I love eating, I do it a lot. Sometimes I really enjoy what I am eating, other times not so much. Sometimes it is somewhere in the middle. For me, an eating experience is more than just the food – it is the people who serve it to me, where the food comes from, and the location that I eat it in. All of these factors, if put together correctly, can create a life changing experience. And I, Jessica Davies, had one of these experiences in Manchester (of all places).

To me, Manchester is industrial revolution, cotton mills, and football. Sure, I know it is a growing city and the idea of there being good places to eat there doesn’t surprise me, but if someone had told me I would be overwhelmingly satisfied with an eating experience in Manchester I would have laughed and told them lying is a sin. But that mysterious person was right.

Ben and I went to visit our forth cousin (I don’t actually know what relation she is to me but she is my great grandfather’s sister’s granddaughter) who lives just outside of Manchester and she took us for a tour of the city. As it was a wet and soggy day, we tried to stay inside as much as possible and after visiting the John Rylands library, Lesley wanted to show us a new bar/restaurant that has opened up next door. To enter you go through a glass pyramid thing, down some steps and there you are. The restaurant is called Australasia and so I felt it appropriate that Ben and I go and visit it.

We weren’t feeling particularly hungry, however my appetite instantly sprang to life as soon as I saw the restaurant. Something inside me said, “EAT HERE!” and so the decision was made. The restaurant is a long rectangular shape that has been very well set up with tables in different sections to allow for large groups as well as quieter areas for small tables. It is light in colour and has lots of organic, wooden surfaces and lots of little details to look at.

So pretty

The waitstaff were very friendly although half the time I had no idea what our main waitress was saying. Manchester accents are impossible. We were advised to choose lots of small dishes to share and so we did – choosing six dishes to share between the three of us. The food was what I guess is called “Asian fusion” with a very interesting mix of flavours from Japanese, Australian, British, Thai and Indonesian cuisines. And it was AMAZING.

I felt at home

The food was beyond delicious – spicy, flavoursome and with some very interesting combinations of flavours and textures, I have never eaten anything like it before. All of the dishes had something interesting to say – the fishcakes with lemon grass were spicy and aromatic; the thinly sliced seared beef was tender, rich and juicy; and the pork balls were perfectly accompanied by a spicy salad that really had a kick to it.

I even liked the seafood. Amazing.

Collingwood Dinkies – little pies filled with different delicious flavours

Vegetable tempura – Pyramid style

Each time more food came out our mouths dropped at the presentation and then dropped even further when we came to eat it. Delicate yet strong, all of the food made me want to applaud the chefs each time it was placed on our table.

As we were eating the mains, I watched other dishes come out of the kitchen and declared that despite having eaten a rather large (and delicious) piece of chocolate cake for morning tea, I was going to need to eat a dessert. Thankfully, Ben is a fellow foodie and he had noticed the amazing concoctions that were arriving on other tables and he ordered dessert too. Lesley soon joined us as soon as ours arrived.

I am incapable of looking past the word “fondant” on a dessert menu and chose an espresso fondant served with hazelnut ice cream. A fairly simple description on the menu turned into one of the greatest desserts in human history being placed on the table in front of me.

WOW.

The fondant was cooked to utter perfection with a round, decorated piece of chocolate placed on top of the warmed pudding. As I cut into it, the chocolate melted and the fondant exploded into a gooey, oozing lava mountain.

EXPLODE!

It was rich without being sickly and had a great combination of chocolate and espresso. The hazelnut ice cream was creamy and delicious and the plate was also decorated with three blobs of salted butter caramel (the ultimate accompaniment to chocolate) and clotted cream that was dotted with vanilla beans and decorated with mini meringues.

I want to marry who ever invented this dessert (sorry, Tom) because essentially they have placed every single thing that makes me happy on a plate, made it look pretty and then let me eat it.

Ben’s dessert was just as spectacular – a chocolate mousse cake served with cooked cherries. There was this amazing soft cherry foam that floated off the top of the cake. It was then served with a ball of miso ice cream which had originally put me off the dessert (plus I’m not a huge fruit with chocolate person) but turned out to be pure GENIUS. The miso added a wonderful hint of salt to the sweet chocolate and was really very delicious. Truly wonderful.

Cherry froth!

We spent two hours eating lunch and by the time we eventually wandered up the stairs and back into the real world, the sun had started shining and it had turned into a beautiful day. Before we left, I paid a visit to the bathrooms to discover ‘dunny’ style toilets (upmarket dunnies, of course). It made me proud to be an Aussie, it did. Not really, but I am glad the best restaurant in the world (at least in my current little world) is a representation of my home country. The Poms can beat us in cricket but we cook the best food.