RESTAURANT

IT’S been a big year for big restaurant openings, with The Ivy, Dishoom and 20 Stories all attracting huge crowds. But the ones that keep people coming back time and time again are often smaller, less shouty establishments that champion local talent and local produce.

The following list features newcomers, old-timers with new chefs and a few that just creep into the list (and our hearts) year upon year. THE CREAMERIES CHORLTON’S old Edwardian dairy has been jolted back to life by the dream team of former Aumbry chef-patron Mary Ellen McTague, baker Sophie Yeoman and interiors guru Soo Wilkinson.

The Wilbraham Road site is a mix of cool concrete and muted tones - as well as bread ovens making the whole place smell irresistible.

Fresh pastries, home-cured meats, home-made butter, and low intervention wines are at the heart of The Creameries. A worthy winner of the Newcomer of the Year award at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards, it’s an honest-to-goodness suburban champ. ADAM REID AT THE FRENCH SINCE being taken over by Adam Reid in 2016, The French has gone from strength to strength.

Winning Restaurant of the Year at the MFDF awards in October, he’s also scooped up a fourth AA rosette and been named the 13th best restaurant in the UK in the Good Food Guide. The creative tasting menus feature inventive dishes that champion British produce, all in a Grade II-listed building with a soundtrack of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s always a Michelin star hopeful, but certainly a very worthy nominee. GRAFENE A little over two years since opening and Grafene is winning over diners with its menu of surprisingly affordable fine-dining dishes.

Now under the guidance of head chef Ben Mounsey, the King Street restaurant earned itself a five-star review from the M.E.N this year thanks to its excellent British small plates and exciting cocktails.

There are plenty of menus to choose from, from traditional multi-course tasting menus to smaller set menus and tapas-style sharing small plates, making this a fine dining establishment that’s not out of reach for most wallets. HISPI A jewel in the Gary Usher’s bistro crown is Hispi. Currently Elite Bistros’ only Manchester restaurant (though with Kala set to open on King Street in February it won’t be alone for long), the Didsbury restaurant balances a neighbourly atmosphere with topnotch produce.

Particularly noteworthy is their custard tart, a wobbly slither of creamy, silky smooth pastry perfection. EL GATO NEGRO THE number of bodies inside King Street’s awardwinning Spanish restaurant speaks volumes - the three-storey tapas joint is packed out round-theclock.

There’s a range of charcuterie meats and classic tapas dishes, plus crowd favourites such as morcilla scotch eggs, spiced aubergine with onion confit and lavosh bread, and their ‘bikini’ toasted sandwiches of serrano ham, manchego and truffle butter. It’s been such a success they’ve now branched out with Portuguese restaurant Canto over in Ancoats. The nominees (left to right): The Creameries, The French, Grafene, Hispi, El Gato Negro See page 7 for the details of how to vote.