Reviewing lunch time food and evening dining in Manchester's city centre
The Hobbit
(7 comments, 18 posts)
Posts by The Hobbit
Cafe Lloyd, Lloyd Street, Manchester
05 months ago
by The Hobbit
in Cafe
After getting fed up of weeks of meal deals, pasta salads, packed lunches and all round healthy eating I decided to meet a friend for lunch. We both agreed as it was Friday the only way forward was Fish and Chips and met at Cafe Lloyd, a nice little cafe that doubles up as a fish and chip shop.
A sign caught my eye for the “meal deal”, Fish, Chips, Peas, two slices of bread and a drink all for £6.50. A tad expensive I hear you cry, not when you see the size of the portions Cafe Lloyd serves up. Admittedly I do have a large appetite and I am overly greedy but when the plate arrived the size of the fish was incredible and it wasn’t a portion of chips, more like a mound, for the first time in ages I knew I would be full afterwards. The whole meal was amazing, the fish was freshly cooked, I like my chips soggy and peas mushy, Cafe Lloyd has got this down to a fine art.
If you like your fish & chips and would like to eat in pleasant surroundings, then you can’t beat Cafe Lloyd for a lunchtime grease fill.
GiorGio, Portland Street, Manchester
06 months ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
Having eaten at Giorgio’s sister restaurant Gio’s just over 12 months ago (read the review here), I have been thinking of an excuse to go to the “big brother” restaurant Giorgio’s for a while now, a catch up with some uni friends was a good enough reason to book a table.
A friend and I decided to go halves on the Mixed Italian platter to start with, which consisted of king prawns, meat balls, spare ribs, chicken wings, pate, with a selection of dips. The only bad thing I can say about the starter is that I had to share it with someone else, each item was amazingly tasty.
The selection of steaks at Giorgio’s is excellent and as I was feeling a bit flushed, I opted for the Fillet, after having a few beers I thought I would try the gorgonzola cheese & fresh cream sauce with the steak for something a bit different. All I can say about the main it is one of the best cooked pieces of Fillet steak I have had in a long long time, I asked for the standard “medium rare” and the chef didn’t disappoint, it was the perfect colour of pink all the way through, you could cut it with your fork.
I cannot speak highly enough about Giorgio’s, a nice Italian restaurant, the staff were excellent, it felt like they couldn’t do enough for you and were so nice and pleasant. To top it off the food was top drawer, the only con is it a little overpriced, but can be justified if all the dishes are as good as the ones I had.
If you have a bit of cash burning a hole in your pocket, want to be waited on hand and foot, whilst being served top drawer nosh, you can’t go far wrong with Giorgio’s
Samsi, 1 Hardman Boulevard, Spinningfields, Manchester
16 months ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
Whilst trudging round Spinningfields late one sunny evening trying to find somewhere to eat a little bit different, we stumbled upon Samsi Sushi restaurant, “I could eat Sushi” was the consensus from the lads. On a recent jolly to the US of A I had eaten at a fantastic little Sushi restaurant and thought Samsi would be a good punt, serving up decent grub, I hate it when I’m wrong.
First thing I noticed was the conveyor belt through the centre of the restaurant, slowly trundling round with about 4 dishes on it. As I glanced round there were only two other people in the entire place. “How long have these plates been going round?” I whispered to myself, I was certainly going to order something a little fresher.
I opted for the 16 Piece Sushi and Sashimi special which came with a selection of Salmon, Tuna, Prawn, Squid (I think) and a couple of other items which I can’t seem recall what they actually were. “Nice selection” I thought, I’ll enjoy at least one, how disappointed I was. The whole thing seemed to lack flavour, I know you are meant to put some soy sauce on the dish to extract the taste, but I had to drown the plate in the stuff just to wake my taste buds up, even then all I could taste was the soy sauce.
The whole place seemed to lack atmosphere as well, it was your standard sushi style restaurant, but seemed to lack any energy or buzz, the staff did the bare minimum to accommodate us.
If you are a sushi fan you may like this place but for me the next time I go for sushi I will be looking for a small family style place that is a little more traditional/proper restaurant. The whole Samsi experience felt like they have bought a “My First Sushi Restaurant” kit from Japan, maybe that’s why the food and atmosphere lacked any substance.
Ego, Princess Street, Manchester
11 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
I was kindly invited out for a friend’s birthday that a mutual friend was organising and they had booked Ego restaurant on Princess Street. I had no idea where this place was and hadn’t heard of it before. Normally before I go on eating excursion (all in the name of Manc Munch of course) I tend to check out the menu online to give me an idea of the food on offer, but as I knew nothing about the place I decided to go “unprepared”.
