Winsome - Launch

Manchester has been blessed with a real bolstering of our mid-market offering in the last 12 months.  We've seen some seriously good new openings in that period, and one which stands out is Winsome, headed up by the legend who is Shaun Moffat. 

We were lucky enough to be invited down for a press and influencer preview and as ever, Shaun Moffat's flavour-driven cooking knocks things out of the park and Shaun is undoubtedly a Chef who above all else has a true grasp of what people want to eat most of the time, and what's straight-up delicious, dressed in a high end yet informal setting. Shaun's style and mantra suits Manchester perfectly. The wet offering is also similarly top drawer, as you'd expect when Tom Fastiggi is involved. 

We won't detail what we ate, as it was the whole menu, so the attached image details things, but outstanding plates were;

• Casino Oysters
• Rabbit Pie, Ramson and Bacon Pie
• Asparagus and Dippy Eggs with Caviar
• Crab Salad
• Potatoes with Seaweed
• Fudge  

When we heard that Shaun was joining Maya, it instantly felt like a very strange appointment.  I'm a staunch believer that a well-regarded Chef's cooking style should never be dictated by the venue at which they operate, and that the venue should always fall in line with that Chef does naturally and allow their offering to follow that of Chef.  Winsome appears to embrace this perfectly, allowing Shaun to do what he does, unleashed. 

We visited the fantastic Counter 71 in London a few months back. Chef Joe Laker asked us; 'Do you know Shaun Moffat, he's is a great guy'. Before moving onto bigger things, they seemingly worked together at Coqfighter, who purvey some of the country's best fried chicken, done to an elevated standard and totally in-line with that flavour-driven ethos. Great food that people want to eat for any occasion, done really well. 

Anyway, we've been back as paying customers to bag some wine and oysters when passing by without a reservation, but look forward to calling back for that full fat experience in the coming few weeks once they’ve fully bedded in, to get that proper review done.  I can tell already that it should be a good one!