We dined at restaurant in the running to be crowned best in Manchester

WOOD Manchester, created by chef Simon Wood, has recently been nominated for the best restaurant in Manchester.

As it celebrates this prestigious accolade the restaurant also marks its sixth year at its First Street location with a new menu consisting of seasonal produce and a more casual approach to dining.

The new menu at WOOD claims to move away from the tasting menu format to one focused around small and big plates, while still retaining its fine dining qualities and personality. All dishes will continue to use responsibly sourced ingredients and from local suppliers where possible.

Simon Wood said: “WOOD has always been about bringing passion and creativity together to meet powerful flavours in an unintimidating environment and this still rings true.

“We are all about welcoming diners to an exciting place to experience high quality dishes in quietly luxurious surroundings and the dishes we have created offer playful flavour combinations, that make a fun dining experience that really delivers.”

We went along to find out.....

The surroundings were indeed quiet, no screaming kids or people talking loudly on their phones - just a peaceful sanctuary and certainly luxurious in a clean, contemporary way - made up of lots of textures - leather, glass and of course wood - on the floor, on the front of the pass and depicted in the glistening silver tree pattern on the walls.

Just as Simon, who hails from Oldham, had said, my fellow diner and I certainly did not feel intimidated. In fact, the service could not have been warmer or friendlier.

Our waiter knew his stuff - explaining grapes and production methods and telling us his personal favourites - it was a joy every time he checked in on us, which was just the right amount of attentive, without being obtrusive.

Without it being our intention, my companion and I plumped for all fish dishes - me going for the Cod Loin in Brown Butter (£30) described as delicately poached cod loin served with brown butter, lemon oil and lilliput capers. Him going for Roasted Monkfish XO (£32) described as on the bone BBQ roasted monkfish tail served with iconic XO sauce and spring onion, mirasol and angel hair pepper salad. He also chose small plates of locally cured salmon with horseradish ricotta and dill (£13) and sweet and sour vegetables (£7)

I chose small plates of Deep Fried Pommes Anna (£9) - Slow cooked layers of buttery potato fried until golden served with aioli and Heritage Carrots (£7) aromatic carrots with honey & ricotta, and nasturtium.

The small plates are needed, as the main dish of the fish comes completely alone but for its sauce. As is the eternal mystery with fine dining though, small portions always turn out to be incredibly filling.

My cod was soft and succulent, if a little too cool in temperature for my liking, and the carrots were bursting with colour and flavour. The potato was crisp and fluffy on the inside and it’s co-star, the aioli was a winner in itself.

A taste of my companion’s sweet and sour vegetables proved them to be fresh and tangy and he informed me the monkfish was soft, juicy and fell off the bone with a punchy, fresh salsa. His salmon, he told me, was cool and refreshing with its pairing of melon balls.

To finish we both went with Caramel & Koji (£12) described as Moreish caramel with umami koji. A crisp pastry tart, filled with sweet caramel and umami koji sent my companion into a meltdown - and I concur it was incredibly flavoursome.

We rounded this up with a selection of three cheeses (£15) - including the Smoked Blue Monday, smoked in-house at WOOD and - fun fact - produced by Blur guitarist Alex James. The cheeses came with wafer thin artisan style crackers and a mound of chutney, stylishly presented on a circular piece of... you’ve guessed it...wood.

Our fantastic waiter also brought us two small glasses of Vidal icewine explaining how the grapes are left on the vine into the winter, and eventually the water in the grapes will freeze.

These frozen grapes are then picked and pressed while frozen, so the juice made is very high in sugar, which is then made in to the wine. As you can imagine it is very, very sweet but the back-story makes it all the more tantaslising and it went down a treat with the cheese.

The menu features favourites including Koji Cured Bavette and Simon’s cheeky take on Ham, Egg and Chips plus the new dishes, which also include chicken glazed lamb sweetbreads and celeriac shawarma.

Wood has a relaxed approach to his recent nomination, which sees him up against Dakota Grill, mana, Grand Pacific, Sunset By Australasia, Vermilion, 20 Stories Kitten, Peter Street Kitchen, The Ivy Asia, and Erst.

When I ask him when he finds out the results, he casually told me he’s not sure and expects he will hear in the post. But there is no denying his passion for what his team has achieved and what their future looks like.

He says: “The beating heart of our kitchen, our huge pass, will be full of action and it will be a true experience. I am so proud of what we have achieved as a team here and cannot wait to welcome new people to be part of our story.”

Opening hours at Wood are Wednesday – Saturday from 5pm and lunch Thursday – Saturday from midday.