Unagi has long been part of the Manchester food scene; offering Pan-Asian street food from Altrincham to Media City, their reputation precedes them. The Mancunion was kindly invited to try their new bottomless brunch which is exclusive to their Salford Quays location. The brunch is 2 hours long and has an option of a chicken or veggie bento box. The cocktail list is relatively broad offering a spicy mango margarita, prosecco and 6 spritzes.
The veggie bento box contained warm edamame beans, salt and pepper chips, veggie gyoza and pumpkin katsu. The chicken box changes the katsu to a chicken fillet and chicken gyoza. The gyoza were crunchy and had a great ratio of wrapper to filling, inside being cabbage, carrot and rice noodles. The sweet and vinegary dipping sauce complemented them perfectly and we couldn’t get enough. The pumpkin katsu was a great addition, with crispy panko crumbs perfectly complimenting the creamy filling. The rice was fluffy and the sauce was warming but not spicy, but was rather sparse.
Comparatively, the chicken katsu was tender and juicy with slightly more sauce. The Edamame beans were a great addition, served warm and bringing some freshness to the plate. However, the inconvenience of popping them out of the casing and the huge portion meant most of them were left at the end. Finally, the salt and pepper chips were divine. They were thin, crispy and generously coated in garlic and 5 spice.
Overall, the food was a great choice for a bottomless brunch. The ingredients were fresh and complimented each other perfectly. Other brunches often serve heavy dishes which can make you feel quite sick when drinking a lot. The portion was a great size and showed off unagi’s great food options.
We began with a prosecco which I was very impressed with as, the prosecco on offer at bottomless is usually a little sharp. We then tried the spicy mango margarita. I did enjoy the heat of the chillies and the chilli crumb on the side of the glass but the other flavours were a little dulled due to the cold. The option for a ‘non-spritz’ drink was great.
The other drinks on offer were spritzes, with our favourite being the Lychee and Blood Orange. The menu had classic spritzes like Aperol, Limoncello, Hugo and Camapri. The Aperol and Limoncello were perfect renditions of the classics and very refreshing. The Hugo was very crisp and minty but didn’t have particularly strong notes of elderflower and was the weakest of the three. The campari spritz was a great addition and balanced out the options. The Lychee spritz was sweet and complex and the Blood Orange spritz had San Pellegrino soda and Aperol, elevating these classic flavours.
Overall, the brunch felt pretty different from others I’ve been to be before. I would say that whilst drinking is a focus, being a bottomless brunch after all, it was a more relaxed experience. There wasn’t loud music or any other tables partaking when we were there so, if you’d like to do a bottomless brunch and not get paralytic this is the option for you!
The waiters were very attentive and the cocktails had a decent amount of variation in terms of flavour. For £35, I think this brunch is great value for money and would be a great activity to catch up with friends or family instead, for a ‘party-centric’ birthday celebration. I would say that, for students Salford Quays is pretty far away but, it could easily be incorporated into a trip to the surrounding museums or art galleries!
Unagi’s bottomless brunch is every Saturday and Sunday and can be booked for 2 hours between 12 – 4.
