Hispi

Set in the beautiful Manchester suburb of Didsbury, Hispi is a 2 AA Rosette bistro headed up by Gary Usher, and is part of the Elite Bistros Ltd. group. Other restaurants include Sticky Walnut, Burnt Truffle, and Kala.

Elite Bistros have used Kickstarter campaigns to open several of their venues, smashing records in the process - £50k was raised within one hour to open their Pinion site in Prescot! A wonderful example of modern innovation and bringing communities together.

On New Years Eve, I headed over to Didsbury to check out Hispi, who were offering a 7 course tasting menu especially for the occasion.

Didsbury is a wonderful area, possessing a multitude of pretty buildings and independent eateries. Hispi fits into this mould, a small and elegant venue, with a dining space which is relaxed and larger than it appears from the outside.

We were here to try the New Years Eve 7 course tasting menu, at £80 per person. There was also the option to include 4 paired wines with select courses for £30 a head.

We started off with a snack of pikelet (a cross between a scone, pancake, and crumpet - I had to look this up myself), with cured sea trout, cream cheese & caviar.

This sounded fancy but was rather basic. The mouthful was fresh and well balanced, especially as I could taste lemon within the cream cheese, however I feel the pikelet didn’t have a place amongst these other ingredients and was similar to eating some wholemeal pitta bread which had been extracted in the shape of a circle with a cookie cutter.

Our starters were provided shortly afterwards; truffled Jerusalem artichoke velouté, crispy egg, charred onions & lovage oil.

This course was a clear step up from the previous. It was rich, beautifully presented, and the Jerusalem artichoke was the star of the dish as it should have been. The only tiny criticism here would be that the textures of the poached egg & velouté together didn’t marry, resulting in a gloopy consistency.

The next course (fish) was terrific and my favourite of the evening. Halibut, celeriac fondant, mushroom, Champagne chicken sauce & fresh chestnut.

The halibut was cooked perfectly, crispy on the outside, moist & tender inside. This is difficult to achieve as halibut contains much less oil compared to other fish, making it ultra-low in fat. If the Champagne chicken sauce was produced at Hispi in bottles, I would have left with a couple tucked into my jacket pocket. It was delicious.

The combination of halibut, sauce, celeriac fondant, mushroom & chestnut was perfect.

The superb fish was followed by the main. Roasted loin of venison, salsify & butter tarte fine (“thin tart”), hazelnut, pickled pear & red wine sauce.

Yet again, the balance of flavours was nailed. Earthy venison which was cooked rare, a rich buttery tarte fine, and a sweet pear, all tied together with the red wine sauce. The tarte fine really was a thing of beauty.

I would add that the venison was bland when consumed on it’s own. I do however appreciate that it was not intended to be eaten this way.

A pre-dessert followed: blood orange, whisky & mint granita. This was a vibrantly fresh palette cleanser.

Dessert consisted of apple tarte tatin & vanilla ice cream.

The tarte tatin was sticky and buttery, with pastry cooked containing a slight crisp - no signs of sogginess, it held together well and was delicious when spooned together with the vanilla ice-cream. Was slightly disappointed to see the ice-cream was a little melted upon arrival!

The tasting menu was wrapped up when the bite sized pieces of salted orange, pecan & dark chocolate fudge arrived alongside our bill.

One had already been swiped away by a fellow diner, hence the mark on the plate pictured below!

I have a craving for something rich and chocolatey after a meal, so this was on the money for me.

I don’t claim to be a wine connoisseur, but each wine that was paired with it’s course complimented it excellently. Our server explained each glass in great detail like a true expert! The courses came out in staggered intervals and was well managed. Nothing felt rushed or delayed.

We finished the evening with a cocktail each, and despite a white Russian not being offered on the drinks list, it was provided upon request. Thank you!

To summarise, I left Hispi feeling satisfied, although a little underwhelmed. The wine pairings were good value for money, but in terms of the tasting menu at £80 per person, I would like to be blown away by the food on my plate. This happened in moments but not consistently throughout the entire evening. In my mind there was an apparent lack of refinement about the experience.

Having said this, we had a brilliant time. I would certainly return to sample their bistro menu!