It was so tranquil in the pale winter sunshine I felt like an intruder as I screeched into the surprisingly large car park of the Lord Nelson. A curly-mopped, tight-bearded, faun-like figure in an apron stepped forward to welcome us to his new riverbank world. Robert Owen Brown, I presume?
Yes a rare sighting of one of that great lost tribe of maverick chefs who once roamed our city's kitchens - Robert Kisby, Francis Carroll, Steve McLoughlin, Colin Buchan, men with talent to burn (or cunningly sear), all now in a variety of exiles.
Since Owen Brown had to abandon his acclaimed city centre gastropub, The Bridge, earlier in the year, his name has been linked with any number of high-profile chef vacancies, as the wheels fell off the rollercoaster at too many of our top restaurants.
Sourcing
The man himself has quietly pursued his countryside interests, sourcing quality game for folk and, more recently, honing his lapsed butchery skills on a bunch of Tamworth pigs.
It was his first stab at making his own ham which provided one of the ingredients in my companion's main, hotch potch of cornfed chicken with ham, leeks, broth and herb dumplings.
The moment I saw it on the menu a warm glow suffused my innards. It's Chop House heritage cheer grub.
And Thomas's begat Sam's and, behold, our Rob (who made his mark at those revered establishments) indirectly begat The Ladybarn in Fallowfield, where his Bridge disciple Kim Merritt now cooks (we gave it four stars recently). Meanwhile, as OB overhauls the kitchen at The Lord Nelson for the owners, he has Zak, his compadre from Bridge Street at his side.Alas, the Lord Nelson, handsome and four-square on the outside, is a semi-open plan pub's pub. Inside, the locals were stoking up on Stella in readiness for the Manchester derby on Sky; the hostelry carpet was a time-warp collector's item; a chalked-up sign advertised `T-bone steak, 14oz, é14.95'; the plastic wine list was drab excuse. But... the food, mmm.
My lovely companion - also a Neil, who for incognito purposes we will dub Herr Doppelganger - enthused about a soundtrack that name-checked Adam Ant, The Libertines and Cyndi Lauper. I was concentrating on my chilli spiced fish cakes and baby salad in a lemon and lime mayonnaise (é4.50) - five gorgeous deep-fried balls of white fish and prawns with acute zing.
It eased my regrets at not ordering Neil's equally substantial starter for é3.95 - crispy black pudding potato cake, topped by a soft poached egg, a swirl of tarragon butter sauce the perfect accompaniment.
Herr Doppelganger, stickler that he is, felt the aforementioned ham didn't add anything extra to his hotch potch. Chorizo would have lifted the broth. The cornfed chicken was a treat, the dumplings light and subtly herby. The whole dish was just é7.50 - amazing value for food of this unfussy accomplishment.
Mahogany
For a pound more, my slow-braised shank of lamb was also a glory. It came to the table like some mahogany-glazed tepee, encamped on beetroot, parsnip, celeriac cubes, smothered in an intense rosemary gravy (Stoneclough is a jus-free zone). The buttery mash and onion rings, é1.50, apiece came in titanic proportions and were hardly required.
All puds are é4. Owen Brown's warm Eccles cakes became something of a secret vice for me at The Bridge, but Doppelganger, true to his name, nursed the same craving, so I let him snaffle the curranty wonders and their partnering vanilla ice cream.
Consolation for me came from a wedge of rich dark chocolate mousse with nursery wet-dream caramelised banana accompaniment in slathers of butterscotch sauce.
It is a trek out to Stoneclough from the city, but it is no Bridge too far. Catch the quixotic ROB while you can. Chefs do come with itchy feet these days.
Lord Nelson, Kearsley Hall Road, Stoneclough, near Radcliffe, Manchester, (01204 579302). Tweet
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5 che-eques on
4 hot trays
3 mixin bowls
2 bags 'o' chips
and a pan in the dish wash-er
I have visited the lord nelson a few times over the last couple of years ,my wife being a local of the region and I find that it has improved a great deal in this time ,a good night out for all .
Excellent pub, excellent restaurant, excellent locals!!! Beautiful scenery (once sketched by Lowry) just excellent overall. Visit in summer too! This pub also has an outside bar.
