MANCHESTER, much like most of the UK, is currently obsessed with Spanish grub.
Kinsella and his wife Elaine stock over 1000 products from across Spain and maintain them with an infatuation bordering on OCD
If all goes to plan, there'll be ten Spanish restaurants spread up, down and around Deansgate alone by the end of next year: Iberica, La Bandera, El Gato Negro, Tapeo and Lunya joining La Vina, La Tasca, El Rincon, Evuna and Dimitri's (which granted is Greek, but packaged as a 'Tapas Bar'). TEN. And as the trend for social eating grows, so too does the popularity of tapas - the ultimate social food.
Few of the restaurants above, indeed, few of the 30-something restaurants newly opened in Manchester this year have garnered such a voracious air of anticipation as Lunya. But how, exactly, has this small, local Catalan and Spanish restaurant and deli from Liverpool got Manchester's chowhounds slobbering like Pavlov's dogs for a new restaurant in the Barton Arcade?
Obsession.
It's easy, lost amongst the deluge of mega money fit-outs, London brand scouts and giddy PR folk, to forget that great restaurants, really great restaurants, are born not of financial clout, or even big name chefs, but of passion. A desire not to be loudest, the flashest, or the number one on TripAdvisor, but a desire to be the best.
It's an obsession that Lunya, driven by owner, executive chef and Spanish anorak, Peter Kinsella, has to the bones. Kinsella and his wife Elaine stock over 1000 products from across Spain and maintain them with an infatuation bordering on OCD - Kinsella being known to visit each of his 50+ suppliers every two months or so.
As you'd expect then, Lunya's menu is equally hefty. So to save you time and deliberation we've listed below the pick of Lunya's finest dishes.
Order this lot (perhaps not in one sitting) and you won't leave wanting...
Lunya, Barton Arcade Deansgate Manchester M3 2BW - open now
Marisco salad - Surimi crabsticks, prawns, mayo
Calamari in beer batter
Bonito tuna and creamed cheese stuffed Piquillo peppers
Cauliflower and broccoli buñuelos
Chicken strips wrapped in broken potato crisps
Catalan Hotpot - Lunya's signature dish blending Catalunya with the North West of England made with chorizo and morcilla
Slow roasted ribs in special Catalan BBQ sauce with tamarind orange and fennel seed
Croquetas
Chorizo
Pulpo - chargrilled octopus, potatoes, smoked paprika and sea salt
Langoustine tails cooked on the plancha and served with lemon allioli
Duck breast pan fried with a raspberry sauce and vanilla infused pear
Deep fried Monte Enebro goats cheese (winner of two World Cheese of the Year awards), drizzled with Alemany orange blossom honey and beetroot crisps
Albóndigas - pork and beef meatballs in a rich tomato sauce
Suckling pig (image credit: Natalia Castillejo)
24 Hour Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder with pomegranate molasses and mint
Luscious Jamon
Catalunya tart
Churros
Spanish nougart
