At long last – a visit to The Oast House

At the weekend I had lunch at The Oast House in Spinningfields Manchester, so thought I’d share my thoughts for anyone who hasn’t been there yet. I’m sure there can’t be many of you left – I definitely felt like the only one who hadn’t been and I wanted to see what I was missing out on!

When the weather is nice, this place has a real holiday vibe about it. As it was busy inside and the weather was sunny we braved the chilly air and sat outside. The building is a modern take on a traditional olde English “oast house” design, and the pleasantly peaceful outside space is filled with rustic wooden furniture, white parasols, bunting and an outdoor barbeque grill hut.

My expectations were of hearty rustic food and a good variety of ales. Can’t comment on the ales on this occasion, though the menu indicates a decent selection, fruit beer included. And the food was indeed rustic – our freshly barbequed burgers and steaks came served in crates with a heap of seriously delicious fries and a cute paper-topped jar of relish. The burger was fairly massive, so well worth the money (£8.95 including the fries). And I’m not a massive fan of burgers, but fresh from the grill it was pretty damn tasty.

Best of all, The Oast House has a really chilled atmosphere, so it’s a great place to have a drink in the afternoon or after work. Word of warning though, all indications show that this place gets seriously packed in summer when the weather is good. It must be that holiday vibe!