Reviews Australasia Restaurant And Bar

Mostly lovely food, 2 small dishes were cold but they were taken off the bill. Table service was fantastic however the food service was very slow and as we were reminded 4 times that our table would be required back at 7.45 we felt under pressure to eat quick and get out. Our entree didn’t arrive till 7 so we couldn’t relax and kept checking our watches. As it happens when it came to 8pm the restaurant was half empty which was rather disappointing. Our bill was £150 for 2 so to be rushed around was not really acceptable. Waiting Staff were excellent.

First visit, really impressed! We had a fabulous server - I think her name was Camillia who was warm and friendly (and so were other members of staff).

We had sashimi, scallops and octopus to start - we loved each dish! Then we shared the rib and fillet beef - very tender and fall off the bone. Finished with the soufflé and cheesecake - we enjoyed it all and I mentioned in passing it was my partners birthday, they brought out an extra icecream with Happy Birthday on which was a lovely touch!

I really liked the place although I didn't do a reservation but they let me seated. The staff were very friendly and the food is damn good! Tasty and has a very nice spices. I had several Asian dishes and a fillet. Everything was good and OISHIIIIII DELICIOUS 😍
Worth every penny💸

Had read about it in the top 10 must eat at places in Manchester. Was not too far from my hotel and decided to put this place to test.
Dinner Reservation - Friday night - done a day earlier - no fuss no problem. Kids in tow - no problem either. (But do check age policy. Both my kids over 12).
Entry is through a glass pyramid on the street - located right next to a very swish Armani Exchange. Walking down the stairs and the electric buzz hits you. White dominates and earthy shades accentuate the rustic class. It has a compact lounge on the left as you enter; tables and PDRs in the middle and an open kitchen to the far right. So full marks for creating the right ambience - now to the food.
Sushi, Sashimi, Tempuras, Skewers, Oysters form the core of the small eats with a decent number of veg dishes as well. The big plate menu is limited but has a number of side dishes to make a meal around it. Nice drinks menu with refreshing cocktails.
Ordered the oysters; prawn and squid temuras; chicken skewers and the scallops to start. Except for the teriyaki chicken skewers that were overdone all the others were nice with the scallops comming out as a clear winner.
It was followed by grilled monk fish accompanied by coconut rice, bakchoi and chips. All nice. The brown sugar parfait that followed the star.
Service - super efficient by a friendly crew that could have worked at Abercombie (in terms of looks).
So why a 4.0? At a price point of GBP 40+pp the expectation from food is much higher; at least from my point of view. The food was nice but failed to blow my mind as a culinary experience.

I was here about 3 years ago and i didn't forgot the experience! It was an amazing new year eve! The staff was so nice to us! The food oh my god, it was the best dinner I ever had in my life!! Australasia is definitely a 5* restaurant!!

As the name of the restaurant suggests, Australasia Restaurant in Manchester serves Modern Australian cuisine, drawing its inspiration from not only Australia but also the Pacific Rim by incorporating a mixture of influences from Indonesia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The entrance to Australasia is an impressive glass shaped pyramid, through which is a staircase that leads down into the glamorous beige dining room. It’s a beautiful space and reminiscent of a well-appointed Hampton’s beach house on Long Island, New York, or as this is ‘Australasia’, a house on the northern beaches of Sydney.

Australasia embraces a ‘tapas’ style philosophy, with the menu offering a large number of sharing options ranging from sushi and sashimi, tempura, robata grills and other small plates. Also available are larger main plates for those diners who wish to follow a standard three-course format.

We shared everything, starting with a soft shell crab and courgette flower tempura (£12.50) that was really tasty. The tempura was well seasoned with a batter that was lovely and light. Both the crab and courgettes were nicely cooked with the crab proving to be fleshy and moist.

A California roll (small - £10, large £19) contained a colourful collection of six different types of futomaki rolls. There was watermelon with feta which was refreshing and delicious and smoked duck with cucumber that could have been smokier in flavour. Also on the plate were some seafood options including tempura prawn with goat’s cheese, a combination that worked well, tuna with mango which on first inspection might have seemed odd but strangely worked, and a lovely pairing of salmon with squid ink rice. There was also a vegetarian piece contained a crunchy selection of vegetables and was fragrant from the use of dill. The rice was a little wet, but in all the futomaki was really good. Of note was the wasabi which came to the table whole and was freshly grated then and there.

