Manifest received high praise from Jay Rayner who urged Financial Times readers ‘go to Liverpool, go to Manifest’
Manifest found its way into the Michelin guide after only four months(Image: Manifest)
A Baltic Triangle restaurant received high praise from a top food critic who highlighted one dish in particular from the menu as his stand-out favourite. Jay Rayner has worked for The Observer and The Independent on Sunday, before joining the Financial Times last year. His most recent review in the publication was of Liverpool restaurant Manifest, which left him seriously impressed.
Manifest, a fine dining venue which has received a number of awards since opening – including being named among SquareMeal’s UK Top 100 restaurants list. Manifest was opened by chef patron Paul Durand and his wife and business partner Charlotte Jones in 2022. To appear in the list, each restaurant has to provide guests with an exceptional all-around experience, from gorgeous interiors, and impeccable drinks lists, to exemplary service and sustainability commitments.
The restaurant is tucked away in a warehouse on Watkinson Street and it offers an international menu inspired by chef Paul’s travels across Europe in cites such as Bologna, Italy, and Bordeaux, France.
In his review, Mr Rayner was especially taken by Paul’s interpretation of classic regional dish Scouse. He said: “As well as an à la carte, there is an eight-course tasting menu. It includes a dish described as a “scouse lamb skewer”, which I order as a supplemental.
“Scouse is part of a group of regional stews from across the UK, which stretch cheap cuts of meat into a nourishing bowlful. Originally called lobscouse, it was brought to Liverpool by Norwegian seamen. Scousers take their nickname from the stew, not the other way round.
“Durand says it was a regular fixture at his nan’s Sunday lunches, which he wanted to celebrate. A slow-braised block of lamb belly has been glazed with a beetroot molasses.
“There is a gel made from pickled red cabbage across the surface, topped with whorls of a carrot purée, topped in turn with puffed up potato-like giant Rice Krispies. It’s made up of what might go in a bowl of scouse, though no one can quite agree on the recipe.
“Does it taste of scouse? No, but it’s a charming narrative and an exceedingly good piece of multi-textured meat cookery.”
Manifest, Liverpool(Image: Publicity Picture)
Mr Rayner’s review explored how Paul’s childhood in 1990s Liverpool has inspired his menu, with nostalgic nods to dishes he knew and loved as a child.
His nan’s cooking also inspired many of his dishes, including the bowls of crisps he and his relatives would tuck into when they visited her house for Sunday lunch.
Mr Rayner said: “There is now a mandolin propped up in one corner of the kitchen, used to slice potatoes into sizeable crisps to be deep-fried to order, an edible act of nostalgia. They are tossed in a seasoning mix with the mouth-puckering tang of a packet of salt-and-vinegar, and served still warm as a heaped snack.
“In a restaurant where the chefs wield tweezers like brain surgeons going in with their scalpels, it is utterly disarming; a reminder of the instant gratification of childhood before everything gets a little more grown-up.”
Manifest is based in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle.(Image: Manifest)
Paul cooked at 21212 in Edinburgh and Moor Hall in Lancashire, before returning here to Liverpool to open a restaurant that celebrates the port city’s “unique history”, hence the name Manifest.
Since its launch, Manifest has received national praised including an inclusion in the Michelin guide within four months. The hidden gem is also the only Liverpool site to make the National Restaurant Awards Top 100 twice.
Mr Rayner recently reviewed another critically acclaimed Liverpool restaurant – Nord. The city centre restaurant has won multiple awards since opening, including being named one of the best in the country by Condé Nast Traveller.
It is led by executive chef Daniel Heffy, from Liverpool, who is known for having worked in Michelin star restaurants across the world, including in Stockholm. The restaurant’s culinary style is described as “Travelled British” as it pays homage to local traditions while incorporating global influences inspired by Chef Daniel’s travels.
Mr Rayner’s review of Nord made clear that all the praise Nord has received since opening is well-deserved – the critic was overwhelmingly positive about his meal at the restaurant, and one dish in particular caught his attention on the menu. Writing in The Guardian, he said: “At the bottom of the dessert menu, after the blood-orange tart with chocolate ice-cream and the almond, cardamom and vanilla millefeuille, there’s a sour cherry and pistachio baked Alaska. If your eye does not drift downwards lasciviously to that listing, then you are completely dead inside.
“It arrives pert and proud: a spectacular ridged whorl of torched Italian meringue, enclosing a heart not just of the advertised cherry and pistachio, but also of frangipane. We attack it from each side, my companion and I, until the plate is emptied and we are required to lay down our spoons, sadly. It is enthusiastically priced at £16. We don’t begrudge a penny.”