'We've always wanted to do what we do at the cheapest price we can'

Dianne Bourne hears why the chef behind Manchester's only Michelin-star restaurant is dropping his prices

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MANCHESTER'S only Michelin Star restaurant announced a price cut to its fine dining menu this week, saying it is to help with the cost of living crisis.

Mana in Ancoats announced its £195 menu would be reduced down to £175 from November as its way of helping cash-strapped diners.

Mana's chef patron Simon Martin has defended his restaurant pricing, and says the reduction announced this week is a genuine attempt to offer the best possible value for money for customers. He's challenged anyone doubting that claim to come along and try it for themselves.

Defending the £20 price cut, Simon says: "We've noticed since the cost of living has gone up our reservations have gone down, we're sure it's nothing to do with our offering as it is the best it's ever been, it's always our goal to be better today than yesterday. The menu is great, the team are fantastic, we are really, really happy so with that aside we thought what is going wrong?

"We've been speaking to guests and they've been saying it's very difficult to get the money together because the price of everything else has gone up. So we've worked really, really hard to bring costs down for us, things that don't affect the guest experience, from turning the electricity off at the switchboard every night, to putting contracts out to tender to get the best deals, things like waste management and dry cleaning, laundry, all these sorts of things that don't affect the dining experience, and we've managed to bring our costs down enough to pass that on directly to the guests.