As of Monday 17 May Manchester will have officially entered ‘Step Three’ of the roadmap out of lockdown.
This means new rules permitting indoor drinking and dining for the first time in months, as well as the reopening of some long-shuttered local businesses like cinemas and museums.
For the roughly four in five Manchester hospitality businesses left unable to trade during the strict nationwide lockdowns, this is welcome news indeed.
The majority have been unable to open since before Christmas. Others have been closed for the best part of a year.
Lockdown saw us lose some real city centre gems, with casualties including city centre favourites Nexus Arts Cafe, Bock Biere, Teacup Kitchen, Lunya and Earth Cafe.
Now, with the next few months set to be pivotal for the success of many local hospitality businesses, we are at risk of losing more if they don’t get the support they need.
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So, as the city takes one more step back towards normality, we thought we’d put together a list of the places that will reopen for indoor drinking and dining from May 17.
Let’s go and show them some support.
This piece will be regularly updated as new information becomes available.
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Manchester bars and restaurants reopening the week commencing May 17:
Albert Square
Reds True BBQ Slug and Lettuce Speak In Code The Allotment Vegan Wood & Co. Armenian Taverna
Ancoats
Blue-Eyed Panda Second City Erst Jub Thai Street Urchin (Wednesday, 19th May) Sugo Viet Shack Cha-ology
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Bridge Street
Dishoom Mason’s Restaurant and Bar MOJO
Castlefield
Albert’s Shed The Wharf Cafe Istanbul Cibo The Wharf
Central
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American Pies The Bank Crown And Anchor Circle Tavern The Flying Monkey Annies San Carlo Bottega Browns The Bull & Bear Chish & Fips Harvey Nichols Second Floor Bar and Brasserie Mamucium The Restaurant, Bar and Kitchen Peru Perdu TGI Fridays Sam’s Chop House Three Little Words The Brotherhood of Pursuits and Pastimes City Arms
Chinatown
Little Yang Sing Phetphalin Teppanyaki Chinatown Yang Sing Yuzu The New Emperor Seven Oaks
Corn Exchange
Pizza Express Pho Vapiano
Deansgate
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Be At One Las Iguanas Slug and Lettuce The Knott Ark Bem Brasil San Carlo Cichetti Cloud 23 Dimitris Taverna Gaucho Hawksmoor La Vina Evuna Dirty Martini
First Street
Junkyard Golf Club Indian Tiffin Room HOME
Great Northern
Vesper cocktail bar James Martin Manchester Platzki Fat Hippo Siam Smiles Cafe
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King Street
Flight Club Grand Pacific Kala Rosso Honey at Gotham King Street Tavern
Northern Quarter
63 Degrees Allotment NQ The Abel Heywood Bem Brasil Band on the Wall Behind Closed Doors Bar 21 Castle Hotel CBRB Cottonopolis Dusk Til Pawn English Lounge Herd NQ Junior Jacksons NQ64 Noi Quattro 33 Oldham Street TNQ Restaurant & Bar The Lost Cat Night & Day Turtle Bay Restaurant & Bar SoLIta NQ Chakalaka (?) Ciaooo Pizzeria Pen and Pencil Penang Evelyn’s Cafe & Bar Ply Seed and Cherry Sicilian NQ
Oxford Road Turtle Bay Restaurant & Bar Joshua Brooks Dog Bowl Temple Bar One Plus Oishi Q Navarro Lounge The Refuge
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Peter Street
Asha’s Don Giovanni Don Marco Ezra & Gil The French at The Midland) Mount Street Dining Room and Bar at The Midland Peaky Blinders The Blues Kitchen Manchester (20th May) Peter Street Kitchen
Piccadilly
Brasserie Abode Bundobust Chez Mal Ducie Street Warehouse Franco Manca The Green Waldorf Hotel Escape to Freight Island
Printworks
Bierkeller Chiquito Frankie & Benny’s Hard Rock Cafe Nandos Wagamama Wasabi O’Neills Walkabout
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Shudehill
Lower Turks Head The Pasta Factory
Spinningfields
Fazenda Tattu BLVD
The Village
Jasmine Grill Habesha Arnero Napoleon’s bar and Chinese restaurant Yizhichuan Samsi
Food & Drink
Manchester’s viral sandwich shop Ad Maiora is selling HUGE butties for only 9p through Deliveroo
Daisy Jackson
Ad Maiora, the Italian sandwich shop that’s loved by Manchester City stars (and everyone else who’s sunk their teeth into one), is selling butties for only 9p this week.
