DINERS in Chorlton are less willing to pay for fine dining than those in Didsbury, a restauranteur has claimed.
Lee Janda, who has closed his Ostara eaterie in Chorlton, believes that while residents in Didsbury will regularly splash out on expensive meals, their Chorlton counterparts are often reluctant to pay more than £15 for a steak.
Lee opened the Manchester Road restaurant, which specialised in locally-sourced organic food, six months ago.
He now plans to relaunch the business as a south American-themed bar and restaurant serving tapas and light meals.
He said: "It seems like people in Chorlton are just less willing to pay more than £15 for a main course than in Didsbury. If we had opened there I think Ostara would have worked."
Lee, who also owns the nearby Dulcimer bar, added: "Obviously, we are in the middle of a recession and people have less money to spend in Chorlton.
"Croma has to be one of Chorlton’s most successful restaurants and their priciest pizza is £7.95 – and with all the takeaways opening up you can see what is popular."
Main courses at Ostara, which served modern British food, cost around £15 with a steak priced at £16.
The restaurant was forced to close after poor sales.
Meanwhile venues including The Lime Tree and Rhubarb in West Didsbury both charge more than £20 for a main course.
But James Billson, assistant manager of the Horse and Jockey pub on Chorlton Green said: "There is definitely room for fine dining in Chorlton. If you get the atmosphere and the food right people are willing to pay a bit more."
Beth Creedon, who organised the Chorlton Food and Drink Festival from 2005 - 2008, disagreed saying: "I think people in Chorlton like to go out to eat often and like to eat a lot! I think they prefer somewhere with a lower spend that they can go to more often."
Lee’s new restaurant, which will be called ‘Charango’, will open on Friday, January 29.
"We’re aiming for a less formal dining experience, lots of cosy, small areas in the restaurant but still using all our local suppliers," he said. "Ostara’s not gone forever. I’d like to reopen it in the city centre one day."
Where is the most expensive hunk of beef in south Manchester?
- 1. Rhubarb, Burton Road, West Didsbury: £22
- 2. The Lime Tree, Lapwing Lane, West Didsbury: £21.50
- 3. That Cafe, Stockport Road, Levenshulme: £20.25
- 4. Bistro 156, Burton Road, West Didsbury: £18.95
- =5TH. The Metropolitan, Lapwing Lane, West Didsbury; Jem & I, School Lane, Didsbury: £17.95
- 6. Leo's Italian Restaurant, Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton: £16.95
- 7. Ostara, Manchester Road, Chorlton: £16
- 8. The Fat Loaf, Wilmslow Road, Didsbury: £15.95
- 9. Palmiro, Upper Chorlton Road, Whalley Range: £15.25
- 10. Horse and Jockey pub, Chorlton Green: £15.30
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Showing comments 1 to 16 and replies | View All
PAMELA Clark (28/01/2010 at 18:50)
Rachel Lavin (28/01/2010 at 20:35)
Chris Jones (29/01/2010 at 13:49)
Ostara was pretty mediocre in my opinion. Odd atmosphere, average food and average service.
It's not the people, it's your business!! Why not go down to the Lead Station and see how a thriving restaurant works; great service, good food and consistent high standards.
big jim (29/01/2010 at 17:05)
Palmiro doesn't seem to do so badly though, and that's in the supposedly less affluent Whalley Range so that seems to destroy his argument. Other problems were surely at fault for Ostara's demise.
Further to the problems mentioned above, the size of Ostara meant it would be very difficult to fill it and maintain a good/bustling atmosphere. Surely it would have been less risky to open a high end restaurant in a smaller venue? People pay for good food, but also for atmosphere. Ostara always looked dead, even if there were some people in.
Furthermore I was never aware of any promotional offers to get people in and generate a bit of buzz. For a restaurant to appear so dead in it's first few weeks then something is seriously wrong.
Perhaps it was the location. The fine dining experience at Ostara was somewhat marred by it's placement opposite Wetherspoon's (pop in for a pre-dinner aperitif of discount lager and casual violence?) and the fact that the balcony was directly adjacent to the 86 bus stop. Since when did bus fumes and random weirdo's contribute to the fine dining experience?
And not once did I ever see a menu outside the restaurant. This betrays either aloof elitism, or just plain incompetence.
What a shame, because the actual food at Ostara was very good. I'm sure people in Chorlton would have paid for it if the whole package was right. Hopefully they'll make a go of the new venture, although as the proprietor seems to be blaming everyone except himself for Ostara's failure I suspect not.
