The Tasting Menu at Damson Heaton Moor: Cruel Chef Stanley Makes Innocent Girl Eat Too Much

Now, whilst I am not particularly known for my sense of moderation and restraint, I must warn you that this is going to be a pretty greedy post, even for me. So I'm simply going to breeze through the nine courses I troughed at Damson in Heaton Moor as part of a special taster menu on Wednesday night, and will be gone again before anyone notices how much I actually ate - a bit like a stealth greed ninja, if you like.

1. Mushroom Soup with Truffle Sauce. A dainty little cup of rich, smooth soup with the extra excitement of a generous drizzle of earthy, heady truffle. Looked less dainty with my greedy face trying to extract the last vestiges.

2. Amuse Bouche of Scallop Tartare, Salt and Pepper Squid, Whitby Crab and Avocado Puree. One tantalising, exquisite spoon of ocean joy - really fresh, clean flavours and a lingering feeling of wanting to eat the spoon as well, lest any traces remained.

3. Vegetable Risotto with Chorizo, Pesto, Roasted Tomato and a Parmesan Crisp. Chef Stanley makes the best risotto in town - end of story.

4. Chicken Liver and Poie Gras Parfait. I always promise myself I'll order a different starter when I go to Damson, and yet always end up ordering this. It is rich, indulgent and to be honest, far better served in this smaller size than the generous slab you get in the full starter portion, which I always eat every last smear of, and then complain vociferously about my own greed.

5. Salmon with Peas, Smoked Bacon and Lemon Foam. A perfect little rectangle of salmon with some well-judged accompaniments - I'm not normally a fan of foamy things (I think it comes from being brought up in the country - restaurant foam always puts me in mind a little of cuckoo spit), but here the slight sweetness of the lemon worked beautifully with the saltiness of the bacon and the freshness of the peas.

6. Rump Steak with Sauteed Mushrooms and Spinach. This tends to be what I order off the main menu anyway, so I was delighted to see these tender pink slices appear with an enormous portion of really good, fat chips on the side.

7. Vanilla Cheesecake with Wimberry Compote and Liquorice Ice Cream. I'm not much of a pudding person, but both our desserts were knockout - this vanilla seed-flecked cheesecake wasn't too sweet, and the liquorice ice cream was possibly my favourite flavour of the night. One tiny criticism? I didn't think wimberry compote really went with the rest of the dish and found the three flavours together a bit much - still, what do I know? I still ate it, anyway.

8. Chocolate and Peanut Butter Ganache with Raspberry Sorbet and Vanilla Salt. Peanut butter is one of my very favourite things, and often eaten straight from the jar, standing up (fewer calories that way), so what a treat to have it as part of a properly grown-up, sultry dessert. The saltiness of the peanut butter base and the vanilla salt on the top perfectly balanced the richness of the chocolate, whilst the tartness of the sorbet cut through everything and avoided that cloyingness that peanut butter sometimes has.

9. Cheese, Cheese and more Cheese. I love the cheese course at Damson - they simply wheel over a trolley, whilst you just sit fatly in your chair and point at the ones you want. My criteria here were clear and straightforward: all the blue ones, please, and all the stinky runny ones that look as if they are about to ooze their way off the trolley into a puddle on the floor.

And at that point, I decided enough was enough and - not wishing to appear greedy - put down my knife and fork and stepped (/rolled) away from the table. You can find out more about the amazing Damson Tasting Menu here - it's always a pleasure to be cooked for by Simon Stanley, and on this evidence he is currently on particularly fine form. We paid for our meal but Simon knew it was a special occasion and sent us out one or two extras - the regular menu offers six courses. Which actually, if you skim through this post really quickly, is pretty much what I had...

Special Match of the Day Highlights Package...only with Damson, The Mark Addy and Bobby's Bangers in Place of Lineker and, erm, the Other Ones

Now, I must make it totally clear from the start that everything you're about to read about in this blog post is ABOLUTELY deserving of its own, individual write-up. The reason they are all sharing is as a kind of service to you, the reader, who has a busy life to negotiate and will surely appreciate the time efficiency of one, glorious foodie package; think of it as a kind of Greatest Hits tape, or an episode of Match of the Day. It is NOT - and again, I must make this totally clear - because I only have the time to write one blog post this weeked; no, definitely not that. At all. You're welcome.

