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
Michelin-recommended Greater Manchester restaurant announces imminent closure
Daisy Jackson
A neighbourhood restaurant in Greater Manchester has announced its imminent closure, in a real blow for the local food scene
Restaurant Orme, a restaurant in Urmston that had made its way into the prestigious Michelin Guide, notified followers that with ‘great sadness’ they are intending to sell the business.
In their statements the team acknowledged the ‘significant economic pressures’ facing the restaurant industry, writing: “We find an increasing disparity between perceived value and the true cost of operations, rendering long-term sustainability unfeasible.”
But they also detailed that a break in their lease has allowed them to ‘thoughtfully consider’ their circumstances and make the ‘right choice for our growing families’.
The business was founded and operated by a trio of friends, Jack Fields, Tom Wilson, and Rachel Roberts.
Restaurant Orme has said that it can’t yet confirm its final date of service but has encouraged diners holding restaurant vouchers to make use of them in the coming months.
They also wrote: “It has been a pleasure serving this wonderful community and beyond. We have had so much to celebrate over the last three years and will cherish the memories and experiences we have shared.”
Restaurant Orme has been the subject of rave reviews and critical acclaim since launching in 2023, with the Good Food Guide writing that the team were delivering ‘ambitious food while staying true to its local roots’.
Michelin-recommended Greater Manchester restaurant announces imminent closure. Credit: Instagram, @littlemcrhouse
It described Restaurant Orme as a ‘youthful and breezily energetic’ restaurant with ‘lively but serious’ cooking.
And the Michelin Guide hailed it as a ‘pleasantly welcoming’ space with ‘appealing menus’.
Restaurant Orme wrote: “It is with great sadness that we announce our intention to sell the restaurant.
“It is well published that our industry is facing significant economic pressures. Addressing the real impact on trade, we find an increasing disparity between perceived value and the true cost of operations, rendering long-term sustainability unfeasible
“This has impacted our decision, however as we approach a break in our lease, we have been presented with an opportunity to thoughtfully consider our circumstances and reflect on what lies ahead. We need to make the right choice for our growing families, right now that means stability.
“As we navigate through this process, we can’t yet declare an official date of closure, therefore if you have exsiting vouchers with a valid expiry date, we urge you to book in within the next six months. New voucher sales have been suspended.
“It has been a pleasure serving this wonderful community and beyond. We have had so much to celebrate over the last three years and will cherish the memories and experiences we have shared.
“Thank you for everything. We will keep you posted when we have clarity on our final farewell.
“Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened!”
And that’s further proof that even the best-loved, most critically-acclaimed neighbourhood restaurants just can’t make the figures stack up in the current climate.
First look at Eggslut as cult breakfast brand finally opens in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Cult breakfast brand Eggslut has finally arrived in Manchester, serving up egg sandwiches, coffees, and its viral French toast sticks.
Founded in LA way back in 2011, Eggslut has gone on to become a global sensation, first opening in the UK down in London in 2019.
But now Eggslut has decided to branch out beyond the capital and take a crack at The North, opening a sunny yellow takeaway on Deansgate.
On the menu you’ll find all kinds of sandwiches where egg is the star of the show, including the Fairfax with soft scrambled eggs, and a classic bacon egg and cheese with runny yolks.
There are also all-day sandwiches like a spicy chicken sando, and cheeseburgers, plus fresh orange juice and quality coffees.
Or you can order a ‘Slut’ (which is a weird experience) for the ultimate posh dippy egg, baked in a jar with potato puree and served with slices of toasted baguette.
Pair that with some truffle hash browns, and don’t skip the French toast sticks with maple custard for dipping.
Eggslut officially opens on Valentine’s Day, with 100 free sandwiches for the first customers through the door from 8am.
A spread of food at Eggslut in ManchesterThe Fairfax and a fresh orange juiceThe French toast sticks with maple custard
And until the end of February, Eggslut with offer a Manchester-exclusive opening bundle: two sandwiches and two hash browns for £25, available in-store only.
Pedro Ribeiro, Eggslut’s Head of Ops, says of the opening: “Manchester has been crying out for an Eggslut for too long, and we were only too happy to make that dream a reality.
“The city is the perfect place to bring our kind of breakfast to a brand new area of the UK and we cannot wait to join such a fast-paced and buzzing food scene.”
Matt Pazos, Bruntwood SciTech Retail Commercial Manager says: “We’re delighted to be welcoming the first Eggslut outside of London to Manchester and can’t wait for the team to crack open their doors on Deansgate.
“The brand has built a cult following thanks to their delicious chef driven comfort food and we know that it will fast become a go-to spot for businesses based in Centurion House as well as locals and visitors to the city”
Eggslut Manchester is located in Centurion House on Deansgate and opens on Saturday 14 February 2026.
Georgina Pellant -
30th March 2023 
