Back when we lived in Manchester, we were regular visitors to this spot, or as it was known back then Lotus Vegetarian Kitchen (read more here and here). I lost track of it over the years, but was delighted to see that it is still going strong after all these years! The menu is quite extensive and exciting, with some dishes having multiple options for your protein/mock meat. We had trouble narrowing it down, but we did it!

For starters, we tried the salt and pepper calamari (the king oyster mushroom version – it was also available with shimeji). It consisted of thinly sliced battered mushrooms, which were very crispy and well seasoned. It wasn’t necessarily a convincing calamari, but it was a tasty fried mushroom.

We also shared the sesame toast, which had an excellent crispy texture but didn’t really taste of seafood. There was a real novelty factor (I don’t think I’ve seen a dish like this veganised anywhere else), but it didn’t totally deliver – it was more like a generic fried bread. I love a fried bread, so it was enjoyable.

For my main, I had crispy noodles with beef and black bean sauce. The beef was really tender and tasty with a lovely texture. The vegetables retained their bite. The sauce was a classic black bean, really tasty. I’m a huge fan of crispy noodles, so the overall texture of the dish was perfect for me.

Dr HH had the sweet and spicy Szechuan dish with crispy shredded beef. He really enjoyed it. The crispy beef was so crispy it felt like all batter at first. As the meal got a bit colder and soggier, the meat in the middle of the batter became more noticable. The sauce was spicy and sweet, with a lip-tingling amount of Szechuan pepper, as hoped.

Portion sizes were generous, and service was fast and friendly. We were there on a Sunday evening without a reservation. The only real drawback is that the restaurant is in Withington, which is not easy to get to from every part of the city. It was definitely worth the effort for us though!