I am Pho - Chinatown, Manchester

It’s long been believed that there’s restorative properties in chicken soup; indeed it’s true, recent scientific research has validated what mothers have known for centuries. Whenever I’m cold, fluey or just a bit run down, the first thing I want to pick me up is a hot, steaming bowl of stock, with soft meat and crisp veg to hug me and sort me out.

Unfortunately central Manchester’s not blessed with the type of small Jewish deli where chicken noodle soup is dolled out to deal with everything from a broken heart to a bad case of man flu; but what we do have is I Am Pho, a Vietnamese restuarant/cafe repleat with large bowls of savoury warming soup noodles. And believe me Pho is as good of a cure as chicken soup for anything, even hangovers!

I Am Pho is the only Vietnamese place in Manchester’s bustling and vibrant Chinatown; as you have guessed from the name they do a roaring trade in Pho (pronounced fuh), the traditional Vietnamese soup noodle dish. They also crack out a good deal of other Vietnamese specialities including those beautifully translucent summer rolls, the French colonial mishmash sandwich Ban Mi and plenty of other noodle and rice concoctions.

I am pho - with thanks to Trip Advisor

But we were there for the Pho. On a drizzly, wintery Manchester night, three of us walked down the steps to the stark white, but surprisingly warm and full, basement unit that is I Am Pho. The clientele a mix of large groups and couples all chattering away avidly over steaming dishes, vividly lit up with mounds of angry red chillies and bright green herbs.

We all wanted a warm hug to compensate for the weather outside (and my streaming cold) and ten minutes later ours arrived. Three large bowls (one beef, one chicken, one tofu) accompanied by a dish piled high with beansprouts, coriander, mint, chillies and lime were placed in front of us and for a barely perceivable second we all paused, lost in the aromatic fug that had encircled our table.

I’d gone for classic beef pho with beef stock – the stock itself was lighter than that found at Café Vnam (the other place to go in Manchester if you’re a fan of traditional and very well executed Vietnamese cuisine); not as richly dense or savoury, but still with a good deep saltiness, the warmth of the star anise and cinnamon adding sweetness and rounding the layers of the dish out. Whereas the broth at I Am Pho isn’t as decadently rich as that at Café Vnam, the beef they serve on top is definitely better. Rarer and softer than Vnam’s, it’s obvious this is better quality meat and the portion size is much more decent.

Beef pho - healthy hug in a bowl

I Am Pho is tiled white, with silver accents from the tables and chairs – sounds pretty stark, but the rich fog of scented steam that surrounds each table, coupled with the chattering customers and the fact you’re safely ensconced in a basement, makes I Am Pho a great place to shelter from the Manchester weather. Put that together with really friendly service, great food and the fact that it’s smack bang in the centre of town, makes it my go-to place for cold curing/heart fixing respite.

Ps I Am Pho is equally as great for meat eaters as well as veggies/vegans – we went with a vegan (yeah I know, what was I thinking?) and as long as you make them aware, they will use a vegetable based stock with no fish sauce added. Bonus.

Price for three mains  – £23.85

Food – 8/10
Atmosphere – 9/10
Service – 9/10
Value for money – 8/10

Total – 34/40

Go again – Yes!! Instead of demanding my mother travels up from Wales with a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup, I can now pop along here before the sniffles have even started to come on. Plus it’s even good when I’m not ill!

I Am Pho, 44 George Street, Chinatown, Manchester M1 4HF - 0161 236 1230 - Twitter - Facebook

Happy Seasons - China Town, Manchester

Taking a tip from a fellow food lover I followed my nose and took my grumbling tummy to Manchester's brightly coloured, richly smelly, hustling and bustling China Town to search out a long-standing little gem called Happy Seasons.

I have to admit, I've never been to Happy Seasons; never giving it more than a quick glance as I moved on to the pared back Japanese cuisine at Yuzu or the face-melting dishes at Red Chilli. It's rammed in to Faulkner Street between a dozen other dining dens and only manages to catch your attention because of its fuck off neon sign. Oh and the guy chopping meat in the window.

Big sign/bad photo

How I never managed to spot a place with peking ducks hanging in the window and a man permanently chopping different BBQ meats (don't question this, we have done tests, he is always there, always chopping. We have visited numerous times to confirm this), I don't know, especially as I've been next door to Wasabi about 400 times. I shan't miss it now though, not that I know it's there.

Meat window - chopping man got shy but you can still see him hiding - here Mr Chopping Man

Happy Seasons is very much like Handmade BBQ Noodle King - you don't go there for the decor. In fact many weak-stomached mortals who rather like shiny new chain restaurants (ooh...well ya knor jus wot yers getting even if yer go to like another town int it?) would take one look inside and condemn the place faster than an over zealous food hygiene officer. It's shabby, it's ramshackle and it's painted hospital green - but as I said, you really don't go there for the decor.

