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The Dinner Detective: Cafe Paradiso, Hotel Rossetti, Piccadilly, Manchester
The Dinner Detective25/ 4/2005
THE trendy hotel's restaurant is one of those mostly-Italian
affairs, which seem to proliferate in Britain these days.
Our palates seem to yearn for the Mediterranean and, sure enough,
pizza and pasta sit alongside other choices on the menu.
Inside, it has a pleasant, contemporary feel, with the customers on
a raised platform surrounded by metal tubes twisted in every
direction and topped with what appears to be tulip flowers.
The staff are studenty and seem to wear their own trendy-ish
clothes (but there's none of that uber-vogue showing-your-underwear
malarkey going on, thank goodness).
Strangely, they all seemed to serve us at some point. None of them
did a "checkback" (catering-speak for asking if we were enjoying
our food) but my companion Mr R, who's knowledgeable about such
things, assured me that it was no longer
de rigeur.
Apparently, well-trained staff can tell whether their customers are
happy by their body language.
Mr R and I chose to skip the pizza/pasta fayre and go for something
a little less predictable.
I enjoyed my starter - terrine of chicken and foie gras - which had
a good variety of texture. Mr R chose a creamy onion soup which he
described as "well-proportioned". Frankly, that description didn't
enlighten me but it sounded like the sort of thing that my
so-called rivals in the restaurant review business write. I will
say, however, that the crispy cruton I stole from his bowl was
probably the best thing I ate all night.
For the main course, I chose the venison. While the potato and the
beetroot were splendid, the meat itself was not.
It was so fatty I realised that I would not be able to swallow a
mouthful after chewing it for some time.
So I had to remove it from my mouth inconspicuously while
simultaneously engaging Mr R with some of my sparkling repartee. Mr
R is made of stern stuff and made no comment.
Mr R's braised pork, kumquat and roasted parsnips seemed an
altogether more successful choice.
Since Mr R declined alcohol, I was glad to see the option of 50cl
jugs of wine on offer. Better than one glass, which is never
enough. But less than a bottle, which I find too much when drinking
alone.
On the dessert menu, I saw "chilli pecorino, celery leaves and
truffled honey" on offer for a fiver. Between you and me, I didn't
know what it was. But, being an adventurous sort, I opted for
it.
It's a blandish Italian cheese, packed with tongue-tingling chilli.
And jolly good too. Mr R went for the lime cheesecake, which he ate
with gusto.
All in all, Café Paradiso was so-so. My venison might have been an
unfortunate cut and unrepresentative of the restaurant as a
whole.
Nevertheless, I'd been expecting something a bit special at
Rossetti and was disappointed. I've had far better meals at other
Italianate places, such as Croma, Crisp, Piccolino and Est, Est,
Est.
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