New York in a mouthful

Much like a Ford Crown Victoria yellow cab which crams the various streets and avenues of Manhattan, Spinningfield’s Neighbourhood restaurant is also a well oiled machine full to the brim of New York flair and attitude.

Hidden on The Avenue North, this fine New York themed eatery wouldn’t look out of place on the Upper West Side, the only thing missing was a rude waitress.

Not here, if anything, our waitress Denache was one of the nicest and most helpful waitresses we’ve had in some time. Crouching at our booth to instantly relax the mood, we were given both suggestions and advice on certain dishes we were indecisive about.

Anyway, onto why we were here. We had heard a lot about the glitz and glamour here, and even on a Tuesday evening it was 80% full with young professionals enjoying the vast cocktail selection and sharing appetizers. The menu allows this you see, so many nice starters gives people like me a dilemma – so you can pick and choose several at a time to share, then enjoy your Cosmopolitan in peace.

On this occasion we didn’t do this, we stuck to the good old fashioned British way of having three courses and rolling out of there needing burping.....not a nice picture.

We started the feast with Seared Scallops (£9) which came with a dusty shitake umami, a moreish sweet corn salsa & popcorn shoots sticking out of the scallops. Perfectly cooked scallops with a sweet salsa – ideal combo and the umami gave the dish plenty of texture. We also had some Chicken Lollipops (£7) which were coated in a really tasty buttermilk batter and served with a coriander & lime dip. This was also very good indeed and set a very high standard to the rest of the meal.

Whilst waiting for the mains we took in our surroundings, what we particularly liked was the fact that there were no gimmicky NYC icons hung up, nor Old Blue Eyes belting out. Instead was a very chic and well lit restaurant with a large bar area; perfect for pre/post meal or simply for an after work cocktail. Also, all of the music playing was British; something we think is common with The Big Apple.

Our mains consisted of a wonderful earthy Wild Mushroom Rigatoni (£10) which was so creamy with the mascarpone and salty parmesan and Neighbourhood Burger (£14). I think you can tell a lot from a place by their burger standards; and let me tell you – it was GLORIOUS. Customary brioche bun (with seeds), oozing cheese with mac sauce and the best bacon I have had in a long time. It was sugary with a real smoky finish – I could eat that every day.

Once we got over the sheer heaven of that course, we opted to share the Box of Doughnuts (£7) which came with warm vanilla donuts (I’m going with the American version here) and homemade marshmallow. These were also exceptionally good and came with a deeply chocolately dip – but no box!!!

Manchester is twinned with Los Angeles and you can tell. The city has recently been hit by a swarm of burger, bowling and Man Vs Food challenges. If you ask me, Neighbourhood has brought an element of sophistication to the collection, and I think it’ll benefit immensely from it.

I love New York City, and if you do too, then you’ll love Neighbourhood.

---

Posted: Wednesday 27th March 2013
ID: 10179 - 927