Aumbry

This is the best restaurant i have ever had the pleasure of eating at (and i do have a few other michelins under my belt).

I love the intimate setting. On arrival you are welcomed by the maitre'd who will normally show you upstairs to the lounge area whilst you wait for your table to be prepared. Here you will be served the drink of your choice and have a chance to peruse the menu in a comfortable setting before being shown to your table.

The dining area, a beautiful white room, seats around 20 people. The atmosphere is always friendly and its obvious The Aumbry value their customers. The staff pitch it perfectly, changing their manner and behaviour to suit the customer. With cuisine at such a high level i think this ability to make any client feel welcome without being intimidated is vital...and unique.

Now on to the food.... at the aumbry you arent just eating good food, or great food, you are on an journey and an experience eating the most amazing food.

My husband and i arrived one evening at 6.30pm to have a drink and be ready for seating at 7pm. My husband wanted the taster menu and so we could eat at the same time (and i wasnt jealous) i joined him. and my god i'm glad i did. We finished around 11pm and had to run for the last tram back into Manchester.... thats 4 and a half hours of absolute tasting pleasure.

i think we had something like 9 courses by the end of the evening and each of them was a delight and a discovery, adding fun and flavour combinations i would never have thought of into the mix. (the pea soup with popping peas was a favourite). Its so good it makes me want to cry (i am a crier though).

The menu changes with the seasons and to ensure they keep it fresh and interesting. They have menu price variations too (ie a 5 course to 12 course taster menu option) making it accessible to a wider variety of people than most restaurants of this standard. .

Whilst i found the portions perfectly reasonable other reviews have suggested they should have been bigger. The Aumbry is all about experience, its quality over quantity.

This just leaves me to say that my review in no way does The Aumbry justice and the awards its won only hint at how good this place is.... so you should just go and try it yourselves.

Decided to take Mary Ellen up on her Great British Menu promotion, which at £45 for the four courses, amuse-bouche and a lovely glass of prosecco, is a bit of a steal.

Aumbry is quite a contrast to the other businesses in the area, and really stands out in a not so pretty area. The very friendly staff welcomed our party and guided us upstairs where we were treated to the prosecco and grapefruit infused water, which was a nice little touch.

The wine pairing for each course was delightful and really complimented the flavours exquisitely. The food was lovely, especially Vera's fish supper, so many yummy flavours, and the beetroot chocolate cake with bee pollen, was rich but not too sweet and the hazelnut butter was to die for.

There were some minor niggles for me and I mean this in the most constructive manner. Both the amuse-bouche and the starter were lacking a touch in seasoning and the snails unfortunately were a bit underwhelming. I'm sure on any other day it would have been perfect.

The national loaf croutons were delightful for what is meant to have been a terrible experience during war times.

The mood and atmosphere was lovely, Aumbry really is intimate but still with the class of fine dining. The waiting on staff were delightful and were very attentive.

Hopefully we will be going back for the 9 course taster menu very soon, and I would recommend Aumbry highly to anyone.

Well done guys

This is one of the best restaurants in the greater Manchester area, or rather in the entire Northern UK, coming in 57th in the National Restaurant Awards for the UK (http://www.nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk/). But, better than that, it's probably much higher up the list if you have food allergies or problems such as gluten, dairy or any other intolerance, because they care a great deal about this. In fact the chef herself is a gluten-free person. Apart from the food which is five star, there is the stellar personal service and attention to detail which is six star. I don't think I have ever experienced anything like it in the UK. I think this is partly because they are small and so every guest counts far more than might be possible if they were a big place.

Here are a few more details. To begin with, since my mother and I are both gluten intolerant and I suffer from food related autoimmune problems, I mentioned this in my email when making our reservation. They called two days before our booking to make sure they knew which things we could not tolerate. They checked again when we arrived to make sure they had it all right. In fact, they had prepared a menu which avoided all the problem foods (100% gluten-free) and still left us wanting nothing.

Parking was to be found about 50 yards from the door, which is on a quiet side street off Bury New Road. The place is cosy, unpretentious and quiet, with English country-style decor. There were warm toasted almonds on the table when we arrived. Then came tasty prawn crackers (with no gluten). Then delicious, fresh but slightly toasted gluten-free bread with olive oil and (I think raspberry) vinegar to dip it in. Next an amuse bouche of various game bird terrine with exotic garnishes. For our official starter we chose hand-dived scallops which were succulent and prepared with a sweet sauce on the side (fruit based I think). I had hake as my main course (beautifully presented - see photo), also delicious, and my mother had the bird option (can't recall what it was, but we were both delighted). Then dessert was also outstanding. Mum had a chocolate concoction and I had an amazing grapefruit sherbert and soy cream thing that was one of the best desserts I have ever tasted. We were also each presented with a meringue and a chocolate truffle to finish off.

There is also an excellent wine and drinks menu, including a delicious botrytis wine that I had with dessert.

Whilst there was no red meat, dairy, nightshade vegetable or gluten anywhere in sight, this meal was every bit as delicious as, if not easily more so than many I've eaten in any fancy restaurant anywhere (I'm including London, Tokyo, New York, Paris and San Francisco and many other good food havens in my mental list).

And here they are in Prestwich... And they were not even full on this Wednesday evening. So if you live in within driving range and haven't been, the only question is... why not?

Go to this place before everyone hears about it and/or it gets mega expensive!

AMAZING food.

We like quite a slow meal, we were catching up with friends so hadn't noticed our starter took a little while to arrive (can't have been more than 20 minutes at the table) and the waitress brought us over a complimentary bottle of wine as an apology.

This place has a lovely eclectic style to the restaurant itself, you almost feel like you in someone's front room. You wouldn't immediately notice it as a restaurant if you walked past, being terraced cottages knocked together.

Just lovely, the nicest night out in a long time.

Been several times, always excellent. The food is fantastic, perfectly judged. The dining room is small and perhaps somewhat cramped, but given it's essentially the size of a residential dining room, it's hardly surprising, and it's part of the place's charm.

Staff are always knowledgable and charming.

Dunno how they produce such good food out of such a tiny kitchen!

Absolutely fantastic place! The food here is the ah ha the best in town the service is fantastic it's a place you can really relax and enjoy. Price wise you will not find any better value. Recently we have been really disappointed with eating out in Manchester but this IS what it's all about. Better and more exciting than you can do at home (apart form my own tomato sauce of course)The Lunch menu is a steal at £17 for two courses.

Go here now or later but GO.

Quite easily, hands down, the best restaurant in Manchester. Awesome food, awesome service, everything is perfect. This restaurant should have a Michelin star, and the fact that it has been left out is a disgrace.

My partner and I went here for lunch, and left still feeling hungry, the main course could do with more potato (we had a whole 5 chips each), and more vegetables. not sure if we will be back

Its great to have such a decent restaurant in Prestwich, I have only been in once but intend to return, it has won all sorts of plaudits. Good quality produce, really cosy setting, I would strongly recommend this place to anyone who enjoys good food.

Warning! After eating here, going to any other restaurant will never quite measure up. I often wondered what it would be like to eat out every night and i think i could here, the food is truly delicious and novel. The service is warm and knowledgeable without being over bearing which can be typical of fine dining restaurants. We ate here for our anniversary and had the tasting menu 9 courses with wine. Go prepared! As the meal is well proportioned but the recommended wine with each course will leave the inexperienced drinker a little worse for wear. However its great way to taste some magnificent wines. The venue is intimate and the decor like something akin to cape cod where the ambiance is light and airy. It is really good value for some exceptional food. I would highly recommend this restaurant for any special occasion.