The local business is famed for its authentic sandwiches filled with quality imported Italian ingredients, and for its super-sized versions of its delicious lunches.
And this week only, you’ll be able to pick up a hefty sandwich, called the Scran-wich, for only 9 English pence.
The limited-edition Schiacciata will have nine different components and weighs in at a whopping 500g (though it’s nothing on their 1kg beast we’ve tried before…)
Owners and couple Enrico and Daniela have spent weeks developing the perfect balance of flavours.
Each ingredient is sourced in Italy but inspired by places and sayings from Manchester.
So you’ll find spicy ‘supersonic’ salami, nowt better N’duja, mozzarella ‘footballs’, sliced Haçienda heritage tomatoes, ‘r kid Italian wild rocket, 0161 olives, lashings of mad fer it mayonnaise, ‘buzzing bee’ basil leaves and ‘let’s ave it’ red onions – all sandwiched between fresh homemade Scran-worthy Schiacciata bread.
The Scran-wich and its 9p sale have been created to celebrate Deliveroo’s ninth birthday, and there’ll be 300 available to order through Deliveroo.
Enrico and Daniela, owners of Ad Maiora, said: “We’ve had so much support from the local community since we launched, so we were very excited when Deliveroo asked us to create a special Ad Maiora sandwich dedicated to the city of Manchester in celebration of their 9th birthday.
“We hope our customers love the limited-edition ‘Scran-wich’ – we’ve really enjoyed creating a sandwich that celebrates our city which makes this SUPER limited edition and special!”
Steffi Morel, Deliveroo city manager for Manchester, said: “It has been an absolute honour connecting Manc foodies to the best local restaurants at the click of a button for the last nine years.
“To celebrate, we’ve partnered with one of Manchester’s new local favourites, Ad Maiora, who’ve created the ultimate birthday ‘Scran-wich’, which pays homage to the city with every delicious bite! Deliveroo customers will need to be quick, as there are only 300 available!”
Ad Maiora’s Scran-wich is available for just 9p from Tuesday 30 April until Thursday 2 May through Deliveroo.
Medlock Canteen receives rave Guardian review from Jay Rayner just one month after opening
Daisy Jackson
Medlock Canteen, a new Manchester restaurant, has received a rave review in the Guardian just weeks after it opened.
National critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise upon the restaurant at Deansgate Square, describing it as ‘so special’.
The restaurant only opened its doors at the end of March, taking its inspiration from opposite sides of the pond – the laid-back style of American diners and the hospitality of Parisian bistros.
Rayner said it’s ‘a welcome haven for all’ and applauded its menu packed with ‘appealing, familiar dishes that are the best versions of themselves’.
Medlock Canteen comes from the team behind Madre (the Mexican restaurant at Kampus) and Belzan (one of Liverpool’s top restaurants).
But unlike those two restaurants, things are much simpler at their newest venture – this is a restaurant where you can order a fried egg with any meal, drink bottomless coffee, and even order the day’s ‘staff dinner’ for just a tenner.
Rayner dedicated almost an entire paragraph of his review to Medlock Canteen’s gravy (‘dark and sticky and deeply savoury’), which he said is so good you should just ‘order that and pour it over everything. Pour it over a friend’.
He also waxed lyrical about their rotisserie chicken (there are rows of the things rotating in the city’s first in-restaurant rotisserie chicken oven), of which he said: “It is everything those words promise and don’t always deliver. No special rubs or sauces. Just roast chicken, rested long enough for the meat to start shrugging itself off the bones. The skin is crisp and salty.”
Inside Medlock Canteen in Manchester, which just received a rave review in The Guardian. Credit: The Manc Group
Other dishes that were celebrated in the Guardian’s review of Medlock Canteen included a rhubarb pie, charcoal-grilled fish of the day, duck rillettes and pistachio frangipane tart.
The restaurant itself said there were ‘happy faces’ after the review was published over the weekend.
Medlock Canteen wrote on Instagram: “Manchester may be grey this Sunday, but let us tell you, there are a few happy faces both on and behind the scenes as we enjoy our morning brew, reading through the kind words of @jayrayner1 in the @guardian.
“Thanks go to our team and our guests for all the hard work, dedication, and pure passion that has made Medlock Canteen ‘a welcome haven for one and all.’
“Anyway, enough of that. Just another day. Just another ‘set of appealing, familiar dishes that are the best versions of themselves.’
“Caution: gravy jus may be thrown. Let Sunday service commence.”