Bakerie

Bakerie describes itself as a "bread and wine bar". This to me is a good combination of items to base your bar around. I am also a fan of the fact that their website says: "This is Manchester; great people deserve great wine." Two people who clearly agree with this statement are Beth and Dave who put us to shame when they came to our house for dinner on Sautrday and brought us not one, not two but THREE lovely bottles of wine. One of the bottles had been purchased at Bakerie's wine shop and when they told us all about the place, which I hadn't even heard of before, I couldn't wait to go.

So keen were we to go, in fact, that before we had even gotten out of bed the next day, Bailey and I had already made the decision to book a table for two at Bakerie for after our visit to the Night & Day Café £1 Art Show. 

When we arrived, clutching our recently purchased works of art, we were immediately greeted by a very friendly and efficient member of staff who led us to our table and explained how things go down at Bakerie on a Sunday. Basically you have a choice between five different "boards" - their usual Sea, Meat, Veg, and Cheese and the Sunday Roast board. This is an excellent idea as you can make up your own board with a little bit of what you fancy and then any other bits you want from other boards you can add for the reasonable price of £1.95.

This all seems very simple and it was for Bailey who knew straight away that he wanted the Sunday Roast one. But I really struggled to choose between the Sea board which had a lovely selection of fishy treats (even caviar!) or the Veg board which had all my favourite veggie treats on offer. In the end it was the amazing sounding sides that sold me on the Veg but I really want to go back soon and have a Sea board as they sounded awesome. Even once I'd decided to go Veg, I struggled to narrow my choices down to just three as they were all so awesome sounding.

It can only have been about 10 minutes after we ordered our boards that they came flying out of the kitchen. Immediate food envy from neighbouring customers ensued as the massive boards of food literally took over our entire table. Everything looked amazing too.

For my Veg board I'd chosen Stuffed Vine Leaves, Roasted Butternut and Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables. I'd also gone for a cheeky extra order of Salt & Pepper Baked Squid from the Sea Board. This all came with a huge ramekin of Olive Tapenade (I challenge any human to consume this amount of tapenade), a pile of dressed salad and Bakerie Hummus. Oh and let's not forget the bread. The biggest basket of bread designed for one person I've ever seen, it contained four or five massive hunks of different freshly baked delights.

Everything was awesome! All the breads were fantastic, I particularly liked the wholemeal and the rosemary focaccia. They were perfect when dipped into the gorgeous creamy houmous and amazing tapenade - even Bailey who doesn't even like olives was getting stuck into it. All the other bits were lovely too - the highlights being the soft butternut squash and the incredible baked squid. Loved it all!

Bailey was pleasantly surprised by his lunch as he wasn't sure what to expect and felt that this whole "boards" concept really set it apart from your average Sunday cavery. He ordered the Rosemary & Garlic Roasted Beef Topside, Garlic & Herb Butter Basted Chicken, Thyme Roasted Carrots and Cauliflower Cheese. This came with 2 delicious Yorkies piled on top of eachother, roast potatoes and a jug of Red Wine Jus. The meat was beautifully cooked, particularly the chicken. All the other bits were lovely and we both couldn't get enough of the cauliflower cheese, I kept dipping my bread in the sauce as it was so tasty!

So without a doubt we ate more than our fill of gorgeous food on our trip to Bakerie! But not only was the food exemplary but we really did feel that we were treated to fantastic service by both members of staff that dealt with us. The atmosphere in the bar was very chilled out and we could have stayed longer relaxing over some nice wine had we not wanted to go home for the tennis. No complaints with food or service but if we had to nit-pick I'd say it was a bit chilly in the bar (I had to pop my jumper back on) and the tables might have been a bit too close together - I know some people like this sort of vibe but Bailey did grumble when one of the ladies from the table next to us started asking Bailey what he was eating and if it was any good.

We will definitely be returning to Bakerie (I need to eat the Sea board) and I have already been recommending it all over the place so hope that lots of people will be paying them a visit to try out their lovely food, drinks and of course bread. We nipped into the wine shop as we were leaving and there were so many lovely looking bottles. This is excellent because I've always shied away from buying people wine as gifts as I've worried I'd get it wrong but I know I'll be able to trust the friendly and enthusiastic dudes at Bakerie to give me some good recommendations.