Anyway, last Wednesday was Gourmet Night at The Mark Addy, most usually notable for the all-day discussion it prompts among my colleagues: what part of which animal will Robert Owen Brown be fricasseeing tonight for Liz's delectation? This time, though, Mr Liz and I had a hot date with Royton sausage royalty in the form of Mr and Mrs Bobby's Bangers (otherwise known as James and Heather), and the highbrow conversation du jour naturally revolved around exactly what kind of sausage I was likely to be slipped under the table (Italian and Mushroom & Garlic, if you're interested). Truth be told, we had feared for our lives a little - ROB had promised us an adventurous menu, and it did indeed seem a serious possibility at one point that a whole head of Shergar might appear and we would be forced to chow down on a raw banger or two instead. Of course, the menu was amazing - six splendid courses for thirty of your English pounds, with the standout dish being the Kentucky Fried Squirrel that ROB had put on especially for me after my epic sulk at missing out on the KF Rabbit last month.

1. Hand Dived Scallops with Sea Urchin:

2. "KFC" Style Cheshire Grey Squirrel with Dandelion and Burdock Dipping Sauce:

3. Glazed Red Mullet "Gazpacho" Style:

4. Truffle Roast Squab Pigeon:

5. Warm Ramshackle Curd Cheese (baked inside aniseedy bread to resemble a sea urchin, albeit the biggest sea urchin the world has ever seen):

6. Vanilla Bean Custard Shortbread:

After this feast, I didn't eat out for two whole days; luckily my friend celebrated her birthday last night by having dinner at Damson in Heaton Moor, thereby preventing a dangerous hat trick of nights in. I don't have any pictures here I'm afraid as the evening was far too classy to be let down by a woman snapping away on her frankly very unprofessional iPhone camera; instead, you will have to use your imaginations to decide exactly how nice a starter of grilled scallops, slow cooked middle white pork belly, Bury black pudding croquettes, spiced apple puree and golden raisins might look. I've yet to have a less-than-perfect meal at Damson - the food is really quite special, and the well-chosen flavour combinations mean that I quite literally want to try EVERYTHING off the menu. I eventually settled on the slow cooked lamb with herb crust, served with creamed flageolet beans, roasted garlic and dauphinoise potato, and it was a joy.

I am going to move away from Damson now and hopefully leave you with the impression that my meal ended with that lovely lamb dish, for if it transpired that I actually managed a further two courses then the visit I have just paid to Royton Real Food is going to look more than a little gluttonous, and inaccurately convey the mistaken image that I am a big fat lardy greed face. Royton is my very favourite of all the food markets - it takes place on the first Sunday of every month, and as none of the stalls sell the same items you can do your food shop confident in the knowledge that you won't pay eight quid for a thimbleful of humous at the first stall you come across and then find something much better a few rows down. For my lunch I have just eaten this splendid pulled pork roll with home-made coleslaw and bourbon source from Castro (modelled here by Mr Liz, before being swiftly ripped from his eager hand); indeed, I still have a considerable amount of it on the sleeve of the pale grey Angora cardigan I so prudently selected for such an activity.

We also bought eggs, bread, cakes, and a selection of meaty goodness from the wonderful Coddy's Farm - they alone are worth the drive up to Royton. And this is where this post comes full circle, and I leave you with the image of a man trying to slip me a sausage - only this time, he slipped me a burger as well, but that's a whole other story...

Damson Restaurant, Heaton Moor: Top Birthday Dinner for Aging Husband

Now, I know there's a serious risk that many of you will be as fed up with Mr Liz's epic "Birthday Fortnight" (which, incidentally, is set to rumble on for another week at least) as I am, so I promise that after this post, you will hear no more about it. However, every birthday celebration needs a jewel in its crown, and for Mr Liz this came on Friday - for Friday was DAMSON NIGHT.

I've written before of this little gem of a restaurant, tucked away in Heaton Moor and consistently serving some of the best food in Greater Manchester. Now, however, there is a serious danger that others will become aware of its classy charms, for Damson's chef, Simon Stanley, is up for Chef of the Year at this year's Manchester Food and Drink Festival. As well as being a great chef, he also knows how to spoil a birthday gentleman - here are some of the highlights...

Pre-starter: before the serious business of ordering off the menu began, we had the pleasure of a taster dish that Chef Stanley had created in Mr Liz's honour. This was a splendid "risotto" that had apparently been made with potato rather than rice; it also contained morel mushrooms, truffle butter, a beautiful deep-fried quail's egg and a hefty dollop of magic. I cannot say any more about this dish as I've been sworn to secrecy - suffice to say that I can't really think of a restaurant dish I've had recently that either tasted better, or showed higher levels of skill. I'm ashamed but not remotely suprised to hear myself confessing that I ate all of mine and half of another, slower-at-eating person's; after all, it was practically my birthday.

