Pier Eight at The Lowry

Last week Liam and I had the opportunity to visit Pier Eight restaurant at The Lowry. We have been really lucky because since we first visit The Lowry we loved it and if it is for food, what more can we ask for?

The restaurant is situated on the side of the building with a large window that allows you to enjoy the majestic views to the waterside of Salford Quays. This time, we went to Pier Eight to try the new menu that was just launched. Pier Eight is characteristic for Serving fresh, British flavours and seasonal ingredients, so always is a great option as the product will be really fresh.

The restaurant is open from 5 pm until late every Thursday & Friday and 12 pm until late every Saturday & Sunday, and you can find a Pre-show meal. Let’s speak now about the food and what we tasted.

STARTERS

I chose the Langoustine ravioli. It comes with curly kale and shellfish sauce. The ravioli was cooked perfectly as the pasta was just on point, not soggy or hard. Inside, it was soft and smooth, the langoustine was cut small, almost like a paste but full of flavour. The sauce was rich, with all the shellfish flavour and that touch of the sea.

Liam had Black pudding with crispy egg. This dish looks amazing on the plate like you do not want to eat it just to keep it looking nice. But as I think, if it looks good it tastes even better. The black pudding was soft and lightly spiced, it comes with apple chutney, pickled celery salad and crème fraiche. The egg was perfectly cooked, with a runny yolk.

MAINS

Duck breast and Lamb rump were our options. We asked for both meat to be cooked pink and they were spot on with the cooking. The Duck breast comes with rabbit rolls, celeriac purée, Lancashire Bomb gratin potato and cherry jus. The celeriac purée was smooth and the mix with the sweet cherry jus makes the perfect combination with the duck, on the side, the Lancashire Bomb was amazing, with a lot of cheese and soft potatoes.

The lamb as said before was perfectly cooked, with rosti potato, caramelized cauliflower purée, spinach and cumin jus. The lamb was succulently soft and cut like butter, the crunch from the rosti potato helped add another level of crunch and texture to the dish. The spinach was sautéed well, not over cooped so the spinach was soggy, and was slightly salty which worked well with the combination of the sweetness from the caramelized cauliflower, overall the element worked really well together.

DESSERTS

Liam and I are quite different when it comes to dessert, as I will always find room for a dessert, and Liam won't unless something really takes his fancy.

For everyone that knows me well, I love sticky toffee pudding! I will eat close to my bodyweight in it if I could. Now this one I had was a miniature square mountain in size, towering high with golden toffee running down it and with pecans capping its peak. This dessert was amazing, the sponge was so soft and light, and it broke apart in your mouth without chewing. The toffee was velvety and sweet, not too much to make it sickly but with the crunchy pecans on top, it helped to add an extra texture which works amazingly.

This is one of the best sticky Toffee Puddings I have ever had.

Liam went for the Dark Chocolate & pickled pear soufflé, with a chocolate & calvados sauce. This soufflé was impressive from where I was sat, rising from the edges of the ramekin and towering under its own structure, and no it didn’t sag in the middle!

The soufflé was firm on the top, it had a gorgeous crust which was soft to cut into, but then you are greeted by the gorgeously gooey and soft inside. The centre was like chocolate lava, it flowed freely and tasted like pure heaven in every spoonful, the chocolate sauce (not like it needed more) was darker and complimented the already amazingly chocolate dessert with the fusion of the calvados sauce, I could have eaten two desserts if I had to try both of them, they were that good.

Have you visited this restaurant before? If no, what are you waiting for? Check the full menu here.