27.07.2019

Dive, Northern Quarter

By Jo Cooksey

It’s shaping up to be a Summer of firsts. Visits to established Manchester watering holes and eateries that have been on our radar but that we just haven’t got around to until recently. Such as our overdue visit to Hatch on Oxford Road.

Another First

If you don’t know it, Dive NQ is a bar cum nightclub, eatery and all-round party venue, that has weekly quizzes, regular DJ nights like Tun Up Friday and sports on the big screen TV. In fact, it’s a one-stop leisure shop. To be honest, I thought at my advanced age, it was somewhere I wouldn’t venture in to but I was wrong. We had a great time.

Hatch, Manchester Hatch, Manchester Hatch, Manchester Hatch, Manchester

Dive NQ, has been open for quite a while now and we finally got there a couple of weeks ago because of the kitchen takeover currently happening with Japanese restaurants, Zumu Sushi, who have places in Wilmslow and Hale. I have eaten at the Wilmslow venue a few times and I do love Japanese food. The menu at Dive is more Asian Street Food than wholly Japanese. Think Bao Buns and Pad Thai, as well as Sushi and Udon Noodles

Sushi & Skewers

I took three colleagues with me and on arrival we ordered our drinks and gave the menu a good looking at. It’s worth noting that Dive NQ does a Happy (5) Hour (s) between 5pm and 10pm, every day except Saturday where beers, wines, prosecco and the bartender’s cocktail of choice are £3.50 each.

We decided to start off with a MOSHI MOSHI platter. These are usually for 1-2 people, but we wanted something to nibble on before we got the main dishes. It was a mix of sushi, sticks (skewers) and edamame beans sprinkled with sea salt. There were spicy tuna and salmon & avocado sushi rolls, salmon, tuna and prawn nigiris and sticks of chicken yakitori, chizumaki and chicken tsukune. Frankly, I could have eaten a whole one to myself.

All The Plates

We were all pretty hungry so we ordered a mixture of small and large plates to put in the middle of the table, so everyone could dive in and try a bit of everything. The small plates consisted of Chilli Squid with sweet chilli mayo and Popcorn Shrimp with spicy miso dip. Piping hot with properly crisp batter, though we could have done with bigger pots of dip.

Hatch, Manchester Hatch, Manchester Hatch, Manchester

The big plates were Dynamite Cauliflower, Chicken Katsu Curry and the go-to Asian comfort food, Chicken & Prawn Pad Thai. The Pad Thai was well cooked, if a little bland and could definitely have done with some extra fish sauce. Katsu is one of my favourite dishes and usually no one does it better in terms of the sauce than Wagamama’s but on this occasion the kitchen nailed it. Thick, sweet and mildly spiced. However, the dish of the night for all of us was the Dynamite Cauliflower. The sauce coating the cauli was tangy, spicy, dark and sticky. Blimey, it was good.

Will We Return?

For great Asian food, definitely. The have a nice ‘garden’ too, which is a bonus in this weather.

We were gifted our meal at Dive NQ but our thoughts and opinions are our own.

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Photos: © Taste Today– Do not reproduce without permission