Summer Menu at Lost and Found Knutsford

Working in town means I am often spoilt with city centre restaurant options in Manchester. It’s too easy to eat out after work with friends or colleagues and at least a few times a week we find ourselves heading out for lunch with clients. So, at the weekend, I like to take the chance to escape the city (for a day at least!) to venture out into the Cheshire countryside and explore some of the high end suburbs around Manchester. It always helps to have a change of scene and paired with our amazing sunny weather right now, an artisan market and a lovely relaxed stroll around a quaint village, it makes for near perfect date material… With that in mind, yesterday I popped along (with a date) to Lost and Found Knutsford to try their new 2018 Summer Menu.

Lost and Found Knutsford is located centrally in Knutsford in an old Town Hall building previously owned by the Tatton Family (right near Tatton Park, of course!). The building is huge and absolutely stunning with gorgeous stain glass windows and beam ceilings. It has also been decorated perfectly to give the historic building a modern twist, with lots of brass, mid century style furniture and metallic details. In fact, it’s exactly how I would love to decorate my home!

Once inside, we were welcomed by the super friendly staff and made to feel at home right away as we settled down to look over the extensive cocktail menu. There were so many cocktails to choose from, but we decided to go for the pretty in pink Ms Emily B Kingsley (£9.75) which contained Kokoro Gin, Lanique Rose, Briottet Rhubarbe, Franklin and Sons Natural Indian Tonic Water Lemon juice. It tasted lovely and sweet and contrasted with the more fresh and fizzy flavour of the Emerald Spring Fizz (£8.95) cocktail we chose, with Absolut Citron Vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Prosecco, Cucumber, Lemon juice sugar syrup.

For starters, I chose the Harissa Glazed Aubergine (£7.00) which was chunky strips of roasted aubergine served with garlic yoghurt, chillis and toasted seeds. I absolutely love aubergine – not just for the cheeky use of its emoji – but for the unusual texture of it and this appetiser was no exception. It was cooked perfectly so it was soft yet supple inside and had a spice to it.

My plus 1 chose the Grilled Chicken Skewers (£8.00), served in satay sauce with cucumber, carrot, spring onion and coriander. As a fan of peanut butter, he was really pleased with the flavour and despite me not eating chicken, even tried to will me to try a piece. I politely declined but nice to know he enjoyed it!

We had a hard time choosing our main courses. The menu at Lost and Found Knutsford is so varied and having been told that they’re the only restaurant in Knutsford to have a Josper (a charcoal oven that cooks really quickly at 400 degrees meaning you get a great smoky flavour), we decided it would be rude not to try something from this and so my date went for the 8oz Fillet Steak (£24.00). He had this served medium rare with garlic butter and a side of Seasonal Vegetables (£3.50) and absolutely devoured it when I was only halfway through mine… That can only be a good sign, right?

Having had the Poppy Seed Battered Hake (£13.50) recommended to us, I decided to try this and was absolutely not disappointed. It was a lot like a posh fish ‘n’ chips with an Asian Twist. Served with masala spiced chips, a minted pea raita and mango chutney dip it was a hybrid between a traditional dish with a modern take – and it was delicious!

It was soon time for a cocktail top up – we just had to make the most of the long list of Lost and Found drinks, right? This time we chose a Storm Bronte (£8.25), possibly chosen due to it’s name affiliation with our local hockey team Manchester Storm, which contained Havana 3YO Rum Havana Club Especial Rum, QuiQuiRiQui Matatlan Mezcal Espadin, Passion fruit syrup and lime juice and San Pellegrino Blood Orange. This was my favourite of all the cocktails because it was so fruity and sweet and reminded me a lot of a Pornstar Martini but in a long drink.

Our final cocktail we tried was a Fine and Dandy (£8.75) served in a super cute mason jar, with Absolut Vodka, Sipsmith Sloe Gin, Disaronno Amaretto, Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock, Mixed fruits jam, Lemon juice and vanilla syrup. This was still sweet but with a more bitter edge and was a really refreshing way to finish off our meal.

I’m usually too full to have dessert when I go out for a meal, but I had left some room for Lost and Found’s White Chocolate and Raspberry Eton Mess (£7.50). Presented beautifully (almost too good to eat, but not quite!) it was served with vanilla cream, fresh raspberries, meringue and raspberry sorbet that complimented it perfectly. Too good to share too, as my guest didn’t get a look in and instead decided to stay well behaved and sip on a coffee. Good boy.

Over all, we had a fabulous time at Lost and Found Knutsford and I would definitely recommend stopping by if you are looking for somewhere sophisticated for a Sunday lunch day date.