Let’s eat out
Manchester is not a city with a centre overly
endowed with open spaces and amid what little there is, Lincoln
Square tends to be one of the least well known. As the location
of Manchester’s official memorial to Princess Diana - currently
a
weed-infested disgrace -you might think Lincoln Square would register
on more people’s antennae. But it is President Lincoln’s larger-than-life
bronze statue which gets the attention of those passing by for
the first time, rather than Diana’s rectangular brick fountain-turned-flowerbed
eyesore.
At least the low brick walls double as makeshift
seats for scores of office workers who relax there with their
sandwiches at lunchtime, for this is a traffic-free oasis whose
mature trees soften the modern functionality of the surrounding
architecture. The surfacing of the square, mid-way down Brazennose
Street, once mooted as a grand processional way between town hall
and Courts of Justice, however, is pretty cheap ad nasty.
Many more people will be noticing it, because
Lincoln Square now boasts something unique in the city: al-fresco
Chinese food.
Newcomer restaurant Wing’s Lincoln Square ahs
introduced tables beneath its colonnaded frontage and from noon
to 6pm is serving a comprehensive range of top notch dim sum,
mostly under £3, classic one-plate rice and noodle dishes,
almost all under £10 and snacky light bites which, to their
credit, they have resisted calling tapas.
The daytime ambience is great, though you’ll
have to wait a fortnight or so yet for the alcohol licence to
extend outdoors.
Our first encounter with Wing’s Lincoln Square,
in the evening, gave us a peculiar sense of déjà
vu, like looking at the grown up child of parents you’ve known
for ages.
Its position and major architectural features
-like the glass frontage, the modern sculpted ceiling and pillars
-are reminders of this venue’s recent incarnation as the Lincoln,
which burned brightly for a time as one of Manchester’s top contemporary
European restaurants. Now the style and ambience have been completely
transformed.
The Lincoln’s striking royal blues have been
replaced by browns and beiges to harmonise with the extensive
use of blond wood for screens and partitions.
No doubt with an astute eye on the rapidly developing
Spinningfields complex just across Deansgate as the city’s new
commercial centre of gravity, Wing’s is something of a rare bird
-a serious Chinese restaurant where people can linger over long
lunches and do business in.
Just how serious a restaurant this aspires to
be is evident as soon as one enters. The extensive selection of
wine is kept in two walk-in glass cubicles by the reception desk;
the reds being pampered by a humidifier and the whites by climate
control to ensure they’re chilled to the optimum temperature.
We went as a foursome with two close friends who also know the
Cheadle Hulme restaurant well. The more the merrier, I say, when
dining at a Chinese restaurant, you get the chance to dip into
a lot more dishes. Wing’s menu is strong on dim sum, with 21 separate
items, steamed and fried, and three platters -one labelled "hot
and spicy", another, comprising seafood delicacies -for £5.80
and £6.80 respectively.
The list of starters is also impressive, thereafter
the menu is divided into chicken, beef, lamb, duck, seafood etc
and there are more than 20 vegetarian choices.
The absence of some of Chinatown’s more exotic
fare, like fish lips, jellyfish and chicken’s feet suggests that
the target clientele is European and the price levels point towards
the market’s top end.
Banquets range from £20.90 to £34.90
per head, this latter including baked lobster and a cavalcade
of fish and shellfish.
The evening was not, however, without a sense
of adventure, for we opted to let the restaurant do the choosing,
stipulating only that one of our number didn’t care much for squid,
and soon recognising that what was put before us bore only passing
acquaintance with the regular menu. Soon the engraved glass "lazy
Susan" turntable was loaded with
excellently-crafted dim sum and mini dishes with almost a dozen
different dipping sauces.
There were fish sui mai, prawn and vegetable
dumplings, crab and pork parcels, deliciously crisp and delicate
fried items and fillet steak, which was meltingly tender, in a
vibrant Cantonese sauce.
Plump and juicy fried scallops came with diced
fruit and a creamy mayonnaise-type sauce; crispy shredded chicken
had a clean and lively chilli bite ad contrived to be satisfyingly
moist on the inside; and perfectly-done fillets of Dover sole
were accompanied by asparagus and XO sauce with some of the bones
- this was new one -searingly deep-fried to crunchiness in light
batter parcels. Chinese greens -gylan, a cross between bok choi
and asparagus - were also tiptop and even the accompanying rice
was a culinary treat - mixed with diced scallops and vegetables.
As I mentioned earlier, wine is taken very seriously
with a number of prestigious selections from Bordeaux and Burgundy
listed, plus that greatest of Aussie reds, Penfold’s Grange. House
wines start at £12.90 and our Touraine Sauvignon was an
especially good match with the fish and seafood for £16.90.
Cooking: Some of the best Chinese food in town
Style: A winning combination for business and
pleasure
Plus: Al fresco dim sum
Minus: Lincoln Square needs an upgrade
Value: Doing what we did comes to around £25
- £30 a head, plus drinks.
Rating: 4 stars
Ray King
Manchester Evening News -18th June 2004
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