This week, the team behind Gooey has launched its new pasta concept Onda inside Manchester’s newest bar and food hall Exhibition.
Onda pasta bar – translating to ‘wave’ from the Italian – sees the team collaborate with Michelin-trained chef Sam Astley Dean to cook up some gorgeous fresh pasta dishes over on Peter Street, taking over what was formerly Caroline Martin’s Sao Paulo Bistro unit.
Serving up a core menu of pasta small plates from £6 alongside starters of arancini, mixed vegetable fritti, and proper crunchy garlic bread with parsley butter, you’ll also find some giant family-style sharers on the menu here – not least, a huge plate of lumache alla vodka.
Putting a spin on the viral TikTok pasta trend (and the classic Italian recipe that precedes it), the dish combines organic tomato with ‘nduja and parmesan to create the ultimate cheesy crowd-pleaser.
Elsewhere, you’ll find a second giant sharer dish of gnocchi gratinati combining spinach, mozzarella and pangrattato, plus some seriously plump raviolo stuffed with scallop, crab and fennel atop a rich seafood bisque.
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Spaghetti Carbonara at Onda. / Image; The Manc Eats
Raviolo with scallop, crab and fennel at Onda. / Image: The Manc Eats
Pasta small plate must-tries include the spaghetti casrbonara with pecorino, pancetta and a whole egg yolk that you mixed into your pasta at the table yourself, the aforementioned ravioli, and a pici cacio e pepe that nods to one of chef Sam Astley-Dean’s earliest Rise pizza creations.
Starters of note, meanwhile, include a mouthwatering saffron risotto short rib arancini atop lemon aioli, and the most indulgent Caesar salad we’ve encountered in some time – we’re talking whole leaves of baby gem drenched in sauce and wearing a veritable wig of parmesan on top.
Add to that dreamy slices of tiramisu and a plan to make their own gelato in house very soon (a fior di latte mainstay will always be on, so we’re told, plus blood orange and rhubarb flavours to start with), and it’s fair to say that – between the big flavours and the affordability – Onda is well worth a look in.
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Speaking on the new menu, chef Sam Astley-Dean told The Manc as we watched him hand-roll his pasta: “Our whole menu rests on flour and water, like our focaccia, our bread and all our pastas, and the only way to get good at it is to just do it over and over and get the feel.
“It’s very therapeutic, it’s good, like, it’s the only way to get to know something. “
Asked what his favourite dish is, he jokes: “I don’t actually like pasta” before going on to enthusiastically list almost every pasta plate on Onda’s menu.
He gushed: “It’s probably the lumache, but the vongole is like, that’s a bit of me that, like shellfish, chilli, garlic.
“I genuinely love it all, every single dish, it’s all our favourite pastas. The cacio e pepe, pesto with anything, the cavatelli’s great, erm, the vongole, the shellfish raviolo, the pappardelle, oh no the carbonara, I love the carbonara.”
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Mixed vegetable fritti at Onda. / Image: The Manc Eats
Garlic bread with parsley butter. / Image: The Manc Eats
“Honestly all of them, every single one of them, like, we want it to be super approachable, that’s why we’ve not banged on about ingredients too much. It’s for everyone, if you’re in with your mates or a date or your family.
“I want to bring my daughter and my dog, but I’d also like to come on a date night with my wife, so it’s got that vibe of it’s affordable. Yes, it’s got good ingredients but we’re not being preachy about it, it’s just good food.”
The menu features classic pasta dishes alongside innovative specials. Onda will also serve a ten layered fresh pasta lasagne on Sundays, available in two flavours: classic ragu and bianca.
Open now inside Exhibition, food at Onda is served seven days a week until 9pm in the evening with the bar open later for more drinks.
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Eats
Tiny Manchester restaurant with just 12 seats added to the Michelin Guide
Daisy Jackson
Sampa, a tiny restaurant in the Northern Quarter with just a dozen seats, has been added to the Michelin Guide.
The Brazilian chef’s table concept comes from the acclaimed chef and former MasterChef star Caroline Martins, who has been refining the concept across the city for years.
She’s gone from a residency in an Ancoats wine bar to supper clubs and pop-ups across Manchester – and now has a place in the Michelin Guide.
