Levanter

Easily one of the best tapas restaurants in Greater Manchester, Levanter has a great drinks menu (vermouth, sherry and Spanish beer available as well as a solid and inexpensive wine menu, including a very drinkable white rioja) and an appealing selection of food. We enjoyed everything we had, namely the chorizo with honey, pig cheeks, sheep's cheese (great chutney), Galician octopus, liver, and boquerones (exquisitely flavoured). Service was excellent, very swift and attentive. Can't wait to go back and try sister pinxto bar Baraxturi!

When Neil C. said to me 'We're going to go and eat 1kg of steak' I grabbed my keys and ran to the door. A short drive away in Ramsbottom lies Lavanter - a specialist tapas and small plates eatery so good that just being inside the place makes you feel like you're holidaying in the Basque region of Spain. It's really lovely. The restaurant is small, but that's what I like about it. To start we ordered a mixed seafood platter and some mixed olives - both outstanding. For the main course we did in fact order 1kg of beef. We chose our steak from a plate brought to us by the chef. He explained where the beef had come from, how it was raised and how he's going to cook it for us. It was cooked, as it should be, rare and seasoned and served on the bone. We also had some padron peppers and a tomato salad to accompany it. I can't fault the food here at Levanter, the service or the experience. If only every restaurant was like this and cared about their food as much as these guys do!

Levanter had been on my radar for some time as I pined for something resembling the delights of Donostia, however, when they announced in June they would be serving 1kg of prime steak from an 8-year-old Galician Dairy cow (of which I tried on my previous San Sebastian trip) on a first-come-first-serve basis it shot straight to the top of the must-visit list. #TxuletonSunday as the owners of Levanter (Fiona and Joe) have labelled it, is a simple concept. Turn up early (no bookings allowed), order the beef (if they have any left) at £45 for 1kg, wait 40 minutes, then proceed to eat like a Spanish king. Upon ordering, you are presented with 2 huge slabs of meat and asked to choose which we would prefer. The chef then explains the history behind the cow (as mentioned above) and explains how they are to be prepared and cooked, in the same way as the wonderful Bar Nestor in San Sebastian. In the interests of complete gluttony, whilst waiting for the beef to cook a few of the usual smaller dishes were ordered, all of which were flawless. The olives were fresh and juicy. The fried seafood was as good as you'll get in the country. A taste of the sea in a bowl (in Lancashire!) And I practically licked the bowl clean that had contained the chorizo with honey. And so the main event. The beef. Cooked rare(ish) it was the best I've had on this fair isle. Crispy and salty on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, serious flavour, with the butter-like fat also melting in the mouth. It was finished without the batting an eyelid. Included in the price of the beef the kind folk at Levanter also provide a fresh tomato salad, which was of the highest quality; and fried Padron peppers, which were perfectly cooked and salted, although I didn't come across a rare 'hot' one which was slightly disappointing. Both sides balanced with the beef superbly. Overall, I genuinely can't recommend Levanter enough. Simple but genuinely outstanding Spanish/Basque cuisine executed perfectly at a very reasonable price (the bill with a bottle of Txakoli was less than £100 with a hefty tip added).

I can't believe that no-one has written a review of this place as it is so good! My wife and I went on Friday, April 10th, for a bit of a celebration for her new job, though we have been many times before. Levanter is a very small bar and restaurant off the main street in Ramsbottom and definitely constitutes a hidden gem (although recognition of its food is tsrating to spread). The place was packed and buzzing so there was nothing to do but wait at the bar until a table became free. There is probably enough seating to accommodate around 40 people eating at any one time (including the bar) and there is no pre-booking, so there can be a wait for a space. The menu of Spanish tapas is short but authentic and the dishes are pretty much all superb. We sampled deep-fried Manchego cheese with crispy Iberico ham, broad beans, Iberico and mint, octopus and king prawns, king prawns piri piri and albondigas. To accompany we had Alhambra beer and alborino wine. Food and drinks were excellent. When I note, below, that it is not the place fro groups, that is purely because of the no booking rule: you might be unable to guarantee getting a table for more than four people at a time. Likewise, it would probably be OK for children during the day when it is a bit quieter rather than in the (hectic) evenings. Do yourself a favour and try it. I'm sure you will not be disappointed.