Groucho F (29/01/2010 at 20:17)
It's all too easy for them....demand, in the main, exceeds supply.....so often poor service is allowed to get away with it....and most of the wine prices are unjustifiable.
I cannot remember the last time I was presented with my food on a hot plate, for example. The descriptions of the wines might have been written by an estate agent...and the quality of the veg has been poor.
If locals are happy to pay over the top for mediocrity, then good luck to them. Only when the restaurants are fighting for custom will standards improve....or when food is sent back as unsatisfactory....but, as a nation, we are not very good at that either.
Question for your readers, editor....where is the nearest top flight eating houes (eg Michelin 1 star) to Didsbury? and how many reastaurants are there within that radius?
Mike Farrell (29/01/2010 at 21:33)
frankie f (30/01/2010 at 18:59)
Several of the staff, particularly in the first few months after opening, seemed to have little to no restaurant experience and were unable to look after a table - this includes offering pudding, drinks and bringing the bill in a timely fashion.
The litany of service failures personally experienced include a waiter spilling coke on the table and my girlfriend's lap and not offering an apology; ordering drinks at the same time as the main course arrived but having to wait until our entire table had finished our meal before the drinks turned up. Some of the staff were very good, but it was pot luck whether you were looked after or more-or-less ignored.
Another restaurant that closed recently in Chorlton was Marmalade. I went to Marmalade for the first time around 1 month before it closed and there were numerous problems there - our main course had to be brought out 3 times before the yorkshire pudding was cooked correctly, and even on the third time once they had worked out how to cook it, they didn't bother to put any gravy on it. At the same time there were too many staff on and noone seemed to take responsibility for our table so we constantly had to chase the staff up for drinks and to get the bill at the end. I was not in the slightest bit surprised when Marmalade closed shortly after our visit.
In summary, if you are going to charge more for food than McDonald's, you need to provide better service than you would expect from a pimply faced teenager who failed his GCSEs.
big jim (30/01/2010 at 23:29)
The new Mexican might be warm, bustling and a popular place to eat but I fear he'll just be out of his depth again.
Kate Stirling
GNJ, Chorlton (31/01/2010 at 12:01)
I would have gone there once more, when my visiting parents wanted to buy us lunch. Ostara didn't do lunch, all they offered was a mediocre bruch menu. We left and went to Mezza Luna, and ate a lovely meal! And how much did it cost? Main meals at around 16 pounds each. So why is Ostara not a sucess...?
GNJ, Chorlton (31/01/2010 at 12:01)
I would have gone there once more, when my visiting parents wanted to buy us lunch. Ostara didn't do lunch, all they offered was a mediocre bruch menu. We left and went to Mezza Luna, and ate a lovely meal! And how much did it cost? Main meals at around 16 pounds each. So why is Ostara not a sucess...?
Dave Fernley (31/01/2010 at 15:52)
Croma isn't successful because it is cheap, it also delivers consistently good food and friendy service. You have to get these basics right before you start thinking out premium prices
Kapt Kopter (01/02/2010 at 08:12)
The food was fine at Ostara (certainly not fine dining - that would mean a table cloth and good service) availability was an issue and service was slow and for some reason on my 2 visits side orders were forgotten; which also happened to friends who went.
The prices looked fine to me; don't even remember noticing them!
Location, atmosphere, service and availabilty seemed to be the feedback I heard from most people...
kevin wallace (01/02/2010 at 12:24)
joanne greenhalgh (03/02/2010 at 18:31)
Joanne Greenhalgh 03/02/10
Elizabeth Barker (03/02/2010 at 21:38)
I eat out about once or twice a week and although I thought the menu was expensive the food I had was delicious (vegetarian Sunday lunch) and worth paying for but the service wasn't. We had to constantly ask to order drinks and they took an age to arrive as with the bill. It appears that this is the same experience many others had too. Also you could never be sure when the restaurant would be open. Although on the banner outside it said it was 'open in the daytime', on a number of occasions when I initially tried to go during the day it would be shut.
I do hope that Lee hasn't alienated his potential new customers with his comments and takes the replies on board to make his new venture a success.
Jaco Nel (06/02/2010 at 17:23)
The food and service were excellent - hardly fine dining though. I have heard from others that service was often slow and not up to standard. I agree, the atmosphere was on the cold and clinical side.
There remains a big void in Manchester as a whole regarding a fine dining experience. Compared to other cities in the, UK Manchester has little to offer and most people seem happy to pay extortionate amounts in second class chain restaurants.
I am looking forward to Charanga tonight and will report back soon.