In this edition: new openings, a galactic feast and a horse man
TATTU CREW FOR NQ?
(30/06) Confidential hears the brothers behind sumptuous Asian-inspired Spinningfields bar-restaurant, Tattu, are eyeing up a site in Northern Quarter. Adam and Drew Jones, who also hold a stake in city centre pizza and hotdog cave, Dogs’n’Dough, have applied for a premises licence for the ground floor and basement of Cheetwood House on Newton Street – currently home to Mr Beardmore’s barbers, Fan Boy 3 games store and soon to be home of Idle Hands coffeehouse. Proposed opening hours for the new venue are Monday to Sunday 8am to 2.30am.
The new bar/restaurant/whatever will be in good company, as the focus of Northern Quarter's food and drink scene continues to shift towards the empty units of Back Piccadilly, recent months have seen the likes of Cottonopolis and Alabama's pop-up along Newton Street, joining the cluster of new venues which have conquered Stevenson Square the red-brick warehouses of Tariff Street in recent few years.
Cheetwood House, Newton Street
FROM NAPLES TO NORDEN
(30/09) Meanwhile, Salvi’s owner Maurizio Cecco has now fully opened his new ‘Osteria’ in his adopted hometown of Rochdale, on the site of the old Norden Arms pub on Edenfield Road. In Italy, a traditional Osteria was a place for old blokes to gather, play cards and glug plonk. Nowadays, though, an Osteria has come to mean a casual, rustic place serving good wine and homespun grub. Though we’re not convinced of the rusticity of its slick aperitivo bar, leather banquettes and copper fixtures, there’s never any doubting the pedigree of Salvi's dishes – made using the simple Southern Italian cooking style learned from Maurizio’s mother, Teresa... not that Mother Teresa. The Norden Arms, 539 Edenfield Road, Rochdale OL11 5XH.
Salvi's Osteria, Norden
NEIGHBOURWAD
(30/06) East Coast Concepts, the company behind celeb-haunts Victor’s in Hale and Neighbourhood in Spinningfields – which has just undergone a £1m makeover - has secured a multi million pound injection of development capital from Manchester-based private equity firm NorthEdge. The investment has given owner James Hitchen the green light to continue to roll out the brands across the UK, starting with the launch of a new Neighbourhood in Liverpool later this year. Hitchen said the deal would give them the “firepower to become one of the best premium casual dining brands in the UK.”
Neighbourhood following their £1m facelift
AND STRAIGHT IN AT NUMBER...
(29/06) The National Restaurant Awards top 100, compiled by Restaurant Magazine, has just been announced and eight North West restaurants made this year’s UK-wide list.
Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in Cumbria was placed at number 8, while his restaurant at The Midland Hotel, The French, was put in 79th position, below Aiden Byrne’s Manchester House, which climbed significantly from last year’s number 98 to a respectable 50th place.
El Gato Negro (pictured) jumped straight into the list at no 81, joined by another newcomer to the list, The Parkers Arms at Newton In Bowland, which made it to 88th. Restaurant Fraiche in The Wirral was placed at no 65 while Sticky Walnut in Chester, slipped down 44 places from last year’s list to number 74.
Lake Road Kitchen in Ambleside picked up the Highest Climber Award after moving up a whopping 62 places from last year, to 15th place.
El Gato Negro
EAT CLEAN
(29/06) We hear the folks behind Chorlton café-bar The Laundrette and Chorlton Green Brasserie (reviewed here) are ready to plug Manchester's dearth of pizzas, burgers and cocktails with a site within the new £500m First Street development - adjacent to the Vita Student building and close to the new £25m arts complex, HOME. The self-styled ‘cocktails and carbs’ joint – which first opened within the former Soap Opera laundrette on Beech Road in 2013 – should launch in First Street sometime this autumn, subject to planning. Now students paying up to £12k a year for their Vita digs opposite can look forward to forking out £12 for a Triple Truffle Burger.
The Laundrette will soon spin into First Street
SAUSAGE PUSHERS TRIUMPH
(28/06) Twelve months, ten traders and hundreds of little piggy wigs later, one of the city's most popular purveyors of pork, Bangers & Bacon, have been crowned victors of The Kitchens in Spinningfields – a start-up project which saw some of the region’s most entrepreneurial street foodsters take over a counter in Leftbank and battle it out for the opportunity to win a permanent and highly lucrative unit in Spinningfields.
