Lewis Dominic Suggesting Oriental chic and Northern Quarter charm in equal measure, Ningâs black and pink interior has been an Oldham Street fixture for the best part of four years. With a cookbook on sale and a thriving cooking school, as well as one of the busiest restaurant floors in the city centre, Taste of Manchester revisits Ning.
Authenticity and simplicity are Norman Musaâs twin watchwords. Chef to the Malaysian government-backed Formula One team and self-taught executive chef at Ning in the Northern Quarter, Musa is true to his words with summer specials that include a lovely mackerel salad.
In this stunning dish, chunks of fish, impeccably fresh and dry marinated in turmeric, were paired with pomelo, the South East Asian citrus fruit that lends the texture and tang of grapefruit without any bitterness. Shreds of shallot added yet more texture and kept up the savoury quotient. It was a fine dish that vied for pole position with full-flavoured soft shell crabs.
With the best-selling, deep-fried crabs came a bowl of surprisingly rich chilli dipping sauce, flavoured with lime leaf and peanuts and demanding that fingers be used for eating. And ice-cold Hue beer from Vietnam â picked from a selection that also included Laobeer from Laos â was an ideal companion on the side. Also on the drinks list is an unusual Thai shiraz, and there are Thai dishes to match it with at this Oldham Street restaurant.
It seemed remiss not to choose a big portion of classic beef rendang as a main. The meat was impressively tender for a potentially dry cut of the beast through a long combination of simmering and frying. Scant as it should be, the spicy coconut milk at the bottom was irresistible with both jasmine and the shorter grain coconut rice â even more so with a nibble on the raw chilli garnish.
There was chilli in an ice cream on the dessert menu as well â less challenging that you might imagine, with a not unpleasant tannic effect. Seri kaya, a layered cake of sticky rice, coconut custard and paste rendered luridly green by the pandan leaf, is another nod to Malaysian authenticity and confirmation of the chefâs racy flavours.
92-94 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter M4 1LJ
Tel: 0161 238 9088
www.ningcatering.com
