Artisan Manchester: Of Fine Food and Finer Art

So I remember some posts ago I alluded to having some news about what kept me away from my blog for most of February, at some point I think I only just got round to posting the winners of my first ever giveaway and not much else because I was just so busy and bogged down. The reason for my absence though is that I've made what is arguably the biggest transition of my life, I know it sounds slightly melodramatic but that's honestly how I feel. A few days ago I permanently relocated back to Lagos, Nigeria after spending the last 6 and a half years in various parts of England. Honestly I'm not filled with as much anxiety and trepidation as I thought I would be, maybe because for the first time since I graduated I feel like I'm about to start doing something. This something comes in the form of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) a compulsory year of service to the country that all graduates undertake. 

It's going to be weird adjusting to the fact that I'm not just here for holiday but I'm sure I can only go forward from here and what do you know, I got rejected from the last company I was giving a chance. God's plan is bigger than our plans! Okay now that all that's over... I felt it was only right that I ended the "Manchester" phase of my life with a food post! Food, my eternal love. One of my final restaurants of choice on one of my final trips to Mancester as I moved all my stuff was the fairly new restaurant and bar in Spinningfields "Artisan". Once I stepped into Artisan with A on a particularly rainy Sunday evening I felt I had made the right choice, the place was still buzzing and even the waiters had to admit to being surprised they were that busy. In fact, annoyingly enough  they only had a reduced menu that evening because they were sure they wouldn't be full. Nonetheless it didn't take away from the amazing ambience of the place, it's quite lowly light by these cool lights above some tables, the design really gives the whole place a nice rustic feel to it. There are also lots of paintings and other artwork around the area for sale and you can find details about each one of them in a little menu on your table, I just loved how arty-farty the whole place was.

Especially with these other lights that are essentially just bulbs on pieces of metal! Haha. I loved it though, there was something so authentic about the whole place and to top it all of they have a bar that's about 3 metres long or something crazy like that!

While we waited for our table to be ready I ordered a standard Strawberry Mojito to assess the quality that their 20-foot long bar could produce and I definitely wasn't disappointed at all. For me the presentation of my drink it about equally important as the taste of it and the mints and strawberry arranged on the top of the glass really actually made me happy!

Busy as they were, it was still a Sunday and so we didn't have to wait too long before we got to dig in to their limited menu. We got stuck in to their braised pork belly for starters which looked nothing like what we expected for a starter (Starters are meant to be small and cute and easy to eat!) but tasted decent enough for them to be forgiven.

But where their starter let me down a little bit, the second cocktail was truly something special. "Apple Pie" in a glass was exactly what it said on the tin, if one could drink an apple pie, that's what it would taste like. At some point the drink got so sickeningly sweet that I had to mix it with an equal amount of water just to make it bearable! I could even taste the gingerbread syrup them had stirred into it. I know it doesn't sound like I did but I actually loved this drink! And not only for the nicely placed apple slices. Haha.

We both opted for wood fired pizzas for our mains and A had the "New Yorker" whilst I opted for the "Crispy Duck". It was extremely refreshing to have nice fresh salad on our pizzas instead of the usual tiny pieces but up an drowned in the cheese and I loved that it was quite a thin base as well. I can eat a "normal" pizza guilt-free on some days but it's nice to know I can get what will definitely pass for a "healthy" pizza if I wanted one! 

My pizza had mandarins on it! Actual mandarins! Can you see them??

I think I had like 7 of my 5-a-day on that plate! Haha. As for the taste it was really good but after a while a whole pizza gets tiring to eat and so we swapped bites of each others so we could feel like we had some variety! After eating waaay too much pizza sadly there wasn't much room left over for dessert! *Boooooo* so we asked for the bill and prepared to be on our merry way. This was made even merrier by the fact that we had 50% taken off our bill for booking online! Cray-zay! All that food and all those drinks for less than £20?? Somebody say hell yeah!

As we strolled lazily back downstairs, preparing for the unrelenting rain I noticed this masterpiece.

From this picture I know it just looks like someone drew an amazing face on an old door but this face wasn't drawn unto the door, it was ETCHED on in what must have been the most painstaking project ever! But it looks amazing and made me seriously consider getting doors in my dream house etched! The amount of detail on it is amazing and because of this door that I saw mainly by chance, the artisan went from a place with nice drinks and okay food to a place that blew my mind! Forget the 20-foot long bar.

Anyways that's it. My last Manchester Foodie post for a while!
Reni signing out of Manchester and in to Lagos City! The city that raised me :)

P.S. I just checked and the menu seems to have changed a little bit from when I was last there and I'm not sure if they're still doing their 50% off offer but it's definitely still worth a visit if only for the artwork!