Sirocco’s new menu examined

Sirocco, the restaurant that sits above Manchester's Circle Club, has brought a touch of the Mediterranean to its new menu.

Confidential headed over to the Barton Arcade to work through the new tapas 'piattinis' for a quick lunch.

The best thing about small plates is getting a few between you and sharing them. There's plenty of choice and you can get three plates for £8 or five for £15.

We kicked off with the meat piattini (£15.50), which nearly filled the entire table and offered healthy portions of beef carpaccio, meatballs that came with a warming chilli kick, battered squid rings served with garlic mayonnaise. But best of all were the parmesan and herb crumb stuffed green lipped mussels (£6.50), which were fun to eat. All were impressively delivered and quickly demolished.

There was still plenty of room for more though, so we rattled through the rest of the tapas menu.

The marinated lamb skewers (£5.50) could have come straight from a Mediterranean barbecue and the crispy cod fishcakes (£5.50) were moreish.
The stuffed pepper with rice and feta cheese (v) (£4.50) was bursting full of flavour and the spinach tortilla (£4) was hearty.

A slice of chocolate torte (£5.50) rounded the whole meal off nicely and we were in and out within the lunch hour.

Sirocco, named after the Mediterranean wind that blows from the Sahara, bases its menu around the freshest ingredients with an extensive choice of daily specials. Its specialty are small dishes called piattinis which are served like tapas, and are inspired by dishes from France and Italy to Spain and Tunisia, with prices starting from £4 and sharing platters for two available from £12.50.

Available throughout the day, Sirocco also has a lunch menu including pastas, salads and sandwiches starting from £5.50.

An evening a la carte menu is available from 5pm throughout the week although the restaurant will be closed on Sundays, and there is an early bird menu of three piattini dishes for £10 available from 5pm to 7pm.

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