After reading the review in the Metro I was eager to visit the restaurant. I went along with my friend and our 2 children (aged 2). We both ordered the hot pot which arrived in a timely manner and while pleasant enough, wouldn't win many stars in my opinion. After a pleasant enough lunch we were publicly chastised for our children's behaviour. The server who approached us was rude, bullyish and completely intolerant of our children as they had dared to run through the bar area twice.Whilst I'm the first to expect parents to control their children we all know 2 year olds are not going to sit throughout an entire meal with their hands on their laps.On both occasions the children were brought back to the table and told to behave. I cannot believe that a pub that has a children's food selection and offers high chairs does not in fact tolerate children and we were informed that the children's area was in fact outside - what? in January in the rain? The server was raising his voice, was shouting at us and made it clear that the 4 of us were not welcome again. And all we wanted was to treat the children to a lovely lunch out so let this be a warning to other parents who may have been thinking of taking their children to the Lord Nelson, unless you want to sit outside you won't be made to feel especially welcome.
As a restaurant owner, I am not surprised that this reader was ticked off about the behaviour of her children. Apart from the annoyance caused to other diners, there is the obvious risk to the children from waiters carrying hot food, drinks, glasses, bottles etc. Whilst I do not condone the attitude of the staff, I have to ask why the children did not use the high chairs on offer and why a treat for a two year old is lunch in a pub when they don't know the difference between a chicken nugget and a filet mignon? More like a treat for Mum I think
My husband and myself were dining at the Lord Nelson last Saturday and were disgusted at the way the waiter addressed the two young women and their children. He obviously would win no prizes for diplomacy. I think all of Stoneclough would have heard the way he ranted and raved at them. Granted the children left their seats a couple of times but a) they were too big for highchairs and b) the two young women did their best to bring the toddlers back to the table. Whilst the food was OK, the manner of the waiter will definitely stop us eating there again.
In response to J's comments, our children are two and a half and to squeeze them into the small wooden high chairs available would have been very uncomfortable for them, if not impossible. The server was shouting at us despite our requests for him to keep his voice down. He treated us like criminals not customers. Also if the Lord Nelson is so concerned about our children not getting in the way of waitresses with hot food and getting burnt (not likely in this instance as there were only 4 tables occupied) maybe they shouldn't serve childrens meals on red hot plates!
I have lived in Stoneclough for several years and I'm a regular at the Lord Nelson,until I was told by the waiter not to come back again as my 2 year old son was ill mannered and bad behaved!! To say I nearly collapsed from shock is an understatement. The reason the waiter gave was becuase my son had got up and wandered across to another empty table,so that meant they had to re set the table giving the staff more work to do. I apologised politely and stressed that I did get my son as soon as went over to the table but it seemed the waiter was intent on humiliating me infront of all his other customers by shouting and mocking my parental abilities. If my son was screaming, crying or throwing a tantrum disturbing other diners I could understand but as most of the meal he sat on his chair and looked out the window at the birds and trees I found it extremley upsetting. If the pub does not want children to dine there please do not have a childrens meals and high chairs available. This used to be a beautiful family pub which had regular family fun days in the summer but now it seems its forgetting the community which made it the Lord Nelson.
Does this venue not realise it is in the hospitality business. After having read about the restaurant in the MEN and hearing good things on Radio Manchester we were due to pay a visit travelling especially from Altrincham.Now having read the above reviews we will not.
The restaurant should either accept children and treat them with respect and hospitality or not accept them. businesses who do not respect there customers with respect will not last. I guess this one will be gone within the year. I wish it no luck
Overall, the dining experience at the Lord Nelson was an enjoyable one. However, an amendment to our original booking meant that we were told we had no table when we arrived. The error was clearly the restaurant's but they were initially unwilling to do much about it. Interestingly one member of staff was "just a waitress" when we asked to speak to someone to express our displeasure, but when we complimented her on the standard of the food at the end of the meal, she had become the owner. Hmmm...
The food was lovely and represents excellent value for money. The wine list is average, with both bottles we ordered being unavailable. We weren't given the option to make another selection, instead a different bottle was brought to us already opened.
On the whole, a pleasant evening and I would probably return. Customer service and attention the detail is somewhat lacking though.
