Grand Pacific - Manchester

A long time ago (in social media time scales) I wrote a rather desiccating review of Australasia, a place I found to be rather more style than substance; a place which left a rather large hole in the pocket of my dining companion.

In a bid to exorcise demons (and as I was stranded on a cold and blustery day in the soulless wastelands of Spinningfields without any desire to move my feet more than they had to) I came upon the decision that it was finally time to try Grand Pacific, the upstairs/less formal/outdoors area/annexe of Australasia.

Grand Pacific may be dressed up as a different restaurant, but it's Australasia; it has the same menu, the same staff, the same decor and if you go downstairs, the same toilets. I was momentarily upset by the realisation that I'd be eating the same menu items I so roundly denigrated last time. It then struck me and double times upset me, that this time around it would be a hole in my own pocket and not some hapless companion.

Fortuitously for me the upset lasted only as long as it took the food to arrive (about thirteen minutes if you're interested). In place of the misjudged flavours and lack lustre baubles I'd experienced on my last visit, this time the food was little less than exsquisite.

BBQ lamb chops were delivered over a somewhat superfluous, but (I have to admit) somewhat aesthetically pleasing warming plate. Soft, sweet and covered in a teriyaki style marinade, they also processed a moreish smoky char that left me wishing I'd been served more than the plump three I'd just inhaled. The tuna tartar proved to be a well balanced dish of almost buttery fish with subtle zings of citrus, mustard, spice and caper. The tuna was so delicately chopped that each small piece resembled a tiny, intact jewel with none of the mushiness you get from rough chopping or poor quality fish.

Pretty food, amazing tastes

Sour plum and salmon futomaki were great, just over shadowed by everything else on the table, especially the pigeon. I warn you now, I'm going to wax lyrical a little... The pigeon was presented as two plump, pink breasts surround with small clusters of mustard fruits and topped with two pastilles. Not only was the dish a beauty to behold, but the combination of sweet, rich meat and fruit, cut with the mustard and the sharp crunch of filo was utterly sublime. It's one of the most delicious dishes that I have eaten in Manchester for a while.

 

Amazing Duck and Mustard

Oh and the chips are bloody moreish. End of.

To top our rather delightful experience we were also treated to some of the exceptional customers service that Living Ventures, the company behind Grand Pacific, are so famous for. We were served by Alex who not only had a thorough understanding coeliac disease, but who then proceeded to run to the kitchen with all our questions, asked the kitchen to change dishes to incorporate non-gluten ingredients and sourced some tamari (gluten free soy sauce) so we could both experience exactly the same tastes and textures throughout the meal.

In all, Grand Pacific completely changed my opinions of Australaisa, I might even go back to the main restaurant now.

Price for four cocktails, four sharing dishes and one side: £74.50

Food: 9/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
Service - 10/10
Value for money - 7/10

Total - 34/40

Go again? Yes.

Grand Pacific, 1 The Avenue, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3AP - 0161 831 0288

Yo! Sushi - Trafford Centre, Manchester

I have a dirty secret, a secret I probably shouldn't share on a food blog, a blog that's here to educate gastronomically and to highlight the best of our region has to offer - I'm in love with Yo! Sushi.



Food on a belt!

I know it's a chain, that the selection of fish stretches to two, three if you count prawns and four if you separate smoked/non-smoked salmon and I'd avoid it if you have an aversion to bright colours. All that said, I love the place; they cater for most people (even non-fish eaters), there's the hypnotic parade of dishes speeding past you on the belt and their menu's genuinely, unpretentiously fun.

My first foray into Yo! was in the sadly now departed Selfridge's Exchange Square food hall; eighteen years old, never having eaten sushi, my senses were assaulted and I relished each visit, popping in for a plate of hamachi sashimi and a bowl of miso - as much as my meagre student budget would stretch to.

Over the years it has been a place to tell my brother (when he had a whole futomaki stuffed into his mouth) that he was eating fish eggs (cue him trying to get said futomaki out of his mouth as quickly as possible), to giggle uncontrollably (you mean snort? - ed) with friends and *blushes* as a date destination.

Yo! Sushi has just released a new menu inspired by street food at their Trafford Centre Selfridges


New menu

store (soon to be rolled out across the country) - I'm not going to discuss the morals of restaurants incorporating street food dishes onto their menus and the whole street food shebang (there will probably be a blog about that in the not too distant future...) - so naturally, new menu, any excuse to pop down.

The Yo! Sushi at Selfridges Trafford Centre has just had a major refit (indeed, I tried to pop down three weeks ago and it was closed. No weekly Yo! fix for me!). The old white store has been replaced with striped wood, shot through with the recognisable Yo! Sushi colours. There's less bright orange (good) and the whole place generally looks cleaner, brighter and more modern. So it's not just the menu that has changed.

Whilst we were trying out the street menu (six dishes, of which we tried four), we naturally had to sample as many of the other dishes we know and love. Because that's how I roll at Yo! (and then roll out the door).

