Katherine, the waitress - which, incidentally was a big chart hit in Scandinavia by one of our Faroese friends, Teitur (here) - also known as Katherine, the Head Somelier - which isn't a Teitur song - was very professional, although more London formal than cheeky Mancunian friendly. That said she was still openly chatty when questioned and the table adjacent to us thanked her wholeheartedly on her selection of wine as they left and, we have to add, her recommendation of the Australian Brookdale 2011, Hunter Valley Semillon (£9.45 a glass) was brilliant, as was her current favourite tipple, the Spanish Juan Gil Silver Label 2011, Jumilla Monastreil (£9.25). With the 180+bin wine list, predominately French, chosen by her and containing over 65 grape varities; The Master Somellier badge on her lapel was obviously well earned.

That said, drinks are not cheap. The reliable 2010 Pouilly Fume, Domaine la Renardiere, Sauvignon Blanc at £47, is a whopping £17 more than the exact same bottle at Damson Media City, where we had dined the previous evening (it's generally £15 in the shops). The 12% Service Charge is also ridiculous for Manchester and needs to go. Other than the more casual Michael Caines Café Bar & Grill upstairs, this is the only restaurant in Manchester that set the "discretionary" charge at this level yet service is not noticeably 2% better than elsewhere, let alone 12% .

Fortunately, food prices are more accessible even if the choice of menus can be confusing at first – they ask if you’ve been before, so as to explain the format. We could choose from the a la carte menu (which is five starters at the £10 - £15 mark, five mains from £12 to £23 and five desserts at £9 each), a four course Tasting Menu for £40 (£70 with matched wines) – dishes are around half the size of those on the a la carte – a six course Tasting Menu for £60 (£95 with matched wines), or the brilliantly priced Lunch Menu (2 courses for £14.50 or 3 courses for £19.50. You can add matched wines from £10 extra).There’s also an Early Dining Offer before 7pm for just £15. Sadly, everybody on the table has to order from the same menu when opting for the Tasting Menu, so we opted for the A La Carte options for the purposes of this review.

The amuse bouche of Duck Terrine with cranberry and candy walnuts was delicious, served on Michael Caines’ signature Welsh slate,whilst the basket of three breads (Pain deMorvan, Tomato & Olive, and French style Paid de Campagne) was the best we’ve had in Manchester since the ‘old’ French closed down, even if they were just dumped on the table by a young waiter without explanation of what was what.

The starter of Roasted Scallops (£15) were by far and away the best we’ve had in Manchester this year. Four scallops, perfectly cooked and very tasty, served with an amazing crisp pork belly, leeks, parmesan and bitter leaves, this was a top drawer dish. Incredibly though, this was still bettered by the Crab Ravioli, a Michael Caines signature dish,which was devine. Served with diced pink grapefruit and ginger and topped with a shellfish bisque, you can understand how the celebrity chef earned his two Michelin star status. Manchester’s Executive Chef, Robert Cox, replicates the dish perfectly.

The main courses were equally impressive – the Flat Iron Cumbrian Beef Steak (£23) was delicious, very succulent and well matched with the beef cheek ravioli, roasted onions and wild mushrooms (we like our mushrooms "wild") topped with a red wine jus. Just writing about it is making me salivate. If we had to find a criticism, and I guess we don’t, we would say the green artistic decoration of leek puree was very messy, the leek slightly burnt and the red wine jus on the ravioli quite overpowering in flavour.

The Wild Stone Bass (£21),another Michael Caines signature dish, was amazing. Served with cauliflower florets, lemon thyme and cumin veloute was arguably the stand out dish of our “working” week. Perfectly cooked it is easily one of the best dishes available in Manchester city centre at the moment, delicate and flavoursome.

The desserts were stunning and well worth staying for, although at £9 slightly expensive. The Chocolate Orange Mousse was incredible; melt in your mouth goodness – or should that be naughtiness? The Apple Tart was delicious and as good as those we enjoy regularly in the Alsace. When we uploaded the photos of these on Facebook, we were inundated with questions as to where we had dined. The fact they taste even better then they look, shows the proof is in the pudding… Literally.

We went to Michael Caines with it riding high at the top of our Top 10 Best Restaurants in Manchester list. In a week where we visited the 15 other best restaurants, we can confirm, when taking into account technical brilliance and pound-for-pound value for money, it's arguably still the one to beat.

At the end of the week, when we reminisced about each of the restaurants we had visited, there was a general consensus that Michael Caines at Abode was our second favourite restaurant of the 15 even if, point for point, it didn't grade as high in certain aspects of our scorecard." - restaurants of manchester - 23/10/13 (visited on a Wednesday lunchtime)

We've tried all three options in the past with great pleasure, however on this May Saturday evening, we decided to go with the A La Carte option and weren’t disappointed.

A complimentary Duck Soup appetiser got things off to a good start, thankfully with no jokes about the Marx Brothers necessary! The top quality freshly baked breads also set the right tone. From a selection of five starters, we opted for a Quail Salad (£7.75) and Lamb Sweetbreads (£7.25). The Quail was presented with potato gnocchi, herb puree and a quail egg, served with a tarragon jus and the combination worked perfectly. Similarly, the Sweetbreads, with capers, radishes and caramelised cauliflower puree got the tastebuds well and truly out of first gear.

For mains, we chose Pan Fried Sea Bream (£22.50) and Confit Pork Belly with Scallops (£25). Both dishes were beautifully presented and cooked to perfection. The bream was accompanied by roasted Provencale vegetables and a gazpacho sauce, all very mouthwatering. The combination of the pork belly with scallops worked surprisingly well and the accompanying broad beans, leeks and baby turnips were ideal for the dish.

We had trusted the sommelier’s recommendations for wine by the glass and that proved to be a good plan. The restaurant has clearly taken a lot of care about stocking its cellar and our selections included a Porteau Sauvignon Blanc, a Punto Rose from Chile, a Valpolicella and a South African Chardonnay. Pricing pretty much matched our expectations at £7.50 to £9 a glass.

On to the desserts and, from five options (£9.50), plus a top class cheese board, we chose Dark Chocolate Delice and Pineapple Carpaccio. The chocolate dish comprised a chocolate caramel tuile coupled with a chocolate sorbet and ‘Delice’ (or ‘delight’ to us Mancunians), which was definitely the right word.

The Pineapple Carpaccio was a miniature Caribbean island, served on Michael Caines designed Welsh slate. A mango panacotta, coconut sorbet and popcorn croquette all sat on a bed of shaved pineapple. Pleasant on the eye and certainly on the palate.

So, what’s our overall verdict? The food is exactly what you would expect under the supervision of one of the top UK chefs. Imaginative, beautifully presented and perfectly cooked. Service is friendly and attentive. There’s a high ratio of staff to diners and a very relaxed and warm ambience about the place. In fact, it’s very difficult to find fault at any level. Not cheap at £164 including the cocktails, wines, coffee, petit fours and a 12% discretionary service charge, but you get what you pay for and it’s not hard to see why, four years on from its’ opening, Michael Caines is still the one to beat." - restaurants of manchester - 12/5/12 - (visited on a Saturday evening)