I must have first gone to Grinch shortly after it opened in 1994 - the year Oasis’s first album ‘Definitely Maybe’ was released.

The place was striking back then for its happy chaos of decoration, its clash of cultures menu and its lively dining and drinking. It felt a bit Brighton-ish, an enthusiastically delivered easy eating place, that was refreshingly amateur and ad hoc, as opposed to the slick, po-faced chains.

Oasis are now deceased but Grinch seems the same as it ever was. Whenever the decor gets tired the staff muck in with a bit of redecoration, but the original spirit seems to perservere.

“We painted the walls, I helped out too,” said our delightful and spritely waitress about a recently completed refurb. “And we’ve added a few new seats and given it all a spring clean.”

From a familiarly eclectic menu with a global array of dishes (burgers, pizzas, salads, wraps) we ate homemade scampi and special fried chicken and drank a bottle of Parrotfish, Chenin Blanc from South Africa. The latter was refreshing and light, just the ticket on a clammy day.

Both coatings on the scampi and the special fried chicken offered something. The scampi had a salty layer of spiced up breadcrumbs crunching through to the sweet flesh beneath. The chicken had a herbed-up and slightly heated kick before the meat was reached. All fair enough.

The fries that came with both dishes weren’t so good, mistimed by that killer extra minute. Half of the fries in each bowl had the consistency of off-cuts in a timber yard. You could have used some as tooth picks. The waitress agreed with us and asked if we wanted some fresh fries, which was the right way of dealing with the problem.

The desserts were both exactly as they should be, a rich, gooey, chocolate fudge cake and an Eton Mess which passed the Grandmother test. My long gone gran used to liven up Saturday visits to her home with vast collations of trifles, Eton Messes, homemade apple pies and ginger biscuits. This classic Grinch version of meringue, cream and fruit was excellent.

We laughed at a mismatch of plate sizes, my Mess on a proper plate, the fudge cake on a saucer. “We’ll not do that again,” said the waitress, “it does look a bit silly.”

For two courses each the price was around £25 – the wine at £18 for the bottle pushed the price higher. I’d take down the price of the chicken and the scampi a pound or pound fifty from the £9 mark to give better value and more accurately reflect the level of expertise they display.

The food is after all, just decent background to socialising and chatting. It isn’t award-winning grub prepared and presented with finesse but it’s functional and filling with occasionally the odd attempt at flair. It shows that other elements of restaurant visits, aside from just the food and drink, are necessary to create a full dining out experience – especially in a place like Grinch. For lunch you can be out in an hour.

Grinch isn’t bad for evenings as well. There’s easy listening, live soul and jazz on Saturdays and early evening deals on meals and drinks, which is useful if off to the Royal Exchange for a show.

Grinch is comfortable with it billing, knows its audience and should be around for another long while yet.

Rating:	14/20
Breakdown:	6/10 food 4/5 serivice 4/5 ambience
Address:	Grinch 5 Chapel Walk City M4 1EY 0161 907 3210 www.grinch.co.uk

Venues are rated against the best examples of their kind: fine dining against the best fine dining, cafes against the best cafes. Following on from this the scores represent: 1-5 saw your leg off and eat it, 6-9 get a DVD, 10-11 if you must, 12-13 if you’re passing,14-15 worth a trip,16-17 very good, 17-18 exceptional, 19 pure quality, 20 perfect. More than 20: Gordo gets carried away