Wow, look at this amazing decor...NO LOOK AT THE FOOD, it's what you're there for

What you do go to Happy Seasons for is BBQ meat. There's a big menu with other un/usual dishes, some of it looks amazing, but nothing touches the BBQ meat. Ever. Well maybe the Char Sui buns, but you can have them for starter so let's not worry about it.

Due to the extreme amazigness of the smells coming from the kitchen we got giddy and ordered rather too much for our stomachs (don't worry, we got a doggy bag and ate it later on) all of which came  at once - I'm sure our little corner table gave an audible groan as the plates were laid upon it.

Prawn dumplings were little (well actually quite big, two bites I'd say) steamed dim sum - super hot, but gorgeous and stuffed full with large chunks of prawns with a good dose of seasoning; we suffered burnt mouths almost with glee to get these in.

Char sui buns were some of the best I've had in China Town; super fluffy and soft, oozing with sweet/salty/unctuos char sui (roast pork) - again lava hot, but again we didn't care and merely shovelled in jasmine scented tea to deal with it.

Char sui buns - don't even think about eating anything else (apart from the BBQ meat)

BBQ pork was divine and arguably the best - chucks of dense belly pork with only a little fat topping each piece off (I prefer this less fat/more meat ratio) with a crispy, crunchy crackling top. The BBQ sauce is super salty with that indescribable umami satisfaction taste wrapping itself around your tongue and smothering you with savouriness, all partnering well with the sweet pork fat/meat and the bland boiled rice we'd ordered to sop up all the lovely juices running off the meat (this is imperative. DO NOT lose/leave behind those juices - fight your table companions/the next table for them and guard them with your life).

Pork back, duck front - FIT

We ordered the duck in this BBQ style as well - not as successful as there was far too much fat and the dish left your lips overly greasy and a little sickly. Plus we'd already eaten so much pork we couldn't give the poor old duck as much attention as we liked so it had gone a little cold and hard by the time we got to it - in fact, each of the meats was served a little cold, but the rice was so hot it didn't matter at all.

Don't march down Faulkner Street dismissing places that don't conform to the perceived ideas of cleanliness or fancy decor - Happy Seasons (as well as Handmade BBQ King) is a proper hidden gem and is proof that sometimes it's the food that should be concentrated on, not the dining room.

Ps Ask for the spring onion dipping sauce - just spring onion, ginger and fish sauce bashed together. Amazing to cut through the fatty sweetness of the dishes, but you will need to drink about three gallons of water during the following night or you'll wake up with a face like a prune.

Price for two starters, two mains, one rice and tea for two - £26.40.

Food - 8/10
Atmosphere - 9/10 (packed and full of very talkative Chinese families)
Service - 6/10 (functional but probably better if we spoke Chinese)
Value for money - 10/10 (seriously massive portions and minimal price)

Total - 33/40

Go again? Yes! Yes! Yes! I need more of that BBQ pork and those Char Sui buns.

Happy Seasons, 59-61 Faulkner Street, Manchester M1 4FF - 0161 236 7189

BBQ Handmade Noodle King - Manchester

Fancying a cheap bite to eat before the cinema I dragged the boy into Handmade Noodle King on Faulkner Street in Manchester’s China Town earlier this week.

Having been a big buzz on twitter and blogger lately, plus wanting to break the chain of eating in our usual haunts; I was eager to try these handmade noodles.

The front of the restaurant in pretty unassuming, especially as there’s a fancy looking Japanese open on the corner and more glitzy looking establishments further up the street.
The dining room is a bit bog-standard, but was clean and the staff were welcoming. I could see the boy looking unimpressed as we were handed menus in plastic books; but as we read down the list and spotted some rather authentic dishes he was appeased.

We had a little difficulty locating the ‘famous’ handmade noodles as they are listed with the all you can eat buffet – however our helpful waitress assured us we could order these separately.
My Tibetan beef soup noodles were delicious – the broth was layered with rich beefy flavours, warm hints of star anise, a good punch of garlic and some mouth tingling spice. The noodles themselves were a little chewier than conventional noodles, but this extra bite meant that they didn’t dissolve in the soup and become a soggy mess. I’m not one for over-eating but I couldn’t stop with this dish until I felt fit to burst (I couldn't even eat all my ice-cream in cinema afterwards!).

Tibetan beef noodles

The boy ordered a stir-fried noodle dish, again with handmade noodles. Here they weren't so plumped up and provided a good bite against the strong flavours of the blackbean sauce and the soft chunks of beef. The only downside to this dish was that the sauce became overly gloopy in some parts.

Handmade noodles with blackbean sauce

As a side we ordered the spicy cold pig’s stomach. This is a finely shredded dish that isn’t for the faint hearted. The spiciness of the dish blows your mouth out – thankfully it’s not a one dimensional heat smack, there’s several layers building over each other to produce a full flavoured mouthful - and for those thinking it would be a chewy, tasteless dish you couldn’t be more wrong. The pork stomach was meltingly tender with its sweet porcine flavours shining through and complimenting the spice.

