Harden's says
This restaurant from former Noma chef Simon Martin is described as an 'informal dining experience serving a menu of ten to fifteen plates in quick succession'. The small (just 26-covers) evening-only venture opens in Manchester Life’s Sawmill Court this summer and is one of the city’s most hotly anticipated new openings.
Harden's survey result
Summary
“Great to have a restaurant of this quality in the North West” – Simon Martin won his place in the history books in 2019 when he ended Manchester’s 40 years of pain without a Michelin star with his creation of this award-winning Ancoats champion. By design, there’s a “chilled” ambience created by the large space, where chefs and diners co-mingle naturally as a result of the open plan layout incorporating the kitchen (to ensure that ‘traditional barriers are broken in physical and thoughtful senses’). The cuisine is characterised by its “interesting and innovative approach with some unusual and unique flavours” and enhanced by the “superb” service. Of course, it’s not super-cheap, but no-one seems to begrudge this. The ‘Complete’ tasting menu is £175 per person, with a cut down ‘Extracts’ version available for £110 per person (and at lunch there’s a menu for £70 per person).
Summary
“Exceptional from start to finish” – the praise just keeps piling up year after year for Simon Martin’s Ancoats “fault-free” legend, which went down in the annals in 2019 when it won Manchester’s first Michelin star in over four decades. The local competition just gets hotter, but the “stunningly creative and beautifully executed” cuisine here still makes it the most highly rated venue in the city in our annual diners’ poll. It’s a dazzling room too, with an open- plan kitchen integrated into the dining area within a striking double-height space.
Summary
“Simply the best” – Simon Martin’s Ancoats superstar continues to maintain the “outstanding all-round” form that secured its place in the history books in 2019 when it carried back to Manchester the city’s first Michelin star since 1977. “Sublime dishes are cooked with invention and precision” by the squadron of chefs put on display by the open kitchen (you can walk between workstations as the chefs are plating up). They deliver a £195 per person tasting menu, although you can fight the cost-of-living crisis with a cut-down version at £95 per person. Combinations are clever and each dish is intricately crafted. The contemporary space it occupies – at the foot of a modern block – is also full of drama, with a very high ceiling and huge windows.
Summary
“Undeniably one of the UK’s top tables” – Simon Martin’s “fabulous airy space within the foodie hotspot that is Ancoats” shot to national fame in 2019 when it secured Manchester’s first Michelin star since 1977. On practically all accounts, “exemplary cooking” with an emphasis on fire and fermentation and British ingredients “comes out of that entirely open kitchen, and the team work methodically alongside each other to produce it”. “Flavours are knock-out and every dish is evocative of place and origin, with evident care and attention to detail. This level of refinement usually knocks all the oomph out of the produce (ahem, France, ahem) but here it only adds to it. Who on earth would carefully fillet and re-stuff a mussel? The result, in its bath of smoky butter, is amazing”. And “wine pairings are interesting and varied” too. “Being seated adjacent to the open kitchen and able to view the focused choreography of the chefs adds to the delight” – “there’s such a great theatre and occasion”. With stardom has come higher prices, however, and doubts are creeping in about the ultimate level of value it delivers. One in six now consider it notably overpriced. The remainder that “it’s not cheap, but you pay for what you get”.
For 35 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at Mana?
Sawmill Court, Manchester, M4 6AF
Restaurant details
Mana Restaurant Diner Reviews
"What an interesting restaurant and for all the right reasons. Initial contact with MANA was a worry as there was no response to emails or answering the telephone. Eventually (a few days prior to arrival), contact was made and my request for a copy of the wine list was efficiently supplied. On arrival, the greeting was friendly and welcoming where our names were already known. This was not as remarkable as thought, given that my wife and I were the only duo dining at 12.00 lunchtime! There were only 2 other tables occupied which somewhat reduces the overall atmosphere but our table was superb, being right in front of the kitchen and would have purported to be a chefs table in other similar restaurants. The food: excellent. we opted for the Extracts menu which is a slightly paired down version the full tasting menu but was very adequate for a lunchtime experience. It is worth noting that the dishes were presented in a different order to those recorded on the printed menu. This required a last minute change to my wine selection. No explanation was offered for this rearrangement. The dishes may change but my standouts today were: the scallop, the ragout (rest of the duck) and the pear dessert (my surprising favourite and akin to an upside down creme brûlée). I chose several different glasses of wine which paired well and were reasonable (for a restaurant) prices. One disappointment was that they had no orange juice to provide for my wife's orange and soda; so tap water it was. The cost is reasonable given the city centre location. Would we visit again: absolutely. MANA is the best overall restaurant in Manchester (in my opinion of course) and much better than at least one other Michelin star restaurant in Lancashire."
"Great chilled and spacious ambience in double height room with relatively few covers. Plenty of seafood on the menu and technique (fermentation, fire and smoke) on display. Highlights for me were the Grilled Crumpet amuse bouche with “duck foie gras”, the Gently Poached Oyster (with frozen fennel and dill), the Scallop (with lemon and thyme foam) and the Rest of the Duck. Two minor quibbles are that (perhaps because of the larger echoey space) it was sometimes hard to hear the full details of the dishes as they were explained and the “poetic” online and in-print manifesto statements (“campaign against plain English” perhaps?)"
Prices
| Availability | 2 courses | 3 courses |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch | £70.00 |  |
|
|
| Cost | Availability | Courses | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menu1 | 110.00 | ||
| Menu2 | 175.00 |
| Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £40.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £5.00 |
| Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Service | 10.00% |
Sawmill Court, Manchester, M4 6AF
Opening hours
| Monday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | CLOSED |
| Wednesday | 6:30 am‑7:30 pm |
| Thursday | 12 pm‑1 pm, 7 pm‑8 pm |
| Friday | 12 pm‑1 pm, 7 pm‑8 pm |
| Saturday | 12 pm‑1 pm, 7 pm‑8 pm |
| Sunday | CLOSED |
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