The Guardian

‘There’s not a lot of food, but it will linger in the mind’

Grace Dent

Musu is very possibly the most expensive restaurant in Manchester. Freshly opened with a £3m-plus fit-out, it resembles nothing so much as the Starship Enterprise, albeit one with geishas on the walls and a £110 seven-course menu (or £150 for 11) cooked by Michael Shaw, formerly of Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons and Gordon Ramsay Inc.

Abandon this review here, all who have already taken terrible umbrage that Musu even exists. Personally, I am rather cheered that there are still people north of the Watford gap who have the faith and gumption to open places as pointedly bonkers as this. Musu is a gigantically ambitious project serving what its owners hope to be the highest-quality Japanese food in a city that is already pretty well favoured with good and reasonably priced pan-Asian dining choices of every kind.

Vincent Braine and Marius Kamara clearly have big dreams, bigger investment and extensive notes on how diners are spending their cash in 2023. The luxury side of the Manchester dining scene is seemingly thriving, with the likes of 20 Stories and Australasia already hugely popular. Musu – whose tagline is “Infinite possibilities” – with its glossy black exterior that

Rational House, 64 Bridge Street, Manchester M3, 0161-883 7753. Open Wed-Sat, lunch noon-3pm, dinner 5-11pm; Sun 4-11pm. Fourcourse weekday set lunch £35; sevencourse kaiseki menu £110, 11-course £170; all plus drinks and service

Feast

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https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281818583076673

Guardian/Observer