Lunya Unveils New Summer Menu

THE new menu features a range of tapas perfect for grazing during those long summer evenings spent dreaming about being somewhere in the Iberian Peninsula. This haven for those craving Catalonian comfort updates its menu every few months to reflect the seasonality of ingredients, and gives owner Peter and his team of chefs the chance to showcase some of the dishes they’ve discovered during their many trips to Spain.

They’ve taken Morcilla, Catalan’s answer to Bury black pudding, and rolled it into five little balls coated with crushed cornflakes of all things

One noteworthy fact about Lunya is that they claim to stock the largest selection of Catalan and Spanish cheeses in the world, outside of Spain. They stock 44 different artisan varieties from Santa Gadea Red Label – a mild, creamy Camembert-style organic goat’s cheese, through to Cabrales, a pungent and acidic blue cheese from Asturias so strong it’ll take the skin off the roof of your mouth and still leave you smiling.

You’ll find several types of Manchego that have been aged for different periods, as well as soft cheeses coated in an ash crust, sheep’s cheeses with light caramel tones and creamy, luxurious blue cheeses. All of these are available to buy from the deli to take home, or to sit in as part of a small (£7.35), medium (£9.45) or large (£11.65) platter with Catalan fruit accompaniments like Membrillo, the traditional quince paste and pressed wheels of dried figs. We enjoyed our cheese selection with a few intensely flavoured Paul & Pippa Catalan crackers from Barcelona in tomato and black olive flavours.

Lunya cheeses

More cheese (Iberico this time, made from a mix of cow, goat and sheep’s milk) had been stuffed into large Andalucian Garlic Olives that had been coated in a light beer batter before being deep fried and served in the form of a neat pile of Gordal Olives (£4.95).

A continuous parade of tapas dishes for sharing appeared at the table starting with two satisfyingly fat crab and tuna empanadas (£6.45) in an all butter puff pastry. The much lighter mackerel dish we tried next had been cooked on the plancha before being served with pickled cucumber, avocado and Salmorejo (an emulsion made from tomato and olive oil). This and the next few dishes really illustrated how Lunya isn’t constrained by tradition, and isn’t afraid to be a little experimental sometimes.

Morcilla

Mini Iberico burger

They’ve taken Morcilla, Catalan’s answer to Bury black pudding, and rolled it into five little balls coated with crushed cornflakes of all things, before serving them along with orange and honey syrup and pomegranate molasses (£6.46). Their answer to the ubiquitous burger is their Mini Iberico burger (£4.25) with minced acorn-fed pork from Extremadura, being served pink, on a mini brioche bun with sweet caramelised onions. The Catalan Hotdog (£6.95) can’t be missed either. Lunya use a white chistorra (a type of more mildly spiced chorizo sausage without smoked paprika) on a mini brioche bun with white bean and garlic sauce and a tamarind barbeque sauce – a playful take on international favourite, sausage and beans.

Next, we tried a few meat courses, with our favourite being Pollo al Moro (£6.75), or Moorish chicken which had been slow cooked in a preserved lemon spiced broth before being scattered with fresh pomegranate seeds.

We also munched through a couple of Lamb chops (£7.45) which had been dusted in a mixture of Dukkah spices before being grilled to pink and served with samfaina (roast Mediterranean vegetables) before rounding things off with a Fillet Steak (£7.55) from Dexter beef, cooked pink on the plancha. These were served with Papas Arrugadas, traditional salted potatoes from the Canary Islands and Romesco Sauce made from almonds, smoked peppers and roast garlic.

Dexter beef steak

Oooo lamb chops

We were pretty full at this point, but if we had a second (or even third) stomach, we’d be more than tempted to order a Tapas Banquet, or even one of their superb Paellas made with special Bomba rice from Sueca, Valencia.

As you’d expect from a delicatessen so devoted to everything Spanish, Lunya sell and serve a great range of Vermouth, Sherry, wines and spirits, which perfectly match each and every dish. We really enjoyed a deliciously cool La Socarrada craft beer from Valencia as well as couple of wines from renowned vineyard Casa Mariol.

Lunya is actually much more than a deli, restaurant and bar. They also have a huge programme of events for people to come along to and learn a little bit more about Spanish and Catalonian food and drink. On their website you’ll find a whole range of gin, cheese, ham and wine tasting events as well as ham carving masterclasses and gourmet nights as well as special events to celebrate occasions throughout the year (hurry if you want to catch a place for their Father’s Day Galician Steak extravaganza.)

Lunya, Catalonian Deli, Restaurant & Bar, Barton Arcade, Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2BB. Tel: 0161 413 3317