Food served at the top of tall buildings tends to be expensive and loveless, but this place breaks that mould
As I booked 20 Stories in Manchester, it was with some concerns. 20 Stories claims, at its root, to have 20 stories. When all I want is dinner, I have slender tolerance for restaurants that mither me with “concept”. If the ethos is inspired by Shakespeare, a fictional villain or, worst of all, the chef’s nonna’s kitchen in bygone Sicily, for God’s sake don’t send the servers to my table to “talk me through it”. Ella Canta at the Intercontinental in London, for example, is a “modernist expression of customary cuisine and colour”, but I found that a swift karate chop to the maître d’s windpipe stopped him explaining further. I’ll work out the story myself, thank you very much. It won’t be hard: most chefs have more words written on their forearms than in actual books they’ve read.
20 Stories is also a sort-of pun. It’s way up in the sky, on the 19th storey of No 1 Spinningfields, and overlooks all of Manchester. At night, the panoramic views of the city feel rather magical. The north-west, lit up, breathing, bustling, going about its business, is a lovely thing to behold, particularly as this entire floor, with its midnight-blue banquettes and sparse lighting, makes you feel as if you’re drinking chablis on the Death Star.
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