1 person found this review helpful
Not Recommended
42.9 hrs last two weeks / 277.6 hrs on record (88.6 hrs at review time)
Posted: 18 Jun, 2016 @ 3:22pm
Updated: 4 Feb @ 9:07pm

Federal Cafe and Bar's second location in Manchester, on Deansgate in the Spinningfields area of the city for me seemed like a cool place to try out, with an Aussie and hipster vibe the place seemed rather cool with popular items on the menu including sourdough, smashed avocado and funky cheeses which have grown popular of late amongst the younger millennial crowd, like feta and halloumi.

The place is a tad small inside with tables close together, but they still have an open kitchen and drinks area, and all the staff seemed super friendly and Australian accents. They were able to adapt dishes to make them gluten-free, such as replacing the bread, they were also able to replace the feta with halloumi in my omelette, as I really dislike feta cheese after a woeful experience at Pret, where I also ordered an omelette.

I liked how they made the place a little bit more Aussie, with pots of Vegemite and other Australian branded products around the store - This place is really trying to introduce a little bit of Australia to Manchester.

In terms of menu and opening times, it's pretty much an average cafe as they don't stay open too late, but it's much cleaner and more authentic than your average greasy spoon, including a small selection of booze.

They don't appear to do regular items one would associate with a standard cafe/bar, which can be good and bad as they are putting twists on everything. I would have preferred a simple ham or chorizo and cheddar cheese omelette, compared to the one listed on the menu.

When my omelette came, it looked great, I do prefer folded omelettes but when they look that good and authentic, folding is surely a waste, and the gluten-free bread was quite good too, it looked and tasted fresh. The halloumi in the omelette wasn't melted so I ended up picking it out as I didn't like it - The staff came over after noticing the problem and offered to make me a new one which is exceptional service, I would have been happy picking the cheese out but they wouldn't let me and would rather improve my experience by making another!

All the ingredients were really good quality, but for me, the omelette just missed a good cheese, I'm going to put that down to me just ordering the wrong thing, however. I also think hot sauce on an omelette is a little unusual, but it did wetten it up a little which was needed.

The selection of beverages was also pretty cool, I noticed they also have loose leaf teas and Cold Brew which I hope to try on a return visit.

Prices are reasonable too, my dish came to £9 with free tap water which was placed on my table right away, meaning I'd never go thirsty here!

I also liked how they offered to box up my leftovers too, all in all the service was exceptional and I wish I'd have got the name of my server so she could get the credit she deserves.

Offering an innovative taste of Australian cuisine to Manchester, with food which stands out and looks impressive, like fellow Aussie Kate Miller-Heidke's staging at Eurovision in Tel Aviv, I think Federal Cafe and Bar in Spinninfields, Manchester deserves a four-star rating and this proves exceptional service and innovation goes a long way.
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