 

Off the new menu - Chicken karage is a fried chicken dish (like popcorn chicken, my companion's observation) - salty with a crunchy outer layer, pretty moreish and probably very bad for you. We didn't like the processed tasting wasabi mayo dip that came on the side, but a dousing of soy makes this dish even better (or use the dip that comes with the goyza, takes it up another notch again).

 

Salmon harumaki; a crisp filo roll, filled with nori and salmon, then fried. I've never had cooked nori before, but it's something I'll definitely try again. The pastry gave a pleasing crisp crack and the fish inside was perfectly cooked, the nori seasoning it all beautifully. Only issue was that the pastry was soaked in oil - luckily it didn't taste stale, but left a little too much grease in the mouth.

Bum note was the duck and hoisin salad - some bland, soggy leaves shot through with massive chunks of onion and then topped unappetisingly with cold, unflavoured (just a hint of five spice was all I was getting) duck that had lumps of white fat and flabby skin stuck to it. We didn't finish it.

Luckily all this was saved by the dish of the day - salmon sashimi with an yuzu salsa. Miles away from the duck; spanking fresh, full of heady, fresh citrus perfume, zingy spice and sweetness from the salsa. I could have eaten this all day.

Then we started on dishes from the original menu; the usual, plain salmon sashimi was what it said on the tin - fresh but a little fatty. A tuna handroll was full to bursting and the staff were more than happy to skip the mayo as per my request, they did however, get a little trigger happy with the spicy sauce - it took three glasses of waster to stop the burning and my lips looked like they'd had some pretty full on filler work done (not that I minded, I'm addicted to that spicy sauce).

Because I'm a glutton/had to research I had the rice rolled salmon maki - there's no rice, the nori is replaced by summer roll wrapping and there's some avocado and cucumber in there - super light and refreshing, another winner that I'll add to my list of 'dishes I have to have every time I visit Yo!'

Yo! Sushi isn't for the sushi gourmand, that's not why I go there (try Umezushi instead if you're after that), but it's a great place for to grab a bite to eat that genuinely is different from the flabby sandwiches and bland soups that are your other lunch time/chain options.

Yo! Sushi operates a range of set prices for it's dishes, the colour of the dish denotes price - they go form £1.90 (green) to £5 (grey).

Food - 7/10
Service - 9/10 (Jamie is amazing, he's the most lovely, helpful man ever)
Atmosphere - 8/10 (rammed, mid-week lunch)
Value for money - 7/10

Total - 31/40

Go again - already been. Twice. Since last week.

Yo! Sushi Selfridges, The Dome, Trafford Centre, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 8DA - 0161 747 7689 - http://www.yosushi.com/restaurants/manchester-selfridges-Trafford

Umezushi - Manchester

Umezushi, Manchester’s newest sushi restaurant, has been on my radar for a while after hearing pleasing murmurs from a variety of sources. I’m a Japanese food lover and Manchester’s a little thin on the ground for great places to eat this type of food (Yuzu excepted), so as you can expect I went with my heart in my mouth and my tastebuds eager to be pleased.


Umezushi is hidden away in a railway arch at the top of Mirabel Street (by Victoria Station; I foresee them snaring me quite often on my commute home, damn them) – a small, simple, striped back interior ensures your whole concentration is focused on the balanced exactness that is the mainstay of Japanese food and which is recreated perfectly here.

Umezushi - the little hidden gem

And what food! A main gripe of mine about (now) living away from the sea is the lack of fresh fish – don’t get me wrong, restaurateurs in Manchester have access to an amazing market at Smithfields and at some places the fish is spanking fresh, trouble is it’s usually cooked (and I have a perchance for raw…) – still, many places are serving up flabby, rubbery, slimy lumps of fish I would think twice about cooking, let along snarfing down uncooked. Not at Umezushi; all the fish we had was tip top – firm, clean and plenty of iodine. To keep tastes fresh and of super quality, Umezushi has adopted an ever changing daily menu to reflect what’s best at market each day; often full of seasonal, British produce to boot.

To start, we were given a dish of homemade pickles; sweet, slightly sharp, with each piece of veg still retaining a satisfying crunch. Dishes come out when they are ready – so don’t go to Umezushi when in a massive rush, the food is prepped when you order it to ensure it’s super fresh, so there’s a little (but welcome) wait.

Fresh and clean - sweet little homemade pickles

Umezushi keeps things simple – you choose your fish first, then how you would like it prepped; sashimi, handroll, nigiri, maki etc, or you can leave it to the gods (well, chef) and chose the house selection. We ate buttery brill, softly melting sea trout, rich tuna, a lightly pickled horse mackerel and the rarest, most succulent slice of fillet beef. Only small issue is the rice, it’s slightly loose – much better than the claggy puddings you get elsewhere, but just a tad difficult to get in my mouth (I’m not the neatest of eaters in the first place, so a little assistance would have been appreciated).

