Grenache

15 Bridgewater Road, Walkden, Worsley, Manchester M28 3JE

Tel: 0161 799 8181

Opening hours: Closed Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 5.30 to last food order at 9pm, Friday and Saturday 5.30-9.30pm and Sunday 2pm to 6pm.

WHERE you could once buy a house, now you can buy the house wine — such are the vagaries of the business world, as an estate agent closes its doors and a restaurant pops up to take its place.

I suppose opening a new restaurant, just as the worst recession in 60 years rears its ugly head, and in Walkden, an area not noted for fine cuisine, could be said to be risky if not downright foolhardy.

But the owner of Grenache, Hussein Abbas, had a dream of opening his own restaurant and so far it looks not to have turned into a nightmare.

In fact it seems to be thriving judging by the number of people dining when we were there on a wet Thursday evening.

The interior is tastefully decorated and is light and airy with friendly, confident staff.

Even though we arrived early we were shown straight to our table.

I was there with my wife, Anne, and our friends and their daughter Liz, and though we had booked a table for five, staff had to put an extra place at the end of our table — not brilliant to my mind, a table seating six would have suited us better — but it didn’t matter.

We had a fantastic evening with good company and great food at Grenache.

Mine and Liz’s starter of chorizo and scallops with onion puree and peas, was delicate, with the scallops cooked to perfection and the chorizo was not as greasy an accompaniment as I had originally feared.

My friend Mark ordered minestrone soup with mozzerella wantons and basil oil, which he said was fantastic and almost a meal in itself.

His wife Jan and my wife Anne both opted for the brioche crumbed goat’s cheese, chutney and rocket salad, which was light and delicately flavoured.

My main course was rack of lamb, with deliciously pink meat, accompanied by a miniature shepherd’s pie, fondant potatoes with pea puree (or posh mushy peas) and tarragon jus.

The food was delicious but I would have liked to have had a selection of fresh vegetables — which should not come under extras (£2.50) in my opinion.

Just after the main meal arrived I ordered some chunky chips but that late request obviously flummoxed the kitchen because our plates were clean and being collected and they still hadn’t arrived.

Anne had the baked halibut with Morecambe Bay shrimps, canerolli rice and green herbs, which she declared light, tasty and cooked just right.

Mark had prime fillet of beef, chunky chips, Portobello mushrooms and red wine jus, which he absolutely loved wolfing every last bit.Liz and her mum ordered corn-fed chicken supreme, smoked bacon, shallots, roast garlic mash and jus, which must have been good because they both cleared their plates.

We don’t normally have room for puds but we were enjoying ourselves so much that three of us plumped for the chocolate brownie with ice cream (delicious and not overfacing) while Jan and Mark shared a selection of three cheeses, chutney and grapes.

The bill came to £187 for five — but as is often the case when we’re having fun, a good portion of that was alcohol.

I estimate the food portion was under £30 a head for three courses of excellent food.There is an early diner menu as well.

Grenache, like its grape namesake, is full, fruity, with good body and reasonably easy on the pocket — all of us warmly recommend this new addition to the local dining scene.