James Taylor, Heather Taylor and Richard Brown (aka The Butcher, The Baker and The Noise-Maker) will now take full control of their unit on Leftbank’s Garden-That-Never-Was, with plans to convert the space into a full service restaurant called Beast Row, specialising in swine, steak and cluckers. And it's no more than these sausage-pushers deserve. Well done.
Bangers
FLASH BANG WALLOP
(28/06) As mentioned below, the First Floor Bar of Cane & Grain, twice nominated for Manchester Food & Drink Festival Award’s ‘Bar of the Year’, has undergone a rebrand. Science and Industry, as it shall hence be called, now boasts its own back room laboratory and resident wacky professor Massimo Zitti, whose trailblazing concoctions have won him numerous international boozey awards. Confidential went down this week for a snoop around…
FIRST LOOK | Science & Industry @ Cane & Grain from Manchester Confidential on Vimeo.
VERO 4 VIMTO
(28/06) Salut to Salford as it welcomes its latest restaurant and deli venture, Vero Moderno, which fully opened this week. Based on Chapel Street, the new restaurant offers top quality Italian food, including antipasti, home-made pasta, rustic Italian cooking and speciality pizza, using homemade dough that has been proved for 24-hours to make it extra light and crispy.
The restaurant will be open 7 days a week, from 11am to 11pm for the bar and deli, and 12am to 11 pm for the restaurant. All dishes will be available to eat-in or take-away.
The new restaurant is housed in one of four commercial units in the Vimto Gardens development which includes 96 apartments. Owner Giuseppe Piccoli, who lives on Chapel Street himself, believes that Vero Moderno will encourage even more regeneration in the local area.
Vero Moderno has opened in Vimto Gardens on Chapel Street
AYE AYE, MY THAI
(28/06) Anyone walking past what was, until very recently, Splendid Kitchen at the top of John Dalton Street, might be shocked to see that in the merest blink of an eye, it has already been replaced by My Thai.
We haven’t been along to see the depth of change yet, but the speedy turnover is quite remarkable in this era of six-month multi-million pound fit-outs. My Thai is a new informal street food franchise, hailing from Bradford, which already has plans to open another smaller branch - focusing on vegetarian and fish dishes - in the Northern Quarter, this autumn.
My Thai has already opened in the former Splendid Kitchen
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
(27/06) Ooh la lah. Over the coming week, patriarch of leading chefs, Raymond Blanc will open not one but deux brand new venues in Cheshire; The Oakwood in Alderley Edge and Brasserie Blanc in Knutsford, taking over sites previously owned by Loch Fyne. The Oakwood on Brook Lane, will be part of The White Company of eleven gastropubs delivering a combination of traditional English pub and French Brasserie, while the Knutsford venue will be more of an all day eating and drinking hub inspired by Raymond’s mother's cooking. It’s nice to see the Europeans working together for a common goal – especially when that goal is based around eating and drinking.
Raymond Blanc has opened deux new venues in Cheshire
MFDF AWARDS
(24/06) The shortlist of nominees for the 2016 Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards have been announced, with newcomers El Gato Negro, Albert's Schloss and Cafe Beermoth in amongst bankable MFDF faves such as The French, Manchester House and Salvi's. There are seventeen categories this year, including five new awards such as 'Casual Restaurant of the Year' and 'Craft Ale Bar of the Year' (which should help to shift a few more tables). This year's most tasty contest will see the unstoppable Schloss face off against indie-pleaser Rudy's Pizza, King Street saviour El Gato Negro and Northern Quarter surprise Evelyn's for Best Newcomer. More here.
Rudy's Pizza
HUBBLE & SQUEAK
(24/06) Elsewhere, past MFDF award winning chef Aiden Byrne has been confirmed as the foodie headliner of BlueDot festival - a brand-new festival of live music, science, technology, culture, food, film and the arts hitting Jodrell Bank this July. The 'genius' (slow down) behind restaurants Manchester House and The Church Green and his crew of 'culinary rocketeers' (eh?) are to host the 'Restaurant at the End of the Universe' beneath the observatory's majestic Lovell telescope, delivering a 'stratospheric' (cor) seven course menu inspired by 'intergalactic travel and exploration' (blimey). At £69 a head we're guessing that means more than a bag of Space Invaders and a Milky Way. Hubble and Squeak perhaps, or a Big Bang Bang Chicken Salad? More info here.
