A celebratory dinner at James Martin Manchester

My folks hadn’t been up to visit for a while, so when they did we decided to have a celebratory dinner at the new James Martin Manchester restaurant. We were celebrating them selling a house and having an offer accepted on a new one and the same for us!

We’d been wanting to pay a visit to the new restaurant at Manchester 235 since it opened, so what better excuse! We opted for a Sunday evening which was nice as the restaurant had atmosphere, but wasn’t too busy. You reach the restaurant by walking through the casino floor and into it’s own dedicated area, which houses plenty of tables, booths, a grand piano and the ‘Meat Market’.

The lighting was slightly off for me, it needed a tad more ambience but the chairs were comfy and we were happy with our large round central table. We were greeted with smiling staff and a sack (yes sack) containing a selection of freshly baked bread. Mmm good start in my books!

We chose our wines: a simply stunning Sauvignon Blanc for the girls – Esk Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand. And a Chianti for the boys – Ceppaiano, Italy.

The serving staff were attentive at topping-up our drinks and taking our orders. We chatted away and drooled over the menu. Here’s what we opted for to start…

Dad and I went for the Caremelised white onion soup with Quick’s cheddar cheese rarebit. This was packed full of flavour and the cheese was gooey and scrummy…

Mum went for the Smoked beef fillet and beetroot salad with bone marrow fritters and grain mustard dressing…

And hubby chose the Seared west coast hand dived scallops with black pudding and tamerind, palm sugar and ginger chutney…

Each one of us savoured and enjoyed every mouthful (not sharing!), washed down with our delicious wine choices. I only wish there was twice as much of my soup! Luckily there wasn’t, as our mains were not small on the portion side of things.

The boys went all carnivore on us and chose the largest T-bone steak with chips, onion rings, flavoured butter and sauce. (Sorry, no photo, I was too busy ogling at the food!).

Mum went for the vegetarian option of Roast butternut squash gnocchi with charred violet artichokes and cumin brown butter. Her’s looked so pretty on the plate!…

I went for the delicious sounding Braised short rib of beef with pearl barley and parsley risotto and roasted onions. And oh it was soooooo good! Delicious, tender meat packed full of flavour. The risotto was light and added texture and the onions melted in my mouth (my fellow dinners had food-envy over this dish)…

We all happily munched away and cleared our plates, sipping the wine and catching-up. What a lovely meal we were having. Then we were welcomed with the dessert menu (James Martin is particularly known for his desserts!). Now I’m way more of a savoury girl, but had done my research online before coming to James Martin Manchester and the dish that stood out far beyond the others was the White chocolate and whisky croissant butter pudding with single malt ice cream. And that’s what I opted for and it didn’t disappoint and was surprisingly light and not gluggy with just a gentle kick of whisky…

Dad opted out of dessert, but enjoyed a fine cognac instead. Mum went for my usual choice on any menu – the Caremelised lemon tart with creme fraiche and hubby went for the impressive Selection of British cheeses with grape chutney, Parkin biscuits and celery…

Needless to say we were all comfortably full at the end of this delightful meal and everyone enjoyed their food immensely. If I were to offer some constructive criticism, I’d say the serving staff left it a little long before giving us our dessert menus and made a bit of a rooky mistake by charging us for the wrong (and more expensive) wine on the menu. This was however very minor and is only me searching for fault, the staff dealt with the mistake straight away and were apologetic and polite with it (just shows you should always double-check the bill before paying).

I certainly would go back and although it’s the perfect restaurant for a 3-course dinner as a treat, you could also go there just for a really good steak and bottle of wine (not sure if I’d be able to ever not opt for that croissant butter pudding though!). I think it’d probably feel more “happening” on a Saturday evening and have a bit more atmosphere then it did on a Sunday, but it was perfect for what we wanted that night. A winner all round!

Has anyone else been? What are your thoughts?

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