Tom Barnes, one the country’s (if not the world’s) most acclaimed and hotly-tipped chefs, will open his very first restaurant here in Manchester next spring.
Skof will be an intimate 36-cover restaurant in the NOMA neighbourhood, inside the historic terracotta-tiled Hanover building just outside Manchester Victoria.
Tom Barnes has built a solid reputation for creating deceptively simple dishes brimming with technique and flavour, with his CV including time spent at L’Enclume, a three-Michelin star restaurant in the Lake District.
He was head chef at Rogan & Co when it received a Michelin star, and executive chef at L’Enclume when it gained its coveted third.
A Roux Scholar and Simon Rogan alumni, Tom also cinched a win on the Great British Menu in 2020.
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Skof will be his first restaurant, owned and operated by himself, but as part of the UMBEL Restaurants group.
With Skof, Tom will produce a menu of dishes that are naturally in season and which celebrate local ingredients.
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He’ll be working with the team of growers at Our Farm, Simon Rogan’s farm in the Cartmel Valley, with regular deliveries from the Lake District.
The Hanover building was formerly a drapery warehouse in 1904 and is now a cornerstone of the redeveloped NOMA neighbourhood.
Tom Barnes is opening Skof in 2024
Skof’s interior will be designed by London-based studio Blacksheep, taking inspiration from Tom’s upbringing and his new home in Manchester, as well as honouring the building’s character and the city’s industrial history.
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Its defining features will include natural light and carefully restored original features.
On the decision to choose Manchester as the location for his first solo restaurant, Tom said: “I am so excited to be opening my first restaurant in Manchester. It feels like the right place for me.
“The food scene is changing so frequently, and everyone I’ve met has been incredibly welcoming.
“Growing up in Barrow-in-Furness, I knew I wouldn’t want to be too far from my childhood home and my family, so it’s the perfect place.
“I am so grateful for Simon’s support, and I plan on utilising all the skills that he has taught me over the many years that we have worked together. I’m so happy with what we have achieved and look forward to this new chapter.”
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Simon Rogan, chef/owner of UMBEL Restaurants, commented: “It’s moments like these that make me so happy, and it’s so special to be able to help a chef who has worked with me for so long go on to realise his dreams.
“I’m so proud of Tom and everything he has accomplished. We’ve been working towards this moment for a while now, and I can’t wait for him to be able to show the world what he can do.
“He is a seriously talented chef, so I know Skof is going to be amazing!”
This Manchester bar serves a bottomless cheese fondue with endless beer and wine
Georgina Pellant
There’s a bar in Manchester serving a bottomless cheese fondue with endless wine and beer, and it honestly sounds like the perfect treat.
While it might scream cosy winter night in, with a huge outdoor terrace, The Mews is also a firm favourite during the summer months.
Add in a board of melt-in-the-mouth charcuterie, springy pieces of garlic sourdough and a host of crunchy cheese biscuits, and you’ve got yourself the ideal afternoon if you ask us.
But there’s more. Alongside all that cheese and meat and bread, included in the price of The Mews’ bottomless fondue, cheese lovers can also enjoy 90 minutes of non-stop drinks.
Bottomless cheese fondue at The Mews on Deansgate in Manchester. (Credit: The Manc Eats)
Costing £37.50 each, included in the deal is a huge pot of melted Italian Fontina cheese served with homemade garlic croutons, sourdough crackers, and slices of British charcuterie.
You’ll also get to enjoy an hour and a half of endless pints of house pilsner and carafes of red or white wine to enjoy alongside.
Serving up to six people, the bottomless cheese fondue is available only when you pre-book, so make sure to get in touch ahead of your visit to let The Mews know that you’re coming.
If you’re not on the sauce, you can opt for the cheese fondue alone. Without the booze, it’s quite a bit cheaper at £25 for one, and £2.50 on top for any additional people who want to get stuck in.
Housed up on Deansgate Mews, just behind the main hustle and bustle of Deansgate, there’s plenty of space inside as well as a large, secluded terrace that is quite the suntrap (when the Manchester sun is shining).
Popular Manchester restaurant bar to give out FREE sausage rolls to people called ‘Greg’
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s much-loved restaurant bars is doing a free sausage roll giveaway next week… but there’s a catch.
The catch being you have to have a certain name in particular.
It was only last week that popular high street chain Pret A Manger announced it would be slinging out free sandwiches to any Mancs with ‘Nic’ in their name over the late May bank holiday weekend, and now Tariff & Dale is getting it on the giveaway action, and it’s all to celebrate the iconic event that is National Sausage Roll Day.
In case you didn’t know – which is very likely, let’s be real – next Thursday (5 June) is the day dedicated to all things sausage roll.
So what better way to mark the occasion than with free portions of Tariff & Dale‘s legendary meaty treat?
The popular Northern Quarter restaurant bar is known for its creative comfort food, craft beers and cocktails, and laid-back industrial vibe, with one of the cult-classic dishes on its menu having always been the honey pork sausage roll – which just so happens to be a whopping 15-inches long, by the way.
Resembling something more of a pork wellington than a sausage roll, if you will, the dish is crispy, golden, and glazed with honey on top.
But to celebrate National Sausage Roll day, instead of parting with £9.50 for a portion or £48 for the full 15-inch thing, people with one specific name can actually get a slice for completely free of charge.
Tariff & Dale is giving away FREE sausage rolls to people with this name next week / Credit: Supplied
And that name is ‘Greg’, because if we’re honest, when it comes to sausage rolls, we all tend to think of Greggs.
So whether your surname is Gregory or Gregson, or you’re simply just called Greg, then all you need to do to claim your complimentary slice of sausage roll heaven is head on down to Tariff & Dale next Thursday 5 June from 12pm up until 9pm.
Daisy Jackson -
17th November 2023 
