Common, Manchester

'Are you celebrating ladies?'
'Yes, it's Thursday and we've finished work early'.
Cue the lady in Common thinking we were actually mental. It was a good a reason as any to have fizz.

We sat basking in the sun (albeit after asking for the door to be propped open because we were redders) with our Prosecco, quite pleased with ourselves that we had survived the morning, and that we had a cocktail fuelled Friday-eve planned.

Common's just had a huge renovation, and is pretty unrecognisable from the hipster-haunt it was in its youth. Gone is the graffiti style wall art and quirty pieces of music memorabilia, replaced with Scandinavian style oak and fold back floor to ceiling windows. It's all very grown up these days.

We were off to Revolucion de Cuba's Barcardi night, so needed something substantial to line our bellies before embarking upon said festivities. Sensible you see. Since Common had just reopened, we decided to pop and see what the new menu was like.

Falafel Burger with haloumi, chickpeas, lettuce, cucumber and tomato: Our resident veggie Clare picked this, which was a nice change from your bog standard vegetarian option of 'fungus in a bap'. Thumbs up from Clare.

Fried Chicken Burger with lettuce and mayo: Simple yet effective; crispy chicken with a good dollop of mayo. It's like a really good version of a KFC fillet burger. Don't judge me, I really like them.

Cheese Burger with cheddar, lettuce, tomato and pickle: This was my choice. I just wanted a standard pink burger with pickles. It delivered exactly what it promised. I love the fact that they also put a chunk of pickle on the side, and that Emma and Clare weren't keen, so donated them to me. They're keepers them two. 

Reuben on rye: I so nearly had this, but the burger craving was just too strong. Lee had this beauty. There was generous amount of salt beef piled on top of Swiss cheese. She did mention that the sauce was a little tart though. (I need to mention here that she knows her Reubens... )

Veg chilli fries with cheese and jalapeños: Nice to see a veggie option to compliment the standard chilli fries. Lots of melted cheese, chilli and chunks of jalapeño. One very happy Clare.

Beef chilli fries with cheese, and jalapeños: This is the kind of thing I could devour whilst watching telly in the evening. These portions are huge by the way; we shared these two portions between four of us and still had bits left.

Doughnuts - apple and cinnamon and vanilla custard: I clocked these the second we got through the door. I still have the St John doughnuts fresh in my mind. Whilst nothing can ever compare to the hallowed St John item, these were pretty damn good! Common have an in house baker, which makes me very happy indeed.

Maple, walnut and cinnamon buns and chocolate truffles: Gee whizz. Seriously, those maple buns should make that girl her fortune. Just looking at this is making me a tad mithered. They were a genuine thing of beauty. I didn't try the truffles as I struggle a bit with chocolate desserts, but they seemed to go down very well with the girls. I believe bigger girls came in and stole the second one...

I'm still not sure how I feel about the refurb. Common is now totally unrecognisable from its former self. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't overly keen on the previous look, and it desperately needed something doing with it. It's better but totally different, and doesn't really feel like Common anymore. I think it will grow on me, especially when they have cakes like these.