Ramsbottom Restaurant Guide

Indian Affair showcases North Indian cuisine cooked Dilli-style. It’s inspired by the city’s diverse flavours and home-style cooking.Whilst the dishes on our menu can be found across North India, the way of cooking is specifically from the Delhi region which...

The “delicious bistro-style food” – “simple dishes always done reliably well” – is what brings guests back “time and again” to this neighbourhood spot in the Northern Quarter: “if only everyone were so lucky to have one around the corner from their home”. There’s a “good quality/price ratio, especially for their themed evenings” .

A pink-lit tree inside the dining room helps seal the Insta-potential of this glam pan-Asian venue – a glossy scene in Spinningfields that has helped spawn what’s now a national chain. Feedback remains more limited than we’d like, but remains consistently positive about its modern Chinese cuisine (whose definition is stretched a bit to include dishes like Japanese Wagyu and tempura; and tuna tartare with caviar).

Indian Affair showcases North Indian cuisine cooked Dilli-style. It’s inspired by the city’s diverse flavours and home-style cooking.Whilst the dishes on our menu can be found across North India, the way of cooking is specifically from the Delhi region which...

This decade-old fixture (with many a sibling in the city and beyond) is certainly “a bit flash” – lots of crisp tablecloths and well-dressed waiters – and accordingly popular with business types as well as those celebrating a special occasion – and those who are simply keen to star-spot. The “food is standard Italian but well presented”, while the old-school service is “very attentive” (albeit slightly “overwhelming” for some tastes).

After 10 years serving a combination of craft beer and Indian food, this northern-based group is “still the best veggie curry place” – the venues might be “quite basic”, but the “quick service” and “tasty” Gujarati food make them “great for a cheap bite to eat”.

“Just awesome every time we go. The team… the food… the place. It’s been brilliant for 30 years” – constant expansion, innovation and reinvention has characterised the steady growth in profile and physical size of this Ribble Valley operation, just off the A59: nowadays one of the more recognised foodie destinations in the UK, certainly amongst those ‘up north’. Lisa Goodwin-Allen runs the kitchens with “stunning presentation and incredible light and purposeful cuisine, with her personality coursing through the menu”. MD Craig Bancroft leads “a front of house team with a real sense of character”. “Wine pairing at Northcote is almost as much part of the experience as is the food and head sommelier Magdalena Sleziak is a real asset, presiding over a tremendous wine list (offering both value and extravagance), well thought through with choices from all over the wine globe”. All the above are on display each year during the annual Obsession festival early each year, which the property has turned into a part of the annual social calendar for very many well-heeled diners throughout the North West. And yet more change is now afoot, as in October 2024, the owners for the last five years, Britannia Hospitality Limited (owners of The Stafford in London), put the property on the market with Savills. It comes with planning permission for a swanky new dining room at the rear of the property which may yet further transform the dining experience here. We presume any new buyer will keep the existing team in place, and carry out the planned extension. But who knows? So there is likely some change afoot in the next 12 months, but it's not yet 100% clear exactly how this one will roll.

It’s all change at this “beautiful restaurant with incredible Japanese food” which has operated for two years now on a site that was formerly Randall & Aubin (RIP). As of autumn 2024, the original chef Michael Shaw has departed and it is about to undergo major expansion so we have left it un-rated. Under the new plans, it is to be divided into three separate experiences. Kaji (see also); a new space will house MUSU Miyabi, led by chef-patron Steven Smith – formerly of the well-known Freemasons at Wiswell – which given his renown promises to be a major launch in itself; and also MUSU Theatre of Omakase, under executive sushi chef Andre Aguiar.

“It’s good to have Nigel Haworth back in a kitchen” and his 2022 return to this country inn, down the road from Northcote where he made his name (and in a pub that he originally helped run as part of the now-defunct chain, Ribble Valley Inns, 20 years ago) has put it firmly on the foodie map: it’s one of the top-100 most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll. There is a ‘Choice’ menu (mains are typically £30-£40 per plate) or a ‘Farm to Fork’ tasting menu with five courses for £55 per person or eight courses for £85 per person. One local reporter “had a bit of a disappointing experience when Nigel was on holiday”, but most accounts here are of “fabulous” British cooking and “exceptional value” (“this is a regular for us although it’s a 70-mile round trip!”). Top Menu Tip – “highlight for me was the blood orange soufflé with chocolate milk ice cream and honeycomb”.