The number of top scoring Manchester restaurants in this year’s Harden’s guide has nearly halved
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The number of top scoring Manchester restaurants in this year's Harden's guide has nearly halved following a succession of high profile closures.
The city's restaurant scene was hailed as the fastest improving in the UK last year, with more top scoring establishments than anywhere outside London and Edinburgh.
Manchester still has more restaurants in the guide overall than anywhere outside the capital, but it slipped to fifth place for the number of top scoring restaurants – those rated very good or excellent for their price – in the Harden's Best UK Restaurants 2019 guide.
Editor Peter Harden said 'progress seemed to flatline or even to go backwards' this year as the number of top scoring restaurants in central Manchester fell from 11 to six.
Ongoing changes at Manchester House, which recently closed and was reopened last week by Aiden Byrne as Restaurant MCR, and the closure of Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs' Rabbit in the Moon are cited among the factors influencing the city's ranking.
Both restaurants had been top scorers in last year's guide – defined as those with five stars at any price point, or four stars at establishments where meals cost over £60 a head.
Manchester has 62 entries in total – down from 66 last year – in the latest edition of the guide, which is available now from Amazon.
This year's top scorers from across Greater Manchester are listed below, along with the restaurants scoring 4/5 at £60 or below and judged as providing good value for money.
What the guide says: "Esteem is growing for Paul and Kathryn Roden’s modernistic two-year-old, looking onto Chapel Walks, which recently recruited an ex-Fraiche chef: it’s increasingly seen as a good addition to Manchester with ever-more accomplished modern cuisine."
What the guide says: "Now established as one of Manchester’s best restaurants, the northern outpost of this epic modern steakhouse group has recreated much of the special aura it has established ‘darn sarf’ with its formula of first class British steaks, well-crafted cocktails, and slick service, all provided in an impressively converted Victorian space."
What the guide says: "The Moreau family’s classy brasserie relocated to this larger, more prominent site two years back; by all accounts it offers Gallic cooking at its best and ably accompanied by fine wines."
What the guide says: “This Ancoats legend is worthy of its reputation… The original one is still going strong, but the new one on Peter Street is also very good and with two branches in the city now you’re never too far away from pizza heaven."
What the guide says: "Highly worth hunting out – this minuscule restaurant (17 covers) built into railway arches below Victoria station again wins rave reviews for its amazing Japanese food – including incredible quality sushi and sashimi and stunning wagyu beef."
What the guide says: "Accomplished and delicious Japanese cuisine at very sensible prices isn’t easy to find – especially in Chinatown – but this little gem of a corner spot on the edge of the area is the exception."
What the guide says: "A superb and authentic variety of perfectly cooked pasta dishes, using ingredients flown in weekly from Puglia, combined with the passion of brothers Michael and Alex Di Martiis have created a major buzz that surrounds this basic and small outfit near Altrincham market."
What the guide says: "Joe and Fiona Botham’s excellent tapas joint has a fantastic selection of tasty morsels, reasonably priced…plus an interesting wine list."
Other Greater Manchester restaurants judged as providing very good value for money (achieving a score of 4/5 at below £60 a head) were:
What the guide says: "This much-loved curry house is perennially busy for good reasons: the food is both delicious and cheap 'n' cheerful."
What the guide says: "A stylish, contemporary haunt with a popular canalside terrace…plus reasonably priced, mostly English grub."
What the guide says: "Becoming a mini-chain may have taken the edge of the too-cool-for-school-ness, but its burgers remain a clear cut above the Byrons/GBKs of this world."
What the guide says: "Amazing Cambodian food, delicately flavoured in generous portions."
What the guide says: "What was a fabulous pintxo bar in the rather incongruous setting of Ramsbottom has added an impressive wood-fired Pereruela oven and expanded into the next-door shop, adding a dining room (or ‘comedor’) for super, mostly roasted things."
What the guide says: "This brilliant tapas joint on Chorlton’s back streets…feels like being in Spain. Unusual specials are worth looking out for – it’s all good and very affordable too."
What the guide says: “Innovative modern European cuisine executed to a very high standard wins strong local praise for this mid-2017 newcomer."
What the guide says: "The Indian street food menu is full of character and they have a large list of craft ales and ciders – what a combo! – at this unmissable if basic vegetarian treat."
What the guide says: "They know what to do with a fish at this restaurant behind a fishmonger."
What the guide says: "Still smashing it – this throbbing and bustling operation remains the most commented-on place in town, and feels like it’s been around for years."
What the guide says: "Part of the slick Gary Usher machine, his Didsbury operation is the classic neighbourhood bistro which on all accounts is genuinely what every local restaurant should be."
What the guide says: "This darling of Altrincham market hall, also lining up at the Alti crew’s new Mackie Mayor market, remains the place for really tasty sourdough pizzas with well thought out toppings."
What the guide says: "The flavour explosions of the South Indian street food at this small and intimate place (opened in 2013) have proved so popular that founders Suresh Raje Urs & Srini Sundaram have launched it as a brand."
What the guide says: "Wonderful Indian food, extremely well presented again wins praise."
What the guide says: "A real, somewhat forgotten, gem in the centre of Manchester…the food is refined, very well cooked and very tasty and the cost of the wine fight is amazingly cheap, considering the quality."
What the guide says: "Patrick Hannity’s top-notch Didsbury brasserie has been the model of consistency for more than 30 years. It retains the perfect combination of great food with fantastic wine and brilliant service in a vibrant atmosphere."
What the guide says: "A basement outft providing good food, low prices, energetic service and clean but unpretentious décor."
What the guide says: "Despite its out-on-a-limb location, this south Manchester Vietnamese café is one of the city’s better-known cheap eats currently."
What the guide says: "This veteran on Rusholme’s Curry Mile attracts extravagant praise for its street food and charcoal pit dishes."
What the guide says: "With a menu of great-tasting British classics…this Manchester institution (est 1872) is a place of pilgrimage for those of the city’s trenchermen who like their traditional scoff with no fancy, poncey, modern nonsense."
What the guide says: "This Hale newcomer has created a lively buzz with its excellent food, which combines some South Asian classics with fine Sri Lankan cuisine."
What the guide says: "On practically all accounts this upbeat and creatively decorated venue is the best burger joint around [but] the secret here are the steaks, which are both very good, and good value."
What the guide says: "This cheap and cheerful curry café elicits only raves. Expect a massive whack of favour for very little cash."
What the guide says: "This Northern Quarter mainstay remains a safe bet locally for its excellent and assured, seasonal and local British cuisine at very reasonable prices."
What the guide says: This Chinatown joint was once a great little secret but, post-expansion (adding a Thai-style canopy bar and lavish velvet curtains), it now gets very busy.
What the guide says: "D&D London’s 19th-foor newcomer at the top of No 1 Spinningfelds has stunning views of the city…but as well as being a see-and-be-seen destination, it’s a genuinely great restaurant."
What the guide says: "The hipster foodie intensity might be a turn-off for some people but the warmth and enthusiasm of the staff and sheer quality of the food make it a wonderful experience."
What the guide says: "This much expanded 18th-century hilltop inn, set in a hamlet near Saddleworth, has wonderful views over the Pennines and provides consistently highly-rated cooking."
What the guide says: "Wing Shing Chu’s elegant city-centre Cantonese, praised in particular for its immaculate service. It’s certainly not a cheap choice, but there are no complaints about the prices."
What the guide says: "Many of Manchester’s most discerning foodies still reckon this is the best Chinese in town, but Harry & Bonnie Yeung’s famous Chinatown destination suffers from bouts of inconsistency nowadays."