Brunch on Saturday: Manahatta review, Leeds: Drink your way to The Big Apple

This week for Brunch on Saturday, Rachel Hosie finds a slice of the Big Apple in Leeds, while for those staying in mackerel sourdough toast makes for perfect elevenses

Brunching out...

Here, the idea is to bring Manhattan to Leeds, and after an hour and a half of bottomless bubbles, you might just believe you really are in the Big Apple.

Manahatta has certainly channelled New York; the interior is trendy industrial, with teal semicircle booths, exposed filament bulbs hanging from the ceiling in clusters, neon lights on the walls and colour-changing lights round the rim of the bar.

At £25.95 for a main and bottomless drinks for 90 minutes it’s something of a steal compared to London prices, where you often pay more for the bottomless booze alone.

You can mix and match drinks meaning that if you – shock horror – get bored of prosecco you can move on to bloody marys, aperol spritzes or pints of Coors.

Staff are very attentive at topping up our glasses for the first hour but we did find we had to ask for a refill towards the end of our sitting. But we’re at least told know when we we’re getting our final top-up.

The food comes quickly – presumably to stop diners getting too tipsy.

My guest goes for the eggs royale on toasted sourdough, which has creamy and light hollandaise sauce and super fresh tasting smoked salmon tasted very fresh, but sadly the yolk of the egg wasn’t runny.

I have the Liberty burger. It’s one of five “uptown” meals which you pay and extra £5 for.

It’s made up of a juicy patty and is smothered with a generous amount of Monterey Jack cheese, crispy onions, BBQ sauce and nicely crisp bacon. I swap out skin-on chips for sweet potato fries which were pleasingly crisp and am glad it’s a nicely large portion too, considering all the bubbles.

As the afternoon wears on, Manahatta fills up with revellers enjoying the merriment (aided by the fun playlist of Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and the Black Eyed Peas).

But unlike some party brunches, we don’t feel out of place as a couple of friends catching up as it’s not too noisy to have an actual conversation.

Burgers, bubbles and basic tunes – what’s not to enjoy?

Manahatta; 11 Merrion St, Leeds LS1 6PG; 0113 245 6275; open daily; served sat-sun 11am-3pm; arcinspirations.com/manahatta-merrionst/menu/food

Brunching in....

mackerel toast recipe - do not reuse image

Mackerel sourdough toast

Serves 2

Time: 20 minutes

2 fresh mackerel fillets
2tsp light olive or vegetable oil
2tbs barbecue glaze, plus extra to serve
100g baby plum tomatoes
1 lemon or lime
½ red onion, finely diced
few sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices sourdough or rustic country bread

Halve the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Add the juice of half the lemon or lime, then stir in the onion and parsley, season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and set aside.

Brush the mackerel fillets with a little oil and place skin side down in a griddle pan. Brush the fleshy side of each fillet generously with the barbecue glaze. Cook for 3 minutes over a medium-high heat.

Carefully turn the fillets and cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. Meanwhile, brush the slices of bread with a little oil and place on the other side of the griddle pan or in another frying pan and cook until golden. Turn and toast the other sides then place onto warmed plates.

Pile the tomato salad onto the toasts. Halve the mackerel fillets and arrange on top. Serve with extra lemon or lime wedges and drizzle with barbecue glaze for an extra sticky finish.

Recipe from Jackdanielsbbqsauces.com

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