It's the Year of the Pig - which means it's time to trough
This week marks the Chinese Year of the Pig, and the website we're looking at right now says we should all start by 'setting your priorities, then getting to work'.
Naturally our priority is to pig out, so here's where we'll be eating Chinese this year...
MEI DIM (the proper Chinese)
Where: Chinatown
Best Dish: Steamed beef tripe honeycomb in black pepper sauce
Ask for the Cantonese dim sum menu, as that’s where you’ll find the most interesting dishes such as smoky pork cheung fun, mixed meat croquette, sticky rice with smoked diced meats, whelks in an mysterious glutinous sauce, deep fried cuttlefish and yam cakes with smoked meat (read our review here). Mei Dim, 45-47 Faulkner St, Manchester M1 4EE. Tel: 0161 236 6868
PEKING HOUSE (the hard to find one)
Where: Liverpool Street, on an unlikely crossroads in Salford
Best Dish: Pig’s trotters with chilli, onion, spring onion and sesame
This restaurant of many names (Mr Fresh? Peking Duck?) offers a no holds barred Chinese menu with a Beijing accent, filled with gizzards, feet, tongue, lungs, kidneys, trotters and stewed chicken with mushrooms. You’ll find dishes for the more curious such as ‘Hot & Spicy Frog Hot Pot’, duck tongues and jellied noodles with beef (read our review here). Peking House aka Mr Fresh aka Shi Wei Xian, 1 Liverpool St, Salford, M5 4LY Tel: 0161 736 0359
TATTU (the flash but not really Chinese one)
Where: Spinningfields
Best Dish: Beef fillet and caramel soy with shitake and asparagus
Not strictly Chinese, but Tattu does have a mod-Chinese slant inspired by the strong conceptual restaurants found on America's west coast. Think sleek black lacquered furnishings and private booths around a giant cherry blossom tree. Many of the dishes have a touch of luxury, truffle here, foie gras there, with touches of lobster and wagyu beef thrown in. Tattu Restaurant and Bar Gartside Street, 3 Hardman Square, Spinningfields, M3 3EB. Tel: 0161 819 2060
YANG SING (the classic)
Where: Princess Street
Best Dish: Spiced lemongrass lobster
The most well-known Cantonese restaurant in Manchester, the Yang Sing recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. To celebrate the Year of the Pig, they have come up with a special set banquet on Sunday 10th February (£46pp), all accompanied by a martial arts demonstration, firecrackers and a private lion dance. Their banquet dishes win the award for the most poetic names and include ‘double dish prosperity toss’ as well as ‘longevity noodles’ (more here). Yang Sing, Canton House, 34 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 4JY. Tel: 0161 236 2200
YU (the out of town one)
Where: Alderley Edge
Best Dish: Wagyu beef fillet, sweet soya lime
This upmarket restaurant in Alderley Edge offers a distinctive blend of traditional Chinese cuisine and modern innovation. They will be welcoming in the Year Of The Pig with a banquet menu (£45pp), between 5-28 February, including dim sum, XO King prawns and 'Victor Yu's Crispy Aromatic Duck Leg & Pancakes' (more here). Yu, London Rd, Alderley Edge SK9 7QD Tel: 01625 569922
