"sometimes you need to treat yourself"

The Treehouse Hotel just off Manchester's Deansgate has become one of the most desirable places in the city to spend a night, ever since their launch.  It quickly also became a destination for food and drink, with the hotel's ground floor dining room, Pip, scooping a Michelin listing just a few months after opening. 

But since before the hotel opened, we were promised a premium destination, located up in the rafters of the hotel where guests could enjoy food that's as good as the view, but sadly a series of delays led to it not happening until now.  And that venue is of course Sister Moon!

We were invited down to take a closer look at Sister Moon, and also of course its lovely neighbouring bar, The Nest, which sits just over from the reception area on the other side of the hotel's top floor.

The views are west facing, which translates into there being sunset views, and fortunately, we arrived around that time of day/dusk so the views were lovely, looking across the city centre towards Salford and beyond.  It's just the perfect setting for a couple of pre or post dinner cocktails, or even a destination in its own right.

But on this occasion, we were here for dinner at Sister Moon, so pre dinner worked perfectly well, and the cocktail offering is really strong and a clear focus has been placed on the drinks offering.   We opted for Smoked Cherry Harlem (£14.5) and White Chocolate & Fig Leaf Old Fashioned (14.5).

Its properly curated drinks served with charm in a lovely space to create a truly high end experience, with some live DJing ticking over in the background. And of course, those amazing sunset views are fully in keeping with The Nest's general wonderful vibe and class.

Our table in Sister Moon became available, so our lovely host escorted us through as the anticipation began to rise.  Looking over the menu, we couldn’t decide so handed over control to the Chefs to pick what they wanted to send out, which we find is always a smart way to do things!

We kicked off with Sister Moon's sumptuous prawn toast (£11), which we are told comes as either a single piece or a duet as in our case, dependant upon how sizeable the day's prawns are.  Sat in a lovely red curry bisque, this was an early star of the show, and we are assured that it's already proving to be a customer favourite.

Crispy Shiitake Mushrooms (£7) were another great choice.  Served with punchy chilli crisp, these were an idea little umami-bomb whose understated appearance underestimated the flavour and texture that they delivered.  Super tasty.

Our first main course was the Crispy Pork Belly (£18), which was packed with a perfect combo of richness from the well rendered pork belly and also a wave of freshness from its garnish.  The salad element itself was truly outstanding, and as much as the 'A word' isn’t one that I usually like dropping, this carried a truly authentic feel.

House Pickles (£8) followed and added some crunch, freshness and palate cleansing mid meal acidity to the menu.  The pickled melon was exceptionally good and is a novel twist on the usual western picked vegetables.  It's just what you need after a wave of spicy plates.

Now even though The Nest and Sister Moon are related, their cocktail menus are different, so we decided to explore a couple more from Sister Moon's offering and discovered more emphasis on Asian flavours.  We went with a gorgeous clarified Salted Mango Lassi (£14.5) and the Emerald Highball (£14.5) which is made with pandan-washed Makers Mark, pineapple, soda and kaffir lime cordial.  Both truly delicious and paired expertly with the food.

But the headline dish of the whole evening with undoubtedly Sister Moon's Singapore Chilli Crab and Lobster noodles (£65), which came served in a traditional clay pot.  There was a ton of shellfish throughout, complementing the thin glass noodles and a lovely, spiced sauce to complete the impressive dish.  Sure, it's expensive but then crab and lobster won't ever be cheap, and sometimes you need to treat yourself.  This would be a fitting treat for any occasion.

And whilst we didn’t really need a side with the above dish, as it was a complete serving in its own right, some Tumeric, Lemon and Chilli Potatoes (£9) were an unexpected outstanding dish of the evening.  Super crunchy on the outside, fluffy within and finished off with tons of super flavourful seasoning.  Fabulously tasty.

Our lovely server Mark decided to treat the two of us to three desserts, for which we instantly liked him.  Starting off came the Lime Tart (£9) in what seemed like a buckwheat pasty case.  We'd have liked more snap in the base, which we undstand is hard to achive due to using buckwheat, and the coconut yoghurt, or even the pastry itself, needed a dash more sweetness to balance the whole thing out a bit more, but it was still an enjoyably zingy way to end your culinary journey.

Next was the undisputed favourite pud of the evening though, the White Chocolate and Pandan Mousse (£9).  An unfathomably light mousse, topped with a scatter of puffed rice for a pop of bite, with mango sauce and more puffed rice at the bottom acting as a nice surprise. This dish had it all for us.  Super tasty, lovely textures, great balanced flavours and a strong tie-in to that East Asian ethos.  It's a must order.

And finally, a pud which is sure to be a real crowd pleaser and won't upset anyone, the Dark Chocolate Cremeux.  Silky, rich, unctuous, delicious, serving up a huge chocolate hit.   It comes topped with a cute sesame tuile for both presentation and a bit of crunch to boot, finished with a drizzle of the olive oil that’s seemingly obligatory with any cremeux.

We headed off for the evening feeling suitably satisfied in that Sister Moon is another strong option in Manchester's currently flourishing mid-range market.  And with Pip already holding a Michelin Assiette down on the ground floor, you’d imagine that it won't be long before Michelin pop along to take a closer look at Sister Moon themselves.  You should do exactly the same if you've not already done so.

** Our experience was gratefully comped **