The brilliant Tameside restaurant helping turn Stalybridge into a new foodie neighbourhood

One of Greater Manchester’s coolest new restaurants has quietly opened in recent months, and if you’re looking in the direction of Ancoats, turn around – we’re off to Stalybridge.

This often-overlooked town in Tameside has welcomed Cafe Continental, a charming little neighbourhood restaurant that feels like it’s been plucked from a pretty Parisian back street.

With its cafe curtains, red leather furniture and wood-panelled walls, it feels like the sort of local hangout that’s been here for decades.

But Cafe Continental is barely eight weeks old, and already firmly finding its feet as one of the region’s most exciting newcomers.

As with all good neighbourhood restaurants, the menu spans breakfast all the way through lunch and dinner and into cocktails, stopping off for an epic Sunday roast too.

It’s also got one of the internet’s most viral sweet treats, a proper Paris hot chocolate, where you dollop thick cream into dainty cups of molten hot chocolate.

This place might have caught the attention of the social media food crowd, but it’s far from gimmicky.

On its menu you’ll find classics that will stand the test of time, like giant tiger prawns with garlic butter, ribeye beef, flame-roasted chicken, croquettes and hand-dived scallops.

There’s a lunch menu that will stop you in your tracks – think seasonal soups with wedges of bouncy focaccia, spicy twice-fried chicken buns, and a steak sandwich with fries.

There’s also an excellent cacio e pepe pasta, served with an egg yolk on top that you can pop and twirl into the pasta.

It’s co-owned and created by Ryan Robinson, who’s quick to point out that Cafe Continental isn’t the first restaurant worth travelling for in Stalybridge, which already has a deep-rooted independent food scene.

“We’ve already got some really good food establishments in the area,” he said, “With Gladstone and SK15 and Guiseppes, so the skeleton’s there with Stalybridge, you just need to have some meat on the bones, really.

“And obviously, like we’ve jumped in and hopefully that adds value to the area and then hopefully we see a few more drinking and dining establishments.

“There’s loads of space for development in Stalybridge, and it’s just gonna get better and better.”

Ryan says his inspiration comes from his travels to cities around Europe, and the sort of off-the-beaten-track, full-of-locals restaurants that are so often the most memorable part of a holiday. 

“No matter where you are, whether it’s France or Italy or Spain, there’s always that one restaurant you seem to find that’s set in the back streets, and it’s busy and it’s noisy and the food’s amazing, and you end up having such a good time on the off chance, that you just want to tell everyone about it.

“You want to stay there all night, and that was kind of the inspiration for Cafe Continental.

“We just wanted to make a really buzzy local place.”

Ryan, who previously worked as a DJ and across the hospitality industry, has always had a big passion for food.

He’s teamed up with a good friend who is his head chef, and a couple of other friends as business partners, who just ‘believed in the idea and trusted it’.

It seems to be paying off, with Cafe Continental already luring people out of the city centre to visit, and drawing in a decent returning local crowd.

Ryan finished by saying: “Support locally this Christmas – there’s a lot of great restaurants in Stalybridge and the surrounding areas that are working hard to bring people the best Christmas possible.

“So if everyone can support local, that would be amazing.”

Cafe Continental is open now at 5 Melbourne St, Stalybridge, SK15 2JE.

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Featured image: The Manc Group