Inside Petisco, the brand new Portuguese-inspired restaurant that’s paving the way for Sale’s food revolution
Opened by four friends who've all known each other since childhood, newcomer Petisco more than holds its own against Stanley Squares more established new residents
The town’s once-sad, brutalist concrete shopping complex is being transformed into a thriving food and drink hub – tempting local residents to stay in their local area, rather than hawking off to Altrincham or into town.
Developers are welcoming in established eateries like Sugo Pasta Kitchen, Zumu Sushi and Green’s, but amongst the ranks is a surprise new entrant that sits cut and thrust alongside the rest.
Called Petisco, it’s a Portuguese-inspired restaurant that’s been opened inside a former Greenhalgh’s bakery by four friends – Johnny and Sam Nolan, Rowland Thatcher and Paul Kiely – who’ve all grown up in the area and known each other since childhood.
New potatoes, tomato with caramelised onion aioli. / Image: The Manc Eats
Grilled flat iron steak drizzled with motho cru (meaning raw sauce, similar to chimichurri). / Image: The Manc Eats
The name, loosely translated, equates to a sort of Portuguese tapas – small versions of larger plates, which you order a lot of in order to taste more dishes
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So popular is this style of eating in Portugal that petisco is also a verb, petiscar, used not just to describe eating but the general act of going out for friends for food and drinks.
Three of its four owners have their feet firmly in the corporate world, with Johnny the cheffing talent behind the menu – which borrows from the wider Iberian tradition, as well as taking heavy inspiration from Portugal itself.
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Inspired in more ways than one, nearly everything here is cooked entirely from scratch with just a few items, like the salt cod, natas and sourdough bread, bought in from local suppliers. Their fishmonger, for instance, is a literal stone’s throw away.
You’ll find the usual tapas suspects – salt cod croquettes, Padron peppers, meatballs and patatas bravas – side by side with rich tomato rice loaded with slow-roasted green heritage tomatoes, saffron-poached octopus salad, short rib pica pau, and battered fried runner beans drenched in peri-peri salsa (a surprise hero dish).
Batterd fried runner beans with peri-peri salsa, aioli. / Image: The Manc Eats
Tomato rice, slow roasted green tomato, tomato crisp, salsa verdi. / Image; The Manc Eats
Clams, whiter wine, parsley garlic oil, coriander bubbles at Petisco. / Image: The Manc Eats
Seafood includes shell-on green peri-peri prawns and big bowls of clams with white wine, parsley and garlic oil covered in coriander bubbles, served with a healthy portion of thick sourdough bread to mop up all the delicious juices.
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Wines, meanwhile. are mostly imported from Portugal, with a few exceptions – one Spanish cava, a French rose and a handful of English sparkling wines also make the list.
As for beers, there are only two taps on, supplied by local brewery BlackJack, and a handful of Mediterranean spirits beind the bar.
All four owners have a clear passion for good food and wine, and have spent many years holidaying together around the regions that have inspired Petisco – but it’s Johnny who brings the hospitality experience, having worked in kitchens since he left school at sixteen.
His friends, we hear, have spoken for years about opening something to show off his talents – and at last that moment has come.
A Portuguese voureiro vinho verde, beautifully crisp with high acidity. / Image: The Manc Eats A Brazilian-inspired chicken and broad bean cosinha, chilli verdi. / Image: The Manc Eats
From washing pots at Manchester City, he’s worked his way up to the very top of the trade, spending his career (up until now, at least) cheffing for high-end corporate hospitality catering to the most exclusive director’s boxes.
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At Manchester City for fourteen years, then at United for nine, he went on to chef at Aintree racecourse before being flown out to work at the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
Now back in Manchester and living just around the corner from the restaurant, it doesn’t sound like he actually sleeps – so committed are some of his processes.
We hear how one standout dish, a stunning combination of earthy artichoke puree, pork belly, pork cheek and pork ‘quaver’, takes him nearly three days to make (and still we get the feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg).
Inside Petisco, designed by Joanne Thatcher of Northern Styling MCR. Image: The Manc Eats
For the pork quaver alone, pigskin is poached for 24 hours in a water bath, dehydrated for the same amount of time, then the fat cleaned up before it’s deep-fried to sit jauntily atop a pile of glistening, beautifully tender meat that falls apart under your fork.
All four have poured their heart and soul into the new opening, which they essentially built themselves from scratch, right down to the table we’re sat on.
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Rowland tells us it was ‘a lot of long hours, [coming from my] full-time job, and then straight to the unit in the evenings to do the graft on building it and getting it ready for opening.”
With a little help from sister-in-law Joanne Thatcher, who put together the design of space for them, it’s been a real family affair from start to finish – and the passion shows in everything they do.
