THE SEA INSIDE (All other Restaurants in Greater Manchester in general)

Member Name: Hunting_Bears

Product:	All other Restaurants in Greater Manchester in general
Date:	24/03/05 (1888 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ACE ENVIRONMENT, GREAT FOOD , GREAT MUSIC

Disadvantages: NONE ITS GREAT

KIM-BY-THE-SEA, Old Birley St, in Hulme is a fantastic place. It has great food, a great selection of continental beer and wonderful staff. Before this all starts to sound a little sychophantic; let me assure you that this place really is, that cool.
I chanced upon it one fine day, whilst out for a stroll with my dog, Montgomery. Okay, the reason I went was because I had read a wonderful review about the place in The Guardian newspaper. Kim-by-the-Sea is nowhere near the sea, its in the middle of a rejuvenated Hulme, an inner-city area right next door to the city centre. It is also in close proximity to the two universities; the Met and Manchester University.
First impressions count in my view, and when I entered the premises, I was immediately struck by the decor. It is the product of some fevered brain for sure! The glass counter is a stunning deep red, the wallpaper is from a William Morris design- a wondeful cold blue with symmetrical patterns, there are huge red velvet drapes and the lighting is a mixture of low-key (wine bottles with candles) and bright (there is a strip lighting effect with pink, green, blue and red lights in the sofa area). There are weird spherical objects hanging from the ceiling, these are polka dot red and white. The design is simply wonderful and highly inventive. The staff have impeccable serving skills, are friendly and warm. There is a range of events such as

Acoustic evenings, usually once a month

Slobathon Sundays, a range of DJs and eclectic music finished with a movie at around 8pm. They show some cool movies and once they showed The Goonies, proving that the owners have a great sense of humour.

Every Wednesday is Film Night and this too is quite cool. Sit, chat, drink and watch a movie.

The food is Spanish orientated, is well presented, good value for money- in fact it is insanely cheap and they have a good range of brewski's on offer from Maissel Weise, Anker, Ename, Erdinger, Staropramen, San Miguel, Guinness and a fine range of wines too from simple plonk to the more expensive shit. Sorry for not being a food critic and not going in depth in terms of textures and all that shit but if it tastes nice, that's enough for me! They serve amazing breakfasts too, it is all organic and locally sourced too, I have been assured by one of the staff.
It's actually quite hard to find a bad point about the place other than the location is a little hard to find. I am very much in love with this cafe because it is so unique and quite lovely, not one of those cooler than cool places with that cold modernist aesthetic. It is warm, comforting, the atmosphere evokes pleasant notions; it is kooky, fun, romantic, hip, cool and certainly deserving of major attention. Like I say, this is my favourite place in the whole wide world in which to have a coffee, read a book, listen to DJs and shit like that.

Opening times

Mon 11 am - 3 pm

Tues CLOSED

Wed 11 am - 10 pm

Thurs 11 am 10 pm

Fri 11 - 10 pm

Sat 11 - 10 pm

Sun 11- 10 pm

The coolest night to attend is Thursday night because it is quiz nite! The quiz is simple trivia but the hostess is part comedian, part demented, all fun! I recall one night, she stopped the quiz mid-way through, put on the Beatles' "When I'm 64' and got the entire place singing, it was a marvellous spectacle and just plain surreal. It is certainly not one of those quizzes in which a boring old man sits reading a list of questions in a dull manner. This is new level of quiz! It's one hell of an entertaining night. The Quiz begins at 8pm on a Thurs and is a must, if you're in the mood for some rowdy fun.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Kim-By-The-Sea (I have no idea why its called that either), it's in Manchester. Anywhere with a bizarre moniker such as one the cafe possesses, surely must be interesting. My only gripe? It isn't open 24/7.

Thanks

Summary: