That said, due to my early spring holiday it’s taken me a couple of weeks to get myself booked in and ready to go, but I can confirm straight off the bat that Erst is great.
So firstly the staff at Erst aren’t really like any other venue I can think of in Manchester. The knowledge of their product, served up in such a casual manner is for me more akin a mate chatting about something their cooking up at home. That said I’d be round for dinner more often if that was the case.
On recommendation, we opted for Flatbread with Lardo (£5) and Roasted Potatoes with salt and aioli (£4). Be warned, that flatbread is far, far too moreish.
At this point, I should mention the colour of my wine. White, Rose, Red too obvious and I’m not even talking blank de blank, Erst introduced me to this at their Trove menu preview – Orange Wine.
It’s something I’ve had wherever I can get it since then and it was a joy to get back into it at Erst, if you drink then I highly recommend treating yourselves to a glass, especially if it’s your one glass of the evening.
Keeping with recommendations, further dishes follow in the form of Ricotta Dumplings (£8.50) and Lambs Heart (£8) with a stand out for me being the Mojama – something I’d never tasted before.
Our entire selection of dishes including dessert complimented each other beautifully and left us comfortably dined. The timing of their arrival allowed for enjoyment not over indulgence and the quality of the execution made them appealing not only to my sense of taste but my eye for composition – great Instagram fodder for sure.
The team at Erst have created a space and a menu that delivers something we’ve been sorely missing in the city for some time, this is a date night or mate night venue, it’s a casual afternoon or an expensive evening, in short Erst is what you want to make of it and I love that about this great addition to the Manchester food & drink scene.