All these parents of two-year-olds seem to think that their children behaved like angels, while simultaneously admitting they ran through the bar area, got up from their seats and wandered over to other tables which then had to be re-set by the staff. If your child is too young to sit at a table during a meal, then either don't take your child out for dinner or choose a pub with a proper children's area. I like kids, but I don't go out for a meal, particularly in a pub, to have kids running around me. I've lost count of the number of times that a meal has been spoiled for me by bored children either running around getting under people's feet, or being constantly reprimanded by their parents. It's selfish of parents to expect other diners to put up with their toddlers and equally selfish to expect their toddlers to put up with what, for a child of that age, is an incredibly boring couple of hours in a pub. When they are old enough to sit down and enjoy a decent meal, then by all means bring them to restaurants, but not when they are of an age at which they will get no pleasure from the experience and will just keep getting up and disturbing other people who have come for an evening out away from the kids.
After being regular diners at The Bridge, which is only a few minutes' walk from our house, we became such fans of Robert Owen-Brown's food that we decided to drive to Stoneclough to visit the Lord Nelson last night. We weren't disappointed - the food was excellent and amazingly good value given the quality of the ingredients and the cooking. My hot-smoked salmon starter was simple but delicious as the salmon was smoked perfectly and the flavour was distinct but subtle, rather than over-powering. I then had the fish stew which was very impressive, packed with plenty of fish and fresh vegetables, all cooked to perfection rather than starting to disintegrate. I had been concerned that the creaminess of the stew might have been too rich, but in fact it was light and delicate. I can also recommend the chocolate brownie with butterscotch sauce, which was dark and rich with a meltingly soft centre. My boyfriend also had nothing but good things to say about his black pudding and potato cake, fillet steak with duck-fat chips and vanilla-scented rice pudding. Our waiter was polite, cheerful and attentive and the food arrived promptly.
The only thing that stopped me from giving the Lord Nelson a five-star rating was the fact that the restaurant area itself is dated and impersonal. One of the things we liked about The Bridge was that it had a comfortable, cosy, shabby-chic feel, whereas the Lord Nelson's dining room feels more like the sort of place you'd get served a slightly over-cooked chicken-in-basket followed by frozen Black Forest gateau. The atmosphere doesn't quite match up to the outstanding food. However, the food's the most important thing and based on that I definitely recommend a visit. Everyone who eats the microwaved rubbish at McPub chains like Brewers' Fayre etc should come to the Lord Nelson instead and have REAL food!
I quite agree with the other person who pointed this out. A pub (regardless of whether a restaurant is attached or not) is not a suitable place to take a child and I am tired with having to tolerate the high minded attitude of a significant minority of parents that seem to think it is. A pub is a place where grown-ups deliberately choose to go and socialise with other grown-ups: they consume alcohol; they discuss topics of conversation which they would not necessarily want their own, or anyone else's children to hear. Some occasionally swear, plus I once even saw a person fall over. So forgive me but I am a little perplexed as to why some parents on this thread seem to think it's a suitable place to take their children.
Plain and simple you should not be taking your children into pubs in the first place because it is not suitable for them they are too young (and let's face it, it's more boring than everything else they could be doing). Plus it's very selfish of you to not allow your fellow grown-ups (including other parents) the opportunity and place to have a bit of a break on their own. Why not have a proper family day out and some real fun together or, get someone to baby-sit and treat yourself to some proper grown-up time down the pub. Please please please stop conflating the two activities.
...And now to the food at the Nelson. Heaven. Mr Robert, welcome back we've missed you!
Game of the day Rabbit) & Cheese and biscuits,excellent service and gorgeous food.
After numerous recommendations from friends I decided to visit the Lord Nelson and take in company a friend. On arrival we were politely greeted by a young gentleman named Stuart. We were promptly seated and a young lady took our order for drinks.
The food was of an excellent standard and my friend I enjoyed the choice of meals immensely. I found the service to be of a good standard and felt that the whole experience from entrance to exit was pleasurable. I wouldn…lt;sup>TM</sup>t hesitate to recommend The Lord Nelson to friends and family.
Just such LOVERLY Grub!!!!
Tasty- So reasonably priced- Will Definately be back for MORE!!!!