We went to Grill On New York Street to see what their new menu has to offer. Situated just behind Piccadilly Gardens on New York Street, this is one of Backhouse’s two restaurants in Manchester serving ‘solid, honest and simple proper food’.

On arrival, I was pleasantly surprised by the warm and friendly ambience. The atmosphere is relaxed and the accompanying blues soundtrack in the background makes this the perfect environment to enjoy a quiet drink in the bar area. It’s very easy to forgot you’re in Manchester and we pulled up a stool to enjoy a drink whilst admiring the authentic brickwork behind the bar. The choice of cocktails and drinks is impressive and if they don’t have the cocktail you’d like listed, you can ask and they will make it regardless.

We were later seated on high chairs near to the kitchen which is open so you can see the chefs cooking; I always like this transparent feature and I think it adds to the atmosphere. The options of starters are varied, including several fish and vegetarian options. We went for Thai fish cakes and piri-piri calamari. Both were presented beautifully; the calamari had a light crispy batter and there was an accompaniment of prawn crackers which were light, crisp and complimented the calamari whilst the fish cakes were thick and had a warming flavour that was subtle but very tasty.

We just had to try one of the steaks from their impressive selection and so went for the Irish fillet and the and the Australian grain fed burger. We decided to share sides of Blackhouse chips and garlic and pesto mushrooms. I like my steak cooked rare, and I must say it was cooked to perfection; a feat that seems difficult to achieve these days. It was actually one of the best steaks I’ve had in quite a while and the garlic and pesto mushrooms were full of flavour. The burger was equally as tasty and came with a blue cheese sauce.

I don’t quite know how, but we were tempted by the rich chocolate and salted caramel pot which was a perfect sharer; crunchy cornflake Florentines which had a sprinkling of sea salt and a side of thick chocolate sauce. Heavenly!

We left feeling warm, full and like we needed to have a lie down after filling our bellies so full! We will definitely be returning in 2018.