SWEET MANDARIN - Manchester

A five minute walk from train, tram or secure parking, just in the super trendy Northern Quarter of Manchester is the Sweet Mandarin restaurant - contemporary Chinese food, cooked up and served by three smart and cool anglo-Chinese sisters, Lisa, Helen and Janet Tse.

I've had the pleasure of chatting via Twitter and email with Lisa over the last few weeks since starting my blog, and recently read Helen's touching account of her familys journey over the past 100 years from rural China to present day Manchester, in her first book; Sweet Mandarin.

All of which left me eager to go eat there.

It seems I made my reservation just in time - a few days before the girls appearence and convincing victory on Gordon Ramsey's "F Word" show - I hear the phone has been ringing off the hook with reservation requests since the show aired earlier this week.  Judging by the amount of turn-aways at the door on Saturday evening too, I confidently predict that SM will continue to go from strength to strength.

so.. on to my review;

We arrived ten minutes early on a freezing Saturday night, walked in to be greeted by a really sociable buzz, not too loud or boisterous, but enough chat circulating to know that this was a casual, happy and hip place (a diverse age group of people all sat eating and talking - for me, always a good sign). The ever smiling Helen greeted us and quickly had one of her waiting staff sort out our table - no messing, no waiting - 10 out of 10.

We both had a cocktail - my girlfriend had a tasty "Orchid", whilst I decided on the more macho sounding "Snake Blood" made using Snake Liquor. Both were delicious and fruity, although I'm not convinced that the Snake Liquor brought anything other than an exotic idea to the drink - but for me, they weren't alcoholic enough...

We ordered a pleasant bottle of house red and then onto the meal.

For me, Beijing Dumplings, served with a little vinegar, delicious and morish - to be perfectly honest, I could imagine sitting in front of the TV with a mountain of these silky smooth, meaty, veggie, parcels and being tempted, Mr. Creosote style to keep eating them until the inevitable explosion. The vinegar dip worked perfectly.  My girlfriend had the Tempura Prawns - again, totally delicious. The super crispy batter wasn't exactly my idea of tempura, it was more like the best fish&chip shop batter you've ever tasted, light but dense with a real crack to it. A purist may well sniff, but both my girlfriend and I loved them (although the soy dip was a little over-powering in salt'ness for my taste - I would have liked a sweet chilli instead).

For main course, there were two obvious choices on a first visit to the SM for anyone who has read the book - and being an obvious sort of chap, I went for Lily Kowk's Chicken Curry, my gf had Mabel's Claypot Chicken.

The chicken curry, invented by and named for, the girls maternal grandmother, was very pleasant - nothing too challenging or surprising, but still good stuff. I never find that Chinese curry is as complex as a good Indian, but Lily's sauce works perfectly with the simple but excellently cooked chicken and still slightly toothsome onions - with soft noodle, this is comfort food of the highest order. The claypot chicken, again a family recipe, this time from the girls mum, was, I quote my gf  "the best Chinese I've ever had". Again, a simple dish made using well prepared, well cooked, good ingredients with no place to hide in their light broth - the flavours were both individual and in harmony with each other (this was the dish that smashed the competition in the F Word).

In all, we had a lovely meal, in a dining room that was modern and welcoming (two things that can be hard to achieve at the same time), the waiting staff were excellent - they are either just lovely people or were glad to see the back of me - I've never left a restaurant, or tbh anywhere, when so many people wished my a good night, smiling and waving as I went.  Helen is a superb host; she takes the time, even on a busy Saturday to waltz around all the tables to say hello to everyone and make sure that she has a room full of happy punters.

So - two cocktails, a bottle of wine, two starters, two mains, £70 - pretty decent value in what is now my favourite Chinese restaurant. will I be going back? Hell Yea - and you should go too!!!