Sampa, which is almost fully booked all the way through to August, is the first Brazilian restaurant in the UK to be included in the prestigious guide, which Caroline has described as ‘a small step for me as a chef patron, but a massive moment for the Brazilian community’.
Not only is the restaurant small, but it’s exclusive – Sampa is almost fully booked all the way through to August, and keeps its location under wraps until just 24 hours before your reservation.
The food showcases both traditional Brazilian techniques and ingredients, but with a modern take which has earned it rave reviews – including its signature Dormouse dessert, in the shape of a glossy red mushroom.
The Michelin Guide wrote: “In Manchester’s artsy Northern Quarter, Sampa is quite literally hidden away, with the exact address of this 12-seater chef’s counter only provided to guests 24 hours prior to dining, and a sign hung outside the door just 20 minutes before service.
“This sense of intrigue is fitting for an immersive experience where Chef Caroline Martins hosts her guests in a gregarious manner and treats them to a surprise menu of Brazilian cuisine.
“From the traditional ‘pão de queijo’ cheese bread to the showstopping ‘Dormouse’ dessert, these are fun, flavourful dishes packed with personality.”
And speaking of the honour, Caroline wrote: “SAMPA is now officially the first ever restaurant in the UK under the category “Brazilian” in the @michelinguide — and one of five across Europe! A small step for me as a chef patron, but a massive moment for the Brazilian community.
“This year has already gone beyond anything I could have imagined — and it just keeps getting better. We’re so proud of what we do at SAMPA every single day.
“Since January 2025, we’ve continued to grow and push forward, and it truly feels like we’re stronger than ever.
“A huge thank you to the Michelin Guide for the recognition, and to our amazing guests for being part of this journey and supporting us every step of the way. OBRIGADA!”
A sports bar dedicated to women’s sports is opening in Stockport
Daisy Jackson
A brand-new women’s-led sports bar is opening in Stockport, marking a first for the North.
Rita Ray’s will be joining the line-up at Weir Mill, the new neighbourhood from Capital & Centric on the banks of the River Mersey.
While women’s sport has grown in popularity in recent years, Rita Ray’s founder says that ‘the spaces to watch it haven’t caught up’.
And so, this new sports bar concept has been born, with all the buzz of a classic sports bar but with women’s sport on the big screens.
The venue will be family-friendly by day, before shifting into a lively social hangout with great drinks, music, and post-matchday energy by night.
It plans to become a community cornerstone too, hosting things like run clubs, classes, quiz nights, book clubs, pop-ups, and community meet-ups.
Founder of Rita Ray’s, Becky Brown, has named the bar after her grandparents Rita and Ray, who loved life, games, golf, and good company.
She says there’s ‘nothing like this in the North at the moment’.
Rita Ray’s sports bar is the second independent venture announced for Weir Mill this month alone – Italian restaurant The Social Trattoria is also heading to Stockport this year.
Becky said: “Women’s sport has grown massively, but the spaces to watch it haven’t caught up.
“There’s nothing like this in the North at the moment, and Stockport and the Weir Mill neighbourhood felt like the perfect spot – creative, independent, and full of character. Rita Ray’s is about sport, community, and inclusion.”
Tom Wilmot, joint managing director at Capital&Centric, said: “Rita Ray’s is exactly the kind of bold, indie concept we love bringing into our neighbourhoods. It’s a brilliant addition to Weir Mill and a great example of the independent operators helping shape this new part of Stockport.”
Cllr Micheala Meikle, Cabinet Member for regeneration, skills and economy, said: “Seeing the North’s first independent bar dedicated to women’s sport choose Weir Mill is a fantastic vote of confidence in Stockport.
“This kind of bold, community‑minded business will add to the growing sense of place we’re creating here – an inclusive space where everyone can come together to enjoy sport, meet friends, and feel part of something special.
“This is exactly what regeneration should deliver: new jobs, strong independents and more reasons for people to spend time in our town centre, while keeping the character that makes Stockport what it is.
“Investment of this quality shows the direction we’re heading and the momentum we’re building, ensuring Stockport remains a vibrant, welcoming and thriving place for residents, visitors and businesses alike.”
Rita Ray’s is all set to open this summer at Weir Mill in Stockport, just in time to roar on the Three Lions.
Georgina Pellant -
30th March 2023 
