Flawd relaunches Higher Ground as restaurant in Chinatown

The Outside Of Higher Ground Restaurant In Chinatown Manchester

Davey Brett 10 October 2022

Joseph Otway will lead kitchen in Faulkner Street Bruntwood site

Rumours have been swirling for a while and now the goss is official. The team behind everyone’s favourite Ancoats Marina quaffing spot, Flawd, is launching a permanent restaurant. Joseph Otway’s Higher Ground, which originally launched as a pop-up, will get a permanent home on Faulkner Street in early 2023. The restaurant will take up a space in Bruntwood’s Faulkner House.

Higher Ground the permanent restaurant follows Higher Ground the pop-up

The restaurant will champion the finest in North West produce, using ingredients from the Flawd-affiliated Cinderwood Market Garden, as well as offering a wide selection of natural wines.

Wine On Sale At Flawd Ancoats Manchester — **Higher Ground will offer a trademark selection of wines akin to Flawd** Image: Confidentials

From pop-up to permanent

Higher Ground the permanent restaurant follows Higher Ground the pop-up which our reviewer Neil Sowerby praised very highly for its "parade of finely tuned, obviously evolving dishes". The original Joseph Otway-fronted project which ran for four months at Kampus in 2020 had to pivot to deliveries and then stop completely due to the pandemic, but more recently Otway, a former chef at Where The Light Gets In, has been cooking under the Flawd moniker to much acclaim.

The new permanent version of Higher Ground will see Flawd trio Joseph Otway, Daniel Craig Martin and Richard Cossins, who also run the Cheshire-based market garden, Cinderwood, team up for a chilled bistro restaurant. The venture bringing relaxed and comfortable neighbourhood dining to the corner of New York Street and Faulkner Street.

Faulkner House Stairs Future Home To Higher Ground Manchester By Jody Hartley — **A sneak peak from Faulkner House** Image: Jody Hartley

The three originally met whilst working at Blue Hill Farm in upstate New York, with the team’s shared experience also spanning NOMA (Martin) and Simon Rogan’s Roganic (Cossins).

The news also follows a glowing review of Flawd by The Times critic Marina O’Loughlin. Confidentials meanwhile described Flawd as "the Jason Donovan of dreamy dinners", praising the wine bar’s use of local ingredients for it “pristinely dressed” food.

Faulkner House Future Home To Higher Ground Manchester By Jody Hartley — **Walk into a world of fine produce and great cooking** Image: Jody Hartley

Sharing menus and affordable prices

Work is now underway on the 3000 sq ft, 50 cover Higher Ground site with the restaurant set to open in February 2023. An a la carte offering will be available as well as a daily menu for diners to share. The team told Big Hospitality that the set sharing menu will cost around £45 for five to six courses.

Charlotte Wild, Head of Retail and Leisure at Bruntwood Works said:

"We're thrilled to be welcoming Higher Ground to the city centre. Richard and his team have built a solid reputation for providing extraordinary food and drink experiences all over the world as well as via their popup incarnations in Manchester, and we're delighted that they have found a permanent home for their concept at Faulkner House. Their exceptional expertise and commitment to seasonal produce will bring very something special to this part of the city."

Higher Ground, Faulkner House, Faulkner St, Manchester M1 4DY

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