TRENDY London-based Lebanese restaurant group, Comptoir Libanais, are close to signing a deal for a site in Spinningfields, according to Allied London and Spinningfields CEO, Mike Ingall.
If agreed, Comptoir will occupy the former Brooks Brothers unit next door to Thaikhun on The Avenue.
"London is coming to Manchester, but not as before, not to just roll-out chains but to give original and varied cuisine of the highest quality."
Levant Restaurants Group - which also runs Levant, Kenza and Pasha restaurants in London - operates eleven Comptoirs in the South East, including eight highly-successful and hugely popular restaurants in London, and one in Kent, Surrey and Herefordshire.
The Comptoir concept - billed as a fast introduction to Middle Eastern cuisine - is based on fast, fresh and affordable Lebanese food served in bright, bustling and mod'ish surroundings.
Sharing and meze are the done thing at Comptoir, with dishes starting around the £4-£5 mark; expect hummus, tabbouleh, falafel and baba ganoush to be pouring from your ears. Three courses for £10-£12 is doable.
Comptoir Libanais
Comptoir will be the latest in a stream of big-name London brands jostling for the Manchester pound; Hawksmoor, of course, have just opened on Deansgate, while Iberica, Wahaca and Burger & Lobster will all open in the city this year. That's not to mention Busaba Eathai, Shake Shack, Meat Liquor, Hakkasan and even Hooters, who are all said to be eyeing up potential sites in Manchester.
Confidential pinned Ingall down in the crucible of all Manchester’s new business deals, Caffeine & Co on the ground floor of Old Granada Studios HQ Building (soon to be the Manchester Grande hotel), after some hard pressing he told us:
"We can confirm we're holding detailed talks with Comptoir Libanais and are very excited about what they can bring to Manchester.
"There are certain London independents where the management is dedicated to their brand and their business, where the concept is genuine and a product of the people behind it.
Comptoir Libanais - Bluewater
"Take Fazenda and Thaikhun for example, these are both operations where the owners are doing something because they created it, own it and are passionate and dedicated to it.
"I think Iberica, Hawksmoor and now Comptoir are the same; home grown concepts from owners passionate for the food they prepare, craft and offer.
"Comptoir is to Lebanese food what Iberica is to Spanish, it's not a run out concept but a genuine, original and organically grown restaurant. As you'd imagine, Comptoir are from the country of origin, as Fazenda are to Brazil and Argentina and Iberica to Spain.
"London is coming to Manchester, but not as before, not to just roll-out chains but to give original and varied cuisine of the highest quality."
Comptoir is the latest in a spate of big name signings for Ingall and Spinningfields; Highly-respected Manchester restaurateur Steve Pilling is about to begin work on a new Dockyard in Left Bank, acclaimed chef David Gale will launch a new restaurant in Spinningfields this year, as will Scene Indian and Tattu, while food start-up business initiative, Spinningfields Kitchens, will give small-fry traders the chance to make a go of it on the River Irwell.
Not forgetting Spinningfields long-time lover, Living Ventures, who will double the size of their unyielding Alchemist cocktail bar and expand Artisan with a further ground-level bar and an upstairs cinema-bar - operated by indie art-house specialists Curzon.
Spinningfields - The Avenue
As you'd expect, Ingall is pumped.
"What we're doing on the river is going to be powerful. Scene, Manchester's first Indian street food emporium, and again, another original, and Steve Pilling's Dockyard is going to smash it there as a genuine gastropub, again run and managed by its owners, not a PE (private equity) in sight. Long may it last.
The deluge of new bars and restaurants are well-timed. Over the next two years the nineteen storey No.1 Spinningfields and the nine-storey Cotton Building will shoot up in the business district, adding a combined total of nearly half a million square foot of new office space.
That's a whole load of hungry office workers.