Bluedot
ARNDALE FOOD HUB
(23/06) Well, it’s about time. After watching pockets of quality dining destinations spring up around Manchester city centre for years, The Arndale Centre seems to have finally got its finger out and decided to invest £11m on a brand new food hub.
The redevelopment of the newly rebranded Halle Place will take two years to finish and will encompass the ground floor of the existing 25,000 sq ft Halle Square (the Build-A-Bear square) with new escalators linking it to the upper level. Once complete, it will also offer al fresco-style dining outside all the restaurants.
The new hub will feature 10 restaurant units and space for a café on the ground floor in the middle of the atrium which will feature a suspended public art centrepiece in the centre of its open double-height atrium area.
Explaining the move, Arndale Centre owners M&G Real Estate, said that they “saw a significant opportunity to invest in improving Manchester Arndale's dining provision to complement the retail mix” with the intention of providing shoppers with a 'whole-day' destination.
The newly rebranded Halle Place
NU-SHI SUSHI
(23/06) Nudo Sushi Box, the small restaurant and takeaway chain will be moving into what was The Apprentice Shop on Mosley Street near Piccadilly Gardens on July 1. Established in Newcastle in 2013, Nudo Sushi Box now has six shops around the North East and this will be the third in Manchester after its Oxford Street and Spinningfields outlets.
Nudo’s aim is to make sushi an affordable everyday meal option, instead of a rare luxury. The menu features nigiri boxes in a variety of sizes, sashimi selections, futomaki, as well as sides and hot dishes for under £6. To celebrate the launch, they will be given away a free miso soup with every in-store transaction until July 5. Gone are the days of the curled up cheese sandwich and watery chicken cup-a-soup, these days, it’s all about the sushi.
Sushi rolls are the new sausage rolls
BAGEL BOYS
(22/06) We see MediaCityUK has a new indie food outlet in Manchester-based bagel pushers, Eat New York, sorry, EAT NEW YORK. Having gone down a storm amongst the storm at this year’s Parklife festival, the newly formed collective will be serving up their signature salt beef bagels and sour dough pretzels from their big, yellow, NY-taxi themed van on The Splat outside The Greenhouse – joining The Hip Hop Chip Shop and Bombay Dabbawala - from Monday to Friday from Wednesday 22 June.
Eat New York will pitch up outside The Greenhouse in MediaCityUK
BEAT IT
(22/06) Busy boys these ENY lot. Not content with their new pitch at MediaCityUK, they've also been announced as one of six traders to take control of a micro-diner at the ambitious new Beat Street, sorry BEAT STREET project at Great Northern Warehouse, which will see a jumble of new bars, diners, arts spaces, sun decks and 'weird s**t' take over Deansgate Mews from next month. Eat New York will be joined by the ‘fresh prince of grilled cheese’, Big Grillie Style; Bart’s Dog Kart, serving the ‘tastiest hot dogs and nachos in town’; Indonesian street foodsters, Bali Beach Hut; Indian Street Canteen from the folks behind popular Indian street food trader, Chaat Cart; Dutch diner, Lekker; and Jamaican BBQ outfit Jerk. BEAT STREET opens on Friday 15 July.
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BEAT STREET will launch at the Great Northern from 15 July
...TOWARDS THE LIGHT
(22/06) Amongst all the new restaurant noise, Confidential has happened across a new project that could be very special indeed. ‘Where The Light Gets In’ is a new restaurant-to-be by Chef Samuel Buckley - an understated former understudy to the likes of Gary Rhodes, Paul Kitching and Simon Rogan – located opposite the old market hall in Stockport.
Buckley is building the 25-cover restaurant from scratch, from the kitchen to the pot wash, and told Confidential’s Deanna Thomas he’d be showcasing predominantly local ingredients and alternative cooking techniques. “The main reason we chose a site a little out of the way of the burgeoning Manchester food scene is because we wanted somewhere quiet where we could work on our craft,” said Buckley, “where we have the space to grow and evolve without being affected by city centre trends of over saturation.” We like him a lot. Read more here.
Buckley (left) is also helping out with The Pilcrow project (image credit: Dima Kalenda)
HEY STUD...
