Brunch at the Cornerhouse, Oxford Road

A few weeks ago, my parents threw a party to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. It was a great night, full of family, friends, whisky, laughter and Indian food. The next morning, I couldn’t feel my feet (no doubt due to dancing badly in the the silver disco heels pictured above), and was in desperate need of carbohydrates. Which is how I found myself enjoying some brunch at the site of my first (and so far only) job in the restaurant trade, the Cornerhouse.

As any Mancunian will know, the Cornerhouse isn’t, strictly speaking, a restaurant. Instead it’s a huge complex comprising of cinemas showing independent films, a small art gallery, some meeting spaces, a bar and a café. Back in the halcyon days of 2001 when I was a lot younger (and a lot thinner) than I am now, I spent my weekends working in their café and occasionally pulling pints. I’ve got some very fond memories of my time working at the Cornerhouse – it was the first place where I ever tried calimari and tapas, and I still have a scar on my leg after a table collapsed after myself and one of my colleagues flamenco danced on it after one too many post work sangrias. However, the quality of its food back then wasn’t exactly stellar. It was owned by Sodexho (that private catering company you usually find catering schools, hospitals and prisons) and relied heavily on the use of frozen ingredients and gloppy pre-packaged salads. Nowadays, the Cornerhouse does all of its own catering meaning that the range of its food has changed immensely. For one thing, it does brunch. And you’d never have found it serving that in my day unless by brunch, you meant ‘a massive slab of cake’.

My Devilled Mushrooms with Goats Cheese on Sourdough was delicious. The mushrooms were piquant with smoked paprika and just on the right side of spicy. The tangy goats cheese provided a richness which soaked up my hangover like a sponge. Best of all, the portion size was just right – any larger and the whole dish would have been overfacing, and I would have been reduced to wallowing on my chair like a beached whale.

I did feel a slight pang of envy when I saw Mr. Cay’s Croque Monsieur, especially when I saw the ham hanging over the side like a lolling tongue. Because he’s a kinder person than I am, he allowed me to take a bite. With its perfectly melted cheese, thick slabs of salty ham, and firm crunchy sourdough, it was an absolute delight to eat. I had to restrain myself from wolfing down the whole thing whilst his back was turned.

However, the real stand out of the day wasn’t the food, but a Bloody Mary. Shockingly, I’d never actually tried this most classic of cocktails prior to this moment. I’d once sampled one prepared by my ex boyfriend, but had been put off by the fact that it had the consistency of a watery tomato soup. Man, how wrong I was. A perfectly made Bloody Mary is a thing of glory – full of bite and umami. This fine specimen you see above was just the thing to soak up the remnants of my hangover, refreshing and with just enough spice to cut through the aching fug which had taken up residence in my head. It may have been my first Bloody Mary, but it definitely won’t be my last.

The Cornerhouse has changed a lot since the days I worked behind their bar, but it’s all been for the better. Whilst I won’t be dancing on their tables again anytime soon, I’ll definitely be returning for their food.