15 minutes from Manchester city centre & only 1 minute from junction 13 on the M60 Ambiente has earned a formidable reputation for serving fine seasonal fresh Spanish & Mediterranean cuisine in opulent and atmospheric surroundings. Nominated by the Manchester Food & Drink Festival in the best newcomer category in 2008, Ambiente has continued to raise the standard of modern Spanish cuisine.

We’ve just returned from Spain and the best Tapas places we enjoyed during our time there were usually the most basic and of the no-frills variety. El Rincon delivers in very much this unfussy way and although the premises are quite grand, the service and food are friendly and wholesome.

Unlike the new breed of Tapas restaurants in Manchester like Evuna with its overcomplicated modern take on Tapas, El Rincon keeps it simple and nearly everything on the menu is worth trying at least once. This is another restaurant that is packed come the peak hours so arrive early to get a table. Also it’s not the easiest to find situated as it is next to Ampersand off Deansgate on Longworth Street.

It is a curious fact that cities seem to divide up their cuisines by district. In Manchester, it would be self-defeating to look for a good Chinese outside of Chinatown. If you are drawn to local produce or organic food, you get on your bike to Chorlton. If curry is the flavour of the month, chances are that you are more than familiar with the delights of Rusholme. And if you want Spanish? It has to be Deansgate.

Manchester suffers when it comes to Spanish food. Despite the charms of Evuna on Deansgate, there are altogether too many tapas bars serving flaccid patatas bravas and stodgy, tasteless paellas for extortionate prices - so many so, in fact, that we had more or less given up on Spanish altogether.
And then Grado opened...