DRIVING to Manchester from Bolton couldn't be easier. Nip on to the bypass, then the M60 ringroad, take the left lane for the M602, left at the roundabout, drive a few hundred yards and suddenly you're in Deansgate.
But have you ever tried parking on the street in Manchester? We arrived around 5.45pm - for a booking at 6pm, leaving us plenty of time we thought.
It took us a good 15 minutes of fruitless driving round the double yellow lined streets near Dimitri's until we suddenly got lucky and spotted a space.
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We made it to the restaurant just five minutes late and were shown to our seats in the pleasant glass roofed arcade behind the Spanish Centre in Deansgate.
Dimitri's is a cracking tapas restaurant just around the corner from Deansgate railway station which, the next time we visit, we will use, not wanting to experience again the panic of not being able to park.
The restaurant is a curious blend of Greek Mediterranean style food with traditional tapas and is always busy regardless of what time you visit.
Drinks ordered, we looked at the extensive menu which offers Greek Meze for sharing and Spanish tapas, with a good selection of dishes to suit both meat eaters and vegetarians.
We ordered lamb in spinach, beef stifado in red wine and onions, king prawns in filo pastry, squid with stuffed rice and herbs, whitebait and a goat's cheese with sun dried tomatoes, olives and cous-cous.
We started with hummous and taramasalata and were taken aback when the friendly waiter brought two huge bowls of the stuff complete with warm pitta bread. Both were excellent though we didn't finish them.
The beef stifado was tender with a lovely red wine sauce, the melt in your mouth lamb was divine with a nice tomatoey sauce and the plate of whitebait was so large that along with a few loaves it could have fed 5,000!
The one dish I didn't like was the stuffed squid which was tougher than I expected and l left most of it.
My wife loved the prawns and found the massive goat's cheese salad, tasty though it was, too much to finish.
The food was good, not haute cuisine but then you don't expect it from a tapas place. Be warned though, the portions are huge.
If you want a selection then the meat, fish or vegetarian Mezes, offering a mix of various dishes are good value and there's also a good choice of interesting kids' food which avoids the burgers and turkey goujons route taken by other restaurants.
We thought the £60.10 bill for food and a couple of drinks each was at the top end of what we would normally pay for tapas but the quality was good overall. But be sure to book in advance for weekends.
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