Earle

Brilliant service, delicious food, reasonable price! Finding it hard to find anything to complain about. We had a really lovely evening and the manager Rob went out of his way to make us feel welcome. Salt and pepper squid was to die for, venison stew got me in the mood for the oncoming winter and Sticky toffee pudding finished the meal off with perfection. Would definitely recommend this charming restaurant but do book in advance so as not to be disappointed!

Here recently for a family thing — a «night with Simon Rimmer». I’d been previously and liked the place, and this visit confirmed my four stars.
The restaurant itself is fairly small, with a relaxing atmosphere conducive to wine drinking.
As it was a special night there was a four-​course fixed menu.
First up where carrot and feta keftedes (the recipe is on Channel 4’s website if you care). Nice flavour, the pomegranate seeds a nice touch. Tasty if not mind blowing. They came with a nice Riesling — personally I don’t mind even the sweeter end of Rieslings so I was happy.
A second course of smoked duck was less successful — the duck had been over-​cooked and wasn’t very pleasant as a result.
The main course was for me a belter — a delicious stone bass course.
Pudding — a rich chocolate tart with passion fruit cream and raspberries — would depend on you: if you like rich tarts like this (as I do) then you’d love it; if you find them a bit much, you’d find this one a bit much :)
Staff were genuinely friendly (and a little apologetic — Mr Rimmer wasn’t cooking since he’d done his knee in, not that that mattered to me…)

A night out with my wife as she is a big fan of Simon Rimmer.
Superb food, well presented, full of flavour and absolutely delicious. The atmosphere is relaxed, the staff attentive and helpful without being annoying and the whole evening was brilliant.
Speed of service was excellent and we never felt rushed. Price is acceptable for what you get — no small portions here. Even the appetisers could count as a starter (or a main in some places!). The wine is a little over priced, but you can live with this in here.
Overall, can’t fault it — especially as we both ate everything on our plates. Superb.

Its name is Earle! After a particularly successful day’s Unilocaling at the Vintage Village in Stockport, I decided to venture even further south, so far south that the Greater Manchester and Cheshire borders become something the street names and residential areas straddle playfully. I’m going to be controversial and say that Hale and Altrincham, Sale and Timperley are *totes* part of Manchester. Yeah, bring it. My queendom knows no county boundaries. Let it rain down on me. I’m ready for you…
First of all, you need to know that these suburbs are affluent. Like the kind of wealth that makes you think of Scrooge McDuck swimming around in his vault of money. Most of these houses would be divided into at least eleven apartments in any other part of the county. This is where the footballers live. And as such, they expect great food. The central village of Hale as a result resembles an even more swish Didsbury or Chorlton, with a concentration of pubs, restaurants and boutiques on one stretch. I got my trusty Unilocal app out, and thanks to Alison and Angela’s reviews we hotfooted it to Earle.
It’s a perfect combination of relaxed and upmarket. A fairly small restaurant with a modern-​looking bar, the décor is simple and a long way away from the quirk of the scholarly suburbs and Northern Quarter that I’m used to. Chandeliers lightly pepper the ceilings and the wallpaper offers a hint of damask. We were seated promptly and attended to quickly with friendly, efficient staff. Choosing from the Sunday menu we had a few nibbles first with some gorgeously juicy olives and a vegetarian black pudding which I was most intrigued by. It reminded me of a crispy, rich nut roast. Even the meat-​loving other half chowed down. Starter-​wise I went for posh sardines on toast, companion snaffled some cream of mushroom soup. While he loved his soup and I adored my toast and tomato compote, I struggled with the sardines somewhat as the way they were cooked left the tiny kimble-​like bones in place. I know you can eat them, but that’s just my bad for being squeamish. Nothing against Earle or Simon Rimmer!
For mains it was t’other way round — my gnocchi with red wine ragu and wild mushrooms topped with masses of rocket hit the spot like crazy (my over-​caffeinated self was in dire need of healthy stodge), but the dude’s beef let the side down somewhat with a fattiness he wasn’t madly keen on. Still, every other element of his roast was ridiculously lush (apart from the shady portion of gravy), and as he left his swede mash I helped myself — it was epic. Afters were pretty lip-​smacking too, in fact I’ve never seen a sticky toffee pud disappear so quickly. Greedy sod.
We were driving so didn’t pay any mind to the wine list, but if I was to return I’d happily peruse it as it looked fairly lengthy and certainly worthy of our time. There were also what looked like some local beers on offer. Earle was an all-​round nice suburban experience, and one I’m sure to go for again at some point.

Like most new restaurants, Earle suffered some teething problems last year and when I visited, I wasn’t remarkably impressed. The organisation seemed a little haphazard and the food wasn’t really up to scratch yet. Unfortunately you can only really blame bad management for these shortcomings.
Well, every new restaurant deserves a grace period and it appears that the Earle management team have either changed, or they’ve bucked up their ideas because there have been vast improvements. This time I wasn’t waiting for a table for 20 minutes (despite booking) and we were given great service from start to finish. The a la carte menu seemed more diverse too. For starter I recommend the Roast pumpkin risotto with blue cheese croutons and for main the Earle burger goes pretty well (even though it wasn’t my burger to eat). The prices are exactly cheap but you’re definitely paying for the experience these days, instead of feeling cheated. Well done Earle.

When a friend of mine asked me to accompany him to Simon Rimmers new «modern brasserie» in Hale, if I am being honest, i went with the preconception that it would be really «poncey» for want of a better word, and by that I simply mean that it’s ethos may pander to the some what pretentious socialites that probably make up most of his clientele. HOW WRONG COULD I BE! As soon as I walked in, i was greeted by a very personable waitress who seated us, kindly took out coats and handed me the biggest surprise… it was the reasonable pricing of the lunch menu! especially considering you are sat in very opulent 1920’s themed surroundings including chandeliers, crossed with arts and craft parquet flooring. I chose the Wild Mushroom Cheesecake, truffle oil dressed salad for just £5.95! — it unashamedly made me make noises not too dissimilar from those in that infamous When Harry met Sally scene!
I had a look at the website on my return home, and discovered that nearly all the suppliers are long standing well respected local establishments. They also have offers on there like a kids under 10 eat free before 7pm!

This is the second restaurant of Simon Rimmer’s (the proprietor of Greens) and is very similar but with the addition of a bit of meat. It’s a bit out of the way for Manchester folk but I’d definitely say that it’s worth the journey.
Like Greens, the food is innovative and well thought out, with decent sized portions and bold flavours.
If you’re ever going there for lunch, I’d highly recommend the soup and sandwich combination — it’s massive (there are lovely fat chips with it too), but so tasty that you’ll finish it all without a second thought. Roast dinners on a Sunday are also excellent.