Last night, Thursday 23 January I visited The Glasshouse At Worsley to celebrate Burns Night with a traditional dinner with my good friends, Bill and Cath Nolan. This was my first time here but I had been assured by many people that the food they prepare and serve is amazing also the prices are hard to believe, which is a good incentive to visit. The Glass House is a specialist training restaurant manned by trained chefs and culinary students who are encouraged to express their culinary artistry to create mouth watering meals for the customers. We were led to our table by a member of the attentive staff who gave us our menus and took our order, and what an amazing choice of food was available. For starters you could choose from, Beetroot Marinated Mackerel, Arbroath Smokie Bon-Bons, Ham Hock Terrine, or Spiced lentil and Garlic Broth. I chose the Ham Hock Terrine which came with pickled cauliflower and whisky soaked sultana salad, the pickled cauliflower's zingy taste really complimented the terrine to give a fresh, clean taste in your mouth, really delicious. This was followed by, yes, you guessed, Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with a drizzle of rich gravy, the presentation of the meal was a delight to behold, the haggis was topped by a rich layer of mashed potato, prepared in a food ring, I was well impressed and it virtually melted in your mouth, beautiful. Pausing for breath I had a bottle of Peroni lager brought to the table from a well stocked bar. For the Main Course you could choose from, Roast Haunch of Venison, Poached River Spey Salmon or Risotto of Scottish Wild Mushrooms. I plumped for the Venison which was served with Mealie Pudding and Bramble Jus, this was the highlight of the meal for me, the venison was rich, lean and cooked to perfection, possibly one of the finest meals I have ever tasted, full marks to the chef and staff. As we felt our waistbands expanding we came to the Desserts a choice of Whisky, Walnut and Brown Butter Tart, Clootie Dumpling or Cranachan Parfait, a weight watchers nightmare there I fear! I think you can guess which one I chose? the Tart was served with warm Atholl brose ice cream, how decadent is that? it goes without saying that I threw caution to the wind ate the lot, the joy of food guilt. We sat back to soak up the ambience of the restaurant and to get our breaths back, just when we thought we had, had more than enough, the waiter Nathan presented us with a plate of sugary shortbread slices and Saltire flag decorated chocolate bon-bons, what a lovely gesture, these were placed in a "doggy bag" and taken home...by Billy! So how much did this culinary feast set me back, it cost £20....you read that correctly, £20 for a four course meal which if you were to order in a Manchester or Worsley restaurant would cost you close to £80-100 easily. The beauty of eating at The Glass House is that not only are you getting a first class meal made from the finest, locally sourced, seasonal ingredients you are also helping in the development of the skills of the trainee chefs and staff, a winner, winner in my book. I cannot recommend the Glass House highly enough and I for one will be making return visits. Finally a thank you to John and Wendy who took the time out from their busy schedule to talk to me about their students and their pride in working her, the pleasure was mine. You can contact The Glass House at theglasshouse@salfordcc.ac.uk 0161 6315160 or Facebook.
