‘Way off its potential’: Enish Manchester, Deansgate, reviewed

Enish opened their first restaurant a decade ago in Lewisham, South London, before quickly expanding to multiple locations, spanning suburbs across the UK capital and beyond, taking their dishes as far as Dubai. 

Since then, they’ve even gone on to open their rather swanky (yet rather bizarre-sounding) sister company, the ‘Enish Yacht Experience’ where you can make a splash (both in the glistening waters of the Persian Gulf, and with your hard-earned cash) and rent a luxury yacht via the Nigerian restaurant chain. 

In late October of 2024, the business expanded their UK fleet of restaurants with the first site in the north making Enish Manchester the most recent spot to join their roster of venues.

With only a handful of Nigerian restaurants to choose from in Manchester city centre, the chain’s opening at the tail end of last year was a welcome addition to the variety of cuisines stretching across Deansgate; spanning all corners of the globe, from Pan-Asian spots like Suki Suki Street Food & Bar to traditional Polish haunts like Platzki, to modern British small plate legends like Another Hand and tapas and wine havens like Evuna, the stretch of town has, over the years, solidified itself as a multicultural dining destination.

Parked on the corner of Tonman Street next to Eagle, Enish is hard to miss with its name in lights - if, on your way home from work, you’ve been caught up in the chaos that is this Deansgate’s bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic, its red flame signage and inviting heaters at either side of the door have probably beckoned you to leave the car and walk on in. 

Inside, the main crux of the restaurant is decorated African artwork, green leather booths and seats, with red florals cascading down from the ceiling onto an illuminated beam in the centre of the venue. Wine glasses and cutlery are neatly arranged ready for the next set of diners to make use of them, but sadly not many visitors were there to take up the space during my visit, making for a cold and lonesome dining experience - especially when the AC overhead was chugging away on a rather cool setting (despite there being a cosy-looking digital fire on the telly across the room).

In fact, I was expecting there to be a full house during my visit as on their social media channels it noted that Wednesday is ‘Ladies Night’, where female diners are treated to free drinks from 6-9PM. 

Including myself, there were three ladies in the venue (six if you count the staff, but I doubt they’d be drinking on shift) but neither myself nor the other ladies dining were offered a free drink. Perhaps the offer is only available when there’s enough customers to justify it. After all, it would be a bit awkward otherwise. 

Despite the cold temperature of the restaurant, we were welcomed warmly by a member of the team who showed us over to our neatly-organised table and took our drinks orders. I chose a diet coke (£5) while my partner Dave went for a bottle of Nigerian Gulder beer (a whopping £12). 

To start, we each ordered pepper soup - I opted for the goat (£16) and Dave decided on the yam (£27 - absolutely no idea why this dish almost doubles in price when you order the yam version, but there you go).

Both dishes arrived fairly quickly and of a substantial size. The pepper soup broth tasted good, slightly spicy - almost like a winter stew - but the meat was as tough as old boots with lots of gristle and bone which was quite off-putting. Dave’s yam was undercooked in places, also making for a tough time eating. 

Moving swiftly on, I decided to give the half chicken suya (£16) a try; chicken wings marinated in suya spice and topped with fresh tomato and red onion with an extra helping of suya spice on the side for good measure. The chicken was flavourful but incredibly dry, the tomatoes were more water than anything else and the raw red onion was a bit jarring to say the least. It felt like something was missing here. 

Dave went with the jollof rice topped with chicken and plantain. It arrived in two separate bowls; the plantain cut in half and sliced down the middle, nestled atop a mountain of jollof rice whilst the chicken marinated in a tomatoey sauce sat separately. Much better, but still not really hitting the mark. 

The chicken was flavourful and had a slight tang to it, but the jollof was neither here nor there and the plantain was undercooked so hadn’t caramelised properly. Again, a hearty portion size, but for £22 we were expecting something a bit more. 

Our plates were cleared and we weren’t asked if we wanted to browse the dessert menu, just if we’d like the bill. After an underwhelming first two courses, we decided it was probably for the best, paid up (£98) and left. 

I trawled through Google Reviews after returning home that evening and saw a real mixed bag of opinions on this micro chain. It seems the London restaurants have a much higher calibre and satisfaction rate, whilst the new Manchester restaurant is yet to live up to the name. 

The team members we spoke to were friendly and pleasant enough, but could probably do with a bit more knowledge of how to upsell dishes and beverages to provide the full experience - we weren’t asked if we’d like any more drinks or desserts after the initial order was taken. 

It’s a venue that has potential, and, if they can nail their food, pricepoint and ambience (mainly that icy cold AC), I imagine it will follow in the footsteps of its Southern sister sites. But for now, it’s just not worth the visit unfortunately. 

Enish, 310 Deansgate, Manchester M3 4HE