Starters: Now, you'd hope, I think, that with a party of twelve diners I'd pretty much be able to tell you about ALL the starters on the Damson menu; sadly this is not the case, as two choices proved quite overwhelmingly popular with my selfishly un-blog-focused companions. The first - unsurprisingly - was the chicken liver & foie gras parfait, served with apricot and raisin chutney and toasted ginger brioche; I always have this, so although you've seen it many times on this blog, you can see it again. It was as luxuriously rich as ever, melting unctiously into the warm, sweet brioche with all the decadence required for a birthday celebration. The other hit was the pigeon breast with Bury black pudding croquettes, served alongside celeriac and apple remoulade, pickled golden raisins, honey and whole grain mustard dressing, and it must be noted that it has taken me longer to type the name out than it did for a number of hungry-faced guests to snarf down the perfectly pink pigeon and its array of well-judged accompaniments.

Mains: Once again, there were two stand-out dishes in terms of popularity. Pictured here you see the 28 day aged sirloin steak, served with dauphinoise potato, flat mushrooms, spinach and garlic, topped with a roasted shallot and red wine sauce - a classic dish that is an ever-present on the Damson menu, and deservedly so. Everyone's steak was cooked exactly to their liking, and the meat itself was so tender that the steak knives provided were entirely superfluous to requirements. The dish is almost worth ordering just for the dauphinoise potato, which is so deceptively soft, creamy and yielding to the touch that you almost miss the hefty garlic kick it delivers with such panache right at the end (not a SINGLE vampire troubled us on the way home, and you can't tell me that's just coincidence).

The other very popular dish was the slow cooked belly of middle white pork, served with spiced white cabbage and pulses, pickled golden raisins and - adorably - a little cast iron cassoulet dish containing a wonderfully smoky, sultry side of beans and chorizo (yes, I fear I HAVE had my fork in someone else's dinner again). All the meat used by Damson comes from Chorlton butcher extraordinaire Lee Frost, and the quality really shows in these simple yet elegant dishes. The menu also offers a couple of excellent fish dishes (the cod is pictured here) that went down a treat with two of the diners, and the roasted poussin served with croquettes of the legs, wild mushroom macaroni, new season Wye valley English asparagus and lemon sabayon was also a hit. In short, twelve diners with wildly differing tastes ate every scrap and had nothing but praise for every dish sampled.

Pre-dessert: another special, just-for-Mr-Liz's birthday dish (I fear his birthday expectations may be hard to manage from now on), this was an exciting selection of dainty treats including pistachio panna cotta, caramel salted popcorn and chocolate rum and raisin clusters. We liked. A LOT.

CAKE: now, when we came to Damson for my birthday, we ordered a splendid cake from Katy Torevell, pastry chef at both Damson and The Red Lion at High Lane - a vast chocolate affair laden with Maltesers and chocolate fingers. I have been absolutely banned from using the phrase "monkey see, monkey do, monkey want more" in any way shape or form after the birthday boy took exception to its appearance in my last post, so I shall simply point out that, for his birthday meal, Mr Liz had requested a splendid cake from Katy Torevell - a vast chocolate affair laden with Maltesers and chocolate fingers. And here it is.

So, once again, Damson has delivered. The food was flawless, and with the most expensive main (the steak) at £19.95, is excellent value in view of its quality. The staff coped well with such a large, noisy party and are clearly both knowledgable and enthusiastic about the food that they serve up, happy to answer questions and explain small details about the dishes on the menu. Highly recommended - and if you want to vote for Simon as Chef of the Year, you can do so HERE whilst I take a rest and consider my birthday duties truly and utterly fulfilled.

- Damson is at 113-115 Heaton Moor Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport, Cheshire SK4 4HY; tel. 0161 432 4666; you can find out more about Katy's beautiful cakes at her Sugar Lump Confections via her Facebook page.

Damson Delivers: Perfect Birthday Dinner in Heaton Moor

For a long time, I had it pretty much all my own way on the birthday front. Indeed, although not technically an only child, the age difference between myself and my sisters meant that I was not really accustomed to sharing ANYTHING, and I saw no reason why birthdays should be any different. Even when I found out that Petula Clarke had had the temerity to be born on the same day as me it mattered not a jot, as Pip Schofield was playing Downtown in his broom cupboard with Gordon T. Gopher at the time, and anyway, no-one had really heard of her, leaving me pretty much free to continue enjoying the limelight.