(21/06) Oddfellows, Chester’s whimsical, design-led fairytale hotel and restaurant, is planning to open a similar outpost in Cheadle, at the beginning of December, in Bruntwood Hall on Bruntwood Park. The boutique hotel will have 22 bedrooms and the restaurant at Oddfellows on the Park, ‘The Galloping Major’ will still be quirky, but more Victorian Gothic quirky, in-keeping with the building. It’s quite possible that they may have taken the equine theme too far, by including a ‘Bridle Suite’ and naming the bar ‘The Stud Room’ – yes, you heard, we had to read it a few times to be sure.
The new Head Chef will be Daniel Beech, who worked under Simon Radley (who was quite possibly riding him hard in the kitchen at the time) at the Michelin starred Chester Grosvenor. Here is a photo of him with some lad. You’d have thought he’d be happy leading the brigade at this new fancy restaurant, so why the long face?
'Which way to the Tesco abattoir?'
IS IT A BIRD? NO IT'S JUST A NUTTER...
(21/06) Local loony chef and Rochdale Man of the Year, Andrew Nutter, made a typically inconspicuous arrival to the launch bash of his new Lancashire gastropub, The Bird at Birtle, on Monday, shaking his wand (or was that a key?) over 150 party-goers as he whirled overhead in a chopper. Never mind that, the award-winning proprietor of perhaps the region’s busiest restaurant, Nutter’s, was handed the keys to the knackered old Bird I’th Hand by his indefatigable parents, Rod and Jean, as a Christmas gift back in 2014. Now, following an extensive £1m makeover boasting enviable views across Ashworth Moor, The Bird is ready to fly, serving modern British pub grub cooked with flair alongside local ales and an impressive wine list. You can find The Bird at Birtle at 239 Bury and Rochdale Old Road, Birtle, OL10 4BQ.
The Bird at Birtle is now open
MY OH MY, MORE THAI
(21/06) Whilst the term ‘Thai Street Food’ is now being prescribed by doctors to cure insomnia, we’ve had word of a new easy breezy gaff serving ‘Bangkok-style’ street fare opening in Manchester this week. My Thai, which runs operations in Leeds, Bradford and York, have snapped up the site left by the recently departed Splendid Kitchen on John Dalton Street. All My Thai menus differ for each site, though we can expect to see Thai classics such as fish cakes, Pad Thai and green curries alongside dishes such as Tuk Tuk Pad Kee Mow and Doo Dee Tom Yum (yes we did pick the funny ones). My Thai will supposedly opens as soon as Friday 24 July.
My Thai will take over the old Splendid Kitchen site
PRESTWICH RISING
(20/06) When ManCon writer Deanna Thomas was growing up in Prestwich village, the best place to drink was in The Clough with a bottle of Moscow Mule and gastronomic delights never rose above a trip to The Charcoal Pit. Now the place is positively heaving with decent hangouts like Cuckoo, All The Shapes and Solita, whose new neighbour on the opposite corner of Church Lane, is Grape to Grain, a bar and bottle shop.
Co-owner Tom Sneesby is one half of The Liquorists who specialise in quality boozy tours and knows a thing or two about mixing your drinks. He has now set down roots together with the impressively monikered Joannes Hubertus van Goethem (who less impressively answers to the name of Barry.) This will be a place to worship high end spirits, quality beers, well concocted cocktails and excellent wines together with patters to pick at.
Grape to Grain, Church Lane
WORLD BEATERS
(20/06) We thought it might be worth mentioning that since Albert’s Schloss (main image) opened its doors last October, it has sold an unbelievable 150,000 pints of freshly brewed, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell Tank Bier. Over eight months, that equates to 19,000 per month or 625 pints per day (just over twice what our Neil Sowerby and Jonathan Schofield can get through in a typical lunchtime.)
They even have a special ‘Tapster Chapster’, Jan Stanik, from the Pilsner Urquell brewery, who visits them for one week every month from the small Czech town of Plzeň, to make sure that they’re looking after the beer that fills their four 900 pint copper tanks. This makes Manchester one of the world’s biggest consumers of Pilsner Urquell from anywhere else outside of the Czech Republic/Bohemia. We have now out-drunk all other Tankovnas (Tank Beer Bars) the world over by a considerable margin, including bars in New York and London. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this corresponds with a local upturn in sales of Gaviscon and Paracetamol.
