No website for this one yet, I'm afraid. This place is a new takeover from Tararin Thai massage, which I reviewed last year. This is now a Chinese massage venue, advertised as "Tasha's Health Massage".
There's a number on the board outside but nobody responded to my texts: 07878457279 if you want to try yourself. I walked in on this occasion.
Price: £40 (deep tissue is £45).
Extras: offered for £20 (not taken)
Massage: 3/10
I quite enjoyed the massage at Tararin and was a bit disappointed when it closed. The venue was nicer than lots of others, genuinely warm rooms and tables, and a half decent massage was usually assured (unlike in Chinatown where it's hit and miss).
Tasha is probably in her 40s or 50s. Very friendly, smiling, not much conversation. She asked me whether I wanted half an hour or one hour, and I handed over £40 for one hour.
It's exactly the same setup as Tararin. Three or four rooms all on the same basement level, nicely heated with wide and sturdy massage tables.
No towels available so I stripped naked and lay on the table. Baby oil perched on the heater to warm it up. I hate baby oil and don't see why they can't spend a few tiny pennies on a nice oil. They're not expensive.
The massage on my shoulders and back was half decent. Relaxing and only medium pressure, but signs of training and reasonably enjoyable. The only downside was that it was a bit all over the place without much rhythm. A couple of firm kneads of the shoulder, then straight to a prod of the left lower back. It made it hard to completely switch off. But not bad at all at this point.
On to the legs and thighs, where I usually determine if I'll hand over anything extra. Here, it was only okay. A couple of minutes on either leg, and while there was some massage of the inner thigh, it was all quite brief and unsatisfactory. I'd have been very happy if it had been a sensual massage or a very competently delivered legit massage, but this was neither.
On the turn and about half an hour in, she said it was £20 for hand relief. No build up, no leg rubbing before pointing at it giggling. Just the terms. I smiled and declined, but if you want a happy ending with your massage this new place will do it (Tararin never offered it to me previously).
This is where it went from neutral to negative. The doorbell rang twice, and twice she left to answer it and have a conversation with whoever arrived. Even if she hadn't done that, once she found out I wasn't paying extra, the only other thing she gave was a pretty rubbish head massage (no chest, no legs, no arms). If I'd stayed, we'd have either finished early or I'd have had 25 minutes of pointless ear and hair rubbing. I was grateful for the second doorbell ringing as it gave me an excuse to get dressed and leave.
Just over 40 minutes in to an hour massage and it was pretty rubbish. She gave me £10 back which was decent of her, but I won't be going back. She's perfectly friendly and parts of the massage were okay, but only okay and the rest of it was rubbish.
I find Manchester City Centre's massage offering to be pretty rubbish. Hopefully I'll find somewhere reliable soon.
