One of Manchester’s newest brunch hot spots has announced its closure after less than a year in the city.
Tahi opened at the new Circle Square development just last summer, promising top-quality coffee and baked goods alongside an all-day menu of brunches lifted from the world-famous cafe culture of New Zealand.
The beautiful space in the brand new neighbourhood featured dishes including sweetcorn fritters, beef mince on house-baked muffins (a NZ classic), and braised beef cheek with bubble and squeak.
But despite a promising start, Tahi today announced its closure, citing all the reasons that have been hammering the hospitality industry across the UK.
The restaurant posted on Instagram that it had been ‘a difficult time for hospitality, in particular the independents’.
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They urged their followers to go out and support local business and thanked their ‘lovely staff’.
Tahi’s full statement said: “It is with great sadness that we are announcing the permanent closure of our Circle Square Eatery.
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Tahi in Manchester has announced its closure. Credit: The Manc GroupTahi in Manchester has announced its closure. Credit: The Manc GroupTahi in Manchester has announced its closure. Credit: The Manc Group
“Our heartfelt thanks go out to the lovely staff which have supported us in bringing our vision to life throughout this last year and to our loyal customers who tried their best to support us.
“Many factors have led to this decision but ultimately this is a difficult time for hospitality, in particular the independents, and for us the consistency to build a stable business wasn’t there.
“We really urge you to get out and support your favourite local businesses and try out the new ones trying to bring you something special as it’s so important to us.
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“Cheers and farewell Manchester from everyone at Tahi.”
Dozens of devastated messages have been pouring in from fans.
One person wrote: “This is heartbreaking! You are a real asset to the city with unrivalled pastries, fantastic service and top notch food and wine. I’m so sad to read this. Will miss this special place very much.”
Another person commented: “Nooooo! So sad to hear this, Tahi was my top of the list recommendation when someone wanted somewhere for breakfast. Hope you’ll find some other way to continue at another site or a pop up.”
Someone else’s comment said: “Sending all the love from NZ we are so proud of you and understand the difficult decision you had to make.”
New Manchester restaurant receives rave review as another is slammed as ‘torture’
Daisy Jackson
Pip, a new restaurant in Manchester, has received a rave national review this week – a review which slammed another restaurant in the same feature.
Food critic William Sitwell wrote in his review in The Telegraph that Pip is charming, refined, and fabulous.
“Bravo, Pip. Pip pip!” he wrote in the glowing write-up on the new restaurant, which stands at the foot of the new Treehouse Hotel and has the acclaimed Mary-Ellen McTague at its helm.
Sitwell’s Telegraph review particularly raved about dishes including Lancashire hot pot (‘fabulously good’), a wild garlic soup (‘a gorgeous thing’), and an apple trifle (‘a gift from heaven’).
But while it was all good for Pip, there were significantly less positive adjectives heaped on another restaurant in Manchester.
In fact, he said that Pip is ‘a great-value tonic’ for the ‘brash (and pricey) torture’ across town.
That restaurant was KAJI, formerly known as MUSU, which he said was ‘all tummies, bald heads, tattoos and heat’.
Sitwell said that while the service and sashimi are good at KAJI, the ‘place is afflicted by some overbearing cooking that cheapens the noble name of Japanese cuisine’.
He wrote: “Lamb chops fail the tender test and are properly wrecked sitting on a vulgar pond of sticky “tomato ponzu”. No beast should die to have that stuff squirted anywhere near it.
“And Kaji is a Japanese gaff without sake. Which is like opening a British pub in Tokyo and forgetting to put an ale on tap.”
Sharing the review, Pip wrote: “Thankyou @telegraph and @williamsitwell for the fantastic feature. We’re so proud of our team here.”
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Daisy Jackson
Ice cream doesn’t come much fresher than those served at Milk Maids – in fact, you’ll be standing right on the family farm where the cows that produce the milk live, as you tuck into your scoop.
This unassuming dairy farm in Bolton has been in operation for decades, and in the same family for generations.
But it’s when sisters Fiona and Rebecca saw the full potential of all that award-winning milk being produced on their farm that Milk Maids was born.
This ice cream parlour on Dearden’s Farm in Over Hulton is now one of the hottest spots in Greater Manchester, especially when the weather is similarly hot.
Every month they release a whole batch of flavours, all made fresh daily (you can literally see Fiona legging it across the yard with buckets of milk to make fresh batches), with May specials including white chocolate and sea salt caramel, raspberry cookie, and passionfruit pavlova.
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Cones can be filled with molten chocolate or pistachio creme before your ice cream is scooped and pressed into the cone.
Or you can have your chosen flavour whizzed up into a milkshake, served in a milk bun, or presented in an insulated take-home box for later.
We could wax lyrical about how good this ice cream is, but the queues really do speak for themselves, and you should go and get in it right now.
Daisy Jackson -
2nd August 2023 
