52-56 George Street
Manchester
M1 4HF
0161 228 2883
We enter a new phase of gastronomy as we have moved hotel into the centre of Manchester. This brings us in reach of Chinatown and all that it holds. I expect the number of Chinese reviews to rise dramatically over the next few weeks.
Our first foray was a belter and gives us an excellent benchmark for the future. George Street is on the periphery of Chinatown and this restaurant seats loads of people. About 40% of these were chinese which we always think is a good sign. We got the last seats in the house and the place was buzzing, so much so that we had a ringside seat as a couple of brothers started squaring up to each other a couple of tables away. Food and a fight, what more could you ask for?
No tiger beer, so we ordered Tsing Tao which was just as good. The menu was very large with tons of Dim Sum on offer. We couldn’t resist and had the Dim Sum Combo with Duck and Pancakes, then Beef in OK sauce, Pork Chow Mein and plain noodles with onions (be specific, it tells you on the menu). The waitresses were polite and lightning fast (so much so that I saw one of them whip a plate out of a customers hand as he passed it to a fellow diner and off to the kitchen, wouldn’t have been too bad but there was still food on it).
Our dim sum were very tasty, fresh and hot. We got two prawn varieties and the prawns were huge and succulent. Also a great pancake roll and a slimy beef ravioli affair that was delicious if a little tricky to pick up. Slippery little sucker. Also a pile of seaweed. Very good.
The duck was slightly overcrisped for me but was very good to eat and was served with tons of pancakes so for once we didn’t have to ask for more (break into Oliver! Oliver!).
As ever, Troy liked my main more than his. My beef in OK sauce was great. Sweet and a bit savoury with tender bitesize bits of sliced beef. The noodles were also good to eat. Troy’s pork chow mein was done (just!). It was quite slimey and neither of us expected it to come as it did. It was on a bed of crispy noodles instead of fried noodles and though the pork was plentiful (with lots of mange tout) it was nearly raw. Tasted alright though. It also got stickier as time passed. Quite strange.
Overall we suggest that you give it a go. We both enjoyed it.
Cost was £46 including 4 tsing tao and 10% service charge (added automatically by the restaurant).
