The space which houses tender has always been fabulous looking and is easily one of the most stunning dining rooms in not just the city centre, but the entire region.  It has 5-star hotel plastered all over it, and on arrival you instantly sense that it's a space with notable history and countless stories under its belt. 

Modern Scandinavian inspired places quite simply can't come close to this level of top-tier grandeur.  And whilst the bones of the room haven't changed since the Stock Exchange was first built, this for me is the best that the room has looked in terms of décor in any iteration of its recent history.

Does the live music really work?  And even if it does, would it be better at the back of the room acting as background music as not to obscure the pass, rather than being a show?

Being transparent; we'd already booked in for 4 people as paying guests to write this review, and were then invited in to carry out a comped write up.  So, we agreed to do so, but only for half of the bill as to keep this review as proper as possible.  We usually don’t write reviews when a meal was comped as it's just bad form and encourages fib telling amongst the less honest food writers/bloggers out there.  But this was all done under the proviso that we will be 100% honest in our scoring and words, and stick to the planned review format rather than do a general write up.  Now with that elephant aside;

So, we paid £486 for 2 of our 4 person group, who went through 4 Chef's menus, 4 wine flights and 3 coffees. The bill should have been £972 but it should be noted that there are more affordable everyday dining options available with their a la carte and lunch menus.

It felt a bit odd having to pay for coffee separately, when petit fours are already included in the menu, as the two go hand in hand.  At almost £250 a head, surely a coffee can be priced into the menu, as is the case at other similarly priced venues in the city.

We opted for the Chef's menu to experience as many dishes as possible, because why wouldn’t you?  An a la carte option is available for those who prefer a shorter or more customised experience though. 

The Chef's menu started with Sourdough, cultured butter and honey. Divinely chewy, with a perfect crust and silky whipped butter.   This was exceptional bread, in a world where all too many bread courses are a sad let down or from the same predictable bought in bakeries.

Jersey Royal was voted by most of the table as the star dish of the evening.  A perfectly cooked potato, pairied with whipped cream cheese, wild garlic and chive.  Humble ingredients and simple, everyday flavours, elevated to become something more that they have the right to be, using strong technique and intelligent garnishes.  It's how good cooking should be.

Tender's Lobster Roll has fast become the IG favourite dish.  Having lobster and also caviar as ingredients probably assist in this somewhat, and both adorn a glazed mini brioche bun to a tee.  A little bite of luxury.

Salmon ramped up the pace of the menu somewhat, as the gears shifted onto what felt like the more main course like items.  My salmon was well cooked, carrying precise salt balance and sported a good, firm texture which still saw the salmon flakes parting was with zero effort.  Nam Jim dressing and wasabi mayo asked as saucing/seasoning, and fitted the bill well.

Pot Roasted Cauliflower was next over the pass, which was being studiously surveyed by Chef Niall.  Nuggets of roasted, nutty cauli, dressed with a similarly nutty sesame, yeast emulsion, along with a burst of sweetness from pomegranate, all tied together with a squirt of citrus.  We loved the flavours of this dish, in particular the sauce.  The wider dish again relied on technique to deliver impact, over simply putting expensive ingredients on the plate.

The evening's main course with a centrepiece of Spit Roast Chicken to share which was served as a roll, and then cut into slices.  I'm assuming that it had earlier been water bathed due to the even cooking and juiciness throughout, and came served with a punchy yet refined gravy/sauce which was of the standards expected from a man who's previously earned 2 Stars.  Rich, deep, velvety and disappeared pretty quickly.  Garnish was some lovely treasured rice and a confit chicken leg salad to add a dash of lightness.

Cheese courses these days are far removed from a slab of Stilton and a few water biscuits.  They tend to be proper courses, with some form of cheese element, and that's how things are at tender.   In this case, studs of blue cheese came plated atop a waffle, paired with pickled walnut and celery for a bite of texture, and white chocolate to add that all important sweetness element. A clever and playful course.

Everybody's favourite tart, salted caramel, was the evening's main pastry action.  The filling again carried giveaway signs of Niall's pedigree and the accompanying banana ice cream was also a winner.  This plate in general was as decadent as you could hope for, with a perfectly pitched balancing act of salty/sweet.

The evening ended with a couple of espressos and some sweet treats, as are obligatory at the end of any multi course experience.

But; the lobster in said roll was a touch overcooked and quite chewy, hence 3 of the 4 of us found that it pulled out of the bun in a single bite, rather than being dissected and coming away in desirable sections.

Our four portions of salmon were all cooked inconsistently.  One was perfect (mine luckily) and the other three were a mix of under and overdone.

The rolled chicken didn't appear to be spit roasted and was screaming out for some colouring in the pan after that low temperature cooking, as the covering skin was limp and lacking in caramelisation too.  A bit of crispiness and a roasted flavour note would have helped things no end.

And as good as the wine was, I'd question the inclusion of having 2 bottles from the same yard in a wine flight.  Variety is key.

Every member of staff was friendly, approachable, carried a big smile, and were clearly versed in 5 star hotel ways.  The ladies of the group saw their wines poured first, which is a lovely touch that the oldies like me still enjoy, as much as some may find it demeaning in 2024.  Generally it's clear that FoH are trained to a high level, in keeping with the surroundings.

Our Sommelier for the evening, the wonderful Rafael, was easily one of the highlights of our whole experience, and a good Somm has the power to do just that.  Obligatory wine knowledge is only a single facet of a good Somm's arsenal, in fact if that’s their biggest facet, it often leads to a sterile and wooden experience.  It's all about engagement, measuring the customer's experience and interest, then judging the subsequent level of pitch.  Most importantly of all, there's the rapport building, the story telling, and the general conversation level, all done in a down to earth, relaxed and approachable way.   This was genuinely some of the best Somm work which we've experienced in the city all year.

The announcement of some dishes was a little lacking in fluency and led to some explanations being handled awkwardly and without certainty.  Nerves were definitely a factor.

This is the third version of a dining room which The Stock Exchange Hotel has now seen since its launch.  In late 2019 we saw Tom Kerridge's Bull & Bear, which was generally decent.  But it was marred by small portions, carried high price points, and sported badly measured and far from classy televisions in each corner of that contrastingly classy room.  Then when things didn’t quite work out with big Tom, he was replaced with a grill run by the Schofield brothers, who also head up operations at the hotel's fabulous basement cocktail bar.  It seemed an odd choice of patron for a food driven venue, but after a slightly rocky start and some massive gaps in the menu, things started to look up somewhat, and the service was some of the best in the city.  But then after just a few months the venue was abruptly closed without any real explanation.

Fast forward to Summer 2024, and it was announced that 'tender' is set for launch, headed up by the obscenely talented Niall Keating who would be running the venue as a brasserie, which isn’t something that comes to mind when thinking about Niall's skillset.  But as long-term fans, we couldn't wait to see more.  We'd received insider knowledge of Niall's arrival long before it happened, so when it was made public our Editor posted the news on her LinkedIn, only for the post to go semi viral.

There's plenty of quality on the menu, undeniably, plus the room has long afforded the city with a top-class wine cellar.  Saucing was outstanding, and as mentioned earlier is a subtle giveaway of the strong pedigree behind tender.  And that dining room in one of the city's grandest hotels will always be a huge draw.  If you're looking for somewhere with a sense of occasion along with a big-name Chef on the menu with a celebrity owner, then tender fits that bill for certain.  And whilst 99% of customers wont notice, we loved the use of Wedgwood crockery throughout the evening, which is more than a subtle nod to Niall's background and lineage.