Celebrity favourite Tattu is opening a new Greek restaurant in Manchester this November, bringing Mykonos to Manchester with a whole new dining concept.
For years, its sakura-drenched Spinningfields restaurant has been a dining destination for Manchester’s glitterati crowd.
Now, fans will have somewhere new to check out as the team gears up to launch a brand new venture, bringing high-end contemporary Greek-Mediterranean food to Spinningfields.
Following on from the award-winning design of Tattu, diners will also be enveloped in a space subtly created to tell the mythological story of a phoenix rising from the ashes.
The bar, fitted with rich, dark wooden dining tables, sits beneath a canopy of dense, gold fauna, whilst the restaurant space is reminiscent of a Grecian beachside resort with ash-toned driftwood dining chairs paired with decadent marble tables and refined tableware.
ADVERTISEMENT
Designed by the acclaimed Fabled Studio, the dining experience combines magnificent interiors, live sounds and cutting-edge light technology which mimics the setting sun and rising moon across the Greek isles.
Image: Supplied
Throughout the day, this innovative lighting of the space transforms the restaurant from an idyllic, glowing daytime retreat, through to a romantic, moonlit paradise each evening.
ADVERTISEMENT
Set to launch in November this year, the group has recruited two celebrated Greek chefs to lead the team.
Executive Head Chef Ippokratis Anagnostelis has built his reputation across a wealth of fine dining establishments in Athens and Mykonos, bringing modern techniques together with traditional ingredients and flavours at the likes of Jackie ‘O, Scorpios and Kensho Mykonos, Kiku, and Michelin Star destination Hytrain.
Working alongside his long-time collaborator and Head Chef, Zisis Giannouras, Anagnostelis has created a sharing-concept menu designed to take customers on a journey of ‘Greek discovery’.
ADVERTISEMENT
From fresh pita served with grilled aubergine, tomato confit and feta espuma, to hummus and a smoked taramasalata with fresh white fish roe cream, dishes will focus on innovative plates inspired by Greek traditions alongside Mediterranean flavours.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Elsewhere, diners will find hearty portions of spiced beef meatballs, grilled octopus with Aegean fava beans, shrimp ‘Saganaki’, and Wagyu beef dumplings.
Showcasing the best fresh seafood and locally sourced meats, dishes will be flamed live in front of diners on a spectacular charcoal-fired grill in the heart of the new restaurant.
Pasta and rice dishes will also feature in abundance, including a ‘Raw’ menu with Sea Bass ceviche and steak tartare, clay pot roasted leg of lamb folded in vine leaves, Tiger prawns with yuzu sauce, and a speciality Aegean white grouper poached in olive oil and served with lemon beurre blanc and dill emulsion.
ADVERTISEMENT
A wine list, meanwhile, will focus on the variety of produce from Greek and Cycladic vineyards – promising expressive and complex characters and a smooth, mineral finish, perfect for pairing with smokey, charred meat, fish and vegetables from the central grill.
Elsewhere, the cocktail menu at FENIX will feature sixteen unique creations from Will Meredith, Group Head of Bars, celebrating the four elements: water, earth, air and fire.
Signature concepts include ‘Sirens Call’, a combination of vodka, strawberry leaf and sweet tomato delivered in a seashell vessel, and ‘Whirlpool Fizz’, inspired by the mythical Charybdis sea monster, combining Gin with a silky backbone of stone fruit and tonic.
Other must-tries include the ‘Fenix Nest Sour’, a velvety and rich blend of Metaxa 12 Star and roasted cashew encased in a smouldering nest serve.
To celebrate its upcoming launch in November, FENIX is thrilled to announce an exclusive competition that gives hopeful entrants the chance to experience this one-time offering before anyone else has stepped foot in the beautifully designed building.
FENIX Competition Details: Find, Scan, and Win
To be in with a chance, FENIX have created an interactive competition right in the heart of busy, buzzy and beautiful Spinningfields.
Passers-by are invited to participate in a thrilling challenge: identify three hidden words cleverly concealed among Greek letters. Entrants are then invited to scan the accompanying QR code and enter the uncovered words for their chance to enter the competition and be added to the exclusive soft launch list!
Spot the three secret words cleverly hidden among Greek letters at the designated activation area.
Using your smartphone to scan the QR code provided, which will lead you to the competition entry page.
Enter the three words you’ve discovered and your email address.
Be amongst the first to experience FENIX
Featured image – Tattu
Eats
The Manchester restaurant serving up the ‘world’s hottest curry’ for just a few days
Danny Jones
City centre favourite Zouk is serving up ‘the world’s hottest curry’ again to celebrate National Chilli Day next week.
The popular tea bar and grill located on Chester Street just off Oxford Road is slap bang in the middle of student central and has hordes of patrons lining up day in, day out, to taste their incredible Indian and Pakistani cuisine.
Now, to celebrate every spicy-food lover’s favourite day, Zouk is putting on special, limited-time-only menu to cater to all you heat freaks and speaking collectively on The Manc‘s behalf (several of us having tried it), it’s no joke.
