Olive Press, Lloyd Street, Manchester

If anyone’s Friday evening is anything like mine, then it usually begins by leaving work at 4.59 (Don’t tell my boss), and heading straight to one of the many local watering holes, this Friday wasn’t any different. After meeting a few friends and more than a few pints, we decided to find and eatery, to try and stop the stomach monster grumbling.

I have never eaten at the Olive Press and thought the menu looked expensive for over hyped pub grub (Strange seeing I thought it was an Italian restaurant), is it me or is it the trend at the moment to give these traditional meals a twist or fancy name, but they are still the same micro waved tripe that Weatherspoons serves for quarter of the price. In this case I hold my hands up and can contently say I’m glad to be wrong.

The place was very lively, which added to the experience, and the place is nicely kept and coolly decked out, although you are herded to your tables and squeezed in which is a bit off putting. The main thing for me though was you can see all the chefs working away and cooking the food for your hard earned cash, instead of waiting to hear a “ping”, the fact I couldn’t decide what to have is also a good sign.

Being a northern lad and loving my savouries, I will never be able to look at a pork pie in the face again. To start with I ordered the potted pork which came in one of the jars that your Gran used to store jam in, along with some perfectly toasted bread. To be honest I was slightly confused at what I was looking at and when I opened the jar and tried to taste it I couldn’t believe how much pork they had compressed into it. It was like trying to prize open a bookies safe with a tooth pick. Having fought with this jar using a fork for a few minutes, with my friends and other restaurant goers looking at me wondering what I was doing, I managed to get a fork full and spread it on the gorgeous looking piece of bread and stuffed into my mouth. It tasted like the inside of a pork pie but I can honestly say it is the best piece of porky stodge I have ever tasted, I will never be able to eat a pork pie again, and this small jar seemed bottomless, what a starter.

Feeling extremely content and couldn’t believe what I had just eaten, this massive steaky looking piece halibut landed in front of me, on a bed of beans, bacon and ham, my doubts about the Olive Press completely disappeared. The fish was so thick and flaky you didn’t need a knife to cut into it and it melted in the mouth. Maybe the fact I had consumed a few beers helped the taste but I don’t want to think that, an amazing meal and hats off to the Olive Press.

The surprises didn’t stop there, because we had sat down to eat whilst a World Cup game was on we got 30% knocked off the total bill, which took the expensiveness of the meal out of the equation. This was one of the best meals I have had in a long time.

Well down Olive Press keep up the good work.