The Pasta Factory — Restaurant in Manchester

A question I frequently get asked is "Where is your favourite restaurant in Manchester?". An extremely difficult question to answer and one that changes depending on my mood and appetite but I find myself saying The Pasta Factory more often than not. Friendly staff who are passionate about food which is fresh and authentic I was actually here twice last week so I have a fair bit of content to post so without further ado let's discuss the starters.

Beignets stuffed with Italian cheese - Four delicious, savoury beignets stuffed with creamy Italian cheeses that increased in strength up the plate. This was from the specials board and in my opinion deserves a place on the main menu. The cheeses inside each delicate beignet were so creamy and smooth.

Tagliere Vegano - An antipasti platter loaded with an assortment of vegan cheeses, truffle focaccia, scicilian fritters, grapes, kale crips and bruschetta. I was dubious of the vegan cheese but ipn actual fact it was delicious and I wouldn't have know it wasn't dairy. The truffle focaccia was fantastic, perfectly baked with just enough of the truffle flavour amongst the salted top. At a price of £7.50 this was an absolute steal.

Panelle con Salsa Rustica - This dish was three of the scicilian fritters from the platter above. They're made from a chickpea flour and topped with a finely chopped salsa made from fresh tomatoes, spring onions, capers, Ligurian olives, green chillies and fresh herbs. Finally, they were drizzled in a cashew cream. These were 10/10 and probably the best of the starters in my opinion, an extremely good variant of the street food from Palermo.

Tris Di Cicchetti - Three crostini topped with: 1.Palma ham, parmesan shavings and balsamic glaze. 2. Tomatoes, taggiasche olives, garlic and oregano. 3. Roasted aubergines, Garlic herbs and walnuts. I'd highly recommend this if you're in the mood for bruschetta, we were kindly given a 12 year aged balsamic to dip our crostini in .

Fresh pasta cooked on site and cooked as part of a seasonal menu that is curated by chefs with experience and passion. The pasta here is incredible and you can actually buy it to go, there's is a huge variant of shapes and sizes including ravioli, reginette and tagliatelle.

First up is the Calamarata con Calimari e asparagi - short tubes of black squid ink pasta with sauteed calimari rings and heritage tomatoes on a bed of asparagus sauce finished with lemon zest. This dish looked and smelled spectacular, the squid ink pasta certainly stood out and was al dente. The calmimair was plentiful, well cooked and downright delicious. The tomatoes were so sweet and burst in my mouth, they combined beautifully with the asparagus sauce. Lemon zest gave that slight sharpness you expect when eating calimari and just brought all the flavours together

Second is the Bucanti Al Funghi - Fresh bucatini dressed with a flavoursome mushroom sauce made of porcini, garlic, parsley, white wine & extravirgin olive oil. This vegan pasta was fantastic, I ate this before failing veganuary ( I had the previous dish on my second visit) and it was brilliant. I would've actually had no idea this was vegan as it came in a creamy and rich sauce. The Bucanti pasta was extremely dense and filling, imagine spaghetti but twice as good! This dish was seriously good, if you love mushrooms then you have to try it.

Finally you'll see the Cannoli ala Nutella . I'm not gonna go into detail about this as you can clearly see how sexy it looks in the picture. They are s little price of heaven at the end of...

I've passed this place far too many times over the years and I really shouldn't have. It's a lovely little cosy setting inside, Niav was super attentive and got me a table straight away and brought water in a jug as a default. Plenty to choose from on the menu, all sounds so tasty. I briefly considered the cacio & pepe as that's a favourite of mine, however I was struck by the fact the carbonara looked very traditional. Without cream. I ordered that and a focaccia and eagerly awaited. During my wait I tried a super smooth merlot and when the focaccia arrived I was surprised to see it was in portions of sticks, with a tray of three separate condiments to spread. It came with black truffle, garlic and "caponata" which seemed tomato based. All of these, along with the soft, slightly oily focaccia were incredible. I was so surprised. The truffle had an intense smell and went perfectly with the garlic, the tomato freshened it up a little and honestly was just a wonderful experience. Finishing this I then also got a second glass of red, the Bardolino. This was a soft, rich, juicy wine. Really enjoyable and still managed to cleanse the palate yet still allowed the previous tastes to linger. My carbonara arriving I was met with such a golden, rich looking plate with guanciale and parmesan resting lovingly on top of the pasta. Taking my first bite I was blown away. The guanciale, crispy, smoky. The sauce of the egg and parmesan, rich, creamy. Truly, truly delicious. I can not state this enough. This is one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had in my life. Thank you, Pasta Factory for this experience, thank you Niav for being attentive and pleasant throughout, I will 100% be coming back as soon as I can. Everyone should try here and not overlook it as I have for so long. I went to an Italian restaurant recently on Oxford Street, and honestly, it was lacklustre. For a way higher cost. This. This is where you should be for real, hearty, true Italian pasta. Well...

This restaurant would be great….. in kitchen nightmares. What has happened to the menu, I can’t understand why there was need to change from its fabulous fusion and classic dishes which offered something for everyone to something that looked and tasted like a British person made it in their uni flat.

I had always looked forward to pasta factory in past my favourite was the miso and scallop ravioli, now it’s just lost all soul and taste.

First of all the my starter, you can see it’s not a Burrata (which we were told about) but mozzarella… why call it a Burrata on the menu?? It just looks absolutely awful, sitting it what look like water and wet 3 day old lettuce, not Italian greens! Also nothing cherry about the tomatoes it came with, they look like they came from a can! Why can’t the dish come with rocket and mixed coloured tomatoes! It’s just was so vile, no presentation or taste, also the chef forgot the croutons. This dish was made with no passion!

The main, while looking through the menu, I wanted to make something different and something I wouldn’t make at home, i tried the gnocchi, and it was just vile. Over done and just boring, even my partners ravioli ragu came out semi cold, and looked like dog food, mini raviolis with the ragu on the outside, it looked like it came out of can. It’s been a long time since we’ve sent something back but here we are. I brought my friends here and was totally embarrassed, I kept apologising to them for the food quality, needless to say, we had dessert at another restaurant!

I don’t know what’s gone wrong, whether the chef left or new owners have violated the menu with awful fried olives and dishes I wouldn’t feed to my worst enemy, but I would avoid pasta factory until they can sort their menu out. No drink vouchers could make me come back and look a mozzarella in wet old lettuce again. Those poor servers who work there...