Eats

Chotto Matte – Amazing new images show how Manchester’s luxury new rooftop restaurant will look

Here comes Chotto Matte

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 1st August 2025

Chotto Matte is one of the hottest openings of the year in Manchester, a luxury new Japanese-Peruvian restaurant with a sizeable rooftop terrace.

Plans for the Nikkei restaurant were announced several years ago as part of the plans for Gary Neville’s landmark St Michael’s development.

The development has been taking shape behind the old facade of the Bootle Street police station, and is already home at ground level to Circolo Poppolare and Grind.

But much higher up, you’ll soon find Chotto Matte, a brand famed for its Japanese and Peruvian cuisine.

Chotto Matte will be located at the top of No.1 St Michael’s, with views across the Manchester skyline.

Inside, there’ll be a 502-cover restaurant, as well as a 348-capacity roof terrace with access to those panoramic views all year round.

Expect open sushi and robata counters, large private dining rooms with access to the terrace, and lighting that shifts from day to night, plus bold graffiti-style murals by an as-yet-to-be-announced local artist.

On the menu designed by executive chef Jordan Sclare, there’ll be signature dishes from across Peru but made with Japanese techniques, like sea bass ceviche, Nikkei gyoza, and Pollo Den Miso (miso-marinated chicken with carrot, daikon and yellow chilli yogurt).

That’s alongside cocktails, live music every weekend, and what looks set to be a truly beautiful restaurant space.

An opening date has been released now along with a whole raft of new CGI images – and it’s all set to open for real in October 2025.

CGIs of Chotto Matte in Manchester

How Chotto Matte in Manchester will look
How Chotto Matte in Manchester will look
A bar area in Chotto Matte Manchester
A bar area in Chotto Matte Manchester
The rooftop terrace will be year-round
The rooftop terrace will be year-round
A bar area in Chotto Matte Manchester
A bar area
A local artist will create bold graffiti-style murals
A local artist will create bold graffiti-style murals
Chotto Matte's private dining
Chotto Matte’s private dining

It’s the first time Chotto Matte has ventured into the North of England.

Founder Kurt Zdesar said: “Manchester is one of the UK’s fastest growing cities with a booming hospitality scene making it a perfect place for Chotto Matte’s next site.

“Working closely with Gary Neville and Relentless Developments, I knew the St Michael’s site was exactly what we were looking for as soon as I saw the plans. What Gary has created is vibrant, bold and sophisticated, everything we are as a brand.

“We are really looking forward to launching and taking over one of the most beautiful roof terraces in the city whilst bringing our new Nikkei dining concept to Manchester.

“St Michael’s will be one of the most sought after locations in the city and we are so proud to be part of this development alongside Gary and his team.”

Gary Neville, Director of Relentless Developments said: “Opening our doors at No.1 St Michael’s after more than 15 years of planning and development is a really proud moment for us. Chotto Matte is a global brand with a wealth of experience and exactly the kind of occupier we wanted for our stunning top floor and roof terrace.

“I’ve really enjoyed working alongside Kurt and look forward to welcoming him and his team to Manchester ahead of the launch later this year.”

Chotto Matte will open in Manchester in October 2025 – you can stay up to date with the latest at their Instagram account HERE.

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Featured image: Supplied

Eats

Prestwich wine bar Chin Chin now serves roast dinner sandwiches

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich

A new (ish) wine bar in Prestwich has launched one of the city’s coolest Sunday offerings – roast dinner sandwiches, with a side of jazz.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 1000 times – Elnecot is up there as one of Manchester’s best Sunday roasts, with Yorkshire puddings you could fit a jug of gravy inside, blushing slices of roast beef, and generous portions that put you in the sort of food coma you should be in on a Sunday afternoon.

So when Roast Master (okay fine, his official job title is chef/owner) Michael Clay said that his sister venue Chin Chin was launching a Sunday offering, I was there with my nose pressed up at the window. I’m ready, Michael.

Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin, right in the heart of Prestwich village, brings that incredible roast beef and roast potatoes into a more casual format.

You can tuck into roast meat butties, roast potatoes loaded with cheese and gravy, and ice cream sundaes, all while perusing a well-thought-out wine list that’s written up by hand every time new bottles come in.

Oh, and did we mention there are £4 pints all day on Sunday – and that includes Guinness?

On the side of just about everything on the menu, you’re presented with a little bowl of extra gravy (how delightfully Northern) for dipping and dunking.

Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich
Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich
Roast beef sandwiches at Chin Chin
Roast beef sandwiches at Chin Chin
Lancashire cheese toasties
Lancashire cheese toasties
The Bifana
The Bifana
Loaded roasties
Loaded roasties
Wine and vinyl records
Wine and vinyl records
Inside Chin Chin wine bar
Inside Chin Chin wine bar
The wine list at Chin Chin
The wine list at Chin Chin

Our top pick would be the roast beef sandwich, served between ciabatta rolls and laced with mustard mayo and caramelised onions.