Image; The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Marrying Mancunian industrial elements like exposed brick and copper detailing with blue and white ikat tiling, black and white photos of famous parts of Portgual and exposed filament bulbs hanging from the ceiling, just like the menu itself there’s a real mix of Mancunian and Mediterranean influences.
Open for just over a week now, unless you come at bang-on 4pm when they open Petisco is already nearly booked up until March – a testament to how great the concept is.
The old dears of Sale may not have been chuffed to lose their Greenhalgh’s at first (we hear there was a bit of grumbling on the community Facebook groups), but it seems they’re already coming around. As well they should.
To find out more about Petisco and book, visit the website here. The restaurant’s menus change weekly depending on produce.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Food & Drink
Kobbie Mainoo shouts out more of his favourite food spots in Manchester
Danny Jones
Man United star Kobbie Mainoo is back putting people onto his favourite places to eat in Manchester, and judging by his picks, he doesn’t just know football – he knows his food spots too.
The Stockport-born footballer turned 20 years old this month, and as well as celebrating leaving his teens with that impressive goal in the comeback against Lyon, the Manchester United midfielder was met with a birthday cake by his club, along with a fun little game of 20 questions.
Sharing the short but insightful Q&A, in which the number 37 dove into his favourite parts of matchdays, the best birthday gift he’s ever received, as well as the tried and tested dream dinner guest lineup.
Naming a very sporty trio of Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan and Jon Jones, the only logical next step was to ask him where his favourite places to eat around Manchester were, to which he answered…
That’s right, spotlighting a personal favourite of ours, the first Manc venue on his list was Pho Cue, the authentic family-run Vietnamese spot known for great value, top-quality street food such as their big hitter bánh mìs, as well as big queues every lunchtime.
If you don’t know already, then get to know.
As you can see, the second place he mentioned with the booked-up-till-kingdom come Onda Pasta Bar, which went viral for its ‘Tiramisu drawer’ last year and opened their first proper restaurant back in June.
Since then, it’s fair to say it’s more popular than ever and you’re lucky to get a table; if you, however, you’ll be treated to some of the most luxurious and indulgent pasta not just in Manchester but probably anywhere in the country, if you ask us.
These latest shout-outs come after Mainoo famously put Salford’s culinary kings, Burgerism, on the nationwide map after name-dropping them in his British GQ interview in November 2024.
You can watch the full thing HERE, but you already know the biggest takeaway from that chat, quite literally: the boy knows his burgers.
Kobbie is actually just one of several famous faces to have proclaimed Burgerism as the best in the business, at least in Greater Manchester of late.
Not only have British influencers Ollie Ball and Jacob Pasquill now become seemingly regular presenters on their social media, but online content creator turned boxer and WWE star Logan Paul also visited the beloved burger joint and reviewed it during a recent visit to the UK.
We’ll confess we’re more likely to take the local lad’s word on board over the bloke who used to make Vines, but it’s just yet more proof that the Manc food scene is top tier.
Come on, just look at the state of these selections:
Not a bad little spread there, Kobb… (Credit: The Manc Eats)
We’re not sure how much of this stuff Mainoo is allowed on the diet sheet, but we can at least confirm that Kobbie knows his Manchester food, and as far as favourites go, we might just stand a chance of becoming best friends yet.
Happy birthday to a young man with a very bright future and hopefully a very active metabolism.
Featured Images — Manchester United/The Manc Group
Food & Drink
Inside Voyeur, a mysterious new post-punk 80s-inspired cocktail bar
Daisy Jackson
A brand new cocktail bar is set to open in Manchester this week, with dark and mysterious interiors, 80s inspiration, and a raunchy theme.
Voyeur is opening in the heart of the Northern Quarter, and here it’s all about modern drinks in a post-punk 80s setting.
The walls are decorated with beautiful voyeurism photography from the 80s, including artists like David Hockney, Nick Taggart, and Malerie Marder.
Even the menus celebrate the artistic side of voyeurism, with drinks presented within a book of photography.
Those drinks include creative twists on drinks dating back more than a century, from the Kaleidescope of Lies (a two-in one cocktail inspired by a pina colada, with a strawberry daiquiri foam top) to The Voyeur (made with coriander-infused tequila for a savoury punch).
There’ll be monthly themed specials, kicking off with The Breakfast Club, where seasonal drinks take inspiration from Lucky Charms cereal, chai latte and an acai bowl.
Cocktails inspired by The Breakfast Club at VoyeurCocktails at Voyeur in the Northern QuarterInside Voyeur, a new Manchester cocktail barInside Voyeur, a new Manchester cocktail barVoyeur on Oldham StreetThe cocktail menu is presented as a photography book
The dark space is lit by marble table lamps and a glittering green disco ball (and not much else), perfect for an evening spent sipping cocktails into the early hours.
Between Thursdays and Sundays, Voyeur will have DJs spinning vinyls.
Voyeur is opening this week on Oldham Street and will be open from 5pm to 2am between Tuesday and Sunday.