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"What was St Petersburg called before it became St Petersburg?', I quizzed my fellow diners. 'Ikan Cafe' was the unexpected reply I received. Very true but not the geographical answer I had in mind.

St Petersburg is Manchester's twin city and if the cuisine is as good as this brand new Russian restaurant on Sackville Street, we can't wait to taste the delights of Bilwi, Chemnitz, Codoba, Rehovot and Wuhan - Manchester's other twins.

Apart from being the first Russian restaurant in Manchester, St Petersburg must also be the only place in town where you can order caviar - from £4.50 for 2.5g of Red Caviar upto £55.95 for 20g of the more exclusive Black Caviar. The Chicken Blini's, pancakes stuffed with strips of chicken breast (£5.95), were extremely tasty and washed down wonderfully with a large bottle of Russian Baltika beer (£4), whilst the Peter The Grate, a supreme and tender fillet steak cooked to perfection and topped with cheese (£17.95), was absolutely incredible - well worth the journey alone! The Tsiplionok Tabaka, a grilled whole chicken marinated with garlic and herbs (£16.95) wasn't as tasty however and could have done with being a bit meater, as I soon got bored of trying to seperate meat from bone. Having been reluctantly offered a bite of my partner's amazing steak I agreed that I'd certainly made the wrong choice but at least had a very good reason to return.

Like many of the Mediterranean restaurants around town, diners are entertained with live music at weekends. The evening we visited a talented Russian lady sang what we can only presume were Russian love songs from the star lit stage above the bar. Whilst she was very good, especially I presume if you can speak the language, the loud speakers above our table made an intimate meal a little bit too noisy to enjoy. For a quieter meal though, go midweek and you might just bump into us - we'll be back there many times!

Oh, and St Petersburg (the city) was previously called Leningrad if you were wondering." - Restaurants Of Manchester (27/1/2008 ~ visited on a Saturday evening)

"We visited St Petersburg Restaurant on a Saturday evening. This is an interesting place, with good food and probably more suitable for a fun experience or evening with friends than a romantic dinner for 2. The restaurant was spotlessly clean which is always a good sign. We liked the staff who were pleasant and attentive. We also very much enjoyed the food which was tasty and well cooked.

To start I had the Crab Blini which was delicious and my husband had the Smoked Salmon which he pronounced excellent. For his main course, my husband had the Slow Cooked Lamb. As a lamb conoisseur he was impressed - very tender (falling to pieces). I had the St Peter the Great steak which was good too. I loved the fried potatoes - definitely a winner! There isn't a dessert menu so it's pancakes or icecream. With hindsight we wouldn't bother again with either.

We were a little disappointed with the wine menu which was somewhat overpriced. Rather mediocre international listings with nothing less than £17 a bottle. We tried the Russian red wine from Georgia. Whilst it was fine and perfectly quaffable we didn't think it was worth the £20 price tag. They have an extensive and reasonably priced vodka list. We tried 2 - rose and honey - both of which were good.

So to the place itself; it's the sort of place that would lend itself well to being changed to a cabaret supper club but isn't quite there yet. We didn't like the TV screen on the wall or the fact that the music was too loud throughout. We did like the entertainment (you need a sense of humour!) - Russian acrobat, gypsy dancer and singer. However, it was difficult to see the acts due to the tables in front of us blocking our view. Our advice to the restaurant would be to think about it as a supper club and upgrade the decor (perfectly OK but not 'luxurious', the bathrooms in particular are very dated - but they are spotlessly clean), lose the TV screen, rearrange the tables so that everyone can see the entertainment and then market more. The place was practically empty and we thought that a real shame. Will we suggest it to friends - yes. Will we go back - definitely." - melanie, wigan ~ TRUSTED REVIEWER (13/4/08 ~ visited on a saturday evening)

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