Manchester restaurant Mana has had more praise heaped on it by another national critic.
Former Noma chef Simon Martin's ambitious Ancoats venture, which serves a 16-course tasting menu priced at £105 a head, was last month, who described it as 'a good restaurant by world standards'.
Now it's received more acclaim from The Guardian's Grace Dent, who described each dish as 'a small, fancifully presented art project'.
Her highlights of the menu included yakitori eel glazed with yeast and blackcurrant vinegar, with 'a funk that curls your toes with its all-powerful, umami thrust'; oysters, 'served dramatically, cooked in chicken fat, wrapped in cabbage, shoved back in their shells and served on dry ice, which appealed to the goth in me'; and 'two wondrous dishes of gaspingly fresh English peas with caviar and plum and, my very favourite, a bowl of sweet, velvety charred onion petals with fermented barley and kelp'.
"Mana is the sound of Manchester turning a corner," she concluded.
"I hope the men with the stars agree."
Dent had plenty of praise for Manchester's wider dining scene too, describing the city as 'one of my favourite stop-off points for dining'.
She said it was 'ludicrous' the city did not have any Michelin stars, highlighting the 'world class talent' of Adam Reid at The French and the work of Aiden Byrne at Restaurant MCR, as well as Stockport's 'much-adored' Where the Light Gets In.
You can read her full review here .
Michelin awards its UK stars in October. The French was the first and only Manchester city centre establishment to be awarded a Michelin star, which it held from 1974 until 1977.
The last Greater Manchester restaurant to have a star was Juniper in Altrincham, which held it for 11 years until chef Paul Kitching left to relocate to Edinburgh in 2009.
