Acclaimed local chef Mary-Ellen McTague has revealed details of the first restaurant at the huge new Treehouse Hotel.
She will open Pip, a restaurant that will celebrate seasonal, low-waste cooking, on the ground floor of the landmark new hotel.
This is the first of three restaurant concepts to be announced at Treehouse Hotel, which is taking shape on the site of the former long-standing Deansgate hotel the Renaissance.
When it’s completed later this summer, Treehouse Hotel will have 224 guest rooms, multiple event spaces, an expansive screening room, a gymnasium, and three unique restaurant and bar spaces – including the newly-announced Pip.
This first restaurant will be headed up by Manchester’s very own Mary-Ellen McTague, who’ll be doing what she does best – seasonal produce that celebrates the finest produce from around the North West, as sustainably as possible.
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Over her 20 years in the hospitality industry, Mary-Ellen has worked alongside Heston Blumenthal at his esteemed Michelin-starred restaurants, The Fat Duck and The Hinds Head, as well as founding EatWellMCR.
At Pip, diners can expect dishes that reimagine the potential of each ingredient served through from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as a convenient grab-and-go option.
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She’ll be sourcing ingredients – sometimes unconventional ones – from local farms, and suppliers like Littlewoods Butchers, Cinderwood Market Garden, Organic North, Courtyard Dairy, and Platt Fields Market Garden.
Dish highlights include Carlingford oysters with fennel kimchi liquor; home-smoked mackerel with pickled beets, mustard cream, and rye; Lancashire hotpot with pickled red cabbage and oyster ketchup; and Rhubarb fool with olive oil biscuits.
Commenting on her new restaurant opening, Mary-Ellen McTague said: “I’m thrilled to bring Pip to life at Treehouse Hotel Manchester.
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“This restaurant is a celebration of everything I am passionate about – seasonal, low-waste cooking, and the incredible produce we have here in the North West.
“The menu is designed to showcase the best of our local culinary heritage, using modern techniques that make the most of every single ingredient. I cannot wait to share our vision for Pip with the Manchester community and beyond.”
Treehouse Hotel Manchester itself will be the second property under the same brand, which says it takes its playful inspiration through the lens of childhood.
Commenting on the first restaurant to open at the hotel, Tim Reynolds, general manager of Treehouse Hotel Manchester, said: “We are incredibly excited to welcome Pip to Treehouse Hotel Manchester.
“Mary-Ellen’s innovative approach to low-waste cooking and her dedication to using locally sourced ingredients align perfectly with our values. We look forward to offering our guests an extraordinary dining experience that reflects the vibrant spirit of Manchester.”
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Pip will welcome guests in late summer, alongside the opening of Treehouse Hotel Manchester.
New disco-inspired cocktail bar promising ‘Manchester’s biggest happy hour’ to open this autumn
Daisy Jackson
A new bar is set to open on Deansgate soon, promising an intoxicating combination of ‘cocktails, dreams and disco’.
This is Simmons, a wildly successful name from down in London, and it’s finally making its way up north to Manchester.
You can’t miss the location – they’ve slapped a gigantic mirror, daubed with neon pink writing, outside the site where the bar is being built.
Now the capital’s go-to party palace, Simmons will bring the ‘biggest happy hour’ in Manchester to Deansgate when it opens.
That means two-for-one cocktails, £2.50 spirit and mixers (or £5 doubles), £3 beer and wine, and £12 bottles of wine, plus cocktail teapots for £15.
The Simmons happy hour runs until 9pm Sunday to Friday, while on Saturdays it’s two-for-one cocktails and £15 teapots until 9pm.
The brand is famed for its kitsch, colourful interiors, with hot pink neon lights, bold wallpapers, and always a disco ball.
There are already 22 locations across London but this will be the first Simmons bar to open outside the capital.
On their website, Simmons says: “Hi my name’s Simmons, I’m well known for being the best bar group in London (and probably the world).
“I’m a late night cocktail bar offering you the perfect place for after work drinks or a cheeky dance, people like me because I look real good and sell nice drinks.
“People say I am sexy and good looking but I just shrug it off and don’t let my ego get too big, no one likes a show off.
“I am located in lots of different places across London, I can be hired out for private parties and I have a notoriously eclectic musical taste; ranging from hip-hop, to disco, to funk, to 80’s, to 90’s to classic party bangers!
“Come check me out, sip on a cocktail in a teacup and play on my SEGA Megadrive.”
Sneak peeks of the work taking place in Manchester show that the former Botanist site will be transformed with Deansgate’s biggest dance floor, surrounded by raised stages for dancing.
If you head down to Deansgate and scan the QR code outside the bar (or, you know, just click this link) you can secure your spot on the list for their free bar launch parties.
Yeah, we said free bar.
Simmons will open this autumn on Deansgate in Manchester city centre.
Legendary chef Rick Stein praises ‘trendy’ Manchester restaurant on BBC Breakfast
Daisy Jackson
Rick Stein has just appeared on BBC Breakfast and given a massive shout-out to Manchester favourite restaurant Bundobust.
The celebrity chef was on the popular breakfast show to talk about his latest series, Rick Stein’s Food Stories, but made a special effort to celebrate this much-loved restaurant.
Bundobust was founded in Leeds a whole decade ago, but now also has two restaurants (including an on-site brewery) in Manchester too.
And Rick Stein is apparently a big fan, describing Bundobust as ‘really trendy’, The Hoot Leeds reports.
The 77-year-old chef and presenter was chatting to Charlie Stayt and Nina Warhurst.
He said: “One other place in Leeds actually, a place called Bundobust, where they’re serve craft beer and vegetarian Gujarati Indian food.
“I particularly like that place because it’s not like the sort of old-fashioned Indian restaurants with flock wallpaper and all that.
“It’s really trendy and a bit sort of…”
At this point Nina jumps in to help him with a suggestion of ‘Hipster?’
Legendary chef Rick Stein praises ‘trendy’ Manchester restaurant on BBC Breakfast. Credit: BBC BreakfastInside Bundobust Brewery in Manchester, which Rick Stein has just shouted out. Credit: The Manc Group
“Hipster is exactly the word!” Rick said. “It’s a word I don’t use much at my age.”
Bundobust has quickly spotted its star turn on BBC Breakfast (probably helped by hundreds of us sliding into their DMs).
Bundobust shared a clip of Rick Stein and wrote: “Catching hipster allegations on BBC Breakfast!! Almost spat out our chai. (It’s Rick though, we’ll allow it)”
The Indian restaurant opened a decade ago on Mill Hill in Leeds and its success has grown and grown, now also having two restaurants (and a brewery) in Manchester as well as a spot in Liverpool.
It’s the second time Rick has heaped praise on a Manchester restaurant, having previously said that Higher Ground is one of his favourites in the entire UK.
It’s a firm favourite for us here at The Manc – love you forever Bundo.