The Ivy made a big song and dance about their grand reopening on July 4. Literally.
Days before the hospitality lockdown lifted, a video popped up online starring Ivy staff – dressed in their signature forest green waistcoats – grooving through Spinningfields to an ecstatic soundtrack with huge smiles stitched to their faces.
Talk about coming back with a bang.
Of course, anyone who’s been to The Ivy before will recognise that this is right on brand.
Flourish is their thing – and it’s what’s made a seat at the venue one of the most sought-after spots in the city.
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Sure enough, queues are already forming outside when we arrive for a mid-week meal, and after being beckoned down the walkway by a pair of hat-tipping doormen, I find myself mumbling something about the surprising size of the interior.
A nearby waiter smiles, nods and shuts his eyes. He’s heard this all before.
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“Yes – it looks smaller from the outside,” he chuckles.
“But there’s so much more in here than people think.”
He’s right. In every sense.
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Just like the woody plant which bears its name, The Ivy is long, high, winding; fitted with labyrinthian corridors, twisting staircases and a roaming rooftop terrace.
It’s a luxurious world of its own – like stepping into a meticulously-crafted hedge maze on a manor estate.
One cocktail too many and you risk getting lost in there forever. But that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
There’s no better time to escape the outside world than right now, and with four floors of chandeliers, marble surfaces, greenery and artwork (some it insect-themed), The Ivy has more plush interiors to explore than a royal residence.
It’s a triumph of landscape architecture.
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The staff are also play a key part in reinforcing the mystical garden setting; with the gatekeepers sporting Luigi-like outfits whilst the waiters wear flower-patterned jackets.
There’s a lot of them, and they’re a charming, chatty bunch, too – making an arrival at The Ivy feel more like checking into a hotel than booking a meal.
Before tucking in, we’re taken on a quick tour of the low-lit, luxurious multi-level jungle venue – with our waiter then walking us through some dish recommendations and offering helpful ideas on which wine to pair with each.
En route to our table, we apologetically weave around two people posing for snaps on the stairs. There’s a lot of that. The Ivy is the kind of place guests get dressed up for; with the decor guaranteeing picturesque images that send ‘likes’ soaring on social media.
But that’s not to say the restaurant is just for the younger corporate crowd. A quick glance around reveals a wide range of visitors across many demographics, including couples, groups and older families.
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The red tape for the restaurant was cut in late 2018 – bringing the illustrious Ivy brand (which is the eatery of choice among celebs in the Big Smoke) to Manchester.
Construction began just as Spinningfields had settled into its groove, with owners scattering the seeds across Hardman Square and temporarily reverting the patch of land into a building site for several months.
Even the office workers stuck with views of cranes from their windows for months would probably tell you it was worth it.
The Ivy has been absolutely booming ever since.
With longer opening hours than your average venue, there’s breakfast and afternoon set menus all available at The Ivy – as well as a suitably mammoth ‘a la carte’ at nighttime.
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With more than a dozen different starters, mains and desserts to choose from, you won’t have difficulty finding something you’ll like – including prime cuts of meat, flavourful seafood and freshly-prepped vegetables.
Some dishes are accompanied by a bit of wizardry performed on behalf of the waiter (including a ring of blue fire for the apple tart).
Presentation is pretty perfect, and the food itself is good – but what keeps people returning to this garden of Eden is the magnificent, opulent setting and the dwellers within.
As you may have already guessed, a bit of wiggle room in the bank account is required for a multi-course meal at The Ivy. But the experience is a memorable one.
There’s nothing else in the city quite like it.
Eats
The ‘secret’ cash-and-carry near Piccadilly that’s selling amazing Italian food for less than the supermarkets
Daisy Jackson
We all know the pain of finally settling on what you want to eat for dinner, only to Google a recipe and discover a list of ingredients that your local Tesco definitely won’t have in stock.
‘Where the f*** am I going to get guanciale from at this hour?’, you think.
Well, just a stone’s throw from Manchester Piccadilly, you’ll find a cash-and-carry that’s an Aladdin’s cave of Italian food – and a damn sight cheaper than a supermarket, too.
Amato is a name you might recognise, with their grey vans regularly trundling around Greater Manchester delivering top Italian produce to all your favourite restaurants.
But you don’t need a wholesale membership to take advantage of their massive range of pastas, sauces, drinks, meat, cheese, and just about everything else you can think of – or to make the most of the prices either.
Amato has given up a small section of its 20,000 sq ft warehouse to be a retail space, where you can pick up everything from fresh filled pasta to truffle oil.
There’s also a selection of produce from beyond Italy, like Kewpie mayonnaise and gochujang.
