Hispi
Didsbury, Greater Manchester
* Elite Bistros have appointed Alastair Lambert as Hispi's new head chef. Watch for a new review coming soon.*
With six bistros currently in Gary Usher's restaurant group (plus a pub recently added to the portfolio), Hispi is perhaps now most usefully known as 'the one in Didsbury'. Not the best-looking of a handsome family, it's nonetheless much-loved for its versatility. Intergenerational Sunday lunches are on the cards thanks to a kids' menu that pleases without patronising (a mini portion of Usher's signature sticky braised beef, with chips and peas, is the ultimate gesture of respect to younger diners). The grown-up bit isn't bad either, promising 'food you want to eat' as one report has it: a pig's head croquette, for example, is served with a salsa verde that 'cries out for you to drag the croquette through it'. To follow, perhaps try roast duck breast with Madeira and prune sausage, salt-baked turnip, orange blossom vinegar and Puy lentils, or pappardelle with roast butternut squash from the simpler bistro menu. Wine suggestions appear alongside each dish, adding an effortlessness to proceedings matched only by the ease of agreeing to a dessert of warm banana loaf with muscovado cream, candied pecans and butterscotch sauce.
Dining Information:
Wheelchair access, Parking, Family friendly, Credit card required
1c School Lane, Didsbury, Greater Manchester M20 6RD
0161 445 3996
