Gary Usher doesn’t bother boosting his popular new bistros across the northwest. He doesn’t have to…

Kala, 55 King Street, Manchester M2 4LQ (0800 160 1811). Starters £5.50-£14, mains £16-£30, desserts £6-£10, three courses at lunch £23, wines from £22

Journalists like a story, even those of us paddling in the shallow end in search of something nice for our tea: stories like the Holiday Inn just begging to have its terrible food reviewed, or the Swiss-themed place with the stringy fondue and the bought-in sorbet, or the Kurdish family remembering its own culture one dish at a time. The group of restaurants that has been opened across the northwest of England by chef and restaurateur Gary Usher is meant to be the anti-story. In 2011 when he launched the first, Sticky Walnut in Chester, he went all Royston Vasey and warned the likes of me off. This, he said, was a local bistro for local people. Stay away.