The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell snared something of coup this week, becoming the first national critic to review an ambitious new restaurant from a former L’Enclume head chef, Tom Barnes. William dropped in on its third day of opening, and reckons it does more to promote Manchester as the centre of the world than the city’s energetic mayor, Andy Burnham.
Skof is in an old warehouse in the NOMA redevelopment zone, in what William describes as an “unassuming street” that “could be Manhattan in the 1950s” – which many people might consider rather assuming.
He set aside his anti-tasting menu prejudice to delight in each of his 15 courses, including a ‘BBQ lobster’ dish that was “the pinnacle of surf and turf – sweet lobster, becoming angelic in the melting fat”. The bread – served alongside duck for the eighth course – also invited superlatives, “for it’s a breathtaking layered sort of croissant; literally baking genius, all butter and crunch, as seismic a creation as the Grand Canyon.”
By the end of his meal, poor William was struggling to find metaphors to match his rapture: “Skof is the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids. A monument of pure, victorious conviction.
William Sitwell - 2024-06-30