The World’s Hottest Curry will be available for five days from Monday 24 to Friday 28 February, with a challenge on Thursday 27 February with prizes to anyone who can finish the fiery karahi.
The dishes
When it came to coming up with the world’s hottest curry, Zouk didn’t have to look far for inspiration, they simply picked the world’s hottest chilli: the Carolina Reaper Chilli.
Combining the 1,569,000 Scoville scorcher of a chilli with their much-loved and already spicy chicken karahi and vegetable karahi recipes, they knew they were on a winner. You might have to sign a waiver to eat it but that’s all part of the fun, right?
Typically prepared in a wok and cooked over hot flames with tomatoes, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and cumin to create the sauce base, the karahi originates from the Northwest region of Pakistan and has a great flavour. Depending on how brave you’re feeling, you can have it as a kebab or a full curry.
Credit: Supplied
That being said, this version does contain dried Carolina Reapers so you might not taste much beyond the heat of the sun after a few seconds. While the chilli is deemed suitable for human consumption, even Zouk’s chefs have admitted to struggling with the dish. Gulp. So, what can you win?
The challenge and prizes
Us Brits love a good curry and we already know that plenty of you won’t be able to resist the urge to take on the Reaper Challenge simply out of pride, so we might as well just tell you what you’ll have to eat in order to win the prizes.
Here’s what’s up for grabs:
Finish the full Carolina Reaper Curry (either chicken or veg) in one sitting (max eating time 30 minutes and no helping from companions), Zouk will give you the meal for free.
PLUS, a £50 Zouk Gift Card so you can come back at a later date to try their full menu (including some less omg-spicy options).
You’ll also get a Zouk Ice Cream Sunday to help cool off afterwards. Trust us, you’ll need it.
Issuing a statement for National Chilli Day and the Reaper Challenge, owner Tayub Amjad said: “Our food is usually more about flavour than heat but it’s National Chilli Day, and we know our customers love this challenge.
“For those who complete the challenge, you still have chance to come back and dine on us at a future date, so you will still get to experience the real Zouk too.”
What you thinking, Manchester? Are you up for taking on the world’s hottest curry?
Prestwich pizzeria Dokes announces closure as neighbourhood goes through big changes
Daisy Jackson
One of Prestwich’s best-loved independent restaurants has announced the end of its current chapter, saying that it’s become too difficult to operate with tighter and tighter margins.
Dokes, a pizzeria that also served arguably the town’s best roast dinner, has said that it’s going to ‘have to call it a day’ after three years in the proudly independent neighbourhood.
The news comes just months after Rudy’s opened its first Prestwich restaurant just across the road from Dokes, though that of course may just be a coincidence…
The restaurant comes from the same team behind Elnecot in Ancoats, and opened in 2022, promising delicious pizzas made with (wherever possible) British ingredients.
In a statement issued today, chef and owner Michael Clay said that ‘it’s just not been possible for us to make the money required for the size of team needed to run as a pizza restaurant’.
He wrote: “We are a small restaurant and the margins that were there pre-Covid are not achievable anymore at this scale and only getting tighter month on month.”
He then teased that they would be keeping the Bury New Road site on, with plans to reopen as a new concept.
Prestwich has been growing in popularity in recent years, with a blossoming food and drink scene and healthily increasing house prices.
It’s on the precipice of a £100m overhaul too, which will see the Longfield Centre transformed and new facilities built near the tram stop, including a community hub, a new village square, a market hall, flexible retail and leisure spaces, landscaped outdoor and green spaces, a new travel hub off Fairfax Road and around 200 homes.
It’s always been a village packed with local small businesses until this year, when both Rudy’s and Gail’s opened up – prompting this heartfelt statement from another local indie.
Dokes’ full statement reads: “After nearly 3 years of trying our hardest, unfortunately we’re going to have to call it a day.
“Having originally taken on the premises in between the two lockdowns (remember them?!), we’ve been extremely proud of what we have achieved under sometimes unbelievably difficult circumstances. Our staff have been the cornerstone of this and we would like to thank them for all of their hard work. The feedback we have received over the past couple of years on their food, service and hospitality has been absolutely incredible and we are extremely grateful for the hard work they have put in and the commitment they have shown.
“We feel like we have created a product that you have absolutely loved and a space that you have enjoyed coming to and we now really feel like a part of the Prestwich community – and for that we can’t thank you enough! You came for the pizzas and stayed for the roasts and it’s been a lot of fun.
“Try as we might though, it’s just not been possible for us to make the money required for the size of team needed to run as a pizza restaurant. We are a small restaurant and the margins that were there pre-Covid are not achievable anymore at this scale and only getting tighter month on month.
“So it is with a heavy heart that we are closing the door on this chapter BUT…we aren’t going to be leaving you completely…
“We have plans for the place which we will be updating you about very soon so please watch this space for more details. We hope you’re going to love it.
“As Dokes, Sunday 9th March will be our final service so please come down over the next couple of weeks, grab a pizza or a roast and say hello. It would be lovely to see you all. Bookings are open and the cellar is stocked so lets fill the little place up and go out with a bang!
Georgina Pellant -
13th September 2023 