Part of the huge warehouse operates as a retail spaceBob Amato started the business more than 30 years ago
And they’ve honoured the prices given to wholesale clients too, with smaller retail sizing, meaning you can pick up affordable produce without needing to bulk-buy (or lug home a 25kg bag of flour).
The business was launched by Bob and Deloras Amato more than 30 years ago, getting top Italian ingredients to chefs across the North West.
But the retail side has really taken off since the Covid pandemic, Bob explains.
“It’s a bit of a secret place,” he says, “As we don’t tend to advertise it too much.”
It all began (as so many local businesses did) back in 2020.
He says: “During the pandemic, as we’re a wholesaler, we realised there was a big demand for flour, which we had plenty of. People were crying out for flour and we had absolutely tonnes of it in 25kg sacks.
A whole range of little pasta – or pastinaOne of two aisles dedicated to Italian pastaPasta shapes you won’t find in a supermarket
“So we got some of our staff to come in and to repackage it in smaller packages that we could sell to retail customers.
“From that, people weren’t allowed to go out and they wanted to make pizzas and pasta, so they wanted tomatoes and mozzarella and pepperoni and other products.”
As a customer now, you can pick up things like tinned San Marzano tomatoes, harvested in the foothills of Mount Vesuvius; fresh burrata from Puglia (or frozen, if you want it to have a slightly longer shelf life); and traditionally-cured meats like guanciale, speck, and prosciutto.
Essentially, there’s everything you need to make a hearty Italian feast from scratch, or you can grab a bag of homemade pesto and pasta, made fresh on site, from the fridges for an easier dinner.
Bob and his team are encyclopaedias of information about the food produced all the way across Italy, knowing the back story of every one of their 1,500+ products.
Cured meat including guancialeTrays of cannoli You can also pick up fresh filled pasta at Amato
He tells us about why pasta shapes get their name, like Schiaffoni, which loosely translates as ‘slaps’ because of the sound they make when they plop onto the plate.
Bob also explains the reason that Scamorza comes in a snowman-like shape, with the cheese being strung up by its ‘neck’ to dry and age.
He chats us through all the different flours, and why you would use which in your pizzas; why good tinned tomatoes are worth seeking out (cheap ones are like ‘bullets’); and that you should always bring your burrata up to room temperature.
Even as we’re checking out with our armfuls of pasta, the staff member serving us is passing on tips for a perfect amatriciana sauce.
Amato is open from 7am daily (except Sundays), and if you’re stuck on what to make for dinner, pay Bob and his team a visit.
Neighbourhood restaurant slams lack of ‘common decency’ after huge booking no-shows
Daisy Jackson
A neighbourhood restaurant with rave reviews has been forced to speak out and change its booking system after a huge table didn’t show up for their reservation.
Anello, a pizzeria and small plate restaurant, said that it was left with a large empty table for two hours on a busy Saturday night because a group of 10 people failed to honour their booking.
The restaurant, which comes from the original founders of Rudy’s, said they received ‘no call, no email, no notice, no chance of us filling the space’.
They’d accepted the large booking for 10 people with no deposit, which had always been the system in place.
Anello said: “We’ve always wanted to go off trust when taking bookings for tables. It’s common decency to let someone know you’re not coming – right?
“Life is busy and plans change and I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of punishing people financially for that.”
However, losing that amount of potential revenue on a Saturday night when the hospitality is ‘in a state’ has left the business with no choice.
They wrote: “I could bang on and on about the state of the hospitality industry, but we are where we are with that. But with that and the amount of times this has happened, we’re now going to take a booking deposit for groups of 6+.
“Sorry folks. It doesn’t sit quite right but we just don’t have a choice at the moment.”
The Anello team and family outside the restaurant. Credit: Instagram, @anellopizzeria
Anello opened in the heart of Slaithwaite, a pretty town halfway between Manchester and Leeds, back in 2022, taking over a former library.
Not only does it have serious pizza credentials (again – Rudy’s founders Jim Morgan and Kate Wilson are at the helm), but real local produce credentials too.
A lot of the ingredients used at Anello have been grown in their very own kitchen garden, where they also host occasional open days with wood-fired butties.
And as well as Neapolitan pizza, you’ll find excellent seasonal small plates and starters, plus homemade ice cream.
Their necessary change to their reservation policy has been welcomed by customers.
One person commented: “I think that’s fair and reasonable, it’s not on to ghost a small business like that.”
Another said: “That’s so frustrating! Deposits are a great idea – will always happily pay a deposit.”
And someone else wrote: “Sorry to hear this keeps happening. Not sure what sort of bubble of ignorance people exist in to not be considerate to providers. Hope the deposit system helps.”
The Manc -
30th July 2020 
