Reviewing lunch time food and evening dining in Manchester's city centre
Restaurants
Vertigo Restaurant, John Dalton Street, Manchester
04 months ago
by Liz
in Restaurants
When I heard about the opening of Vertigo it was put on my list of restaurants in Manchester to go to for a special occasion. Ithaca, which was there previously, had also been on this list and had exceeded expectations when I had gone. The only problem with Ithaca was that it was at the upper end of the price range in Manchester which meant it was for the extra special occasions which just don’t come around often enough.
Back to Vertigo, and the other halves birthday was coming up which seemed like the perfect opportunity. Even better than that, a month before the big date they ran a deal on Groupon for their tasting menu – 6 course taster menu for two for £50, apparently down from £118.
I’m a fan of taster menu’s, a chance for the chef to show off and for the ‘taster’ to get small courses but all packed full of flavour.
The meal started well, restaurant seemed slightly quiet but it was mid week and did actually fill up as the evening wore on (and we got there at 8). Our waitress was friendly and easy going.
Starter was a tomato consomme which delivered on its promise of good flavour. Unfortunately though this was the highlight of the meal. I can’t even remember the other courses. They all sounded fantastic on the menu but in reality were just average. Flavours were lacking, the middle course of chicken was the size of a standard main and I could have cooked the chicken breast better than they did.
Had I paid full price for the meal the sense of disappointment would have been even greater. However, taking advantage of a special offer should not mean you get substandard food.
On top of this, booking the tasting menu in advance means they have as much time as possible to prepare it and make it perfect.
I walked in expecting 6 courses showcasing the best flavours and quality of cooking Vertigo had to offer. If I did then never go there and pay full price. There are many restaurants in Manchester that deliver far better food at reasonable prices.
I assume their aim with the Groupon offer was to introduce people to the restaurant so they came back. With me they failed and if what we had reflected what is cooked every night I can’t imagine many others would return either.
Please note rankings are reflective of what I would expect for that price.
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.
Dough Pizza Kitchen 75 – 77 High St, Northern Quarter, Manchester
01 year ago
by Mister Tum
in Restaurants
Meatballs Puttanesca £7.55 – “Hand made meatballs with chillis and onions served on a bed of penne pasta in a classic tomato, olive, caper, anchovy and garlic sauce topped with melted mozzarella (you can also ask for dairy free if you’re so inclined)”
Eight of us decided to try this place for a lunchtime birthday celebration. Eight people stood in their doorway politely waiting to be seated. Despite booking our table ahead of time, it took staff about 10 minutes to notice us. They were dealing with maybe 4 other tables of customers, max.
When we were finally seated my initial dish of choice was a classic spicy chicken pizza as I wanted to try the intriguing and unique “wholemeal base” that their menu highlights. Healthy pizzas? Surely not! I was quickly disappointed when they promptly informed me that they did not have any wholemeal bases at all.
I don’t know what the other tables had ordered (Mermaid’s Tit on Toast maybe?) but it took the best part of an hour for our food to arrive. Make sure you have a few hours to spare if you ever hit Dough as a quick lunchtime visit is not recommended.
When at last it came, the food was delivered by smiling but unapologetic staff, and all 8 orders were provided at roughly the same time. The meatballs were quite tasty, the mozzarella generous and thick. The sauce was interesting, an unusual and pleasant combination of flavours. The pasta wasn’t great, it had the plastic rubberiness of microwave meals but the whole dish was plentiful and filling. I shared a garlic bread and was glad I didn’t order a whole one for myself. It was dry and slightly stale, to moisten it we had to baste it in garlic butter which we robbed from someone else’s salad.
Manchester offers a plethora of Italian restaurants and you’d think this healthy competition would keep restaurateurs on their toes. But the prevailing attitude seems to be much like the curry mile in Rusholme: if we sell it they will come anyway.
Interestingly, dairy free and gluten free diets are catered for so one individual who was ordinarily unable to eat pizzas was delighted at being able to eat a goat’s cheese version. Frankly however, the table’s overall opinion was that we should have just gone to Pizza Express. Eyeballing their menu online had my mouth watering at the possibilities, yet the experience as a whole was a disappointment. There is no excuse for service that slow, there was no apology or concession offered, and the food was good but not outstanding.
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.
Rice, Piccadilly Gardens
11 year ago
Another late lunch and another decision to treat myself.
My lunch companion was Stevo again and as he was paying he made the decision – after a short walk from the office, we went to RICE
Being as we were having a late lunch (2.30pm), it was fairly quiet when we arrived – no queue, but lots of people still eating. I opted for the Nasi Goreng whilst Stevo had the Thai Green Curry with rice. The cost was £10.98 for the 2 (including our discount for having Piccadilly Partnership cards) and within 5 minutes we were walking back to the office with our food.
My Nasi Goreng was very tasty and I managed to get through it all. It contained plenty of chicken and prawns and the sauce it was cooked in gave it a lovely flavour. A good score – 4 out of 5.
Stevo’s Thai Green Curry. Packed with a good amount of chicken and the vegetable were cooked very well – they still had a great crunch to them. He thought it was very good but was spicier than usual which was the only problem – also a 4 out of 5.
In addition, the service was good and fast, the food boxes were crammed full and the food was piping hot. My only problem with RICE is the price – if it was less than a fiver each, it would be much more stomachable.
Don Giovannis Restaurant, Oxford Street
01 year ago
by Mister Tum
in Restaurants
Lasagne, garlic bread starter + drink £15
I’m beginning to suspect that I only like Italian food if it’s home cooked. And by that I mean cooked at my home. By me. Every Italian restaurant I go to seems to make a lame effort with their flavours. So in visiting Don Giovannis restaurant I thought I’d give them a chance and order a relatively infallibly classic from their lunch menu: the good old lasagne.
It was a birthday celebration and there were many of us out, so let me include the caveat that many people enjoyed their various meals and a good time was had by all. But far be it from me to allow that kind of joviality and good time-having to get in the way of an opportunity to munch and rant.
Quite simply, the lasagne was too cheesy and soupy. It was piping hot, which is fair – although I did have to wait approximately 18 hours for it to cool down to a human-consumable temperature. But the rich textures of beef, cheese and pasta were quite literally drowned by cheese and tomato soup. The meal was rapidly losing structural stability and sinking slowly into the ocean of orangey waves.
Some people may go for this. Some may even purport that this is what lasagne is all about, that it is basically a soup dish with hints of meat and cheese hidden within the tomatoey mush. Not I. Furthermore, anticipation of potential blandness drawn from experience with my previous visit to Don’s led me to timidly petition a trace of garlic to be added to my dish. Perhaps I should have overstated my case as if any trace was actually added, it went undetectably by.
Nevertheless, the bathrooms were clean and spotless – an excellent method of determining the quality of a restaurant – various other dishes were enjoyed around the table, certainly tasting some led me to determine which dish to try next time, the staff were friendly and accommodating and seamlessly covered up an order gaffe by telling us the first two incorrect garlic breads were “on the house”. The location is bustling yet accessible and there were many smiling faces at the end of the meal.
I look forward to another visit but also to choosing a different meal…
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