Restaurant review, Neighbourhood, North Avenue, Spinningfields, Manchester.

In Manhattan, restaurateurs and chefs maddened by the blitzkrieg of bloggers' flashbulbs are starting to ban diners from taking photographs of their meals. In Manchester, where new Manhattan-inspired mega-restaurant Neighbourhood has just opened, photography seems to be positively encouraged. Dressed-up gal-pals are merrily snapping away at each other, and even the staff are at it; you've got to love a chef who proudly captures a hamburger on his BlackBerry before letting it leave the pass.

There's an appealing swagger to this city-centre newcomer. A feeling that they're doing something a little bit different, and doing it well. Pimped-up American comfort food may already be all the rage in London – sliders, mac and cheese, Southern-fried chicken and the like. Now, with the opening of Neighbourhood in the shiny new Spinningfields development, the craze has spread north.

Here are wagyu sliders, lobster tacos, fried oysters, buttermilk-coated chicken wings, grilled stone bass and pot-roast chicken thighs. Here are broiled steaks, pasta and pizzette. Here is a 'raw bar'. Only the cocktail list, which offers a range of Wag-pleasing curiosities, including the Belle Epoque Blazer (it involves a bottle of vintage Champagne, Martell XO cognac and flambéed summer fruits, and costs £325 for four people) gives a clue that we're not in east London or on the Lower East Side.

Read more at http://www.independent.co.uk/