Restaurants come and go but Rosso will always be Manchester’s luxe destination

Rosso is a Manchester institution. It takes more than lockdown to topple this place from its position as the numero uno of places to see and be seen. There is nowhere more thrillingly glamorous – from the breath-takingly ornate Grade II listed architecture to the carefully-coiffed beautiful people who go there, Rosso is a place that’s full of old-world Hollywood glamour, or perhaps Venetian grandeur would be more apt given its exquisite Italian food. And after an interior enhancement, Rosso is more elegant than ever.

For all its elegance, there is a real warmth and sense of traditional Italian hospitality. The staff are flawless and every visit feels like a special occasion. If it feels like a special occasion, then it must be a special occasion. Mark it with a cocktail from the new menu – full of classics, refined, shaken and stirred to take standards to exquisite new heights. Rosso is like that – things that might at first seem simple have been so finely-honed, perfection seems effortless.

 The food at Rosso has never been better. It would be so easy for a place like this to rest on its laurels or let standards slip but they never do and that’s why Rosso remains the bar and restaurant other places aspire to. 

The food is a mix of exceptional pasta dishes such as pici with smoked lamb ragù and pickled fennel, ever-popular pizzas, expertly-handled fresh fish dishes like halibut with caponata and standout Italian classics like fillet steak Rossini. As for pudding, that’s too clod-hopping a word to describe the ethereal treats made by the best pastry chef in Manchester (according to Gordo). Dolci is the word the Italians use and it conveys the sense of fun and playfulness in banana crème brulée with breakfast milk beignets or a white chocolate sphere filled with passionfruit curd and just waiting to be smashed to pieces.

New bars and restaurants open all the time. Ancoats. The NQ. Don’t get us wrong, we love ‘em. But sometimes, you want to feel like you’re going out, like you’re really going out. Especially after months of Covid-related house arrest. Sometimes, you want the place you are going, to be more stylishly aspirational than your own home. After all, why have MDF when you can have marble?

Sometimes only Rosso will do.