Lunch at Australasia Manchester
Now the indulgences of Easter Weekend are over, you’re probably looking for somewhere to have a lighter, yet equally indulgent lunch this week? I know I am! Well look no further than Australasia, on Deansgate in Manchester.
I’ve been to Australasia a few times now, usually for birthdays or date nights and it never disappoints. But I’ve always been in the evenings for dinner and cocktails. It hadn’t even occurred to me that they’d also do a lunch menu. I don’t know why it hadn’t, but I’ve been missing out all these years!
The lunch menu is served Monday to Fridays before 5pm, so perfect for those leisurely business lunches (or those leisurely non-business lunches) and is in the same tapas-inspired format, where you choose three to four dishes from a list and they are served as soon as they’re ready. I love eating like this, as it gets rid of the food envy sometimes experienced when you’re forced to choose one dish and you secretly want at least a bite of what your friend ordered!
The suggestion is to go for three dishes each for a good, solid lunch. So of course we opted for four (greedy guts)!
Now I’m going to take a slight step back here and talk about the decor at Australasia, which is seriously, seriously stunning! I mean they’ve got it exactly right. It’s plush, chic but understated. For a restaurant that’s underground (I mean literally under the ground at Spinningfields), you don’t feel like you’re in a dark dank underworld. Quite the opposite. The lighting means that although you are completely unaware of the time of day or weather outside in the real world, you’re comfortably whisked away for an hour or two to enjoy your grub. And those seats…oh the seats…are so comfy! (You’ll understand why I’m mentioning this when you go).
Ok back to the food (and drink). We started with a cocktail in the bar area and whizz of a barman Luke, quickly whipped-up two amazing concoctions. I went for the Margharita Special, which I was told was his creation and award-winning. Be sure to ask for it when you go in as it’s damn good! It has grapefruit in it, but don’t let that put you off as it’s perfectly balanced and finished with egg whites and 85% chocolate. Mmmmm. Hubby went for the Rose and Lychee cocktail which was also too easy to drink!
Onto the food. After perusing the menus and checking out the photos and details on their iPad menus, here’s what we went for and we left feeling full up and happy. In honesty, three dishes each and a cheeky dessert would probably be enough for most, but we’re not most!
Futomaki with Yellow fin Tuna, Daikon and Avocado
Delicious, sweet and light.
Salt and Pepper Tofu with Rice Crackers and Cucumber Salad
Surprisingly delicious, with a great texture and flavours of Hoi Sin with a chilli kick.
Tempura Spiced Pork and Jasmine Rice Dumplings
Ground pork meat (I’d prefer shredded) with a nice spicy kick.
Red Fish Curry with Sticky Jasmine Rice
Quite possibly my favourite dish of the bunch. Tender chunks of white fish and prawns with fruity pineapple. Light and creamy and perfectly sticky but not glutinous rice. Stunning.
Sticky Pork with Vietnamese Salad and Smashed Peanuts
The pork in this is so sticky and moreish and the salad is crunchy and zesty with a squeeze of lime. My only criticism would be that there wasn’t enough of that delicious pork!
Temaki Seaweed Rolls with Salmon and Robata Beef
Another winner, but I’d say the beef is far superior to the salmon in  my opinion.
Seared Teriyaki Beef, Peanuts and Baby Mixed Leaf Salad with Sweet Chilli Dressing
This was a winning dish for both of us and a must order! Incredibly succulent strips of rare beef with a light, sticky and unctuous teriyaki sauce and soft leaf salad. Mmmmm, I could have eaten four orders of this!
Vegetable Tempura
Does exactly what it says on the tin. Light crispy batter coated selection of veggies with a tangy dip.
And of course it would have been rude not to have a dessert, wouldn’t it? I nearly wasn’t going to have one but then the waitress mentioned that the Chocolate Dome with Salted Caramel and Raspberries was a “must have” so I thought I better get one to see if she was telling the truth. And oh how she was…
What a show-stopper! The hot salted caramel sauce, melts the tempered chocolate sphere to reveal a peanut butter ice cream inside, which goes all gooey and melted and lovely. The raspberries give a nice tartness to balance the sweet and there is a peanut butter meringue powder round the edge too. THIS DESSERT IS SERIOUSLY WOW!
Here’s the video to prove it…
What an impressive end to a stunning lunch spread! Do not leave without having this, even if you’ve only got an hour for lunch. Make it happen!
(They even serve smarties with your coffee!)
As you can probably tell, we really enjoyed our lunch at Australasia Manchester. And the laid-back tapas-style service makes it perfect to get some serious nosh done in an hour’s lunch break. Or if you were like us and had the whole afternoon to waste, relax, take your time and indulge in a couple of cocktails too.
Sshhh…
Having had a chat with the General Manager while gushing over the food, we were told that there’s going to be some exciting changes coming to the menu soon! Fundamentally the service and style will be the same signature Australasia style, but there’ll be some new dishes to drool over.
I can’t wait. I may just have to go back so I can tell you all about them 🙂
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