Dined at SKOF this weekend and it very quickly became one of my favourite fine dining experiences of the last few years. Tom Barnes was part of the team at L'Enclume for a lot of their success, and thought I haven't eaten there, from reading and looking into the food, it seems like that style of cooking has very much followed him to Manchester – technically perfect, with big flavours and a focus on celebrating local producers.
Particular highlights were the miso custard (unfortunately not pictured – we ate it at the chef's counter and I left my phone on the table!) which was ridiculously meaty and savoury, the confit potatoes which came with the deepest, cheesiest flavoured sauce I've ever eaten, and the duck, which again came with an insanely deep and layered sauce, and some wonderful duck-filled bread to mop it all up. I loved the story about the tiramisu to finish – his late dad's favourite dessert, and a really humble but gorgeous end to the meal. The one slight disappointment was the rhubarb dessert, which I expected to be a bit punchier, but it was still very tasty, just not as rhubarb-forward as I expected from seeing it on the menu.
Service was excellent – warm and relaxed, the whole team were great and all the chat seemed very genuine, rather than the forced 'jokes' and interaction you sometimes see. Also worth mentioning that we did their mixed pairing, which was a really nice mix of beers, wines and soft drinks that complimented the meal incredibly well (and made a drinks pairing significantly more accessible to someone who had plans for after the meal and didn't want to be 7 glasses of wine deep at 3 in the afternoon!)
I wouldn't hesitate to go back, and I highly recommend it to anyone.
by jamesb2319