Hand dived scallops (£12.50) were plump and juicy and nicely seared with a chilli caramel. Accompanying the scallops was a fabulous pork belly which was tender and intense with flavour. We really enjoyed this dish, especially as the pork belly really worked with the scallops.

Black cod roasted in hoba leaf (£22.50) with miso sauce offered a beautifully cooked piece of fish that flaked wonderfully and was velvety smooth in texture. The accompanying miso sauce was decent in flavour but was slightly runny. A little thicker, and this dish would have been perfect.  

We continued our journey of Australasia with some meats. First was an Australian wagyu beef (£60) that was superbly tasty and unctuous from the flavour of the fat that ran through it.  Also on the theme of beef, some sliced fillet (£22.50) from the robata grill with with sesame, sweet soy and red chilli faired less well. It was somewhat disappointing as it was slightly chewy and a little overcooked.

To balance out our meat choices we opted for a variety of vegetarian sides, all of which were nicely done.  Roasted aubergine with miso mustard (£5) was soft and flavoursome, robata grilled asparagus with sweet sesame oil (£6.50) was cooked such that they still held onto some bite, and a sweet potato and rosemary mash (£4.50) was creamy and smooth with a pleasant sweetness to it.

To perhaps the favourite part of the meal – desserts. We tried a ginger and green tea cheesecake (£7.50) which was light, prettily presented and skillfully constructed. It was tasty, but I would have liked a stronger tea flavour for a more robust sensation on the palate.

A chocolate soufflé (£7.50) with raspberry sorbet and a chocolate sauce was delectable. The soufflé was soft and gooey with a decadent chocolate flavour. It was neither too sweet nor too eggy, and the accompanying acidity and fruitiness coming through from the sorbet provided a nice counterpoint to the richness of the chocolate.

Australasia is one of the preeminent destination restaurants in Manchester and deservedly so. It dishes up not only an eclectic menu but also a glamorous, yet unpretentious vibe. I loved the beautiful décor at Australasia, the attentive service and very enjoyable food. With so many little tasting plates, prices can add up. But I’d thoroughly recommend the Australasian experience.

Awesome!. Once of the best dining experiences I've had in my life. Everything on the menu is to die for, wait staff were friendly and service was quick. Will be back sometime in the near future!

There were 4 of us. We took my son for his 21st Birthday meal, as we had a lot of good comments about Australasia from work colleagues (though now had actually been!).
Although its below ground the lighting is good and the decor pleasing on the eye.
Staff were friendly and attentive without being intrusive. We were seated in a booth which provided a nice private atmosphere whilst providing a good view of the main restaurant floor.
Prices for cocktails were £7.50-8.90, although they were very nice and has some pleasant twists on well known favourites - lemongrass and kumquat mohojito and a very lemon/critus iced tea.. To celebrate we had a bottle of the Kiki sparking sauvignon blanc from NZ (£29/bottle) - very nice. Markups on wine I would say was rather high compared to similar quality restaurants. nice little touch was the the wine list was available on an iPad which gave a good amount of information on each wine.

We decided to share a mix of starters: mixed sushi/sishami, tempura courgette flowers and soft shell crab, szechuan salt and pepper beef with sweet soy and crispy shallots and a crispy beef fillet with green papaya, thai basil and mint salad. All were very good; however everyone thought that the beef salad was the best.

For mains, we choose roasted Barramunid and mitsuba toast with scallops (1), clams and vegetable noodles; ocean trout fillet with pancetta; cannon of lamb with hickory aubergine; and rib-eye streak. It seems to be getting common at these types of restaurants that vegetable are extra. We order glazed carrots and seasoned cut chips to go with the lamb and steak. we like al dente veg but even for us the carrots were just on the hard side. Although we order medium rare stark, when it arrived it was definitely more rare (red throughout, seared on outside), however it was tender and had a good flavour. The lamb was well cooked and nicely pink. The fish dishes had an excellent flavour, with excellant crispy skin and would have a again; although I would prefer the fish slightly less cooked so it was slightly more moist.

