A fine dining restaurant located in The Midland Hotel, Manchester, known for its innovative tasting menus with a focus on modern British cuisine and a 'northern welcome'.
Chef Adam Reid is renowned for his modern British cooking, infused with a distinctive North West accent. He is the chef at The French in Manchester and is also associated with Experience Aether. He is recognized as...
The French, located within The Midland Hotel in Manchester, offers a refined and experiential dining journey through a tasting menu. Known for its elegant ambiance featuring a grand crystal chandelier, the restaurant prides itself on a relaxed yet impeccable service style, often described as a 'friendly northern welcome.' The menu creatively reinterprets quality northern dishes with innovative twists, focusing on a 'flavour journey' rather than traditional à la carte. Children must be aged 8 or above to dine.
Customer Perception
Customers consistently praise The French for its exquisite food, describing it as delicious, inspirational, and wonderfully innovative. The service is frequently highlighted as top-notch, exceptional, and next-level, with staff, including sommeliers, lauded for their encyclopedic knowledge and passion. The ambiance is noted as elegant, warm, and special, striking a balance between relaxed and incredibly refined. Many consider it a 'master class of flavour and service' and one of Manchester's finest dining experiences, often expressing surprise that it hasn't yet received a Michelin star.
Additional Details
The restaurant is situated in the historic Midland Hotel. Reviewers often commend the thoughtful wine and drinks pairings, as well as the curated playlist that adds to the enjoyable atmosphere. There is no service charge automatically added to the bill, encouraging guests to tip based on their experience.
Vegetarian options availableAccommodates specific dietary requirements
Best Times to Visit
As a fine dining establishment offering a tasting menu, The French is primarily suited for dinner. Reservations are highly recommended due to its popularity and the nature of the dining experience.
Had an absolutely exquisite dining experience at this restaurant in Manchester. The service was truly top-notch, and the cuisine was delicious, inspirational, and wonderfully innovative. Every dish was served with a smile and accompanied by a little story 😋
Our sommelier, Dimitriy, had an encyclopedic knowledge of wines and presented each tasting with remarkable passion and clarity 👍🏻 And let’s not forget the ambience — elegant, warm, and unforgettable. Highly recommended. Thank you to the entire team… we will definitely be back 🥂
This is for diners who like a more refined and experiential dining experience.
It’s fun to not know what you are going to be served but this is not for every type of diner so be prepared to give in to the experience (unless of course you have specific dietary requirements).
If you like twists on quality northern dishes with quality (not cheap for a reason) wine then this is worthy of the 5 star review I have given it (a rare occasion for me!).
There is a special quality to it and probably more for those discerning people who prefer substance over style.
5
If you haven't been. Go. Amazing.
Chef Andrew Reid and his team have created a menu that delights the taste buds, ignites debate for months to come on your favourites vs your partners, and blows the mind with flavours that are sure to linger long in your mind, no where else in Manchester, (so far), has offered so engaging a menu, creating genuine excitement for each new course.
If your looking for an incredible flavour journey from a tasting menu, expertly delivered in Manchester, look no further. Just a book table and take advantage of the master class of flavour and service provided by, Chef Adam Reid and his super talented team.
Hats off to Chef Blaze running the show on our visit. Pleasant, humble, super dupa talented.
My two favourites: cheese pie and the rhubarb custard dish.
5
Absolutely amazing experience from start to finish. The food was phenomenal and the service was truly next level. Special shoutout to Dmitry for expertly pairing all of our drinks—he was exceptional. Joe, Joseph, Tom, and Blaise were also fantastic hosts and made the night even more enjoyable. It completely lived up to the hype.
Bonus points for the playlist too, it’ll have you bopping along all night 🎶
5
From the second you’re welcomed in to the French, any pretence you may have about being intimidated by the huge crystal chandelier adorned room are put at ease by the friendly northern welcome, a theme that will form the core of the evening. The service throughout was spot on: relaxed but incredibly on it, at times you don’t even realise they’re there. It’s a huge departure from white tablecloth silver service and military brigades of straight-back servers of some of the fancier hotel restaurants. Great playlist, loads of Talking Heads and somehow quiet enough you can have conversations without raising your voice but buzzy enough to not feel stale. It all feels relaxed whilst feeling incredibly special, really hard to get that balance right.
That said, the elegance runs through a seriously stunning menu, a menu that starts with a ‘northern welcome’ of bread and butter served with an onion broth I could have chugged by the gallon. The 12 course menu runs like clockwork, with that ‘northern’ element being key to its charm. Standouts are the crab and tomato tart, a tartare on beef dripping toast, a woodland mushroom and yeast foam, the theatre of the cheese course served table-side, and the magnificent tipsy cake. This is a real snarl at those ‘you’d need a takeaway when you get home after 12 little courses’, we basically rolled out of there. Everything is full of surprises, table-side service and a little extra touch, but none of it feels over-the-top or hack whatsoever. The servers are proud of the food and it shows.
Both the wine pairing and the drinks pairing are so well thought out, with two lovely sommeliers who with their bafflingly detailed knowledge make everything simple to understand. The sake with the tart and umeshu whisky pairings are outrageous.
As we sipped our tea and cake, the hotel fire alarm went off. We felt so terrible for the staff but their professionalism and friendliness remained unmoved and the way it was handled was really great, given it was 11pm on a Saturday.
Quite amazed this place still doesn’t have a *, I’ve no doubt they’ll get one but it’s miles ahead of some places elsewhere that do and it remains the best in class, and one of the finest meals of 2025.
Nb: there’s no service charge on the bill, you need to ask to add a tip!
