Hare & Kin — Restaurant in Manchester

So today we went to The Deli for Brunch. We were seated after about 5/10 minutes to then be told that the wait for food was 30minutes or more. We decided to wait. We had a couple of hot drinks while we waited which were not hot, they were lukewarm. Anyhow, we were sat next to the kitchen where food was being prepared and passed through the open hatch to the staff. My husband mentioned that the lady placing the food onto the plates was using her bare hands. I said maybe she is washing her hands. I took it upon myself to switch onto the sofa side of the table so I could watch. For approximately 15minutes I watched this lady cross contaminate all the food. She used her bare hands to handle bacon and using the same hands would touch the toast, eggs, the plates etc. Upon seeing this I raised it with one of the waiting staff who had no response other than “it will be the halal meat”. My response was, “ we hadn’t ordered anything halal, we had ordered veggie options” due to the poor response and lack of acknowledgment of cross contamination, we decided we would not stay. We were charged for our drinks and received no apology or explanation. On the way out, a young lad spoke to us about what had happened. I actually don’t know his role. We explained what had happened and he said it shouldn’t have happened as they had environmental health there and all was handled correctly. Well of course it was as they were being watched. He also stated there was a little sink next to the lady but I assured him, at no point did I see her wash her hands. We are a Muslim family so only eat Halal food but we had chosen Vegetarian options. So it is not only acceptable for us, but also for those who are vegetarian/vegan. Again no apology was offered. After waiting nearly an hour, myself my husband, my 9 and 6 year old left without actually eating.

I will be contacting environmental health to...

It's been a few months since my last visit, and after going today things have changed a bit. Breakfast was still enjoyable due to the excellent sausages, but the reduction in toast to one measly slice of dry sourdough was a bitter pill to swallow. Especially considering the price of the modest full English has gone up to £9.50 (£10.50 if you add the essential black pudding). Skimping on toast seems unforgivable given the price.

Also difficult to forgive is the cost of the drinks, £3.50 for a glass of orange juice is really a bit steep at any venue. Hot drinks are similarly overpriced. The cost of the drinks pushed a breakfast for my wife and I to an eye-watering £33. The deli was never the cheapest place to eat, but the recent increase in price has pushed it past the point of being reasonable.

Poor service was the final straw, having to remind staff to bring our drinks more than once (while food goes cold) was irritating. I counted five different servers who attended our table, when I'm sure one could have done a more attentive and complete job. Showing up with a comedy oversized pepper grinder does not justify the price, nor will it satisfy me when I've been waiting 5 minutes for my brew.

A star gained for keeping the beans in a little side dish, but overall a very disappointing...

My friend and I came in on a very busy Saturday afternoon for brunch and were grateful to be seated after a 5 minute wait, which we were happy to do. After being seated we were attentively managed by two members of staff who were really polite and helpful. Unfortunately I was really disappointed with the avocado on sourdough (with substituted scrambled egg, beetroot humous and feta) as I found it very bland, something that I thought would be a safe and easy option to judge for our first time visiting. Salt and pepper helped the situation but I do feel like seasoning is a bit of a basic prerequisite and the dish itself could have done with something sweet/salty and acidic to bring some much needed life to the dish. The black plate it came on was marked all around and picked up any fingerprints or spillages so even if it was clean beforehand, it didn’t look like it was. For £12.50 I found this to be punching above its weight for one slice of sourdough plus toppings. My chai latte was a little disappointing too however, my friend enjoyed her flat white but also found her sandwich nothing special. I think more attention to detail with the flavour and plates is much needed for Hare & Kin to be worth the price tag or...