FOLLOWING a £25m 'urban lifestyle’ overhaul, months of secrecy and a major armchair cull, The Refuge by Volta is finally welcoming punters into the glistening faience of The Palace Hotel on Oxford Road.
The vast, multi-faceted 10,000 sq ft space - featuring a 140-cover restaurant with open kitchen, a 40ft long lobby bar, leafy Winter Garden and den-cum-pool hall - is now open all day, serving small plates of lamb shawarma, salt cod croquettes and black daal (£4.50 - £9.50), alongside larger plates of stuffed sea bass, lamb chops and blackened broccoli (£10.50 - £22), as well as coffee, ale, wine, cocktails, afternoon tea, sunday roasts, foot massages, tiling, topiary and kitchen sinks.
Curated by DJs-turned-restaurateurs, Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford (The Unabombers), co-owners of Electrik in Chorlton and the award-winning Volta in Didsbury, the duo are inviting the public to 'Come As You Are', meaning no airs, no graces and certainly no dress policy.
"People associate a grand hotel with getting dressed up to the bells, that's not what this place is about," says Crawford. "If you come sweaty from the gym, come for a working lunch or want to dress up a bit, that's fine.
"This is a let your hair down space, we don't want there to be any barriers to anybody, everybody is welcome, that's the way we've always done things at Volta, and we want to bring that to this big, opulent space."
The Refuge by Volta, Palace Hotel, Oxford St, Manchester M60 7HA. Tel: 0161 233 5151
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE... Gordo gets the first taste of The Refuge menu
Powered by Wakelet
