Obsidian – a classy hen night (just!)
Mar 20th 2008
Well, my brain cells are slowly coming back online following my totally fabulous hen night last Saturday. If any of my hens are reading this, I truly had a wonderful day/evening, thank you so much.
As this is a blog about food, I won’t dwell too long on the ‘Showgirls’ part of the day other than to say - who knew you could have so much fun with sparkly red top hats and plastic canes! Las Vegas here we come (as long as they don’t mind Showgirls who can’t kick their legs up in time with each other!!). Brilliant fun.
And on to the food. My right hand woman/maid of honour/oldest and bestest friend booked us a table at Obsidian on Princess St. On booking, the restaurant asked her if we could provide our food order about a month in advance due to the size of our party (10 people). Quite rightly she refused (how can you possibly know that far in advance what you fancy eating on the day – if nothing else the amount of alcohol consumed would undoubtedly affect your appetite!). A compromise was agreed and we were asked to turn up half an hour earlier on the night so we could order before we sat down. A perfectly civil arrangement and one which fitted our plan of having a few drinks at the bar first.
The restaurant and bar are below the Arora Hotel on Princess St (where some of us had wisely booked a room, thus avoiding the need to stagger drunkenly around the cold streets of Manchester at the end of the evening). We arrived in the bar at the end of happy hour, which meant it was nicely busy with a good buzz to it. The clientele was smartly dressed without being pretentious (including a large group of men who were suited and booted – either a work do or the stag nights have smartened up their act in Manchester). The DJ (strangely middle-aged looking in a striped shirt, slight paunch and dodgy haircut) was playing some great, funky music, and our only criticism was there wasn’t any space to have a bit of a dance later on.
We felt it only polite to try and work our way through a sizeable chunk of the cocktail menu. Stars of the show, from memory (which obviously can’t be totally relied on under the circumstances) were: the champagne cocktails, which looked glamorous and tasted divine; the Ginnie Rae (which for the purposes of this blog I tested several times just to make sure) - a refreshing mix of gin, raspberry liqueur, crushed raspberries and cranberry juice over crushed ice; the Porn Star Martini which had a sharp passionfruit tang; and I saw a good few Cosmopolitans being downed too. The only disappointment was a Bloody Mary which had too much chilli.
And the food was just great, my only regret being the amount of alcohol consumed, preventing me from finishing each course! In order to ’save room for later’ I opted for bread and olives to start, which came with a dish of balsamic and olive oil, the bread covered with a napkin to keep it warm (mmm). This was followed by Obsidian’s ’signature dish’, the Fish Pie, a deep dish of smoked haddock, cod and ? (can’t remember!) in a creamy sauce topped with mash that was nicely crisp on top, served with an individual mini copper pot of juicy, buttery green beans. It was simple food done very, very well. We had a great (few bottles of) Sauvignon Blanc with the meal, and for the first time I understood what the term ‘grassy’ meant when referring to wine. I really could smell that crisp, freshly cut grass smell!
From what I could see all the other main courses went down a treat too, but I was too distracted to ask what everyone else thought because I was involved in a very important game of ‘Mr & Mrs’. Genius!
I attempted dessert because obviously it would’ve been unthinkable not to try one, but I have to admit to having assistance in finishing it. I chose the Obsidian Sundae, which arrived in a very tall Knickerbocker Glory glass. There were layers of juicy, tangy berry fruits, alternating with sponge, and cream and who knows what else. I didn’t make it to the jelly at the end but it certainly looked impressive (in a slightly childish, “I’ve got a long spoon!” way) and tasted gorgeous.
I can’t remember what the bill came to (I wasn’t allowed to contribute anyway) but I do remember that for three courses, and a few bottles of wine and some more cocktails, everyone was surprised at how reasonable it was. It’s not a huge restaurant so you don’t feel overcrowded, and there are some cool little booths down the side of the room for more intimate meals. The lighting was subdued but not dark, and the decor was quite funky. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be back for more (although maybe without quite so many cocktails so I can appreciate the food a bit better!)
Mar 20th 2008
Where are the pictures? We demand pictures!!!
I (along with a large proportion of NYC) have already seen pictures from the Stag now we want the Hen to match!
Jun 3rd 2008
This was the most enjoyable hen night I’ve been on and Gastrogirl WAS Showgirl for a night! This was a great night and fantastic feast, particularly after 2 hours of frolicking with those canes. ;-) I would definitely go back to Obsidian too. Very stylish cocktail bar and restaurant -contemporary but not overdone. It’s a bit of a hidden gem really being in the basement. I had the ravioli to start (can’t remember details but was yum!) then roasted sea bass which despite the alcohol intake, I remember as being delicious. Great choice of venue!