Rochdale’s newest restaurant The Martlet receives rave review in The Guardian

The Martlet, the new restaurant that’s recently opened its doors within the magnificent Rochdale Town Hall, has been given a glowing review in The Guardian this weekend.

Restaurant critic Jay Rayner paid a visit to the grand new space and summarised it as ‘Civic pride meets glorious cooking at a remarkably fair price’.

The Marlet opened in the heart of Rochdale town centre a few months ago, led by award-winning chef Darren Parkinson, who grew up locally in Heywood, and Great British Menu star Tristan Welch.

Their menu is packed with classic northern dishes like Jackson’s rag pudding, and bacon chop with Bury Black Pudding and Denshaw egg – and we here at The Manc love it.

But now it’s also caught the eye of the nation’s biggest food critic, who praised The Martlet’s easy but refined all-day approach to feeding its customers, describing it as ‘smart, witty and generous’.

Jay Rayner’s Guardian review said: “[Rochdale Town Hall] could have installed a modish and frankly annoying pan-European small plates bistro that nobody wanted. Or it could have been a bog-standard coffee and cake job…

“But it is so much more. It’s a broad offering drawing on the heritage of Greater Manchester in a smart, witty and generous way, and all at the sort of prices that will make those used to shaking down their bank accounts for a bit of lunch, sigh deeply.”

Of the many locally-flavoured items on the menu, he singled out the Bury black pudding Scotch egg (‘a class piece of work’); the traditional rag pudding (with ‘gravy so glossy you could check your hair and make up in the reflection’); and the pork chop (with ‘a seared ribbon of fat at its back, guaranteed to sustain you through a Rochdale winter’).

He also wrote: “You may find portion size challenging. In these parts that’s quite as it should be.”

Rayner also praised the Rochdale Town Hall itself (how could you not set foot in this building and not immediately fall in love?), saying ‘Whatever you do, make time to drift slack-jawed through these chambers’.

The Marlet has said it’s ‘over the moon’ with its review in The Guardian.

What a shining endorsement for this Greater Manchester town.

Read more

• The best light trails around Greater Manchester to explore this winter
• The Martlet – Rochdale Town Hall’s proudly northern restaurant is a triumph
• Rochdale Town Hall, one of Greater Manchester’s most spectacular buildings, reopens

Featured image: The Manc Group