Japanese and Brazilian culinary techniques will be fused in the Spinningfields unit
Japanese fusion is a bit of a wavering trend in Manchester.
At Peter Street Kitchen, there’s a Japanese-Mexican hybrid menu. Chotto Matte which is due to open - though not til 2024 - on top of Gary Neville’s new gaff splices Japanese with Peruvian - the same Nikkei concept as the now sadly closed Shoku.
OKitchen in Didsbury serves both Japanese and Korean food, perhaps more predictable bedfellows given the countries’ interwoven history. There was even a Japanese tapas joint, Tapeo Supra in Didsbury which did wagyu croquetas in panko breadcrumbs - although that appears to have closed too.
Artisan’s unit has sat empty since 2018 so it’s promising news that a new restaurant is coming
Brazilian food has never been massively represented in Manchester, with just a few meat-focused restaurants of varying standards flying the flag until Caroline Martins arrived like a tornado of surrealist ideas with bags of guava, cassava and catuaba under her arms.
But Japanese-Brazilian, you say? That’s a new one for us.
According to Place North West, Sakku Samba is planning to bring just this to Manchester’s Spinningfields area in June 2022. Serial restaurateur Zack Isaak will fuse together two concepts from the main players in his (mostly Yorkshire based) restaurant empire.
Brazil meets Japan
The Brazilian rodizio-style Estábulo is like Bem Brazil gone even more large while the Japanese restaurant Sakku that opened in 2021 is a bit like the Leeds version of Tattu. Both restaurants run an “unlimited dining” approach so we are going to hedge our bets that Sakku Samba will have a similar all-you-can-eat approach. They also both have decor heavy on the artificial blossoms and foliage so we can expect "Instagrammable" interiors and no doubt cocktails too. Isaak’s double-figure portfolio of restaurants also includes Fleur Cafe in Leeds.
A new tenant for Artisan's vacant spot on The Avenue
Cast your mind back to the heady days of 2013, pre-the Ancoats foodie revolution, when Spinningfields was the place to be and Living Ventures had the monopoly. Artisan moved into a 12000ft space on The Avenue with the capacity to serve nearly 300 diners. It was buzzy and popular with a people-pleasing menu. Five years later in 2018 both Artisan and its fancy neighbour upstairs closed their doors blaming “difficulties in the dining” sector and “a faulty lift” - they had probably never even considered the prospect of navigating a global pandemic.
Artisan’s unit has sat empty since then so it’s promising news that a new restaurant is coming and Sakku Samba seems to have the kind of ingredients that the Spinningfields crowd will love. With Fazenda around the corner, is there room for two rodizios though?
Either way, the new openings keep coming thick and fast, hopefully a sign that Manchester’s allure is still strong for investors. We’ll reserve judgement on how well the two concepts knit together til we’ve been in and tried it for ourselves.
Sakku Samba, Avenue North, 18-22 Bridge St, Manchester M3 3BZ
(Header images: Sakku and Estabula)
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