A massive new food hall is opening its doors in Manchester this weekend, with three floors packed with food from across Asia.
Hello Oriental has an Asian-inspired bakery and cafe, a Vietnamese restaurant, a Chinese supermarket, and a huge food hall serving East Asian street food.
The multi-storey ‘super-venue’ has been built beneath Symphony Park at the new Circle Square development just off Oxford Road.
It’s been inspired by dining destinations like Bang Bang Oriental in London, and 1800 in Miami.
The new supermarket at Hello Oriental. Credit: The Manc Group
The heart of Hello Oriental will be its food hall, Downtown Oriental, a vast market hall with a fast-paced open kitchen.
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Here, diners will be able to feast on everything from Chinese roasts to dim sum, baos to noodles, and fried rice to seafood.
Downtown Oriental, Hello Oriental’s new food hall. Credit: The Manc Group
Downtown Oriental will also serve bubble teas, and taiyaki ice cream, a type of soft-serve presented inside an adorable fish-shaped cone.
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Elsewhere, Hello Bakery will sell modern fusion bakes alongside coffees and high-grade teas.
Food at Hello Oriental. Credit: The Manc Group
On a purpose-built mezzanine level, Vietnamese restaurant Rice Paper Pho will serve traditional dishes like pho, summer rolls and salads, with plenty of vegan and gluten-free options.
A UK-first Hello Oriental supermarket will open soon, selling products, produce and ingredients from East Asia.
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Azim Kourah, director of Hello Oriental, added: “It’s been a long time in the making but we are thrilled to be opening our doors to Manchester.
Credit: The Manc Group
“From Saturday onwards, our brand-new concept will be spicing up Manchester’s food scene, bringing three floors of incredible flavour, excitement and atmosphere to the city.”
Bradley Topps, commercial director at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Hello Oriental is going to be a real destination and cornerstone for Circle Square – there’s nothing else like this in the Northwest.
“Spread across three floors, there’s a space for every occasion, whether you’re looking for evening food, drinks and music, tea and cake, or to stock up on supplies from the specialist supermarket.
“The variety is unrivalled, the complex is incredibly cool, and it’s going to be bursting with atmosphere at all times of day.”
Hello Oriental joins TRIB3, a specialist high-intensity fitness studio, with a host of additional food, drink and entertainment also due to launch at Circle Square later this year.
Hello Oriental’s flagship food hall will open on Saturday 12 February and will be open daily from 10am to 11pm.
Team behind award-winning cocktail bar Stray to open second Manchester bar
Daisy Jackson
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.
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 SeptemberBar 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).
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.
Family behind Salvi’s launch new concept, weeks after iconic restaurant closure
Daisy Jackson
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 AmòFresh pasta dishesInside Amò by Salvi’sTheir viral frozen crema di caffeLemon granitaInside Amò by Salvi’sTiramisu 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.
Daisy Jackson -
11th February 2022 
