Beastro

Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor

Visit now

Beastro

Irwell Square, Leftbank, Manchester, M3 3AG
0161 327 0265
This venue is permanently closed.
Ian Jones
Book now

Let’s get this out of the way. Not only is Beastro the best name of any restaurant in Manchester, it’s probably the best handle of any restaurant in Britain. That alone warrants a visit. As the name suggests, the menu is heavy on the meat – backed up by the reassuring presence of at least one seasoned butcher, chopping away in the open kitchen.

But non-carnivores needn’t be put off, there are a number of non-meat dishes on the menu, which changes from day-to-day depending on deliveries and purchases from the local Ashton market. Every ingredient is fresh and it’s immediately obvious each dish has a dazzling amount of care of attention. Don’t go expecting cheap steak and chips.

Manchester Egg, Homemade Brown Sauce

I start with a couple of options from the ‘pots and plates’ section, intended as an easy introduction before the starters and mains. They’re anything but. The Manchester egg could serve as a filling lunch all on its own. A fat egg, coated in cheek-wateringly vinegary black pudding and pork, surrounded by a thick crunchy breadcrumb and lay on dots of gloriously-tart home-made brown sauce. It’s a treat for those with heavy-duty palates, layer upon layer of sharp dense meaty flavours, surrounded by an array of bracing – but not overwhelming – flavours.

Beetroot & Goat’s Cheese Terrine

The goats cheese and beetroot terrine is even better. Not just beautiful to look at, it has a near-scientific perfect balance of dark red beet and creamy bright white goats cheese, each side balancing the other. Beetroot is a divisive vegetable, with its earthy aromas, but this is the kind of dish you’ll want to introduce to everyone. A fresh small side salad breaks up the smooth slick terrine, but even more important is a side order of Beastro’s top-class homemade bread, for spreading. This even comes with a knob of sinful bacon-spotted butter. Bacon in butter might sound wildly decadent, and, well, that’s the point.

Both starters have a near-balletic balance of flavours, everything in its right place

Keeping with the theme, the starters could easily suffice as main courses. The pink iron steak with Bearnaise sauce is the best thing on the menu. Plump strips of a beautiful cut of meat, intermingled with asparagus sliced length-ways, resting on a deceptively light buttery sauce. Then again, the duck starter would be the showcase dish in lesser establishments. Round slices of subtly-sweet duck, scattered with pine nuts and a delicate dressing drizzled over the rocket salad. Both starters have a near-balletic balance of flavours, everything in its right place.

Pink Iron Steak, Bearnaise Sauce

The mains increase the heft, tenfold. Fat wedges of lamb, pink in the middle with a satisfying crunchy rim, piled on top of new potatoes, pea purée and buttery spring greens. It’s the greatest Sunday lunch you’ve never had.

Despite its versatility, pork has never been a particularly glamorous meat, yet somehow the Beastro chefs have turned this unfairly-maligned meat into a thing of beauty. It’s an artful arrangement, comprising of thick wedges of soft white meat, charred-but-moist crackling and featherlight slices of desiccated apple, tingling with fruity springtime aromas. Swine has never looked so good.

Lamb, New Potatoes, Peas

Lemon posset makes a suitable end to the meal, slicing through the meaty aftertaste with a sharp citrus kick. Creamy lemon pudding, studded with crunchy balls of meringue and white chocolate circles, it somehow takes these traditional parts and reimagines them as a wonderfully modern dessert.

Lemon Posset

And that’s Beastro in a nutshell. Each dish consists of time-honoured ingredients combined in such a way that the end result is effortlessly cutting edge – without resorting to gimmicks and elaborate laboratory equipment. While many up-and-coming restaurants are a mish-mash of ideas from all over the world, Beastro is a truly Northern restaurant – right down to the local produce used in each dish. Hearty, packed with taste and texture, but never over the top – except when it matters: portion size.

All photos by Ian Jones

What's on near Beastro

Where to go near Beastro

Manchester
Restaurant
Albatross & Arnold

Albatross and Arnold is a smart and modern bar-restaurant in the Left Bank area of Spinningfields, with an impressive selection of high-quality cocktails.

Club Vino
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Club Vino

Wine-tasting company ran by Italian sommelier and ex-wine merchant Marco Castelanelli. Offering at-home tasting experiences, along with special events in various high-end locations around Manchester.

Open Kitchen Cafe and Bar
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Open Kitchen Cafe and Bar

Enjoy a sustainable, ethical, and delicious food experience at Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar, the in-house restaurant and bar at People’s History Museum.

People's History Museum Manchester
City Centre
Museum
People’s History Museum

People’s History Museum, the home of ‘ideas worth fighting for’, is the only museum in the UK dedicated to the history of British democracy.

Tattu Chinese restaurant Manchester
City Centre
Restaurant
Tattu

Tattu is pulling out all the stops for Halloween, with five days of special cocktails and dishes, plus a Sunday sunset dinner and more.

Spinningfields
Restaurant
Wagamama

Wagamama’s home in Spinningfields serves up high-quality Japanese cuisine in modern surroundings.

Louis Restaurant
Manchester
Restaurant
Louis Restaurant

A Rat Pack-style restaurant with of live music and upscale Italian-American dining, and strictly no phones.

Spinningfields
Restaurant
Bill’s Manchester

This family favourite has moved from John Dalton Street to its new home in Spinningfields, with a brand new look featuring modern decor teamed with vintage items sourced by Bill himself.

Manchester
Restaurant
Menagerie

Based in Salford, Menagerie is a bar and restaurant with a focus on luxury and theatrical thrills.

City Centre
Bar or Pub
The Oast House

A rustic Kentish Oast House (that’s a traditional hop-drying shed, of course) plunked down amidst the glass and steel corridors of Spinningfields.

Spinningfields
Restaurant
Australasia

The recent revamp builds on Australasia’s well-deserved reputation as one of Manchester’s most stylish venues

Culture Guides

A young boy with a white sash around his left arm cries.
Cinema in the North

Outdoor cinema announcements, a major retrospective at HOME, and the best of indie cinema.

Cloudwater Production One
Tours and Activities in the North

Go forth with wild abandon to dance the pavements, dabble with the paint and down the pints in this month's tours and activities guide.

Experience a unique deep listening art installation inviting audiences to lay down and be bathed in sound and light.
Exhibitions in the North

From city-wide art festivals to open-air sculptural installations, we have exhibitions from all around the North, both indoors and out.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Experimental performance, thought-provoking new writing and our picks of Manchester International Festival - here’s what’s taking centre stage this summer.

Music in the North

Gigs are coming in hot this spring – from long-awaited returns to one-off happenings you’ll blink and miss if you're not careful.

Harry Baker
Literature Events in the North

From environmental to experimental, our poetry and prose picks from around the North are focused on the unusual and the fun.