On arrival the new Park Inn hotel seemed to have sprang out the ground from nowhere. The contemporary black building opened a couple of months ago, but because it is round the back of the MEN arena you wouldnât have noticed it unless you walk up there regularly.
However, when sat in the terrace area for a nice glass of vino at the back I realised that this hotel is part of the Greenquarter development and I did see the foundations being built from one of the apartment blocks a couple of years ago. This means the huge Greenquarter development is almost finished, and the hotel is just waiting for the surrounding landscaping to be finished.
The décor is ultra-modern with the odd zing of red, blue or green to brighten up the place. In the reception, the huge rug, with a pattern taken from an aerial image of Manchester at night, is a really nice unique touch. For a mid-price hotel in the city centre, this has an incredibly good standard of facilities including meeting and function rooms, a gym and a swimming pool. For an average of around £80-£100 per room per night, I cannot think of a downside.
The 252 standard bedrooms are everything you need for a couple of nights stay and have a waterfall walk-in shower. Additionally there are six large suites built in the corners of the building, with huge floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city centre. You might want to remember to close the curtain when jumping out the shower though - please spare anyone who might be looking up.
The RBG Bar and Grill is set overlooking Cheetham Hill Road with huge windows, and the simple menu offers good quality food such as burgers and fish and chips, with a strong grill section. The This and That section worked as a starter or a small plate section, and included everything from a clam and corn chowder and salads to pasta primavera and macaroni.
Heading up the kitchen is executive chef Andrew Green â recruited from the Radisson SAS at Manchester Airport. Andrew has worked in the city for more than seven years, where he trained under David Gale and Ian Matfin at the Alias Rossetti (now the ABode hotel).
A good helping of the Tiger Prawns (£9.50) was served on a king-size bed of lettuce and was dripping in lemon and a super-strong garlic butter, while the Blackened Salmon salad (£8.50) came with coriander, lime and avocado for a zingy flavour with a South American twist.
The fish and chips were incredibly aesthetically pleasing, with the fat chips being served in a mini fryer with little separate pots of tartare sauce and mushy peas, and the lightly batter fish draped over the plate. The taste was just as good as the appearance with the sharp tartare punctuating the flaky fish. The fat chips were, as the manager had explained, more like baked wedges but I do like my chips with more of a definite crunch.
From the grill, the sirloin steak (£20) looked perfectly blush in the middle and was served with rocket, giant onion rings and horseradish cream.
The manager Neil Raw had explained that the burgers were chargrilled completely, so they had to make them slimmer otherwise they were taking too long to grill. Again the burger (£8.50-£9.50) came with its accompaniments in little pots, which looked great but became a little clunky when actually trying to eat it.
Other meaty treats from the grill include rump of lamb, double cut pork chop, free range chicken, organic salmon and king scallops. There is a succinct wine list, with some good champagnes and cocktails as well.
I would like to see some more adventurous dishes on the menu and as the manager manager Neil said he would like the restaurant to be a destination restaurant, so I am definitely interested to see how they will develop their menu to achieve this.
Park Inn Manchester, 4 Cheetham Hill Road
Manchester, M4 4EX
T: 0161 832 6565
W: www.manchester-victoria.parkinn.co.uk