Tartuffe at Kampus
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor
Taking a break from their usual location at Side Street Studio on Quay Street, Tartuffe took over The Bungalow at Kampus in late October as part of the Eat Well Do Good festival celebrating Manchester’s hospitality industry. This Sunday supper club showed off the kitchen’s French-inspired culinary know-how, with their chicken skills taking centre stage.
A restaurant is about more than just food and Tartuffe certainly passes the atmosphere test. The energy in the room is up there with the best – cheerful, buzzy and friendly. Everyone in the room, from punters to chefs to front of house, gives off nothing but warmth and positivity.
The pickle-infused gimlet welcome drink helps. It’s a sharp, smart start to the meal that sets the mood – elegant and pleasantly surprising.
Mini hors d’ouvres kick things off: intricately constructed hash browns, with layers of Highland beef tartare, cured egg yolk and Norfolk shiitake mushrooms pickled in IPA. They’re clever little morsels that wouldn’t look out of place on a high-end tasting menu.
The seafood course is a fine example of Tartuffe’s expertise when it comes to French cuisine. Monkfish, mussel and a barbecued langoustine, resting in an aromatic bouilabiase and accompanying rouille. It’s rich and delicious, and the quality is sky high.
The rotisserie chicken is a showstopping main. The meat is soft and moreish, with a pleasingly crispy skin where it matters, a bowl of well-balanced greens and a sublime chicken dripping jus.
Pleasingly, it comes with a side plate of tartiflette, a soft-but-firm layered creamy potato dish, rarely spotted in Manchester. Tartuffe’s take on it is made with brandy cream, Ogleshield cheese and smoked salt-cured pork, with a watercress and smoked garlic velouté. Even on this memorable menu, it stands out.
Finally, Black Forest gateau – the made-fresh kind, not the dug-out-from-the-back-of-the-freezer kind that sullied this Germanic dessert’s good name. The chocolate is darker than a Brothers Grimm bedtime story and works a treat with the dark berry and currant flavours. It’s a dramatic end to a powerful meal.
The word ‘tartuffe’ might translate as ‘imposter’ but there’s nothing phony about this meal. It’s a superbly executed journey through the best of Northern Europe – all about dramatic dishes and authentic flavours.
