Seasonal neighbourhood bistro · Manchester · twenty-eight seats
Saplings.
An open kitchen on Tib Street cooking what's good this week, with the people who grow it. Menu rewritten every Tuesday morning.
Photograph · the back-room candles, early service · January
A note from the kitchen
"We write the menu after the suppliers call, not before. By the time something arrives on your plate it's usually been pulled out of the ground in the last forty-eight hours — sometimes the morning of."
Eloise Carr
Head chef & co-owner
№ 01 · The pass on a Saturday service · Photograph: Sam Wright
№ 02 — This week's menu
Spring,
week three.
Three courses · £42
Lunch & dinner, Wed – Sat. Menu changes every Tuesday morning. Vegetarian and vegan menus available without notice — please flag allergies when you book.
To start
-
12
Cured Loch Duart trout
Pickled forced rhubarb, horseradish, rye crisp
-
11
Asparagus & cultured butter
Six-minute hen's egg, brown shrimp, sorrel
-
10
Twice-baked Lancashire soufflé
Mr Kirkham's tasty, walnut, watercress
Mains
-
26
Galloway beef short rib
Pommes Anna, charred leek, bone-marrow gravy
-
48
Whole Cornish plaice (for two)
Brown butter, capers, Jersey royals — carved at the table
-
22
Roast celeriac & pearl barley
Wild garlic, smoked rapeseed, lovage (vg)
To finish
-
9
Forced rhubarb & custard
Buttermilk shortbread, sheep's-yoghurt sorbet
-
9
Dark chocolate & olive oil
Maldon, toasted hazelnut praline
-
12
Three Northern cheeses
Oatcakes, fig leaf, quince
A new menu goes up at saplings.uk every Wednesday lunchtime.
Wine pairings, by the glass, on the night.
№ 03 — On the room
"The kind of restaurant you wish was on your street.
Then you remember it sort of is —
and you go back on Thursday."
— Jay Rayner, in print, 2023
№ 04 — The room
A converted fabric warehouse
on the corner of Tib Street.
Open kitchen along one wall, twenty-eight covers, four seats at the counter. Old brick on the back, a Welsh dresser holding the crockery, and a wine list that fits on one page.
№ 05 — The list
Twelve farms, sixty miles.
The people who actually grow, raise, catch or churn what arrives at the back door each morning. We don't buy from a wholesaler.
Pextenement Cheese · Littlewoods of Holmfirth · Mossbrook Farm · Out of the Blue · Saddleworth Mushrooms · Mr Kirkham's · Goosnargh Geese · Forager Yorkshire · Cinderhill Gardens · Pennine Game · Linthwaite Trout · Carr Farm Dairy
№ 06 — Reservations
Book a
table.
We hold four counter seats for walk-ins every service. The dining room books up two to three weeks ahead — especially on Fridays. For parties of seven or more, please email hello@saplings.uk.
- Lunch
- Wed – Sat · 12:00 – 14:30
- Dinner
- Wed – Sat · 18:00 – 21:30
- Brunch
- Sunday · 10:30 – 14:00
- Closed
- Monday & Tuesday
Letters
One short note from the kitchen, once a month. The menu, who's growing what, the odd recipe.