EATING OUT: Menagerie Spinningfields

I was so lucky to get to see Amy Schumer last Saturday night. My hubby bought me tickets for my birthday in June. She was amazing too!
He very kindly decided to take me for an early dinner as well to Menagerie near Spinningfields, Manchester. I was super excited because I had heard so many things about this place and was so looking forwards to it.


Well, this place is pretty wild! It is so beautiful and fun inside, I really can't say enough about the decor - it was just so crazy!



So I believe that at nighttime they put on really cool circus acts whilst you're having dinner. If you can see where all these chairs are behind my seat, this is where they do the performances I'm guessing. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any as we had to eat early, but we did get a magician come to our table. He was so much fun and he played a few little mind games on us which was really crazy! It always baffles me stuff like that ha ha!


The 'Champagne Swan' that they put giant cocktails in!


The stage!



So, let's get down to business! Food! Well, it's a bit of a random selection on the menu. I'm aware that it's more of a 'trendy/place to be seen' kind of bar too, but in a restaurant the food to me is pretty important. There was some sushi dishes and then also things like Southern Fried Chicken. So, there was quite a mix of styles - almost a bit all over the place to be honest. We went for all vegetarian (except hubs fancied trying a bit of chicken) so I could try lots (plus he is eating waaay less meat now, so proud of him ha ha).


So we did have quite a selection of food!


This is the Caramelized Halloumi with cauliflower puree, capers and toasted almonds


Grilled Asparagus Skewers with Nori Butter


Shishito Peppers with Shichimi Salt


Tofu Dengaku with miso, honey jam and sesame 


Heirloom Tomato Ceviche with creamy burrata, basil and fig balsamic


Southern Fried Chicken with blue cheese dip and smoked apple wood


Dessert was a home made Ferrero Roche on top of a Chocolate Tart. I'm so sorry I cant remember the name of this but it was something like death by chocolate ha ha! Then a cappuccino and a peppermint tea.


Random bath with a golden swan in by the bar!


I'm sure you can see from all the pictures, this restaurant is a pretty cool place! There is so much to look at, so much going on. I guess this place is a great bar to go on a night out. A big group of girl friends together could be so much fun. The cocktails look cool and there's plenty of entertainment on show. However, if you're going for food, it wasn't my fav place I've ever been to.
I think I would go again and maybe try the sushi, but to be honest I found everything pretty salty but lacking flavour - if that makes sense? I know I hadn't tried everything on the menu, but there wasn't anything that really moved me.
The asparagus was a little bit old and stringy at the bottom, the marinated tofu was covered in miso which was waaay to strong. The peppers were covered in so much salt my tongue got a blister. The tomato ceviche was ok as was the halloumi - but as halloumi is salty normally, this just added to the saltiness. I guess the thing I kept eating the most was the sweet potato fries - which were pretty good! The dessert was also ok, but I would say this place is more about the 'party' than the food.
What I can say though is the staff were so helpful and friendly and the magician was so much fun. I had a really great experience and enjoyed the night so much. I would also go back again to try out the sushi as it's such a fun place to visit. Go with friends have a laugh and enjoy yourself but maybe don't take the food too seriously. It's an accompaniment to the venue and not the other way round.

Thanks so much for reading!


Emmaline x
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