramel sauce. It was a close call, but I think it was my favourite of the three courses.

Yorkshire Parkin

Following several soft launch events, Kala had opened to the public just six days previous to my visit, on 1 May. I’d made a reservation, thinking we’d be fighting for tables, but I was surprised to see there were vacancies whilst we were in there. The service was rather slow, with lengthy waits between each course, although the staff were friendly. Given that the bistro is in its infancy, the restaurant may still be finding its feet. There’s still time for the teething problems to be ironed out.

Delicious food it may be, but if I returned I’d definitely stick to the set price lunch menu, as I don’t think the portion sizes can justify the a la carte prices.

Breakfast and Sunday Lunch are also served. If you’re after something a little more casual, there’s a separate bar menu, offering a range of snacks and lunch time bites.

Website: https://www.kalabistro.co.uk/