Yes there's more...
A moving vegetarian, a dazzling cafe and a celebrity hula bar - restaurant and bar news is never boring in this town. Here are the latest eating and drinking spots to open their doors this month...
Mackie Mayor
Where: Swan Street, Northern Quarter
When: softly from Oct 17
Having originally announced a September opening date for the Mackie Mayor, it seems the team who brought you Altrincham Market House were perhaps a little previous. Hey ho, turning an old meat market into a contemporary, two-storey, 400-capacity food market is no easy undertaking. Bench-style seating will be surrounded by various units selling produce, street food, coffee and booze, with traders including: Fin Fish Bar (run by Alty market’s Tender Cow), Little Window (from the people behind Honest Crust Pizza), Black Jack Brewery, Reserve Wines, Wolfhouse Kitchen and French rotisserie chicken specialists Nationale 7.
1847
Where: Chapel Walks
When: Now
Opened in 2010, this veggie bistro recently closed in its branch on the corner of Mosley Street and Booth Street following some bother with the landlord. No matter, because the meat-free wonders are back, this time on Chapel Walks, with a brand new 80-cover restaurant and bar space. Expect seasonal starters such as duck egg with filo pastry, goat’s cheese, truffle and tomato consommé, followed by main courses like a trio of cauliflower with dates, preserved lemons, cashew dukka, mint and rose harrisa. They're also doing a halloumi-take on fish & chips with, er, 'lemon air' (because lemon juice ain't veggie enough).
Dazzling Café
Where: Mosley Street
When: sometime this month
Apparently, when this fluffy café opened in Taiwan and Singapore, there were queues of people snaking out of the door, thanks to their signature kitsch design and photo-ready patisserie. The hoardings of Manchester’s Dazzling Café – the first European branch of the Asian chain - are expected to come down any day now, to reveal a smart new glass-fronted café decked out in pastel colours with rabbit eared chairs (more Alice in Wonderland than Playboy) and fresh flowers. The menu will include signature dishes like the Instagram-happy honey brioche toast and various other whipped cream and fruit bedecked cakes.
Midland Bar & Lounge
Where: Peter Street
When: Now
The grand old dame of Manchester hotels has jazzed up its lounge and cocktail bar, with a £500k art-deco refurb and a splash of teal-coloured paint (is that a hint of Tory Party Conference blue?). With a menu of classic cocktails and toothsome bar snacks, including the wonderful ox cheek and blue cheese croquettes (we've been back three times) and a 'famous fish pie', The Midland has once again upped the city's hotel bar game.
Tinto
Where: Wilmslow Road, Didsbury Village (in the old Chalk site)
When: October 4
Brand new Spanish-run tapas bar from the co-founder of Tapeo and Wine on Deansgate. The restaurant and bar will specialise in cooking over an open coal or wood fire oven and serve a range of typical fish, seafood, meat and vegetable tapas dishes as well as Valencian sharing paellas. Dishes to share (or not) from Tinto’s charcoal oven include 45 day-aged rib of beef from ten year old Galician Blonde cattle, slow roasted Menorcan milk fed lamb shoulder or whole fish such as turbot or seabass. A quote from their website reads: 'long summer afternoons overlooking the Mediterranean Sea... mothers, grandmothers and great aunts bickering over great grandmother's recipe... children running around... a perfect paella with a glass or two of wine.' We'll have a bit of that.
Dog and Partridge
Where: Wilmslow Road, Didsbury
When: October 7
This local boozer has been revamped by new pub company, Pilling and Pride, who are harking back to the original idea of a Free House providing all things to all people; mums with kids, freelancers with laptops, keen supporters of televised sport etc. The Pilling is Steve Pilling, the experienced Manchester restaurateur behind Damson in Heaton Moor (now converted into Roost and La Cantina), the Dockyard pubs and various other establishments. His new business partner is Angus Pride, a restaurant consultant who has experience at Gaucho and Living Ventures. The ‘new generation’ pub will offer 'terroir-inspired craft ales, fine wines, coffee, pastries and cocktails', alongside simple, hearty pub grub.
Store Street Exchange
Where: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Piccadilly
When: Now
Located in a prime spot, right across the bridge from Piccadilly train station, this new all day hotel restaurant and bar - decked out de rigeur in faux brick, wood panelling and dangly filament bulbs - has been inspired by the area's fascinating history as a transport hub (which is presumably why there's a picture of a train on the wall). The grill and rotisserie are the thing here, with corn-fed Goosnargh birds from Lancashire-based Johnson and Swarbrick, steaks courtesy of Aubrey Allen (who also supply Buckingham Palace, don't you know) and seafood from the trusty hand of Mr Neve in Fleetwood. Small plates, of course, are a thing too, with usual suspects such as craft calamari, craft chorizo and craft koftas supplying ballast in the Craft Bar.
Mahiki
Where: Central Street
When: from October 1
If you like sipping flaming £12 Zombies out of a green skull next to hand-carved totem poles, then your luck is in, because Manchester United men Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs have brought London's late night tiki bar and club, Mahiki, to Manchester (in the old One Central site). The success of the London bar – a favourite of Prince Harry and One Direction – has lead the footballers-turned-property moguls to open a branch on Central Street near Albert Square, close to their proposed St Michael's scheme. Inside, the Lanai Lounge it's all bamboo furniture, oriental tiles and tropical wallpaper with a Pan-Asian menu of sushi, sashimi and wagyu beef. The dance floor in the adjoining late night Aloha Party Room is expected to be packed out until the early hours - and the door-men are supposedly the best dressed in Manchester.
Alston Bar & Beef
Where: Corn Exchange
When: by the end of October
The latest addition to the Corn Exchange food and drink offering promises the UK’s ‘highest quality’ beef and ‘a selection of the world’s finest gins’. The original branch opened in 2014 under Glasgow’s Central Station and this will be the brand’s second and its first on English soil. Their trademark is steaks sourced from the Tweed Valley, which they say are 'selected from the top 1% of Scottish beef' and available nowhere else in Manchester. Confidential is looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against the likes of Hawksmoor and Blackhouse. Mother’s ruin is another speciality, with an initial selection of 58 gins both local and international. Local brands will include Manchester Three Rivers and Manchester Gin, while a selection of ‘bespoke gin-infusions’ will also be on offer using botanicals foraged from the Manchester area.