But the cheese toastie is worth a visit too – a hefty helping of Lancashire cheese and charred spring onions, with a ‘secret sauce’ on the side.

Coming soon will be a new menu item, a Bifana sandwich. If you’ve trudged the streets of Portugal you’ll have come across these – thin slices of pork marinated in white wine and garlic, piled into bread with a punchy mustard. Chin Chin’s are excellent.

And for afters, because there is always room for dessert, it’s a lovely ice cream sundae topped with miso caramel and a showering of pistachios.

The whole time you’ll be eating with a soundtrack of jazz, played through the wine bar’s vinyl record system and Michael’s own personal collection of vinyls.

Chin Chin is open now on Bury New Road, with food on Sundays served between 12pm and 6pm.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Drinking around the ‘Beermuda Triangle’ of brewery taprooms in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Drinking around the Beermuda Triangle in Manchester

If you’re looking for the best pints in Manchester, turn your ass around at the door of the pub and head to the ‘Beermuda Triangle’, a corner of the city centre where taprooms are king.

Our city has a great rep for craft beer and microbreweries, and a lot of these are concentrated in one brilliant, unexpected stretch of industrial estate.

Head beyond Manchester Piccadilly and you’ll find yourself in an area nicknamed the ‘Beermuda Triangle’, where tucked among tool shops and warehouses are breweries welcoming in thirsty punters.

These are places where you can sip on the freshest lagers, ales and sours, straight from the source.

As you kick back in one of these taprooms, you can see the brewers hard at work on their next creation, and see beers being canned before your eyes.

There are, of course, plenty of other taprooms and brewery-operated bars all over Greater Manchester, but if you want to minimise your step count and maximise your drinking time, this is where to head.

So we’ve gone out exploring the current residents on the Beermuda Triangle (I know, tough job) to give you the low-down for your next pub crawl.

All the taprooms on Manchester’s Beermuda Triangle

Cloudwater

Cloudwater's Taproom on the Beermuda Triangle
Cloudwater's Taproom on the Beermuda Triangle

When you think of craft beer, you probably think of these guys.

Since being founded in 2014, Cloudwater has gone on huge things and is now listed among the largest craft beer brands in the UK.

They’ve got their own pub (The Sadler’s Cat), a taproom down in London, and a huge brewery next-door to their taproom on the Piccadilly Trading Estate.

In here, it’s a stripped-back, Scandi-style interior upstairs, with a few extra tables squeezed in amongst oak barrels downstairs, plus a decent suntrap terrace out the front.

Our order? A pint of Fuzzy pale ale.

Track

Track Taproom
Track Taproom
Track Taproom
Track Taproom

Another big player in the craft beer game, Track’s taproom is comfortably one of Manchester’s coolest bars.

It’s a huge space, split between the actual brewery and the taproom, where beers are displayed on a rainbow-hued menu board and their own merch lines the walls.

With loads of plants, a leafy little beer garden, and a small kitchen that’s home to Slice Culture pizzeria, this one is the least rough-and-ready of all the taprooms on the Beermuda Triangle.

The most logical order here has, and will always be, Sonoma, they’re easy-drinking session pale ale available on both cask and keg – but there are always tonnes of other beers beyond their core range that are worth your attention.

Sureshot

Sureshot taproom
Sureshot taproom
Sureshot taproom

Sureshot proves that you can take the art of brewing seriously but still have a laugh, with silly beer names and a giant bear mascot manically grinning at you as you sip your beer.

What’ll it be – a pint of ‘Wait… What?’, a schooner of ‘Small Man’s Wetsuit’, or a third of ‘Be Polite and Comb Your Hair?’.

They’re known for their hop-forward styles but are always dreaming up new creations and collaborations, like a recent sour with Bundobust, and collaboration with inclusive football club Manchester Lacesm with a donation of each ‘I Thought She Was A Pisces’ sold going to the club.

This one’s off the Piccadilly Trading Estate and is under the railway arches, handily with Nell’s next door who will deliver you a pizza while you’re on your taproom crawl.

Balance Brewing & Blending

Inside Balance Brewing's taproom in Manchester
Inside Balance Brewing's taproom in Manchester

The final stop on the Beermuda triangle is Balance, who specialise in barrel-fermented sours.

The taproom itself is a real looker, with fairy lights festooned overhead, a deep burgundy bar, and persian rugs thrown all over the concrete floors.

The beers here are all funky and punchy and well worth ordering a few testers of before you make your final decision.

Whatever you order, it’s going to have good British roots and a beautiful flavour.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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