So, you can imagine my excitement when I caught wind that they are going to launch a Sunday Roast menu. They invited me down to do a bit of quality control before they let it loose on the masses on 14th October and in short, you guys have a lot to get excited about.
Cottons have created a Sunday Dinner menu which is appropriately peppered with a little Japanese flair. This is totally on brand for Cottonopolis, and quite frankly I didn’t expect anything less.
Their beef dinner is made with Wagyu beef which is farmed locally in East Yorkshire. Wagyu is a Japanese breed of cow which is very heavily marbled which creates a fantastic flavour and texture to the meat. It is some of the best I have ever tasted because it just melts into a puddle of deliciousness on your tongue which is precisely what I want from my roast beef.
The pork is Kurobuta pork which is a breed of pig which is eaten in Japan, which like the beef is bread natively down in Berkshire. With this dish, you get a whacking great big hunk of succulent pork which comes twinned with crispy crackling. Head Chef Joe tells me that he achieved such delicious crackling by dipping the skin in the fryer for 30 seconds.Yeah, it was delicious, and I sounded like an elephant dancing on cornflakes as I chomped through- which I had zero problems with.
These two dinners come with two pretty awsome Yorkshire puddings which were both crispy and soft in equal measure. The roast potatoes are not left out on having the Cottonopolis treatment and are sprinkled with a healthy dose of salt and pepper seasoning. Not only did I love the flavour- the crunchy exterior and floury middle almost sent me over the edge. I was in heaven.
Veg-wise, you can tuck into a steaming bowl of miso glazed carrots which were lovely and sweet, and a bowl of Asian greens topped off with black garlic and crispy onions. The latter was an absolute game-changer, and if there were ever an incentive to eat your greens, it would be black garlic and crispy onions.
When it came to the chicken, I was somewhat surprised when it came out. Karaage chicken is fried chicken, and was served on a bed of mash and smothered in gravy. Now you may not think this dish is very fitting for a Sunday dinner, but I was told a rather interesting story.
As Japan isn’t a Christian country, when it comes to the festive period, nobody is tucking into a turkey dinner and singing Allelujah. By some weird marketing ploy that took the country by storm, the Japanese people come out in their thousands to queue outside their local KFC on Christmas day- and it has become a tradition that is almost as sacred as leaving mince pies out for Santa Claus here in the UK.
So when we are enjoying our roast dinners, Japan is tucking into some crispy fried chicken, corn, mash and gravy- and this is where the minds behind Cottonopolis got the idea for their chicken offering on the Sunday menu. And it is delicious to boot. Crispy chicken, sat on creamy mash, with miso grilled corn and smothered in a rich gravy- what more could you really ask for?
I didn’t try the veggie/vegan option, but I am told it is a Shitaake mushroom, pumpkin and sesame puff with miso gravy and all the aforementioned trimmings. I will be in at the earliest convenience to give it a go.
The Sunday roast menu at Cottonopolis is unique, to say the very least, and we love it. I reckon this one is going to do well with the foodies of Manchester who want a little more than a standard Sunday dinner that isn’t a patch on the one they can make at home. The menu isn’t just delicious- it is elegant, well balanced and totally on brand for Cottonopolis with a tremendous Japanese twist that always keeps us on our toes.
Sunday dinner is launching on Sunday the 14th of October. I imagine this one is going to get booked up pretty quickly, so please do not sit on it and risk waiting weeks for a place.
Cottonopolis, 16 Newton St, Manchester M1 2AE
0161 236 5144
www.cottonopolis-nq.com/