Ego got a thumbs up straight away as they gave us a complementary glass of Buck Fizz each, because it was for a birthday celebration. I’m not really a Champers sort of guy, but free booze is free booze. I started thumbing through the menu whilst sipping my “Cheryl Baker”, I’m pretty efficient nowadays at whittling down a menu, but unusually I was torn between 3 or 4 main dishes, I took it as a good sign, they all sounded extremely tasty. The birthday boy and I decided on the Spanish Share Platter to start with and opted for the Moroccan Lamb Tajine as the main, I rarely have lamb at the moment as I don’t really cook it for myself, thought it would be a nice change
The sharing platter was excellent, cheese, chorizo, calamari rings, ham and olives, a very nice selection of food and very tasty. The calamari was especially good, normally places can get this wrong ending with the calamari becoming rubbery, but Ego got it spot on.
I was looking forward to the lamb tagine but slightly worried as it was served with cous cous. I normally avoid veggie sprouting, tree hugging, hippy based foods, but as I was cancelling out the hippyifcation with a dead animal guess it would be ok. I have to say the meal was awesome the veg and pepper salsa was brilliant and the lamb was so tender it melted in the mouth, I will definitely be trying a tagine based meal again, another tick for the stomach monster to be able to have, plus you don’t have to be called “swampy” to order it.
If you fancy trying somewhere different that offers a variety of food you can’t go far wrong with Ego. The only down side is this place is slightly over priced, we got a discount of 40% off all the food (it’s not what you know, more the who), consumed a couple of glasses of wine and the meal still worked out at £30 each which seems a lot to me.
Simple, Tib Street, Manchester
01 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
We recently had a couple of new starters in our department at work and our supervisor suggested we take them out for a meal to welcome them to the team. He suggested Simple Bar in the northern quarter where we had recently eaten and enjoyed the meal.
I am holidaying in Florida soon and Simple offer quite a few American style meals, upon my first trip to the states I couldn’t get enough of the Corned Beef hash breaskfast served in Perkins diner, when I saw this on Simple’s menu my mind was made up. The meal also came with a fried egg on top as well, perfect. “Get me prepared for the sunshine state”, I thought, we all know the portions are gargantuan over there as well as being very tasty and rich, oh how wrong I was that this meal would train the stomach monster for the US of A.
The plate arrived and I stared at it open mouthed while the rest of the team started to chuckle, “Is this a starter?” I thought, the meal was tiny, it took me a few minutes to start eaing it, I was in shock.
To be fair the food was very very tasty, really well cooked, egg fried to perfection, the meal came with pickled beetroot which I love and it was nicely cooked, the actual “hash” was rich and very nice indeed. The meal was entirely let down by the size of it, it is advertised as a main dish, even the tinyest girl with a small appetite would be very disappointed if they were brought this meal.
I will definitely be going back to Simple inspite of this experience, I have not had a “bad” meal there and the place is a typically “cool” Northern Quarter venue and the staff a really nice and helpful. This meal wasn’t great value for money and I was starving for the rest of the afternoon, but the quality is there. My advice would be to ask about the portion size before ordering, especially if you are trying to expand the size of your belly.
Panama Hatty’s, Brown Street, Manchester
01 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
A number of us were kindly invited out by the company we work for, all paid for of course. My brain quickly flicked into review mode and as we could choose which eatery to go to, I managed to persuade the lads to opt for Panama Hatty’s. Having eaten there before and liking what I had, I decided to give it another go and inform the regular Manc Munch visitors of the experience.
We were seated in the restaurant which is coolly decked out with a Mexican theme but done with a bit of style and doesn’t come across as tacky. As I began to scan the menu, I suddenly could hear this sizzling sound and a nice waft of fried veg hit me. The couple on the next table had ordered the sizzling fajitas, I was instantly sold and decided to try the beef ones to mix it up a little.
I was surprised at the size of the portions on the hot plate, the beef was cooked with sautéed onions and peppers with lettuce, grated cheese, salsa and sour cream as the other fillings. Normally my experience (Well when I make them at home) is the balance between the filling, tortillas and extras is all out of kilter, Panama Hatty’s got it spot on. We were given four tortillas and you could fill each one with all the fillings until you could barely wrap the tortilla, and at the end of the meal nothing was left.