Spicy pig's stomach

Service was impeccable and the staff were more than happy to keep bringing us pints of tap water (we got through about three apiece!).

Handmade Noodle King is a great little restaurant with some fab tasting dishes. It’s not somewhere to take a date or someone you want to impress (unless they’re a foodie) – but it really delivers on expertly flavoured, traditional food at great cost.

Ps – the portions are massive; we should have only ordered one main and one starter.
Price for one starter, two mains, two small bottle of Tsing Tao: £24.97

Pps - thanks to Northern Dave for pointing me in the right direction.

Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Value for money: 8/10

Total – 29/40

Handmade Noodle King, Faulkner Street, China Town, Manchester

Tokyo Season - Manchester

Having become something of a Japanophile lately (mainly from copious amounts of comics and Mikado biscuits I have consumed) I was intrigued when the boy mentioned he had been recommended a Japanese restaurant on the edge of Manchester's china town.

The restaurant is non-discript from outside with a slightly garish sign, not the most welcoming. We entered and walked down into the basement, which is surprisingly light for a low level room. The restaurant is small and the tables somewhat basic and cramped, however we had the good sense to book ahead and were shown across the main dining area to the traditional japanese tables at the back. These had been updated for westerners so you don't have to kneel, but the effect is the same as your feet dangle down in to a carpeted well and look like you're sitting at a low table. These tables come with posher chopsticks (woo!) and traditional paper screens. (Wear good socks if dining this way as you have to take your shoes off).

At first the restaurant seemed dead, but by 7.30pm we were glad we had booked ahead as the place was chock full of Japanese - a good sign we thought.

For starters I ordered a miso soup, the boy and an ex-colleague had the sashimi rolls and our new friend went for the edamame.

The miso was miso; warm, salty and full of tofu and seaweed. The edamame were edamame, nothing special, but were clean tasting. To our consternation the sashimi rolls came out as salmon and smoked salmon, although the menu had said tuna. The boy was obviously disappointed at this, but this was made up by the inclusion of cucumber and pickled ginger in the centre, which added a great contrast in texture and fresh, zingy flavours (picture below).

As we had the taste for raw fish we ordered the Chef's Special Shashimi and Sushi 16 piece Platter to come out with the starters. This dish was presented traditionally as a selection of nigri, maki and gunkan, but disappointingly there was no sashimi as promised in the dish's title.

It was refreshing to be served a sushi platter that didn't pander to western tastes, with only one salmon nigri on the whole plate. There was a wonderful mix of seabass, spankingly fresh squid, flying fish roe, crab and others. The only disappointment came from the arctic clam which had definitely come from the arctic freezer and a soggy tuna mayo gunkan.

Mains followed swiftly and these consisted of the Tokyo Season Special Teppanyaki for the new friend, Unadon for ex-colleague, Beef Fillet Yakiudon for the boy and Sashimi Rice for myself.

The special teppanyaki was a mixed bag of various skewered things including very baby squid (they were tiny, it almost seemed a crime to eat them), prawns, beef and what we presumed was eel. Unfortunately the squid and the prawns were terribly overcooked, almost what I presume chewing tyre rubber is like. The beef was soft but unremarkable but the eel was very, very good. The poor cooking of the seafood was, however, saved by the delectable sauce everything had been cooked in.

Unadon was eel cooked in sauce over rice. The eel was brilliantly cooked in a lip-smacking sauce, the only downside being the skin on the eel. This maybe how it's eaten, but I personally like my eels skinned at the skin had gone a little sticky and gloopy.

Sashimi rice was as it said on the tin, sashimi on a bed of rice. Again the selection was varied and I was surprised at the inclusion of Sea Urchin, not at all western and somewhat a luxury for the price of £12.95. This was only marred by the obviously defrosted arctic clam that had reared it's ugly head in the chef's platter.

The boy's food came out much later than everyone else's (much to his dismay), if we had not been sharing everything I think we would have mentioned this to our server. The wait was almost worth it - the noodles in the dish were soft and unctuous, deeply filled with the flavour of the sauce and masses of them. The beef though wasn't that great, thin strips were presented in a way that looked like the beef you get from a second rate chinese takeaway - but for £9.50 and being tasty we weren't complaining.

Throughout the evening the service was charming without being over-bearing. We did occasionally have to wait for a server to notice us, but in a very busy restaurant this was understandable and we were always greeted with a bow, a smile and the utmost friendly charm I have ever come across.

Tokyo Season was a good night out with friends, it wasn't spectacular or mind-blowing, but for a  tasty mid-week meal it was fun and we were throughly looked after.

Cost for four including four starters, five mains and six beers cost £99.97.

Value for money: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Food: 6/10

Total: 27/40

Tokyo Season, 52 Portland Street, Manchester M1 4QU - 0161 236 7898
www.tokyoseason.com