Manchester is only an hour away from us but we don’t go that often, so when we do we’re always looking for somewhere good for food. I have friends who live and work in Manchester so asked them for recommendations and I’m slowly working my way through, which is a tough job but someone’s got to do it! When we were last there, for Valentines weekend, we knew we’d want a big meal after J’s half marathon, so looked for a Sunday Roast recommendation on my list, and Diecast MCR had been mentioned a few times, so we booked in.
Booking online was quick and easy, with plenty of options for times available. We went for 1:15 and when we arrived there were a few reserved tables but also a few empty ones, so we maybe didn’t need to book-but we knew we’d be really hungry and wouldn’t want to find somewhere else if Diecast MCR was too busy. I’d still recommend booking.
Diecast MCR had music in the background, loud enough to cover noise of children but not so loud we couldn’t chat, so pretty perfect. People had children running around (not ideal, but mostly supervised) and dogs were welcome (love this!) Diecast MCR felt calm and relaxed, just what we wanted. In an evening there’s a DJ and I suspect the music is louder, which isn’t really my thing when eating out, but it’s clear Diecast is a party venue at night.
The bar was fully stocked with a big selection of drinks, including multiple frozen drinks. I went for a frozen Pina Colada, J had a Blackberry Cider. Both were really tasty. I would have happily tried more of the frozen drinks if I’d not needed to drive us home later.
For our food, we had the chicken breast and the beef and shared both (because I can never choose between chicken and beef!) and we added extras-a portion of roast potatoes for £2, a second yorkshire pudding for £2, and J had a portion of stuffing for £3. In terms of cost, both the roast potatoes and the yorkshire pudding were a real bargain for a large portion, the stuffing though didn’t feel worth £3, it was really small (although good quality) The meals themselves were so good-crispy, fluffy roast potatoes, a properly cooked yorkshire pudding (they’re so often not fully cooked in the middle and I hate it!) and great quality meat. The honey roasted carrots were especially good, and there was plenty of tasty gravy.
Our total bill was £74.40 which felt reasonable for the amount of food (I had to take some of my extra potatoes home as we couldn’t eat them all between us) and the two drinks. I’ve definitely paid more for worse food.
Diecast has quite a few photo booths dotted about (so we paid £5 for some because I love a photo booth!) and one thing to note, if it bothers you, is that the toilets are unisex, you turn left for cubicles and right for urinals. Personally I don’t care about gender neutral toilets, if they’re clean and tidy (which they were) I’m happy, but I know some people object to that, so if that’s you, simply go somewhere else. To get to the toilets you walk a wide corridor past the open kitchen, and I think being able to see food being cooked is reassuring-a big plus to Diecast for that.
We’d definitely go back to Diecast and I’d like to try their other food through the week, rather than just Sunday lunch again.
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