Believe it or not, it's been 25 years since Gaucho first launched in Manchester!  This very website, the city's original and still biggest dedicated restaurant guide, has been around since just before then.  So we remember the brand's arrival very well indeed and it absolutely doesn’t feel like 25 years, during which time they've become one of the city's go to venues for a high quality, open fire driven bovine experience long before it was trendy.

Anyway, to celebrate the landmark Gaucho have undergone huge investment in carrying out a facelift to the already impressive unit, along with the launch of some new dishes, so we were invited down to see how things look following the relaunch.

The lounge area on arrival first strikes you, and it's a quite simply stunning space with moody lighting, comfy seating to the left, a lovely bar area facing the entrance.  The welcome station becomes a DJ booth later in the evening, entertaining the packed dining room whilst they feast.

The lounge itself was the ideal space to enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail from Gaucho's comprehensive list of classics and more contemporary offerings.  We chose the luxurious Guava Marg, and the booze free yet still delicious Lychee Spritz, due to somebody drawing the short straw and driving on this particular evening.  Our table in the main dining room became available, so we headed through, with much anticipation.

We took our seat which had ideal views of that massive open kitchen; always the best position for us personally.  You just can't beat watching the kitchen work their magic as you eat their creations, especially when your dining partner shares the same interest.  If that’s not the case, then you're probably better off not getting distracted.

We pre-empted what laid ahead and ordered a bottle of Malbec, since there's no finer liquid accompaniment for a steak.  Argentina, per capita, eats more beef then any country on Earth, and hence you'd imagine that Malbec consumption isn't too far behind.  Our bottle of Domaine Bousquet (£47) more than hit the spot!

Plump Gordal Olives (£5.95) with the all-important excellent brine arrived as we gazed over the menu to make our picks from the comprehensive menu.  Juicy, and a lovely robust texture as you expect from the sizeable Gordal variety, were a welcome intro to things.

They were accompanied with several chunks of excellent Rosemary Focaccia (£5.95), which was toasted on all sides and served warm, as all bread courses should be.   It was paired up with cultured butter, plus a pot of zippy chimichurri to get those South American flavours on the go.  We'd made our menu picks and were ready to go!

As seasoned professionals we foresaw our impending main courses being hefty in stature so chose to start with a couple of more delicate options.  Crab on Toast (£14.5) was the perfect choice.  Light, fresh, indulgent crab meat sat on a neat slice of sourdough toast, with cucumber, apple and soft herbs coming together to deliver more freshness, depth of flavour and a nice pop of acidity; a hugely overused yet 100% valid food adjective.  Superb.

Tuna Tartare (£15.5) was ordered for broadly the same reasons as above, and also delivered in all departments.  High grade Yellowfin tuna, expertly diced and then accented with creamy avocado, aji Amarillo, and you guessed it, pop of citrus which delivered the word which I refuse to use in back to back paragraphs.  Another accomplished plate which delivered all that it promised.

Our first main course was a classy Beef Fillet (£50), 300 grams of it too, and whilst steaks are usually quite vanilla to write about and photograph, regardless of how good they are, this was a reminder of why Gaucho has been in the city for 25 years.   This was seasoned properly/liberally, cooked over open flames and then rested long enough.   The quality of the protein was then allowed to do all the talking, or shouting in this case.  Superb quality and a hugely luxurious plate, finished with some optional Chimichurri. We had a full pot of it, but figured that the photo would be a bit more interesting with a dab of it on the plate.

Whiskey Glazed Ribeye (£45), again in a 300g cut, is a special dish which is on to celebrate the relaunch and featured similarly great beef, again cooked very well with that sweet glaze working well with the ribeye's natural fat.  I hear the steak afficionados saying 'look at all the blood on the plate'.  Firstly, when that happens, it's not actually blood but rather a protein called myoglobin.  But on this occasion, the plate sauce was largely that whiskey glaze and was gladly mopped up without much hesitation.  Absolutely delicious.

With the steaks down, I guess that we couldn’t pen a preview piece without also posting an internal shot of one of the steaks.  Here you see the fillet, with its lovely crust and still-pink interior, as ordered.  A lovely cuisson, as they say over in France, where most culinary terms were invented. Even acidity, albeit with an E on the end not  Y.

In proper northern fashion, we both opted for chips to accompany our steaks, but you get a choice of chips, mash or salad.  The chips however were a good choice, and whilst chips are often just chips, these were well pulled off.  Soft and fluffy, with a super crispy coating, seasoned properly.  Simple things done really well is absolutely Gaucho's forte, and it's safe to say that none of our chips went back to the kitchen.

A side which we spotted as being new on the menu is Gaucho's Humita (£6.75), which is creamed corn with whipped goat's curd and ancho chilli oil. Despite only being on for a few days, the kitchen has seen a lot of love for this from customers, and we can see why.  Give it a try instead of mac and cheese the next time you visit, and your choice shall be rewarded.

With the salt courses down, we move onto the deserts, probably unnecessarily after those huge steaks.  But sometimes you just need to power on in the name of content/photo numbers, which is what we did.  A couple of espressos kept us perky whilst we picked out 2 sweet plates to end our evening with.

Sticky Toffee Pudding (£9.5) is, I imagine, a best seller and true crowd pleaser.  Here it comes served with a south American flourish and the traditional toffee sauce was replaced with Dulce de Leche; an institution in South America.  The pudding itself was super light and full of flavour, and a ball of vanilla ice cream finished things off nicely.  Sublime.

Passion Fruit Meringue Tart (£11.5) was our second choice, which delivered a fresh palate cleansing finish to our experience, following on from all that richness and the previous pud.  This dish sported a house-made pastry tart, filled with meringue, mango, and passion fruit, then topped with a sprig of mint which added some clever scent to the dish.

So Gaucho is better than ever and the new refurb marks the next chapter of the brand's journey in our city.  The venue is equally as stunning albeit with a new, fresh look in the lounge and dining spaces, and clearly, the food is still a winner which is why after 25 years, following a wave of other steak options arriving in the city, the dining room was still packed on a wet Thursday evening.  Here's to another 25 years!

** Our experience was gratefully comped **