One 88 Kitchen & Bar

Spot-on bistro food in the ‘burbs by a steady hand is what you’ll find at One 88 Kitchen & Bar.

Local legend and chef-patron David Gale has gone back to basics with this well-pitched bistro in Whitefield. Food is casual, comforting and, well, perfect.

Think dishes such as locally reared, thick Barnsley chop with chips, confit tomatoes and garlic butter. Or slow cooked ox cheek with spring onion mash, or Lancashire hotpot with home-pickled cabbage.

Gale takes few risks yet diners can expect nothing but the best from the beginning (such as slow-cooked tomato soup, with bread from Slattery’s bakery across the road) to homely puds such as seasonal fruit crumble or flaky Eccles cakes.

Wines include favourites and new discoveries. Sourcing is spot on from this former international star. In the early 2000s Gale came back to his native Manchester from Soho House, New York to head up the kitchens at the Rossetti (now Abode) Hotel. Then came a long stint at the Deansgate Hilton before recent consultancy work, notably for the Mughli group.

Now he’s got his own place, this master craftsman is turning out the classics – and why not?

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