One of four 900 pint copper tanks
BEST IN BEER
(20/06) Speaking of our beer correspondent, Mr Sozzledberry has produced a list of his ten favourite craft beer bars in Greater Manchester, to follow the ten best Manchester brew taps published last month. Taking in the likes of The Beagle in Chorlton, Saison in Didsbury, Heaton Hops in Stockport, Jack in the Box in Alty Market Hall and a handful of city centre venues, Sowerby’s is a very merry 30 mile bar hop indeed. Best designate a driver, mind.
The new Cafe Beermoth makes Sowerby's Top 10
RUGBY STARS SCORE CONVERSION
(17/06) Popular city centre coffee shop PKB has now reopened following a refurbishment and an expansion into what was Tracy’s sandwich shop next door. To celebrate having more space in the general kitchen area, plus room for an extra twenty covers, they have jumped on the current brunch bandwagon and launched a new menu.
Apparently, during his down time, the chef went travelling and has returned inspired enough to create dishes such as baked eggs and tomato accompanied by nduja sausage, smoked mozzarella, pecorino and sourdough. We reckon he went to Italy then.
We also noticed that every Tuesday and Thursday morning, rugby star owners, Jon Wilkin and Mark Flanagan, run 'PKBlast', a high intensity fitness session before breakfast. Just ask for the beef cake.
PKB
SSHHH...
(17/06) Northern Quarter Restaurant and Bar Cane and Grain are set to open a SECRET, HIDDEN BAR which we've been asked ABSOLUTELY NOT TO MENTION to our hundreds of thousands of weekly readers.
Their first floor bar is soon to be rebranded as ‘Science & Industry’ which will have its own back room laboratory which chief mixologist Massimo Zitti will be using to distil, filter and crystallise various alcoholic potions with the help of folks from the University of Manchester. Apparently Massi has concocted a range of edible perfumes which he sprays around the rims of glasses in order to not just create a cocktail, but a 'whole sensory experience'. Just don't get the wrong impression when he invites you to sniff his rim. Apologies for the confusion mate.
Science and Industry
LOOK. GUERRILLA. DON'T SHOOT...
(16/06) Obviously for us, every day is Manchester Day, but this year the officially recognised city centre one-day festival and parade will be on Sunday 19th June. Each Square; Albert, St Ann’s Square, Great Northern and Exchange will be home to a variety of popular locally owned street food vendors organised by Guerrilla Eats.
From South East Asia to Portugal and New York, delicious tastes from across the globe will fill the Manchester air with a bevy of gourmet street foods. To whet your whistle, pop-up bars in the squares will be serving high quality drinks. We’d just like to know where we can pick up an Eccles Cake and a mug of warm Vimto for a true taste of Manchester.
Guerrilla Eats
LA, DUBAI, ALTY
(16/06) We've had wind of a new luxurious cocktail bar and lounge situated in ‘an affluent suburb of Cheshire’, they mean Altrincham. Aurous 79 describes itself as 'a pleasant mixture between a social club and entertainment venue inspired by the exquisite lounges in the city of Los Angeles and the rooftop terrace bars in Dubai.' If you like black and gold furnishings and sheesha pipes, then you’re in for a treat. Meanwhile, out in Dubai, they're looking to open a sister venue to Aurous, inspired by the smug, self-satisfied, militantly independent, yummy-mummy market halls of Altrincham. They're calling it Areola.
Aurous
PASS THE NAPKIN
(15/06) We found this tweet from Alchemist, extolling the virtues of its Screwball Cocktail, very odd. They’ve artfully photographed the blue-hued beverage outside on their terrace with two dollops of sugar sprinkle-encrusted ice cream slapped next to it on the table. Now we’ve been known to pick the hairs off an old Malteser discovered from under the sofa, but you’ll never find us licking frozen dairy produce off a table. Not in public anyway.
Mmmm
DOFF YOUR CAP
(15/06) We usually use food and booze news to let you know about new restaurant openings, but we felt we should remove our caps and take a moment to mourn the recent passing of four Manchester restaurants; Quill, Khan Ba Ba, Splendid Kitchen and Grinch. Let this be a sober message to all of us (especially those who queue up at Greggs every day) if you want this city to support independent restaurants and bars, use them or lose them.
Splendid Kitchen is a goner
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