A year has passed since celebrity chef Simon Rimmer announced the sudden closure of his vegetarian restaurant Greens in West Didsbury, stating a large rent increase had made the venture ‘impossible’ to maintain.
The Lapwing Lane site had been a stalwart of Didsbury’s dining scene for 33 years.
For most of 2024, the restaurant remained empty, with locals wondering who’d be moving in. Then in October the brothers behind tapas bar Porta announced that they would be taking over the unit and at the end of November, it opened its doors.
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With sites in Chester, Altrincham and Chapel Street in Salford, Porta has gained a cult following since the first one opened in 2012, gaining a reputation for authentic ingredients and restaurants with dark, moody interiors.
The brothers Ben and Joe Wright had the support of Simon Rimmer and his business partner Simon Connolly, who helped them to recruit some of the staff from the Greens site. But they were apprehensive about the opening, as they told the Manchester Evening News last year: “But the fact that they left did make us a bit nervous and we had to reassure ourselves that this was going to be a really exciting journey.”
A whole 12 months after Greens closed its doors, it was clear during my visit on the first Saturday in January that the Wright brothers needn’t have worried. The place was packed.
Porta’s tomato salad -Credit:MEN Staff
As any Porta fan will know, the restaurant operates a no-bookings policy, something I find rather refreshing. It did mean we had to wait 20 minutes for a table – standing room only at the bar – but that’s what you get when you choose to dine out at 7pm on a Saturday night.
The house cocktail, a Porta spritz (‘a cross between an Aperol Spritz and a Porto Tonica”), made sure the wait flew by, and before long we were seated, menus in hand. I’ll admit I used to frequent the Chapel Street branch, so I scanned through looking for my favourite dishes – the Picos de Europa blue cheese smothered in honey and tomato salad among my go-tos.
As tapas is designed to share, ordering is a collaborative experience for everyone at the table. So my dining companion and I selected a mix of dishes, spanning light and heavy, meat and vegetarian, hot and cold.
The tortilla arrived first, a deceptively simple-looking slice sitting beside a small puddle of olive oil, sprinkled with salt. Taking a bite, the layers of potato and onion melted in the mouth, beautifully complemented by the green oil.
Next to appear was the blue cheese, covered in sultanas and glistening with a coat of honey. It’s a plate that offers an intense contrast of flavors; the sweet caramelised walnuts, juicy sultanas and honey cut through the sharpness of the veiny blue cheese. I was a firm fan, but my fellow diner wasn’t too sure. Well, you can’t please everyone.
The patatas bravas -Credit:MEN Staff
Then the dishes started arriving thick and fast. A generous portion of patatas bravas appeared; the potatoes wonderfully crisp, topped with red sauce and a dollop of aioli.
A plate teeming with tomatoes joined the selection, the large slices topped with tiny capers, delicate shreds of onion and shavings of cheese. The chorizo arrived, the salty chunks of sausage sitting in a cider sauce. We were in full tapas mode now, a little mouthful of this, a bite of that and no danger whatsoever of getting bored.
Whether you’re a keen carnivore, a vegetarian or a fiend for cheese and carbohydrates, Porta’s varied tapas selection ensures no one is disappointed. Variety is the point of tapas, yet Porta also manages to ensure each dish feels like a complete plate of food, with layers of flavours that make you want more. You could easily order just a few dishes here and still feel completely satisfied.
One of the best parts of tapas for me is when you start to wonder what dish is next and you find yourself mentally going through what you ordered. To our delight a surprisingly colourful plate of bright green tenderstem broccoli was placed down before us, resting on a bed of romesco, a dish that was both fresh and warming.
The smallest offering appeared next, the croquettes of the day, which were cauliflower and blue cheese. Cutting into their crisp exterior revealed a rather unsightly grey filling which tasted anything but: it was deliciously creamy with a slight zing from the blue cheese. Keeping diners on their toes, Porta has daily specials and changing croquettes, showing off a range of ingredients – many imported from across Spain.
The pork meatballs -Credit:MEN Staff
Solving the mystery of everything we ordered (I guess I could’ve consulted my notes app but where’s the fun in that?), an impressive plate of Albóndigas – pork meatballs – turned up.
A mound of three meatballs covered in sauce and crowned with melting cheese, it was rather fitting that this commanding dish should be the final of the night. Cutting into it, it was as tasty as it looked; the soft meat pairing wonderfully with the rich tomato and salty cheese – I could have devoured the whole lot as a meal by itself.
For those who have room, desserts are available and a sole pastel de nata rounded off our evening – too full to try it, I was assured that it went down a treat. But next time I shall make sure I have room for the chocolate mousse, which I greedily eyed up on another table.
Around us the restaurant had quietened down as diners headed out to the bars of Burton Road, or scurried home to seek shelter from the chilly January air. Yet Porta was still buzzing even after 9pm. After spending nearly all of 2024 devoid of diners, it’s looking like 2025 will be a very different year for this unit on Lapwing Lane.
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