Best steak house in Manchester? VIVA puts Alston Bar & Beef through its paces

Mike Cheetham | 8th November 2018

 

Celebrating its first birthday Alston Bar and Beef claim to have the best steak in Manchester so Viva couldn’t resist a visit to join in their celebrations and find out the meaty truth.

 

Based in the  Corn Exchange just off Cathedral Street, it has been making a bit of a name for itself since arriving in Manchester and now it was time to find out exactly how good the steak actually is.

 

This modern subterranean restaurant is bright, vibrant and inviting, not your typical steakhouse and not knowing the portion size and also being a bit greedy, we ordered the belly pork and the courgette fritters for our starter (starters from £4).

 

Courgette Fritters

 

 

The belly pork was huge, a large oblong piece with some of the best crackling I’ve ever had. The crisp courgette fritters with the cooling tzatziki were really good, while the chilli, coriander and lime really brought the dish together.

 

The mains obviously were going to be steak, priced from £31 on the very day a la carte menu. Now the age-old question…What steak to have? Which is best or what has the best flavour? Alston says it doesn’t matter, bold statement?

 

Well, all the steaks are aged on the bone for a minimum of 35 days by the master butchers in Scotland. And they are very fussy, which is good news for diners and use only meat from the top one per cent Scottish suckler herd is ever selected.

 

 

Having that in mind we chose two different steaks so we could compare and give you the best and most detailed review we could.

 

 

These were the 230g fillet and the 300g ribeye, both steaks were available with a plethora of sides but we both asked for chips and I ordered the Chimichurri sauce to go with the ribeye.

 

The steaks  were cooked to perfection and the flavour of my ribeye was phenomenal. Both steaks were tender and succulent, and the sauce just complimented the meat the way it should without distracting from the flavour of the prime cut. To say we were both impressed would be an understatement.

 

Album 1

Pork BellySteakSteak

 

 

Although nearly bursting at the seams, we ordered a chocolate tart with cherry jelly and Amaretto mousse and an  Alston mess, their version of an ‘Eton mess’ which is on the specials menu.

 

When my desert came out I couldn’t believe my eyes. I know pastry chefs like to be a little flamboyant but the presentation of my sweet was inspired and I just simply wasn’t expecting this level of craftsmanship in a steak house.

 

Chocolate Tart

 

The mirror glazed mousse made to look like a cherry was a very clever idea and the hollowed tart stood upright was just plain unexpected and it tasted as good as it looked.

 

Alston Bar and Beef have definitely got a winning formula in what they do and how they do it, I haven’t had every steak in Manchester but I’m pretty sure they are up there with the best, if not the best.

 

Location: Corn Exchange

Cathedral Street

Manchester

M4 3TR

 

Call 0161 804 555 for reservations.