Overall the meal was excellent, the beef, onions and peppers were cooked well and were not too greasy as to drown the flavour or put you off, and the extras filling were very fresh and tasty. I would recommend Panama Hatty’s as I have had two brilliant meals from there now, the meals maybe slightly over priced but for the overall quality of the meal justifies the price and I will be going back there to try the evening menu.
Pancho’s Burritos, Arndale Market, Manchester
11 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Food Shops
On numerous occasions recently I have found myself strolling round the Arndale Market, looking for something different to cure the onset of the early afternoon hunger pangs. I normally wander aimlessly, moving from stall to stall, hoping to find something to take my fancy and a part of the Market has been closed recently whilst they put in new stalls. This Friday I noticed it was open again and one of the new stalls caught my eye, “Pancho’s Burritos”, a tiny stall with a small menu, but it looked very promising, “go on then” I thought, “can’t be worse than Bar Burrito”, which I hate by the way.
The list of ingredients that goes into one of Pancho’s burrito’s was impressive, rice, salsa, peppers, sour cream, I can’t remember the full list but you can have either a Pork, Chicken, Beef or veggie burrito, “amazing” I thought and didn’t bother to read the rest of the menu (or the rest of the options for the burrito, I was already sold on the idea).
The staff were so pleasant, friendly and helpful and they actually looked Mexican, I know I sound racist but I would rather have a burrito made by a nice, polite Mexican gentleman than three girls who only work at the place to get them through college and who throw it together in an instance (yes I’m talking about Bar Burrito again).
Like I said, I didn’t read the rest of the options for the burrito, which I’m glad about. The polite man asked if I would like a spinach, plain or pepper tortilla, “incredible you get a choice of tortilla”, I went with the spinach, then he kindly asked if I would like it spicy or mild, “even better”, I opted to spice it up.
The care, attention and expertise that the nice man made the burrito with confirms my slightly racist remark about the food, making this place a goldmine because the people who work there actually know what they are doing and take pride in the food they prepare. This is backed up by the fact they heat up each tortilla separately and only when an order has taken place, and by the way they put the ingredients into the tortilla in just the right order.
Once my new amigo had finished tightly wrapping my burrito and he passed it to me I was surprised at the size of it, nicely wrapped in tinfoil and about the size of 5 sticks of dynamite taped together, I was impressed.
I took my explosive over to a table, unwrapped the burrito and bit into it, the number of flavours that exploded was wonderful, you could taste the rice, salsa, etc and the pork was so well cooked and tender to bite, I was staggered. Further into the burrito I worked out why it looked like 5 sticks of dynamite, it blew my head off, the spices were very hot indeed but this only added to the burrito, complimenting all the other flavours and after the hit of spice you got the warm, soft, gentle taste of the sour cream, if only all burritos were this good.
Sombrero’s off to Pancho’s Burritos it was an amazing experience of flavours and spice, I will definitely going back and for £3.99 it is well worth it. This is how you make a burrito, RIP Bar Burrito, you will not be missed.
Gio, 3-7 Lower Mosley Street, Manchester
11 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
For just over three years now I have been walking past Gio Italian restaurant on almost a daily basis (certainly twice every weekday) and I am continually amazed at how busy the place is between the hours of 6pm and 7pm, even on a damp, dull Tuesday evening the place is rammed. But one thing I have noticed, even more than how busy it is, is the age of the clientele. It seems OAP’s are the main goer’s to this restaurant and not just the odd one or two, hoards of the old dears are in there nightly, as soon as the place is open. Every night I have walked passed and glared into the restaurant to see how many old people are in there, I even started developing a new phobia, which is across between Enochlophobia and Gerontophobia (Enorcontophobia I’m going with).
My new phobia got me thinking, the senior members of society, with all their wisdom and life experience (God knows how many meals they have consumed in their lifetime) will not fork out on food that isn’t edible or value for money, maybe they are on to something? Is this place the best kept secret from the younger members of Manchester? I decided to investigate.
We arrived at 5.30pm on the dot and I couldn’t believe it, a snake of old couples were queuing out of the door, waiting for a table, I must have been onto a winner with this establishment. The waiter ushered us to our table through a posse of old gents, into the middle of the restaurant, which is extremely tight for chair space, so high is the demand they are trying to fit everyone in at once. I sat down and glanced round, I must have been the youngest person in there by 40 years? The place had a really good atmosphere, typical lively Italian restaurant, nice and pleasant and the staff were already bustling round us making sure everything was ok (I’m skipping ahead here, but the entire staff were top notch all night, credit goes to every one of them), still scanning round the place, I noticed the specials board, the bottom item read “Rainbow Trout”, I was convinced that I had found a hidden gem.
