Latest opening: Stock Market Grill
What: A 90-cover British brasserie located in the grand dining room of Manchester’s Stock Exchange Hotel which, as the name suggests, is the former home of the Manchester Stock Exchange.
Who: Stock Market Grill is the first restaurant from the hugely talented and duly recognised bartender brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield along with their long-standing partner wine-expert James Brandwood. Heading up the kitchen is Joshua Reed Cooper, whose CV includes working with Sam Buckley at his Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In and with Simon Martin at Manchester’s only Michelin-starred restaurant Mana. The restaurant is a partnership with former Manchester United footballer Gary Neville, who owns the hotel.
The food: A classic British brasserie with a hint of French influence is how Joe Schofield describes their new venue. The idea, he says, is to create a menu of dishes that will keep people coming back for more, and he’s on the money with what’s being served. The menu kicks off with a selection of snacks, including Montgomery cheddar and anchovy straws; a delicate chicken liver parfait on savoury truffle bread and butter pudding with sauternes jelly; and a less delicate but equally delicious slice of hand raised pork pie with English mustard before moving onto starters of steak tartare with beef fat yolk; mussel cullen skink with fried bread and lovage; and the lighter radicchio, walnut, Berkswell Waldorf salad. Main options, meanwhile, include a confit rabbit suet pudding with potato puree; duck breast with peppercorn sauce; and ex-dairy Fresian rib eye steak. If that wasn’t enough, pressed chips and a hotpot of Ogleshield cheese and Mangalitsa bacon can be ordered as sides. On Sundays there’s roast beef, rotisserie chicken and Lancashire hotpot and a special dessert – a lemon and brown butter sponge with vanilla custard – that sits alongside The Macallan whisky baba, the Schofield brothers’ take on the classic French dessert.
To drink: Given the mixology background of the brothers, who are also behind Sterling bar in the hotel and Manchester bars Atomeca and Schofield’s Bar, the cocktail offer is surprisingly tight – although the well-versed staff will likely serve anything on request (a Martini made with their very own dry vermouth is the order of the day). There’s also four draught beers on tap plus a range of premium softs. The wine list is equally restrained, with a tight selection of reds and whites (around 12 each) alongside sparkling, sweet and rose options, with bottles around the £30 to £100 mark. A reserve wine list is also available, with wines starting at £95 and topping out at £5,900 for a 2004 Pomerol.
The vibe: The high ceiling dining room is described by the owners as being one of the most beautiful in the country and while its grandeur cannot be called into question the room does rather suffer from its scale. The team have opted to keep the smart and very large green banquettes and marble tables from The Bull & Bear (the TV screens in the main room have thankfully been removed) and have installed two huge pink vases as a striking centrepiece that brings some welcome relief on the eyes. That said, the omission of art on the walls due to a delay, high spotlight lighting and an inadequate sound system mean the space currently lacks the more intimate bustle that a room of this scale requires. Given the team’s track record in working in some of the world’s best restaurants and having created a trio of buzzy bars however, the space might still be considered a work in progress.
And another thing: The Schofields’ mother used to work at the Manchester Stock Exchange, so the space has particular resonance for them.
4 Norfolk St, Manchester, M2 1DW
https://www.stockmarketgrill.com/