The dessert mean starts off "must have.." We thought this was a bit of unnecessary hype. However, they are excellent and we were all glad to have left room for them: two of us went for the mango soufflé with coconut ice cream and the others had the expresso fondant and the pineapple marshmallow. We all agreed that the expresso fondant was the best followed by the soufflé which was very light and packed with mango flavour.

Overall, we felt it the food, service and ambience was good. Wine prices on the high side.

Overall the bill worked out at £50 per head for 3 courses and a bottle of wine before service. Most definitely a place for special occasions.

Australasia was a special experience . I enjoyed every moment, every bite. It was exquisite. This place had a lot to live up to in my mind, I had heard great things about both the food and the interior, I had wanted to go ever since I first read about its opening a few years ago. At last I had the right occasion/ excuse to spend that amount of money on a meal - my graduation. I had to book the table a couple of weeks in advance as its graduation season; you may not need do the same, but I wouldn't leave it too late just to be sure - trust me, you don't want to miss out! The bar You can enjoy two styles of dining at Australasia: 'local' - which is, for want of a better description, tapas style; and the traditional starter/main approach. With the 'local' style there are two pages of sushi and small dishes to choose from. The variety is fantastic - meat, fish and vegetarian dishes all in abundance. Being traditionalists at heart,  we had decided to each have a

Excellent ambiance ... hot food was really good .. Black cod is a must

The food was amazing. the service was as good as we've had at Michelin Star restaurants without the price tag. Chris, who looked after us, was phenomenal. Engaging, interested, and attentive. The price tag attributed below, was us buying expensive wine. They didn't have what we wanted in stock and they discounted the next best thing because of it. Would go again and again. Top notch, keep it up guys.

delicious. definitely different and especially loved the sticky belly pork skewers! coconut rice was quite dry tho and not what i was expecting. overall a good experience. did go for a birthday which was mentioned to the staff when booking, but seemed to be no acknowledgement of it. would've been nice.

Drinks were good but £27.75 for 2 cocktails was abit steep, food was decent but again was abit of the steep side for what it was. Our waiter explained the menu and was nice but had to wait a while to be able to pay. Was a nice meal and nice to experience but probably won’t go for food again.

If I were on a date I might have given it a higher rating, I think because we were a big group our food arrived after 4-5 glasses of wine despite having a set menu booked for us in advance. Regardless, the food was spot on, the atmosphere was fun and the cocktails were delicious!!! If everything was managed more efficiently it would’ve been the perfect dining experience. Kudos to the chefs 👌

Wir waren als Geschäftsessen zum Sushi essen dort. Wir hatten zwei verschiedene Sushi-Platten, Edamame, Garnelen Tempura, eine Flasche Wein, zwei Flaschen Wasser. Alleine die Präsentation des Essens ist der absolute Hammer. Und es sah nicht nur unglaublich gut aus es war auch super lecker Eine klare Empfehlung (Translated by Google) We went there for a business lunch to eat sushi. We had two different sushi platters, edamame, shrimp tempura, a bottle of wine, two bottles of water. The presentation of the food alone is absolutely amazing. And not only did it look incredibly good, it was also super tasty A clear recommendation

It was lunchtime when we visited and we practically had the whole place to ourselves. Some of the best Sushi & Sashimi I've ever eaten. The Tempura Soft-shelled Crab was lovely and the Tempura Popcorn a revelation!

We visited for Mother’s Day and were blown away by the food and the service. Can highly recommend the Australasia 10 sharing menu which is all of the signature dishes but make sure you’re hungry as there is a lot of food! Our server Jasmine was an absolute pleasure to be around we loved her so much she made us feel so welcome. Was even gifted some lovely rituals Mother’s Day treats. Can’t wait to come back again soon. Thank you for having us!

I've been many times but this recent trip was exceptional, food was amazing and the service from start to finish was perfect. Our waiter/server Chris was friendly, talkative and extremely helpful and accommodating. Can't wait to go again.

Fantastic atmosphere. The seats are quite close together if there's two of you but the acoustics make it so you can't hear any of the other tables. Food really great and fresh, service is very attentive. Thoroughly recommended