Thing of beauty in taste and looks - brill handroll

To accompany the sushi (and to fill me up) we ordered miso (hot, salty and not minging = good), light as a feather tempura and, on the back of the success of the pickles, some homemade kimchee – a great wall of heat, relived by a sharp pickle slap, followed by that unmistakable fermenty fizz; if you can stomach spicy fermented brassicas then definitely order it as it’s some of the best I’ve had in Manchester.

Tiny tuna portion - was worth every little bite

Umezushi is a fab little find, I was in two minds about writing this up as it’s such a hidden gem with such limited space that I want to be able to get in when I next visit – however it’s so perfect that you need to know and of course, I need them to carry on trading! The food is exquisitely put together, the produce as fresh as can be, the staff are the perfect level of friendliness and it’s a comfy little bolt hole – the only (very tiny) negative is that portions are small for the price, but as I’ve said before, I’d rather have quality over quantity and you get simple quality by the bucket loads here.

Price for seven sushi plates, one miso soup, one kimchee, one tempura and two beers - £40.24

Food – 8/10

Atmosphere – 7/10 (we were there very early, straight after work)

Service – 9/10

Value for money – 7/10

Total – 31/40

Go again – Yes. I plan to become a regular. Maybe even with my own chair and special nod to the chef who just whips up his best/freshest/newest thing and hands it to me without a word (stop fantasising – ed).

Umezushi, 4 Mirabel Street, Manchester M3 1PJ – 0161 8321 852 – enquiries@umezushi.co.uk – Facebook – Twitter – www.umezushi.co.uk

Australasia - Spinningfields, Manchester

Spinningfields - once an office surrounded wasteland full of commuting suits and empty units, has been undergoing a bit of a transformation lately, in an attempt to inject some soul into the corridors of corporate Manchester.

Now teaming with a mix of upper-end chain restaurants, funky pop ups, an outdoor cinema and even a frozen yogurt place; it's become the go to destination of the bright and spangly young professionals, keen to drink away their weekend and flash a little cash whilst they're at it.

At the top end of the scale is Living Venture's Australasia, an underground doyen that's so stylish and slick they're thinking of using it as the new teflon. For an underground bunker, Living Ventures have done exceptionally well - it's bright, light and well designed without feeling like you're sitting under 1,000 watt lamps; even though there's a profusion of tightly packed tables, the space feels intimate but not like your neighbour is spying on you.

Australasia interior - with thanks to Restaurants of Manchester

As you can guess from the name, Australasia's premise is the fusion food found in the city restaurants of Melbourne and Sydney, but most of the menu is very Asia heavy - sushi, tempura, a robata grill etc. As we were there for snacks and chats with drinks, we stuck around the sushi end of the menu so we could all share.

Unfortunately for the food it seems as overly styled as the restaurant - it's beautifully presented and minute attention to detail is paid to everything bar the taste (I know this as they have a glass walled kitchen and a legion of chefs doing very fiddly things to plates on the pass). Don't get me wrong, it's somewhat better than some of the food you find in Manchester, but for the prices we were paying I'd expect it to be AMAZING or something like that.

Oysters were great, very fresh with all the liquor still in them and the accompaniments worked a treat, but I'd be seriously pissed/worried if they managed to mess up an oyster. Next came kingfish sashimi; didn't taste that fresh, almost spongy and at £15.50 was a tiny portion - I don't care if it does come from Tasmania, I was hungry. We moved on to scallop sashimi with a sweet lime dressing; sweet scallops with a caramelised chillies and crispy shallots - could have done with that aforementioned lime juice to lighten it a little, but the dish was good enough for me to let it slide this time.

Kingfish sashimi - with thanks to Restaurants of Manchester

Soft shell crab California roll was dominated by the sesame seeds on the outside, no hint of what was on the inside at all; the tuna and crispy shallots tasted of cheese and onion crisps, no hint of the fish. With both the roles the rice was awful; really overly claggy and not a great texture at all. Just as we grumbled and moaned we were saved by the smoked ell nigiri - seriously the best I have ever tried (I adore unagi like Baltimorian's adore their drugs); soft, salty, sticky and smoky with the exact amount of wasabi to balance it all out - yes the rice let it down, but the fish was so good I didn't give a flying...

At that point we'd had enough of the over priced, over styled food; plus we were distressed at the tap water we'd been given that had an overpowering taste of 'gentleman's relish' (I'm not talking about anchovy paste here), so we scarpered, leaving the bright lights of Australasia to Manchester's shiny young things.

Price for two plates sashimi, six oysters, two lots of California rolls (4 each), one plate of nigri (4) and a bottle of wine - £81.50

Food - 6/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
Service - 7/10 (one guy was great, but the others were a little poor)
Value for money - 6/10

Total - 27/40

Go again? If I wanted to overly impress someone who didn't like food and they were paying, maybe. Shame as the restaurant itself is really lovely, the food just lets it down.

Ps Sorry for no photos, got carried away with the oysters and booze on this one.

Australasia, 1 The Avenue, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3AP - 0161 831 0288 - info@australasia.uk.com

http://www.australasia.uk.com/

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