Owen's Kitchen and Bar in Trafford

Another fantastic meal at Riva. The fish specials are a must although I’m always drawn to the fish and chips , never fails -so fresh . The new wine list has some excellent choices . Thank you to Aneta and Lindsey for looking after us as usual, I think probably now the only independent restaurant in the area. Will be back soon.

For a small restaurant out in the suburbs, there’s ambitious cooking going on here. Food is by way of a shortish tasting menu and, at its centre, is the aptly named “Core Menu”. That runs to six courses (they count bread as one of them) plus a couple of snacks to start and sweets with your coffee, priced keenly at £55. There’s a shorter, cheaper version and, also , a longer more expensive one. And they can also tweakr them into a gluten free version, shellfish free version and a vegetarian (but not vegan) version. We had the core version last time and that’s what we ordered again – of course,, the dishes have been seasonally adjusted since we were here in the spring and were all completely different. Those snacks are a cracking way to start. A single bite version of “Nan’s cheese & onion pie” and a deep fried “doughnut” of soft pulled belly pork. I’d have happily eaten a bucket load of the latter. And then on to the bread course. There’s a mini truffle flavoured loaf for each of us, with butter and chicken liver parfait for slathering over. And a little bowl of chicken soup for sipping or dipping (both work). Cubes of roasted (?) smoked celeriac sat in a puddle of a tasty sauce, along with cubes and thin strips of pear and a dab of what I think was a tarragon puree. I thought it a tad too sweet but nice enough. Coley is a very sustainable fish and is an easy choice to replace cod. Here a small fillet is roasted and served along with a parsnip puree, cubes of bacon, and the almost celery like flavour of lovage. The final savoury course features chicken breast cooked with Brightside Brewery’s Mancunian IPA beer from 12 miles away in Radcliffe. Long cooked leg meat goes into a mini pie (yes, that’s two pies on the menu – this is Greater Manchester, after all). And very seasonal Jerusalem artichoke makes an appearance as crisps and puree. The first dessert, described as a palate cleanser, is a mix of plum sorbet, tangy yoghurt and mint caramel. It’s delicious – fetch me another bucket. But it’s not as delish as the second dessert – milk chocolate ganache, pistachio mousse, an orange cream and an orange flavoured cracker. We finished with good espresso . It came with a couple of sweet nibbles – a sharp raspberry jelly (too sharp to work well with coffee) and a coconut, chocolate fudge – think the flavours of Bounty. Service is smiley and very on the ball.

Wonderfully welcoming cafe, staff are so attentive and professional.

Excellent food with a friendly relaxed atmosphere would strongly recommend.

Great food, Milla was so lovely