contracts – one for the kitchen and another for its fit-out – before he had any money to pay for them, but thankfully financial backers contacted him on social media and were on board from day 1.
In his kitchen, the chef – who admits having witnessed people have their heads shoved into pans and being pinned up against the wall – touts a modern approach to management, where making sure his team is happy primes.
The restaurant opens four days a week for dinner and two for lunch, serving a sixteen course tasting menu for just 30 covers - or eight tables - per seating.
A clear shift away from old restaurant customs, chandeliers and white tablecloths, Mana is no less impressive, with its £590-a-square-metre compressed stone surfaces and swooping high ceilings from which neon lights hang both vertically and horizontally.
The open kitchen is divided into sections according to temperature, and, like at Noma, fermentations and preserves are the backbone of the menu – from miso and garum to pickles strewn on plates alongside monkfish livers, cured venison and ants.
In terms of the dishes that shine, Michelin picks out the beef tartare with rhubarb and oxalis, seaweed-fed hogget with ramsons and salad; and baked pear with sheep's milk and sorrel.
Upon visiting the restaurant prior to it getting a star, Guardian critic Grace Dent said Mana is "the sound of Manchester turning a corner. I hope the men with the stars agree."
