In response to readers who have asked for the occasional review of establishments outside East Lancashire, Steve Orrell heads into Manchester For the uninitiated, Albert’s Shed happens to be a restaurant in the Castlefield area.

Albert apparently kept his tools in the building and agreed to move them out on condition it was named after him, first opening up in 2004.

The restaurant was buzzing when we arrived for our 6pm booking – there was even a wedding party in-situ.

The restaurant proclaims its menu is “unashamedly British with some hints of Italian and favourites from around the globe”.

We began with Albert’s sharing board (£8.50), consisting of hummus, black olive tapenade and smoked salmon and dill mascarpone served with flatbreads. Loved the smoked salmon dip, an excellent beginning.

Moving on to starters it was smoked haddock and gruyère fishcakes (£5.50) for me. Pan seared king scallops, with Bury black pudding, crispy pancetta and a lemon and dill cream sauce (£7) and asparagus and baked egg (£5.50) were the other selections which went down well.

For main course, I’d selected the coconut and lime chicken curry (£13.25). This was made up ofchargrilled chicken breast with delicately spiced Malaysian curry sauce.

My three companions all went for the confit duck (£16) which was pronounced delicious.

All I can say is that whoever persuaded Albert to shift his tools all those years ago, made a very wise move.

VERDICT

  • Food: 8
  • Drink: 8
  • Service 9
  • Atmosphere: 8
  • Value: 8