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
Popular ramen spot and karaoke bar House of Fu quietly closes in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
One of Manchester’s coolest ramen spots has quietly closed its doors last weekend, saying the site just ‘doesn’t click’.
House of Fu opened just two and a half years ago on Portland Street, following major success across in Leeds.
Their Manchester restaurant was kitted out with details like a neon piece of art in the shape of multi-storey noodles, and a bright orange, blue and white colour scheme against classic exposed brick.
On the menu, it was a comprehensive list of ramen bowls, rice bowls, and small plates, plus great cocktails.
But despite such a solid offering, House of Fu has shared its heartbreaking closure, with its final service last Saturday.
They wrote: “Manchester PSA! We’re heartbroken to announce that we’ll be closing House of Fu on Portland Street this Saturday, 28th February and this will be our last weekend serving the good people of Manchester.
“It’s been a wild two and a half years. To say the economic landscape has been challenging would be a bit of an understatement, but sometimes a site just doesn’t click. You live and hopefully learn.
“We want to say a massive thank you to all our staff. They’ve worked incredibly hard to make sure our customers have had amazing experiences since day one and closing is absolutely no reflection on them. We also want to say thanks to you, our patrons, for choosing to spend your time and money with us.
“We’d also like to thank our landlords, Bruntwood, who’ve been incredibly helpful since we opened, 10/10, would rent again.
“Hopefully we’ll see some of you again soon and please remember to support your local independent hospitality businesses. From the House of Fu Team.”
The Sopranos stars finally visit much-loved Manchester sandwich inspired by the show
Danny Jones
In what feels like an inevitable story in the making for a long time now, members of The Sopranos cast have finally visited the popular Manchester sandwich spot inspired by the show, Bada Bing.
We know were biased, but we believe there’s an argument to be made that the beloved Manc butty shop has perhaps an even more fervent cult following than die-hard viewers of the hit American TV drama.
In case you somehow still don’t know the connection, Bada Bing is named after the strip club where several of the main characters work and spend a lot of their time.
Having returned to Manchester city centre back in 2024 after a successful first stint, they’ve been busier than ever, and that famous local name seems to have spread further than ever, including all the way over to the States, where actors from the original show caught wind and have now made the pilgrimage.
You might wonder why they didn’t name it after the butchers and deli, Satriale’s, or maybe even Artie Bucco’s oft-featured restaurant, Vesuvio. Both seem pretty ideal, right?
But let’s be honest, Bada Bing just has a better ring to it; there’s no denying that.
Either way, when series stars Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa came over to Manchester last week for a live edition of their podcast (which has just wrapped a limited UK tour) at the O2 Apollo.
But whilst they were here, they also made sure to visit a lunchtime joint that we’re sure Tony, Paulie, Christoper, Silvio and all of The Sopranos regulars would approve of.
While they didn’t quite perch out on the stoop with an espresso and a cigar, they did pose with co-owner Sam Gormally for a quick photo op outside the door.
Oh, and we don’t even need to confirm whether or not they liked the heroes – we just know they did.
‘Chris’ Moltisanti himself, Imperioli, also hopped on social media to share another key moment from his visit to the region:
Writing on their TikTok post, the Babd Bing boys dubbed it a “full circle moment” and reiterated that they still “can’t believe this just happened.
To be honest, we’ve barely got over it ourselves, and we’re just very big fans of the place.
We simply cannot imagine how surreal that day must have been for the whole team and everyone involved, and we hope we get a fun new special toasting the pair’s appearance sometime soon.
Georgina Pellant -
30th March 2023 
