Grill On New York Street

Since opening at the start of the decade, Grill On New York Street has become one of Manchester’s staple steakhouses. And it’s not hard to see why. The likes of Hawksmoor might be getting the headlines, but where that restaurant has a tiresome blokeiness (not to mention the faintly unsettling ‘pauper garb’ of the staff) Grill On New York Street does what it does with minimum fuss and maximum quality.

The menu is much as you’d expect: heavy on the classics, with a number of impressive flourishes to keep you coming back for more. It’s packed out on a Sunday night, with a number of dishes sold out – disappointing, but hardly the crime of the century.

Thankfully, what remains is no less than top-notch. The garlic pesto mushrooms are a solid opener, thick slabs of meaty fungus, slathered in a potent garlicky green pesto, topped off with a couple of wafer thin toasted bread strips.

The mussels are as fresh as can be for a non-coastal restaurant. We swerve the frankly odd-sounding Thai green curry sauce, and stick to a tried and tested white wine sauce. It’s a wise choice that hits the sweet spot between creamy and stodgy. The mussels are wonderfully moreish, relinquishing their hold with the slightest nudge, sliding down wonderfully.

Of course, there’s one reason we’re here. The steaks. And Grill On New York Street doesn’t disappoint (other than the fact that the lobster has sold out). The Australian fillet is a thing of beauty – 280g of lightly crisped mahogany meat, revealing melt-in-the-mouth bright pink meat inside. It comes topped with a skewer of juicy pan-fried prawns (hell, why not?) and a side of crunchy heavily-salted home-cut chips. Is it the best steak in Manchester? That’s a quest in itself, but it’s certainly up there.

The USDA ribeye is another majestic cut, rippled with fat, delightfully charred on the surface and soft and yielding when cut. It’s a fine choice, but perhaps another minute or so on the grill would have done the marbled fat more justice (admittedly, this is my fault for being physically unable to order a steak ‘medium’).

I order a side of poutine with the ribeye, and this simple dish of chips, cheese and gravy very nearly overshadows the £41 cut of beef. It’s a true delight, all too rare on Manchester menus – odd, considering our city’s long love affair with all things gravy. Sure, gravy and cheese might sound like a sloppy mess, and I’d be lying if I said it isn’t, but it’s one bona-fide delicious sloppy mess.

The desserts fall very much into the classic British bracket, featuring apple crumble and custard like your mum used to make (though the subtle hint of cinnamon lifts this above the typical homemade crumble), while the sticky toffee pudding does exactly what you want it to do. Hot, sticky, and teeth-dissolvingly sweet.

Grill On New York Street is fast-approaching its first decade in Manchester, and I’d bet the farm on it being the first of many. The ingredients are high-class, the dishes gimmick-free and the whole experience is tailor-made to keeping everyone happy. It’s not cheap but when we’re dealing with the world’s best steaks, what is?