Tapas titans Evuna are the first to take over Community Kitchen On The Square
At times like these, you can never have too many al fresco options. So news of a fresh outdoor dining space at the Great Northern Warehouse is very welcome.
Local restaurants will be getting out and about in the community at the snappily named Community Kitchen On The Square. This new outdoor dining destination is designed to offer a pop-up space for those restaurants with limited outdoor dining space of their own.
We really want to do what we can to help the hospitality business get back on its feet
The project is sponsored by Sacha Lord's United We Stream with Estrella Damm proving the beer - and all-important table umbrellas, just in case. The party gets started this week with the first restaurant involved, titans of tapas Evuna, gearing up to welcome their first customers on Thursday (August 6th) and sticking around for two consecutive weekends.
Like many, Evuna have diversified their offering during lockdown adding a home-dining service, wine shop and Zoom wine tastings to their repertoire. The bijou nature of their four sites means that their capacity has had to be greatly reduced to allow for social distancing. This project gives them the opportunity to serve more of the community in a safe but social setting. All diners at CKOTS will experience table service to reduce close contact and ensure social distancing to kept at all times.
The menu will be similar to their restaurant offering with a focus on giant paellas cooked in enormous pans which customers can watch being prepared. There will be tapas - of course - and a fantastic wine list too.
Jane Dowler - co-owner of Evuna who is also now a member of Sacha Lord’s task force set up to recover the night time economy - told Confidentials that lockdown was a huge blow, but they have been fighting,
“The businesses is certainly not thriving, but I’m hopeful that we will survive. There are lots of challenges moving forward. Because of the very nature of our sites, social distancing is a difficult and in order to adhere to the rules we have lost 50% of our covers. In addition, the work-from-home culture means we have lost the lunch time crowd and we don’t have outside space that can be utilised. This is why CKOTS is such a great opportunity for us as an extension of our Deansgate site for the next couple of weekends. We are so grateful to Sacha and the GNW team.”
On the announcement of Great Northern’s restaurant on the square, Centre Director Mark Schofield said,
“Housing so many brilliant bars and restaurants here at the Great Northern, we really want to do what we can to help the hospitality business get back on its feet. A lot restaurants don’t have the luxury of outdoor seating, so we’ve created an outdoor dining space that can hold 50 diners in the heart of Manchester.”
It’s walk-in only (no bookings) and, going forward, the plan is for each restaurant to move in for just five days, changing every week. As they are the first, Evuna are there for two weekends but still, you’d better be quick if you want to get in on the paella action. Vamos!
Coming up, there will also be week-long residencies from Italian indie Salvis and fried-chicken fanciers South Manny Flavaz - firm Man Con faves, both - with more to be announced over the coming weeks. The project is due to run until October so lets hope for an Indian summer.
Community Kitchen On The Square, Great Northern Warehouse, 235 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN
Opening hours: from August 6th, Wednesday to Sunday 12-8:30pm,
