Brunching at the Ivy, Manchester. #Review

Briony Wilson
17th December 2018

The Ivy is a restaurant steeped in history. Most have visited or at least heard of it and it has been a firm fixture on London’s dining and social scene since its foundation in 1917. The restaurant, bar and private room are the epitome of glamour and so when I heard that a new restaurant was opening in Manchester, I got very excited. The newest Ivy in the collection is situated in Spinningfield’s and has been created from scratch, offering a new dining experience set across four fabulous floors. The Ivy Spinningfield’s features a ground floor brasserie, first floor private dining room, an opulent Asian bar and restaurant on the second floor and a sumptuous Roof Garden.

Over the weekend I visited Manchester and its famous Christmas markets to get in to the festive spirit and decided that if we could, we had to give the Ivy a try. It has been very popular since opening with a lot of press and bloggers, and I wanted to see if it could live up to the hype. Despite a long waiting list for reservations, we managed to get a booking for brunch in the Brasserie on Sunday Morning. This area is open everyday based on the ground floor serving modern British classics to suit all occasions.

From the moment you walk up to the door, to the moment you leave; the Ivy has that wow factor that you would expect. From door men welcoming you in, to the busy reception desk, staff all smiling and welcoming you and taking your coats – service is clearly a top priority. This building is beautiful and despite being a new build, if you had never been to Manchester you would not believe it hadn’t always been here, the décor is classic and traditional with beautiful colours and art everywhere, the Ivy’s attention to detail will certainly be the making of this new addition.

We were led past the beautiful bar and through the restaurant to our table, where we were offered menus and water and left to peruse the menu. This is a large restaurant, but I cannot remember the last time I visited a restaurant with so many staff, all wonderfully trained and very smart in the signature uniforms. Whilst we never felt throughout the meal that we were being watched, the service staff were always on hand should you need them, topping up glasses, clearing plates and checking on us.

To start we opted for a cocktail each, it was brunch after all. I went for the Spiced passion Mojito and my friend the Honeysuckle Daiquiri, both full of flavour and as any cocktail should be, beautifully presented – ideal in this Instagram generation. I mean if you didn’t take a picture of your brunch cocktail, did you actually have one? These went down a treat, whilst we ordered our mains.

To eat I opted for the Steak sandwich “French dip” (£13.95) Roast beef with caramelised onions, horseradish mustard mayonnaise, Burgundy sauce dip and thick cut chips. Whilst Emily chose the Avocado and spinach Benedict (£10.95) Avocado, raw baby spinach, two poached hen’s eggs on toasted English muffins, hollandaise sauce and sesame, with thick cut chips. Brunch has never been my favourite meal, considering my distaste for both eggs and avocados and I challenge you to find a brunch menu with more than 2 options, that do not include these elements. However, the Ivy’s menu had so many options it was refreshing. As we looked around the restaurant, everyone was eating different dishes, of course to create a menu this large requires a large kitchen, but for me this was the best brunch menu I have seen in some time.

The food arrived promptly, and we were surprised by the size of the portions. Overall, we believed that the prices of the food were very reasonable and had expected much smaller portion sizes. Both dishes looked perfectly presented and every element was packed full of flavour. It was clear good quality ingredients had been used and taken care of in the cooking process. The chips were delicious with a great crunch outside, fluffy inside and were a proper chunky chip.

Despite the large portion sizes when the waitress cleared our plates and gave us a bit of time to get over the food, the dessert menu arrived, and we couldn’t say no! The Selection of three cheeses (£9.95) Cashel Blue, Quicke’s and Camembert from Normandy with pear chutney, caramelised pecans, olive croutons, rye crackers; very much took our fancy – so we decided to share. We also decided to give the Mini chocolate truffles (£3.50) With a liquid salted caramel centre, a try. Sadly, these got eaten so quickly, I never got a photo, but I can highly recommend. The cheeses were all great quality, and after all the food we didn’t manage to finish, and our only criticism would be that for the generous portions of cheese and accompaniments, we could have done with a few additional crackers.

Overall the experience and food were wonderful, this is a beautiful setting to enjoy your food in and would be ideal for a celebration. We could not fault the service and I just cannot wait to return and try out the other floors. I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Manchester, but book early.