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Restaurant and dining guide

A trip to Abode is like a trip to Noah's Ark for someone that hadn't eaten for four weeks. The two of us ate lamb, beef and rabbit. There were pigs ears, scallops and cod. Duck liver, cod cheeks and pork belly and cheeses. The list went on.

For this was the grazing menu, although it's not so much grazing as troffing. Although there is an a la carte menu, the majority of people go for these light plates which mean you can try lots of different dishes of a level that we don't normally see in Manchester. In fact, Abode's grazing menu has just been awarded the Good Food Guide's Best Set Menu award for under £20. The menus are designed by chef Michael Caines, but the credit here must go to his head chef, Ian Matfin.

So far, Abode has won last year's Restaurant of the Year at Manchester Food And Drink Festival awards, Best Restaurant and Best Chef at this year’s Northern Hospitality Awards and Ian has appeared on the Great British Menu (albeit representing his native North East).

Completing the experience for us was restaurant manager Charles Dobosz, who had a charming manner of speaking to us in French, although we had a less charming manner of replying in English. We were happy to let Charles recommend what dishes he thought we'd like, and gave him free reign saying there's nothing us Taste of Manchester girls don't like. Well you can't write about food if you're a fussy eater!

The food was delicate and exquisite, and even more kudos goes to Ian Matfin and his team as they have to make all of these mini-dishes perfect, which is so much work. The stand-out dishes were ones that gave a traditional set of flavour combinations a new twist that worked. For example, the pan fried scallops with pea puree (£7.95), was paired with a pea and coconut veloute in a shot glass, which tasted truly nutty, like brazil nut or almond. Usually I find peas don't have enough flavour to put with a creamy but fairly bland scallop, but the coconut was an unusual addition that rounded out the dish.

The cod cheeks (£6.50) were amazingly tender plump pillows of sweet fish flesh, paired with a strong salty diced belly pork chunk - again with a nice twist of ginger and apple puree for some distinctly sharp flavours. The Terrine of duck liver (£7.50) was served with pickled strawberries, the perfect tastebud antidote to the gout-inducing richness of liver.

We also consumed the Raviolo of ham hock (£7.50), served with crunchy deep fried pig cheeks and Fillet of cod (£10.50), which was given depth with a fresh crab raviolo, crushed olive potato, sauce vierge and parmesan cream sauce.

The meat courses moved away from the light, sculpted dishes into classic cuts of decent meat. The best being the Cheshire sirloin steak (£12.50), which was served with teeny-tiny mushrooms, horseradish chantilly and a light gravy for a light taste to a heavy dish. The rump of Herdwick lamb (£12) was a tad salty and not as tender as it could be. I find rabbit a very rich meat, and this was played up as it was served with a chicken and tarragon mousse, parmesan gnocchi and grain mustard sauce.

Desserts are particularly fine and arrived one by one like little works of art. Top marks for memorable flavour goes to the beautiful and fruity green apple sorbet and jelly that came with the Creme brulee. The trio of strawberry dishes were also full of flavour, and both the strawberry and apple tasted so vibrant they were like tangy sweets.

Washing all this down was a superb selection of wines, divided on the wine list by grape. My favourite was a white burgundy - Le Petit Jaboulet Viognier - which was a very respectable £6.25 per glass and £25.90 for the bottle.

When you order this much food, you don't spend much time looking at the surroundings. But like the food, the interiors were clean and defined, with lots of rich wood, although the stark spotlights played havoc with the photographs of the food I was attempting to take.

All of these flavours and dishes could be confusing, but each one was individual enough to remain clear in my mind a few days later. That is a skilled menu.

My only slight bugbear is with language. Much of the language on the menu was over-complicated and a little flowery. I prefer a straight-talkin' no nonsense approach. Secondly, the branding of Abode is ABode. And if there's one thing journalists can't ABide, it's messing with grammar. So I reserve the right to write proper-like, and it's Abode for me.

But Abode is somewhere I'll be going back. It's contemporary, well-defined and definitely leading the way in Manchester food.

The grazing lunch menu is available throughout Manchester Food and Drink Festival (October 1-12) for the reduced price of £10. I'll see you there.

Abode Manchester, 107 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1 2DB
T: 0161 247 7744
W: www.abodehotels.co.uk