Reviews

I last visited Italia back in November whilst it was still in it’s ‘soft launch’ period after being rebranded under new management. I had a fantastic time that night with the only disappointment being a lack of interesting desserts, this was understandable as the restaurant had only been open a couple of weeks and the menu was still under development. …

I must confess that despite being a foodie and a bit of a burger snob I am still quite partial to a McDonalds Big Mac. I think the reason is that it’s quite unique thanks to it’s middle layer of bread and particularly Big Mac Sauce, there isn’t really a direct equivalent available from the better burger places. Or at …

It’s no secret that i’m a huge fan of SoLita in Manchesters’ still growing Northern Quarter. As I love trying new places I often don’t get back to a restaurant very often, even if i’ve had a great time there but SoLita is the one place that I just can’t resist returning to again and again despite having already eaten …

Last Friday I took a wrong turn on the way to a restaurant and stumbled upon The Nightingale. Rather than turn around and look for the orignal restaurant I decided to give The Nightingale a try. I’m really not sure why as I knew absolutely nothing about it and from the outside it looked like an average pub. It was just a …

As I admitted in the review of my last visit to Jamie’s Italian i’m a huge Jamie Oliver fan. I buy all his books, watch all of his shows and have had some great times in his various restaurants including Jamie’s Italian Manchester shortly after it opened. Unfortunately, this Christmas Eve I was reminded that Jamie’s Italian isn’t really a …

The third of my 4 planned festive dining trips this year (after Solita & Miracle On High Street) was at one of my favourite local restaurants Aumbry. This was my 4th time eating at Aumbry (although admittedly the last was a charity Gruffalo lunch) and it’s fair to say that I love the place. The food is seriously high end, head …

Miracle On High Street is a popup restaurant & bar from the people behind Almost Famous Burgers. On their website they say “We’re unashamedly celebrating all things festive – join us for eats, drinks, and being merry.” and they’re not joking! The magical feeling begins before you even even arrive as you first have to find a Narnia like stair …

I love Christmas but for some reason so far this year I’m not feeling very festive yet. It will definitely come but to help hurry that festive feeling along I decided to sample the new Christmas menu items at one of my favourite Manchester restaurants, Solita. Solita are well known for their burgers, they taste great thanks to being cooked …

After drinking a little too much wine at The Fat Duck the previous night I wondered if I was really up to a big lunch. I decided it would be crazy to leave Bray without eating at Heston’s Michelin starred pub The Hinds Head so went along anyway and i’m so glad that I did. I’d already had a couple of drinks …

Three months ago I finally got a reservation for Heston Blumenthal’s 3 Michelin star restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’. A whole 6 years after first deciding to go. Now, it is a very hard place to get a reservation but I can’t claim that’s the reason it took so long, it’s a very long story involving fussy friends, redundancy and child birth …

The Hand & Flowers opened in 2005 and received it’s first Michelin star in under a year, in the 2012 Guide it was awarded it’s second becoming the only ‘pub’ in the world to hold 2 Michelin stars. During that time Tom Kerridge has competed in 2 series of ‘Great British Menu’ winning the main course round both times and …

I have a huge list of restaurants I’d like to visit, one that was on the list for a while was ‘Red’ in Westhoughton. I was annoyed when it shut down before I’d had chance to pay them a visit as I’d heard good things about them and they won Lancashire Life’s ‘Best Restaurant of the Year’ within a year …

A restaurant that only serves pancakes? I love pancakes (who doesn’t?) so I was obviously excited by this prospect. Pancake Corner is a bit out of the way down a back street in Urmston but there is a popup coming to Manchester’s Spinningfields soon. It was completely empty when we arrived and it actually looked closed, luckily it wasn’t. Inside …

Most of my early dining out experiences were in Italian restaurants, whilst I love having access to so many other cuisines these days there will always be a little piece of me in love with Italian restaurants. There are already countless Italians in Manchester, though most of them seem to be soulless chains serving the same old mediocre food. With …

I wouldn’t normally write another review of a restaurant when revisiting so soon after the original review. However Solita is no normal restaurant so exceptions must be made! (Don’t worry, i’ll explain what I mean by this at the end.) Last week my young son was sent home from school with an ear infection, he’s as mad about food as …