Tast Enxaneta

Let’s face it, Tast Enxaneta is the closest you’re going to get to El Bulli.

After all, co-owner Paco Perez is a friend of the famous Ferran, and with five Michelin stars to his name, he is upholding the spatula of experimental Catalan gastronomy.

The second floor restaurant at Tast takes Catalan cuisine to a whole new level. This isn’t a case of poshing up some patatas bravas, this is mind-boggling kitchen wizardry. Under the direction of Paco Perez, head chef Miguel Villacrosa takes ingredients like the pea or the prawn and treats them in ways it will take weeks to get your head around. Comfort food this is not.

There’s no chance to get your head around the arresting flavours either because the courses keep coming. Dish after dish of exquisite beauty and flavour that near absolute perfection and, on occasion, reach it. The two tasting menus offer either 10 or 15 courses. Go for the 15. It costs a small fortune but this is not like a Friday night takeaway, it’s a one-off. Tast Enxaneta is a one-off. There’s simply nowhere in Manchester like it.

There is no point saying expect dishes like this or dishes like that because the tasting menu plays with your preconceptions. A red prawn, a signature dish of Perez, is removed from its shell and then abra-cadabra’d into ceviche with gutsy flavoursome head juice and fried. The description is redundant because nothing prepares you for the flavour explosion. Shellfish shockwaves will follow you around for days.

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