Simon Martin

The Path

Early roles at The Chester Grosvenor in Chester, Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Australia, Gilpin Lodge in Lake District, and Noma in Copenhagen gave Simon Martin exposure to kitchens where pace and precision are inseparable. In that kind of service, technique has to survive pressure, and every plate has to justify the work behind it. Across those posts, Martin’s cooking developed into a highly technical and precise mode of work, shaped by exacting standards rather than display. Since 2018, Simon Martin has been chef-patron of Mana in Manchester, where the responsibility has shifted from learning systems to setting them. The title marks authorship in the practical sense: the standards, the rhythm and the level of finish now sit with Martin, and the restaurant reflects the discipline he carried forward from earlier kitchens.

The Work Today

At Mana, Simon Martin’s cooking is guided by a clear idea of flavour and by technical control. Nordic influence sits alongside British ingredients, often wild and foraged, and the methods are used to keep the ingredient legible rather than covered over. The kitchen’s approach is direct: reduce excess, hold the line on precision, and let the core product stay visible in the finished dish. The restaurant’s specialty is exciting modern dishes with Nordic influences. One signature work makes that plain: beef tartare that tastes of beef tartare, made using 120-day dry-aged beef from 15-year-old ex-dairy cattle. Simon Martin uses age and sourcing to build depth, but the result stays focused on clarity. The dish does not lean on ornament; it relies on handling, restraint and a firm sense of what the ingredient should be allowed to say. That kind of cooking places Mana in a modern register without loosening its discipline. Simon Martin’s work there is exacting but readable, with technique serving recognition rather than disguise, and with beef tartare presented as a test of control as much as a signature.

Signature

Simon's signature dishes include beef tartare that tastes of beef tartare.

In Their Words “The experience taught me to look at food very differently.”

Acclaim

Simon’s honors include Manchester's first Michelin star in 40 years. The recognition sits with the method behind Mana: precision in execution, patience in development and a kitchen built around careful handling of ingredients.