Celebrity chef Rick Stein has paid a visit to Greater Manchester and fallen head-over-heels in love with one of the city’s newest restaurants, Higher Ground.
The legendary chef and food writer had already named Higher Ground as one of his favourite places to eat in the entire UK, but with the premiere of his new BBC series Rick Stein’s Food Stories, we can finally see him fawn over it with our own eyes.
Rick’s Manchester episode has aired on BBC Two on Friday 16 February, and also includes a visit to Bury Market.
Meeting with Higher Ground head chef Joseph Otway for lunch, Rick praised him for ‘using every part of the beast’.
Joseph had chosen to cook him a portion of homemade pasta made with a pork offal ragu, which had been a surprise hit and has become one of Higher Ground’s best-selling recipes.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said: “We needed a pasta dish for that evening, and we always cook with what we have available. We put the offal ragu on and I was pretty nervous about it, but it sold very well, and people loved it.”
The dish is made with pig’s heart, lung, kidney and liver, which is minced on site before being cooked in lashings of red wine and beef stock.
ADVERTISEMENT
Higher Ground chef Joseph Otway chatting to Rick Stein in his Manchester episode of his new BBC series. Credit: BBCRick Stein watching Higher Ground chef Joseph Otway preparing their offal ragu. Credit: BBC
Rick said of Higher Ground: “Walking into this restaurant, it’s really cutting edge. It could be in any city in the world really.”
He also told Joseph: “You’re on the money, and I’ve been in the business for a while!”
Since the episode of Rick Stein’s Food Stories dropped on iPlayer, Higher Ground has shared a statement about meeting with a ‘culinary hero’.
ADVERTISEMENT
They wrote: “Last year we had the pleasure of welcoming Rick Stein, one of my culinary heroes, to Higher Ground. I cooked a recipe with Rick and talked at length about how exciting it is to be based in Manchester and creating a restaurant that works with whole animal butchery and produce from our own farm, @cinderwoodmarketgarden.
“The series focuses on artisanal food producers around the British Isles and some forgotten food items. In this episode I made a ragu from all of the offal of one of the pigs we took from @janesfarmuk – a dish we had on the menu at the time.
The pork offal ragu prepared for Rick Stein by Higher Ground in Manchester
“We’re taking a pig at the end of this week so it might be back on the menu soon!”
Higher Ground started life as a pop-up at Kampus but has since put down roots on New York Street.
It’s a modern space with floor-to-ceiling glass windows on two sides, and a whole wine room where diners can pick out a bottle to take home.
ADVERTISEMENT
Also behind the restaurant is front-of-house man Richard Cossins and wine expert Daniel Craig-Martin. Rick said they are ‘young and just wonderful’.
And it’s not just Rick who approves of it – Higher Ground has already been added to the Michelin Guide and placed in the top 100 in the UK within months of opening.
Rick Stein just named Higher Ground as one of his favourite restaurants in the UK. Credit: Sam Harris
Speaking of Higher Ground to Conde Nast Traveller, Rick said: “This is in a really trendy part of Manchester, but I love it because Joe is one of those chefs who won’t cook anything that isn’t local.
“Of course, it’s not one of those places that won’t use olive oil because it’s not local, but the main ingredients are strictly local. I really liked it, but it’s so unlike the sort of place that you would expect me to like.”
The legendary chef said he first visited when in Manchester for the cricket, and says Higher Ground ‘really shows how much food is improving in Manchester’.
ADVERTISEMENT
Rick Stein named Higher Ground in Manchester as one of his favourite restaurants in the UK. Credit: The Manc Group
Rick said of the food: “I had the most delicious homemade pasta, a pappardelle with heart, liver and lungs of lamb made into a Ragu. You wouldn’t know it was made of heart, lungs and liver if you didn’t know; it was really, really tasty.
“They do organic wine, which is unusual for me, but currently trendy and apparently gives you less of a hangover.”
Rick Stein has travelled the length and breadth of the UK filming a new series Food Stories, where he’ll ‘meet the pioneers of the twenty-first century British food scene’.
And the Higher Ground team certainly fit that description.
Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant team to take over iconic NQ venue
Daisy Jackson
The team who earned Cantaloupe a Michelin Bib Gourmand are moving into Manchester city centre – and into a site we all know pretty well.
The Cantaloupe team are about to embark on a new venture with Rasade, a new French restaurant in the site of the former TNQ in the Northern Quarter.
The old neighbourhood restaurant announced its shock closure earlier this year, after more than two decades serving Manchester.
But now the beautiful corner building on High Street is under new ownership, and in very safe hands.
Shortly after pivoting Cantaloupe into Bar Caput (a more casual neighbourhood offering), the duo behind it, Joshua Reed Cooper and Mike Thomas, have announced they’re launching Rasade in Manchester city centre.
Rasade in French refers to a glass filled to the brim, traditionally of wine or another drink.
The new French restaurant will showcase regional French cooking and seasonal local produce, drawing inspiration from France’s diverse regions.
This won’t be a stuffy French restaurant though – they’re aiming to create the relaxed spirit of a bistro with their serious commitment to traditional cooking.
Early menus show dishes like oysters with mignonette, langoustine with Karri-Gosse, and pâté de campagne, plus brill with rancio sec and mushroom fricassée, and pork chop with garniture Mirabeau.
And as for desserts, expect classics like a tarte Tatin designed for two to share, alongside flan pâtissier and Opéra religieuse.
Alongside the cooking, an extensive French wine offering will span the many, many wine regions of the country, featuring both small and unusual producers as well as more established names.
Mike and Josh now want to build on the success they quickly found in Stockport with this new city centre venture, bringing the same focus on good produce, thoughtful cooking and an informal approach to hospitality.
Rasade will open at 108 High Street in the Northern Quarter later this year.
First look inside Social Osteria, Stockport’s buzzy new Italian restaurant
Lydia Mastrolonardo
That’s right Stopfordians – we’re gaining yet another brand new addition to our town’s blooming food and drink scene, as Social Osteria opens its doors at Weir Mill.
It’s safe to say we’re in good hands, with the geniuses behind The Social Trattoria, named best Trattoria at the Italian Awards UK 2025, being the ones to bring this new taste of Italy to South Manchester.
Just because we are no longer experiencing the weather to match an Italian summer, doesn’t mean we can’t continue eating like we’re there.
Social Osteria can now be found overlooking the River Mersey, as a beautiful 2,000 sq ft space within the buzzing new canalside development, fully equipped with the classic exposed red brickwork, vaulted ceilings and even the restored original kiln.
As you approach the restaurant, you are greeted by a sunken courtyard and riverside seating, making for the perfect alfresco dining spot, when the warmer weather finally rolls back around.
With the meaning of Osteria being an Italian tavern, for locals to gather and enjoy each other’s company, good wine and honest, flavourful food – the team have stayed true to the name. You can expect dim, ambient lighting, an open kitchen, fresh small plates, flavourful 48-hour pizzas, and traditional pasta.
Vibrant dishes at Social Osteria in Stockport. Credit: The Manc Group
This glamorous new restaurant is promising a spectacular menu, from cacio e pepe butter beans to guanciale topped pizzas and their very own slow-cooked beef shin and pork shoulder paccheri ragu, you know we’re in the right place.
With Italian food running in the family, the team’s cooking practices are rooted in traditional methods, passed down through the generations and then presented to us, with the freshest of ingredients.
It suits Capital&Centric, who’ve taken the same approach to Weir Mill itself – embracing the character of the historic mill whilst transforming it into a vibrant community, for generations to come.
Inside Social Osteria at Weir Mill. Credit: The Manc Group
Set below Stockport’s iconic viaduct, the £60m neighbourhood is now home to 253 apartments alongside bustling cafés, wine bars and stunning restaurants akin to Social Osteria, accompanied by plenty of outdoor seating, green spaces, and riverside viewpoints.
Where Osteria Social now calls home is part of Stockport’s £1 billion Town Centre West masterplan, adding to the town’s growing reputation as one of the best locations to live in the UK.
Social Osteria will officially open Thursday 22 October, at Weir Mill. Be sure to book your tables early as we fear this one might get a little booked up.
Daisy Jackson -
16th February 2024 
