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YOU'VE probably noticed, but there's been a real buzz about St Peter's Square of late.
Executive Head Chef Filipo Pagani - with textbook Italian intensity and a blue-eyed chef's glare that could strip barnacles from a ship's bottom - has been drafted in from San Carlo's hugely profitable Bangkok operations
Following a £50m four year makeover the city's landmark grade-II listed Central Library reopened, golden boy chef Simon Rogan pulled up the socks of the grand 'ole Midland Hotel whilst Metrolink folk continue to beaver away at the Second City Crossing.
The Cenotaph has been upgraded and shifted 100m away, John Cassidy's daffy 1907 work ('Manchester's maddest statue'), Adrift, is back after fifteen years in exile and everybody is feeling just swell about the new £3.5m conservatory they've slapped on Library Walk.
You've probably also noticed the soon-to-be finished whopping great, ultra-modern, thirteen-storey, 273,000 sq ft One St Peter's Square building pop-up where that 'orrible 60s Elizabeth House used to sit... yeah the one that had the Dutch Pancake House and Allen's Fried Chicken down below.
Where unlucky Allen flopped, Manchester's San Carlo Fumo begins.
One St Peter's Square
Fumo forming by night
Alongside accountancy big'un and new neighbour KPMG (who've already let nearly 75,000 sq ft of the building, handily plonking hundreds of hungry and monied suits right on their bonce), the San Carlo restaurant group - now fifteen restaurants strong in the UK with five in Manchester - has snapped up 5,500 sq ft of the building's prime ground and first floor space.
As San Carlo Fumo restaurant, cicchetti (Italian for small plates, by the way), cocktail bar and late lounge gets ready to open to the public in the coming week, Confidential took a camera and a fork for a first look around the place.
San Carlo Fumo
Firstly, you have to hand it to San Carlo, they certainly know how to deck-out a space.
But then you'd hope so for £1.7m.
The 15m long, ground-floor, curved marble bar practically sweeps you in, off your feet, and plonks you on a stool. It just falls short of ordering your martini for you. The design, though as glossy and modern as ever, maintains that warm Cicchetti-brand glow that has made the King Street West operation San Carlo's most popular.
They've also drafted in some serious minerals to see Fumo jumps straight from he blocks. Executive Head Chef Filipo Pagani, with textbook Italian intensity and a blue-eyed chef's glare that could strip barnacles from a ship's bottom, has been drafted in from San Carlo's hugely profitable Bangkok operations (of which there's three) to see Fumo Manchester off to a winning start.
This guy cooks like he stares, brilliantly. San Carlo's signature pigeon pate with black truffle and lightly oiled, slightly toasted bread, rich and smooth to taste, had us sticking digits in the jar. The tuna with fennel mousse too had been treated with flair while a plait of beautifully milky-white mozzarella sat in the middle of the table like a centrepiece; creamy, fresh, proud and as plump as a fat lady's sock.
Pigeon Pate
Tuna with fennel mousse
They're not messing about with drinks either. Journeyman Manchester bartender Jamie Jones - recently voted the World's Best Ever Gin Bartender (or something) - has been drafted in to buoy the bar element and has created over thirty original cocktails for the Fumo menu.
More so than any previous San Carlo, they're focussing on the late and wet trade as much as the food. At least, that's what the £50,000 sound system and 2am Friday and Saturday licence would suggest.
Fumo cocktail
Alessandro Distefano (son of founder Carlo Distefano and brother of MD Marcello), who'll be overseeing the day-to-day running of Fumo, told Confidential as we tugged at the pigeon pate pot: "We want people to be able to use Fumo from breakfast until the early hours.
"We want our customers to enjoy the late lounge long after eating, to come even if they haven't been eating, take a stool at the huge bar and dive into our cocktails.
"We'll soon have our outdoor terrace finished and we're even looking to set up a San Carlo coffee station beneath the staircase in the lobby for your morning coffee and pastry. It's a real all-day and night operation."
It's ambitious too. But then, St Peter's Square has a spunk about it these days. And with San Carlo one of very few quality operators in this enlivened area of the city, Fumo will surely clean-up with the coming suits.
Follow @David8Blake on twitter.
San Carlo Fumo will open for seven days a week from breakfast until late.
For bookings contact: 0161 236 7344
Fumo Manchester, One St Peter’s Square, Oxford Street, M2 3DE.
Fumo's staircase, One St Peter's
Fumo cocktail
Ground and first floor
San Carlo Fumo: artist's impression of the terrace
