Erst has really been at the crest of Manchester’s new wave restaurant scene, grabbing national headlines for deft, seasonal cooking focused on local ingredients. It’s the same formula being trotted out by chic little wine bars all over the country, but there aren’t many that do it with the same panache.
Erst is a lovely sight in the afternoon sun, a rare sight indeed, as we’re told a few times by Mancunian staff. The chic, geometric design has aged beautifully over the last years: sleek, black floor lights arc high over the tables, and simple wooden shelves show off a considerable wine collection, as well as tasteful abstract art prints. This could be someone’s boho New York apartment, were it not for the industrial pipe-clad ceilings and bustling open kitchen.
A concise, confident menu of snacks, small plates and sharing dishes focuses heavily on the grill, while the wine list features vintages from small producers using organic and often biodynamic processes. An Erst flatbread is a must order, and ours glistens with beef fat and a good dusting of urfa chilli - a magnificent, well-judged combination. Thinly sliced winter tomatoes are generously topped with white crab meat and just-blanched agretti, and a glug of very good olive oil really pulls everything together, as does a glass of crisp Trebbiano. When Erst is firing, it’s all about simple, delicious flavour combinations, perfectly executed with quality ingredients.
The cooking, for the most part, is very accomplished, whether it’s a rosy slab of picanha in a blue cheese sauce, or gently poached and pickled mussels on cold roast pork collar - a twist on a vitello tonnato that comes off very successfully. Erst also delivered one of the best panna cottas we’ve ever eaten - stubby, just-set and vanilla-laden, propped against a handful of PX sherry prunes. Still very much at the top of the game, if Erst tells us anything, it’s that seasonal combinations never go out of style.