Recently, I was writing an article regarding consistency within the Manchester food and drink scene. No surprise then that one of the first venues to come to mind was MFDFâs current restaurant of the year, EastzEast. Since it opened in 2004 I have eaten at this restaurant many times and it has never failed to produce the highest standards of consistency in both service and the quality of food served.
With a new menu and wine list recently launched it was time to check out the changes; the interior layout has also been tweaked to accommodate the impending smoking ban. As a result the bar lounge area has been reduced in size allowing the addition of a few more, much needed, dining tables.
The huge menu follows a similar pattern to the previous one, with different categories of dish broken down into meat and poultry, seafood and vegetarian sections. There is a new area for âOld School Favourites,â? an extended vegetarian offering and more fish and seafood featured. Indeed vegetarians are very well catered for, in addition to the two dozen dishes listed there are a further half dozen or so side dishes and customers can also select the vegetable choices from the Biryani and Old School menus.
We began with the customary pickle tray (£2.95) and papadoms (£0.55 each); beneath the dishes a circular âmapâ? details the individual dips. My wifeâs starter of Fish Pakora (£3.95) was just as it should be, spicy, crisp batter surrounding perfectly cooked chunks of cod. It was almost as good as my Chicken Liver Tikka (£2.95), the chargrilled pieces of offal were juicy, succulent and pink at the centre and arrived artistically arranged on a narrow white platter.
For our mains we stuck to more traditional choices. Lamb Rogan Josh (£6.95) is my favourite curry to cook at home, Eastzeastâs version of this classic offered cubes of melt-in-the mouth meat in a rich, medium heat, tomato and coriander sauce. My wifeâs chicken shashlik (£8.95) appeared under the âspecial sizzlersâ? section of the menu and was served with tasty chickpea sauce and pilau rice. The scorched and smoking platter on which the deliciously moist chicken was presented had plenty of onions and tomatoes to accompany, but was surprisingly lacking in peppers. Continuing with the traditional theme we shared a side dish of tender Bombay potatoes (£3.95) and naan bread (£2.85), still served in Eastzeastâs signature, theatrical fashion; hanging upright from a stainless steel âtreeâ?.
The new wine list is now better presented, but still excellent value for money, with most choices coming in under the £15 mark. My wife had enjoyed a couple of glasses of house dry white (£2.50 250ml) with her meal whilst I had chosen Lal Toofan (£2.80 pt) to accompany my food.
Itâs hard to imagine how Eastzeast could have improved from its impressive start, but with the new menus in place, and outstanding front of house management, Iâm pleased to say that is indeed the case.
Russ Otterwell
EastzEast
Ibis Hotel
Princess Street
Manchester
M1 7DG
0161 244 5353
www.eastzeast.com
Sun-Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri-Sat 5pm-1am