Critically-acclaimed chef Michael O’Hare’s relaunched city centre restaurant The Rabbit in the Moon – and it is open for bookings from Wednesday 4 April.

Located in the top of the Urbis building on Corporation Street, above the National Football Museum, the restaurant has views of the neon signs on the Printworks giving it a New York, Hong Kong or Japan feel.

There is a bright neon rabbit on the wall outside the lift on the sixth floor, with more rabbits painted on the pillars and gold broken eggs standing on stalks in front of the windows. The front desk is surrounded by glass and the restaurant is split over two floors.

On the night we sampled the new menu, Michael wandered through the restaurant during the breaks like a rock star with his tattoos and his platinum long hair. But then we were dining with the directors of GG Hospitality, former Manchester United footballers from the class of 1992, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs.

We’re taking bookings from 4th April. To reserve your table please visit https://t.co/gJ4MkcTvbc

— 5th on Urbis (@urbisrabbit) March 23, 2018

Michael already has a one Michelin star restaurant The Man Behind the Curtain in Leeds – and every dish on the eight-course Space Age Asian tasting menu looked like a work of art.

You can tell a good restaurant with the aesthetically pleasing little touches that are a delight to the eyes. The restaurant is named after a Japanese fable and the cutlery is so thin it looked like chopsticks. The white cookery came in a wide variety of shapes and every table has a white china spaceman.

We started with smoked eel, oyster sauce, avocado native lobster, Thai flavours, crispy shell, Porthilly oyster, pickled ginger and wasabi. Take care with the little pearl that explodes with flavour when bitten.

The veggie option was avocado, hoisin sauce, Thai rice, with seaweed emulsion and crispy potato.

This was accompanied by Ridgeview Rose de Noir, a British sparkling wine (£89 bottle, £17 glass), which had a subtle hint of strawberries and cream.

Next up was hot and sour beef soup, with Scottish langoustines and sesame toast. For the vegetarians it was a hot and sour veggie soup with miso, onion and sesame toast. Everything was exquisitely flavoured and there was no way we were going to leave anything.

The third course was hand dived scallops with XO sauce and duck tongues. Meanwhile I had oyster mushroom with XO sauce. It was beautiful.

Is @GNev2 the real banksy ? pic.twitter.com/i0GLGMC0Yd

— 5th on Urbis (@urbisrabbit) November 17, 2016

For the fourth course my friend had the soy and ginger glazed pork cheek, with choi, oyster emulsion and smoked cinders. I had soy and ginger reddish with seaweed emulsion and cinders.

The fifth was fillet of beef with black bean sauce, fried rice, salt and pepper prawn. For the veggies, a veggie raman and soy cured egg.

Finally we had three rounds of dessert – aloe vera, lime and lychee; white chocolate, mango and passion fruit, then petit fours of raspberry and saffron chocolate, peppercorn éclair and matcha crepe.

The wine list is an interesting mix of popular bins, as well as a number of unusual bottles from England, China and Japan, which pair flawlessly with the tasting menu.

Purple skies above us – We have top floor views #Urbis #ManchesterUrbis #Manchester pic.twitter.com/AIUsVHgTtK

— 5th on Urbis (@urbisrabbit) March 21, 2018

The food was light, tasted gorgeous and we felt full at the end of this other worldly experience. The price for lunch is £45 and dinner £70, excluding drinks.  It is not cheap but could be ideal for a special occasion.

The most expensive champagne is Krug Clos de Mesnil from France at £880 a bottle.

However white wine ranges from Pasarisa Salta Torrontes from Argentina at £37 a bottle (£9 a glass), to Milton Clos de Ste Anne Viognier 2014 at £74 a bottle.

Rose wines range from Lagrein Rosalta Alto Adige Lageder 2016 from Italy at £37 a bottle (£9 a glass), to Secret de Leoube Cote de Provence 2016 from France at £66 a bottle.

Red wines again range from Navaherroros Garnacha 2014 from Spain at £37 a bottle (£9 a glass), to Chateau Changyu Moser Family Bordeaux Blend 2013 from China at £75 a bottle. 

If you are having lunch or driving, sparkling or water is £2.50, an espresso £2.50, a flat white £3.50 or a tea £4.00.

At the end of the night we were handed a signed copy of the menu, which just reinforced the idea that we had been dining in the presence of a rising star in the fine dining scene. 

As we stepped out of the lift on the ground floor there was a massive pair of neon lips in front of a portrait of David Bowie, the finishing touch to the spaceman theme before we stepped in the more earthly Manchester rain.

The Rabbit in the Moon is open Wednesday through to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Booking is required via Therabbitinthemoon.tocktix.com