WE know what to expect from most of these new (and some old), largely chainy Corn Exchangers:

We're an all day, all generations, all occassions venue

Wahaca, Mexican; Pho, Vietnamese; Mowgli, Indian; Tampopo, Pan-Asian; Byron, burgers; Vapiano, Italian; Salvi's, more Italian; Gino D'Acampo's, that Italian; Zizzi, crap Italian; and Pizza Express, 'call that Italian?'

However, there's a handful of new venues opening in Aviva's £25m premium food court experiment for which we haven't got the foggiest.

We visited The Cosy Club last month, only to leave more confused. And what of the upcoming Cabana? The blurb hints at a Brazilian meat-on-a-stick gaff with whiffs of parmesan and pork scratchings, which has us beat.

Another of the lesser-known Corn Exchange newbs is Banyan Bar & Kitchen, which has sister venues in York and Harrogate and is now ready to go with a new 250-capacity venue facing onto Manchester's Exchange Square.

"We hang Banyan from three words," explains gaffa Martin Wolstencroft. "Beautiful, stylish and genuine.

"We want our food, drink and decor to be beautiful, our place to be stylish and our product to be genuine - nothing too bullshitty."

And there's little bullshitty about Oldham-born Wolstencroft (aside from those three words), who packed-in a propitious career at the UK's largest hospitality company, Whitbread, to open his first Arc bar in Headingley in 2000. Arc now operates fourteen bars and restaurants in Leeds, York, Harrogate and now Manchester.

"Banyan is a one-stop shop," explains Wolstencroft, "breakfast, coffee, cocktails, cake, steak, beers, Sunday Roast, drink with the lads, bubbles with the girls or a cuppa with Mum after shopping.

"We're an all day, all generations, all occassions venue."

.Banyan, Exchange Square

So Banyan's one for the everyman: small plates, sharing boards, eggy breakfasts, risotto, curry, bangers'n'mash, fish pie and even 'Portuguese marinated half chicken'. Bases covered. And this lot certainly aren't shy of exploiting the zeitgeist, with 'crispy kale', 'superfood salads'; CrossFit burgers (no bun, naturally) and 'smashed' OR 'crushed' avocado (surely the same thing?) splashed across an imposing and well branded menu.

Drink menus are equally as encyclopedic, with thirty cocktails; a dedicated gin menu; 29 wines and champagnes; seventeen beers and ciders, including Ticketbrew, Jaipur IPA and Thornbridge Kipling, alongside juices, frappes and smoothies. Even the fit-out, marrying elements of sculptural Scandi design with flashes of industrial concrete'n'copper, squeaky leather with soft furnishings and tiling with exposed brick and parquet flooring, has, like the menus, been designed to please all and offend none... the decor equivalent of a one-pot.

But does Wolstencroft worry Banyan will be lost amongst the melee?

"I haven't put a lot of thought into our neighbours," admits Wolstencroft, "because I think we'd be successful in this unit on our own two feet - regardless of who's going next door."

"I fell for this building right away," he continues, "many people warned us it could get a little feisty in this location, but I look out the windows and see Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, the Cathedral and a buzzing public square. The footfall so far has been unbelievable, I was in Wahaca this weekend and you couldn't move."

So the gaffa seems confident, still, with seven new venues now open and another six launching over the coming months, the challenge for everyman's Banyan will be staking a claim within an increasingly noisy development.  

Banyan Manchester, The Corn Exchange, Exchange Square, Manchester M4 3TR. 

More information @BanyanMCR

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 (photo credits: @EmGol)