No, it is only in recent years that it has all started to go badly wrong. I now personally know THREE other people who share my birthday, and even worse, TWO of these are in my immediate circle of friends, meaning that this year's celebration - where three of the eleven guests had to share the glory - really did have to be phenomenally good.

With such a high birthday-to-guest ratio, where better to go than Damson, current Cheshire Life Restaurant of the Year and home to the utterly charming Chef Stanley and team, who really couldn't have made us feel more welcome - and lets face it, what every restaurant really wants and needs on a busy Saturday night is for a loud group of highly over-excited people full of pink wine to turn up and start making demands of them. This is what happened:

1. We had our own private room, a little space that I had never noticed before tucked away off the main restaurant. The benefits to the staff of popping us in here were obvious - out of the way, easily contained etc etc - but the effect of this special room was nothing short of magical. Time ceased to operate in any normal sense as we sat encapsulated in our perfect, private bubble and ate all the delicious things that arrived every so often, only emerging into the real world to visit the toilet when absolutely necessary. The downside of this was that, eventually, someone realised it was the middle of the night and that everyone had missed their last train or tram home; let's just say that the local taxi firms probably did very well in the Heaton Moor area on Saturday night.

2. It was universally agreed that the food was pretty much perfect; two guests whose opinion admittedly counts less because neither of them was celebrating a birthday were heard to comment that it was the best restaurant meal they'd had in years. Obviously, when you're paying reasonably high prices (starters are between £6.95 and £9.95 and mains go up to £19.95 for the lamb and the steak) you do expect certain standards, but a large booking (of large, greedy people) certainly does expose any weaknesses in the kitchen, and Damson came through with flying colours. All the food arrived together, beautifully presented and perfectly cooked - no mean feat when everyone wants their steak cooked differently.



The most popular starters, for us, were the scallops, served with pea puree, and the chicken liver and foie gras parfait, which is pictured here. The latter was so gloriously rich and smooth that it soon outstripped the toasted brioche that accompanied it; fortunately, our party included a strong-minded slinkpot on the Dukan diet, and I kindly and selflessly used her toast to mop up my parfait - a clear example of teamwork, methinks. For mains, a couple of healthy souls went for the bream (actually, again, these were the slinky whippets of the table - perhaps there's a connection here *...thinks about this for a moment...swiftly discounts and moves on...*) but most of us chose either the rump steak with dauphinoise potato, or the duck; the steak can be seen briefly here before it went the same way as the parfait.



3. The service provided by the staff was flawless all evening, with extra napkins tolerently brought when there was something of a wine-related incident *glares at Mr Liz who, sadly, is currently at the football and therefore unaware of the ire coming his way* and glasses topped up whenever they got dangerously low. At the end of the night they were most solicitous in procuring us a variety of taxi prices and ensuring everyone got off safely; on reflection, however, it may just be that they were keen to ensure that we were actually going to leave the premises at some point before dawn. Our charming waiter is also to be commended for turning a tactfully blind eye to one of our party carefully cutting tasty morsels from her swanksteak and wrapping them in a napkin for her dog, the Duchess of Didsbury.

4. Simon Stanley is a/ a top chef and b/ the nicest man in Cheftown. He doesn't often cook at Damson these days, and is more often to be found at The Red Lion in High Lane (FAR less convenient for me), but we were lucky enough to have him in residence on Saturday. All I can say about Chef Stanley is that if he ever offers you a little taster of his salt and pepper lobster you should bite his hand off; as long, that is, as it's the actual hand holding the salt and pepper lobster - you can always spit the chef's whites out afterwards.

5. Damson's pastry chef, Katy Torevell, certainly knows how to rustle up a birthday cake. We had ordered and paid for such an item beforehand, with me providing a detailed and helpful specification that included clear instructions such as "um...maybe chocolate? And, um, I like butter icing. Oh, and I really like Maltesers too." Obviously, there's little that could go wrong with such precise direction, but the cake that arrived was breathtaking, prompting us to actually gasp aloud in sheer wonderment. The picture below appeared on Facebook on Sunday and prompted hungry people across Manchester to try to eat their smart phone in a desperate bid to get at THE CAKE.




So thank you to Damson for making a birthday party easily big enough to accommodate three special ones; there really are enough of us now, though, so if you are thinking of applying to join the fifteen of November club, I'm afraid it is now full. Find out more about Damson on their website, and marvel at Katy's cakes here.