With its marble staircase and ostentatious chandelier, the Great Hall at the Trafford Centre certainly makes an impression. The additional foodservice space in the Great Hall, which is now fully let, totals 13,000 sq ft and brings the total number of foodservice units to over 55. The newest kids on the block are Popodom, TGI Friday’s, Shawarma Express and Ego. With our bellies rumbling, we decided on this drizzly day at the end of November to have lunch at Ego.

Ego Restaurants has been run by James Horler, formerly of La Tasca and City Centre Restaurants, since March 2008. All nine Egos are currently located in the North-West and this, the first to open in a shopping centre, occupies around 3,000 sq ft. The environment feels fresh and bright, thanks to the marble columns and palm tree, exactly what we needed to inject some sunshine into our day.

The menu offers a range of tempting Mediterranean cuisine, including meat and fish dishes as well as a selection of pastas and salads. There are also two- or three-course set menus available, which offer good value for money.

We settled on the Andalucian pork fillet and lamb koftas with a Coke and mineral water to drink. The total bill came to a credit-crunching £29.20. Service was very good: our waitress was both attentive and informative without being over zealous. When the food came it was both well prepared and beautifully presented. I only wished we’d had more time to enjoy a dessert, as the mascarpone and lemon cheesecake on the next table looked sublime.

All in all, we found Ego to be an excellent and very welcome addition to the thriving Great Hall and would not hesitate to visit again in the near future. Hopefully we will see more operators applying the same high standards that are displayed at Ego.

Food: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Service: ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Value: ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