Eats

Team behind award-winning cocktail bar Stray to open second Manchester bar

Welcome, Bar Dos

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 18th August 2026

The team behind Manchester’s award-winning cocktail bar Stray have announced a second bar is on the way.

Bar Dos will be an all-new neighbourhood bar, promising to be the ‘tearaway younger sibling’ of Stray.

You can expect everything from pints of Stella to refined cocktails, plus DJs all weekend long.

Set to open very soon, with a September launch pencilled into our diaries already, Bar Dos will be joining a couple of other big names in a new building on Great Ancoats Street.

They’ll count Proloco and Osma as neighbours once all three ventures are up and running this year.

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Stray first opened at Mackie Mayor back in 2023, and shot into the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars just over a year later.

Bar Dos will open in Manchester in September
Bar Dos will open in Manchester in September
Bar Dos is the second site for Stray
Bar Dos is the second site for Stray

There, it occupies a beautiful corner unit with huge windows, and an outside terrace, perfect for sipping on their best-selling cocktails like their tomato vine margarita and their Fanta Limon (a boozy version of everyone’s favourite balcony tipple).

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Now ready to launch a second site, the team will soon open Bar Dos, which will be a late-night, music-focused neighbourhood bar.

DJs already announced, along with renowned artists who have curated playlists, include Space Afrika, Chunky, Private Joy, Konnie Kon of Children of Zeus, and Stray residents Rhod Parry and Stu Richards.

Bar Dos will open on Great Ancoats Street this September.

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Featured image: Supplied

Eats

Family behind Salvi’s launch new concept, weeks after iconic restaurant closure

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson A spritz and a pizza sandwich

Just weeks after the closure of its iconic, 16-year-old Italian restaurant in the Corn Exchange, the family behind Salvi’s have revealed a brand-new concept.

And this time, the reins are being handed over to the next generation.

Salvi’s founder Maurizio Cecco has helped to shape Amò, but it’s all the brainchild of his daughter, Sienna.

Sienna will run the business out of a unit up on Deansgate Mews, serving fresh pasta dishes, pizza sandwiches, tubs of tiramisu, and two-for-£10 spritzes.

The deli aspect of the original Salvi’s has been carried over to Amò too – you’ll find shelves almost to the ceiling filled with Italian pasta, wine, olive oils, pistachio spreads, and more.

Sienna has grown up in restaurants, with her parents launching Salvi’s when she was just two years old.

She said she wants the space to be a livelier, fresher version of the Italian restaurant that has been so loved by Mancs for so many years.

Sienna outside Amò
Sienna outside Amò
Fresh pasta dishes
Fresh pasta dishes
Inside Amò by Salvi's
Inside Amò by Salvi’s
Their viral frozen crema di caffe
Their viral frozen crema di caffe
Lemon granita
Lemon granita
Inside Amò by Salvi's
Inside Amò by Salvi’s
Tiramisu pots
Tiramisu pots

Amò, which is Neapolitan slang for ‘my love’, will have loads of fresh Italian dishes, including arancini, gnocchi, and hearty pasta plates.

At lunchtimes, guests can order from a £10 lunch menu, with dishes changing daily depending on the best produce the kitchen can get – it could be a pizza sandwich with proscuitto and tomato, a spicy pasta, or a gnocchi bake, always served with your choice of soft drink.

With its position on Deansgate Mews, Amò basks in the sunshine at lunchtimes.

And while it’s definitely a different concept to the original Salvi’s, Amò looks set to carry the family’s Italian food legacy into its next generation.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Award-winning Didsbury bakery La Chouquette reveals incredible new site

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The new, expanded La Chouquette

La Chouquette is one of Greater Manchester’s top bakeries – an award-winner, with queues down the street every weekend for its authentic French pastries and loaves.

And now they’re ready for a new chapter, revealing a major expansion today.

Owners Catrina and Flo have painstakingly expanded the bakery into the unit next door, creating what feels like a true French bakery.

And in the midst of this huge renovation project, they’ve welcomed a tiny new baby boy – quite the summer for the couple.

Catrina and Flo launched La Chouquette in lockdown, and in a time where people could only get their hospitality fix from takeaways, immediately became one of the most popular spots in the region.

Their success has been so great, you’ll still consistently find queues down the street every weekend, for their top sellers like their authentic almond croissants.

Then in October 2024, they grew the business and launched Piqniq, a new deli in Didsbury village, serving freshly-baked baguette sandwiches, breakfast butties, toasties, tiramisu pots and their legendary pastries.

The new-look La Chouquette features beautiful details like mosaic floors, rich blue walls, wooden shelves, and brass light fixtures.

La Chouquette's best-selling almond croissants
La Chouquette’s best-selling almond croissants
Inside the stunning new La Chouquette in Didbsury
Inside the stunning new La Chouquette in Didbsury
New savoury bakes
New savoury bakes
The chausson aux pommes
The chausson aux pommes
The counter stuffed with artisan French bakes
The counter stuffed with artisan French bakes
Chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns
Chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns

The huge new counter displays more pastries and breads than ever before, like a hearty chausson aux pommes filled with apples that will be perfect for autumn, plus seasonal treats like a rhubarb creme brulee pastry, and homemade quiche.

Speaking at the grand relaunch today, Catrina said: “The layout has changed, it looks so much more chic, it looks like a traditional French bakery. We’re really excited about it.”

As for what’s on the counter, Flo reassured fans that their beloved almond and pistachio croissants remain, but with some new savoury editions, like a truffle croque monsieur made with croissant dough.

La Choquette has reopened today, and will be open seven days a week from 7am until 5pm.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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