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IF you've any doubts that winter is finally over, go and try the new tasting menu at James Martin Manchester. This five-course dinner and matched wines exuberantly celebrates the rediscovered produce of spring, capturing not just the new season's flavours and textures, but its full-of-life spirit.

It's a plated message from the chef, saying 'stop nattering about your day and start focusing on the beautiful food I'm about to present.

Its architect is head chef Doug Crampton. Under his leadership this restaurant has built a reputation for quality in its own right, rather than just relying on the draw of its celebrity name. We visit on a Thursday just after 5pm and find the place already buzzing. By 7.30pm, it's full. Not bad for a week night.

First off, the bread. (You know you're in for a good meal when this merits a mention.) The wild English sourdough and beer rye bread is delivered daily from Aidan Monks' Lovingly Artisan bakery up in Kendal. It's served warm with gravy jus dripping – dip right in to get the lovely meaty flavours pooled at the bottom.

Rye Bread and Sourdough

It's served with a cocktail, included in the set price. Ours is a gently fizzing prosecco with hedgerow berries. Sweet, light and summery, this is an aperitif rather than an accompaniment to the bold flavours to come, so we suggest you pay the extra £15 for four glasses of matched wines.

At £35 for five courses and a cocktail, the Spring Pickings menu is good value without the wines, but it's excellent value with them. And with food this complex and distinctive, it's wise to have an expert selecting your drinks for you. Definitely worth the £50 total.

Onto the first course: an aesthetically daring dish of ruby red sirloin steak aged in a Himalayan salt chamber, and served with kimchi, beef jerky and enoki mushrooms. In appearance and taste, it's a real attention-grabber. A plated message from the chef, saying 'stop chatting about your day and start focusing on the beautiful food I'm about to serve you.'

Kimchi Salt-Ages Beef

The pale mushrooms poking out from the steak give it a Gothic feel, making us think of new life sprouting from old. The tastes are equally unsettling. Aniseed in the beef jerky. Sweet, smoky hickory nuts in the mayonnaise. The sauerkraut-esque Korean kimchi. It's fusion food that takes you in diverse directions, yet works together surprisingly well.

Next comes another dish of contrasts. Tiny heritage carrots cooked three ways (pickled, blanched and torched) served with candied hazelnuts, fresh beetroot jelly, a beetroot wafer and wasabi yoghurt.

Heritage Carrots

The crunch of the hazelnuts offsets the soft carrot, the cool yoghurt mutes the heat of the wasabi. It might look like an explosion on a plate but the tastes work in harmony, allowing the subtle flavours of the carrot and beetroot to shine through. The wine here is a fruity, easy-drinking Riesling.

The fish course is a glistening, satisfying portion of sea trout served on a layer of pancetta and cannellini beans with an almondy romesco sauce. It's accompanied by a lemon-cured clam ceviche dotted with strands of seaweed. Together they bring to mind beachside restaurants in the Mediterranean, reminding us that one of the best things about spring is that summer is about to follow.

It's served with a citrusy Brampton sauvignon blanc. A good match for the vibrant, punchy food.

The next course is our favourite of the lot. Tender lamb (cooked in a water bath for that perfect pink tone) perched on potato rosti infused with lamb fat, with a pungent merlot puree. Beside it is a lamb terrine topped with discs of grape. This is a rich, full-bodied dish: the crowning point of the meal.

Tender Lamb and Rosti

The wine here is the same Domaine de la Baume merlot used in the puree, chosen for its high tannins which cut through the fat in the lamb.

The chef must be enjoying himself in the kitchen because he goes off menu to send us two desserts rather than one. The first is a surreal, Alice in Wonderland-inspired creation. A 'Drink Me' bottle of fizzy strawberry juice and sarsaparilla is served with a Dali-esque bowl of buttermilk sorbet, honeycomb, English strawberries, and meringue shards.

It's a fun, frivolous dish evocative of school holidays when the day centred around the trip to the sweet shop for a bag of sarsaparilla drops and strawberry laces. The accompanying dessert wine is a Lafleur Mallet sauternes with notes of honey and orange to complement the honeycomb crunch.

Strawberry Sarsaparilla

The second dessert has a similarly childlike feel to it, with its key flavours of peanut, chocolate and pear. The parfait is a salty, creamy, nutty custard, wrapped in a thin layer of chocolate, and served with a tangy malt purée. After the more conventional flavours of the strawberry 'pre-dessert', this is a reminder of this menu's flair for the unusual and unpredictable, rather than relying on well-worn favourites.

Peanut Parfait

For a tasting menu, it hits all the right notes. Confident, exciting, inventive. But also accessible in its all-inclusive price and the sheer scrumptiousness of each course. Experience it while you can. It'll take your taste buds out of hibernation and into the sunshine.

The Spring Pickings Menu is available at James Martin Manchester at £35 for five courses and a cocktail, or £50 for five courses, a cocktail and matching wines.