My quick fire opinion about this place was a little premature, I decided to go with the selection of meats to start with, then asked for the Rainbow Trout for my main. “I’m sorry sir we haven’t got any trout in, our mistake, I’m very sorry”, I was heartbroken, but it seems I’ve got a litte bit of life experience too, I always pick a backup option just in case, I opted for the Sea Bass, with a side of veg.
The selection of cured meats was very nice indeed and the salad that accompanied it was nice and fresh, but some of the meat (mainly the ham) tasted as if it had just come out of a packet of 50 slices that you can get at Tesco’s, which sadly took a little bit of quality out of the dish. My trout replacement came, nice size, extremely well cooked, perfectly flaky all the way through and cooked in just the right amount of butter and seasoning. But the main was let down by the side dish, which again felt like it had been bought in a packet from a supermarket and steamed in a microwave.
I think I have worked out why this place is so popular with the older generation, all the meat based parts of our meals were expertly cooked and the menu is the size of a phone book, you cannot help but find something you will like. The side dishes are your run of the mill, standard no frills food, steamed veg, boiled potatoes, etc, which old folk will lap up because they know what they are getting and the price is reasonable for what you get.
Would I go to Gio again, I’m not too sure? I had a very very good meal there, but I like my side dishes/accompanying food to add and improve the main part of the meal, not just because it is inoffensive. Shame really, if Gio were a little more adventurous they could be an excellent Italian restaurant, not just another one like all the rest, but with what can only be described as a “small country of elder states people” turning up each evening, what the hell do I know?
Eat, Arndale Centre, Manchester
01 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Food Shops
Saturday mornings are normally a scramble for food for me, I normally do my weekly shop on a Saturday afternoon/Sunday the previous week, so by the following Friday evening the cupboards are pretty bare. Plus I am generally feeling the effects of the post work, Friday night drinking binge, which just adds to the fact I need food, but with minimal effort required. This past Saturday was slightly different, yes the kitchen was as barren of food but I found myself with a clear head, strolling round the Arndale Centre around 9am with hunger pains. Ambling past “Eat” and noticing one of their menu items was “Full English Breakfast”, I smiled and proclaimed “RESULT”.
What a mistake, I quickly shuffled to the counter, smiled and asked “Can I have the Full English please?”, to which the response was, “Sorry we have ran out of the English breakfast”. HOW THE HELL CAN YOU RUN OUT OF A FULL ENGLISH BY 9AM, IF AT ALL. I panicked, caught between walking out of the store and asking how can you not have a full English, my instincts took over and I scanned the menu, Eggs Benedict?? Can’t be that bad?? Fill a hole for a while?? Mistake number two.
I ordered a Mocha to sit fiddling with until the food was ready, which was very nice to be fair, but you can’t really screw up a coffee with these coffee machines nowadays. Sitting patiently waiting for the food to arrive, I was snapped out of my day dream by one of the girls behind the counter screeching “IIIGGGGSSS BIINIIDIIICHHH”, was that my order?
What the girl passed me over the counter was nothing short of woeful, it wasn’t a plate, it wasn’t a tray, it was a piece of tin foil about the size of a jar lid, with the logo and tag line “The Real Food Company” plastered all over the foil. I gently and slowly took this disgraceful meal off the girl and looked at her with confusion flickering in my eyes. I unwrapped the foil, which to my surprise wasn’t tightly wrapped making the meal inside even smaller, this was turning into a complete joke, it didn’t even have any sauce on it. It was one of the smallest muffins I have seen with a poached egg and shrunken slice of bacon on it.
“OK OK”, I told myself, could be quality not quantity, wanting so much for this meal to give me some satisfaction, mistake number three. Basically what “Eat” had done was to cook all the full English food, put it on muffins, then toasted the muffin once someone ordered a meal. It was terrible, eggs were tasteless, the bacon hard and dry, they hadn’t even buttered the muffin and the sauce normally drenched over Eggs Benedict was just a pipe dream.
I will certainly never be consuming anything again from so called “Eat, The Real Food Company”, what a terrible first meal to start the day with, a disgraceful, soul sapping experience.
Olive Press, Lloyd Street, Manchester
21 year ago
by The Hobbit
in Restaurants
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.
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