The Alderley Restaurant

The village beneath the wooded slopes - known simply as 'The Edge' to locals (no relation to U2's guitarist) - has always been a des-res location for the well-heeled elite of Manchester and Cheshire. A Victorian captain of Manchester's industry built the grand stone mansion back in 1850, and these days, it is as likely to play host to a captain of a Manchester football team. And who can blame the Premier League's A-list for wanting a piece of these lovely Cheshire acres, when views sweep as far as the Welsh mountains? The hotel's conservatory dining room takes full advantage of the panoramic location, and while the scenery may be breathtaking, there's much more to enjoy here, thanks to the exquisite food created by chef Chris Holland and his team. Diners can look forward to confident displays of high-end technical skills, with no shortage of creativity in the contemporary ideas played out in the kitchen. The use of fashionable slow cooking and sous-vide techniques, espumas and savoury jellies is very on-trend, and delivers entertaining combinations of texture and deep flavours - perhaps wild sea bass carpaccio with roasted scallop, crispy bacon and verjus capsules to get things going. Next up, a main course of 'beef, cheek and Oxo' shows a cheeky approach to serious cooking, involving dry-aged rump of beef served with 48-hour-braised ox cheek, cep purée and Oxo jelly, while fish could be represented by truffle-stuffed skate teamed with crispy chicken wings, langoustine, and broccoli and hazelnut crumble. Sophisticated desserts could include coconut pannacotta with lime jelly and sous-vide pineapple - tempting, but also check out the superb British artisan cheeses.