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
Beloved local bakery shares ‘depressing’ cost of ingredients in brutally transparent statement
Daisy Jackson
A popular local bakery has justified a small price hike on its bakes by sharing the staggering jump in the price of basic ingredients.
In a refreshingly honest and transparent statement, Long Boi’s Bakehouse in Levenshulme informed customers that there have been price increases of up to 255% on essentials like flour, butter and chocolate.
They pleaded for understanding from their customers and said that running a business is ‘hella crazy’ right now.
The bakery, which was recently named one of the best in the UK by the Good Food Guide, has been inundated with similar comments from other bakeries which make you wonder how any independent is surviving at the moment.
Long Boi’s chose to address the small rise in their prices directly to their customers, with a ‘quite frankly depressing AF read’.
They shared real examples of price increases, including a 122% price jump on butter (from £39 to £86.95); a 232% increase on the price of dark chocolate (from £56.24 to £186.67); and a mind-blowing hike of 255% on cheddar cheese (£17.08 to £60.48).
Even the price of flour – obviously, an essential ingredient for any bakery – has gone up from £10.20 to £25.60, a 151% increase.
Those prices all show how rapidly costs have risen in the five years since the Covid pandemic and subsequent economic turmoil.
Long Boi’s Bakehouse said they ‘can’t believe chocolate was ever that cheap’ in hindsight, and stressed that there are also financial issues around energy prices, and ensuring that their nine staff members are paid above Living Wage.
Long Boi’s Bakehouse in Levenshulme. Credit: The Manc Group
Long Boi’s Bakehouse said: “A few of the eagle eyed amongst you might’ve noticed that we upped all of our prices in the bakery as of Tuesday, and just wanted to do a little post to a) publicly acknowledge that (don’t want you all to think we’re being sneaky) & b) explain why.
“Tbh I don’t think it’ll be news to any of you that the cost of everything has gone WILD, but I thought I’d write up some actual examples of the changes in ingredient prices since we opened – swipe for quite frankly a depressing AF read.
“I actually can’t believe chocolate was ever that cheap, what a time to be alive!!! BASICALLY, combine this with soaring energy prices, wanting to use only the best stuff in our bakes, and making sure NINE 💖 lovely staff are paid above Living Wage as standard (maybe the most important bit!!) – means that raising our prices slightly was the only way to keep on top of this balancing act.
“Really hope you can all understand! Running a business is hella crazy right now, big love to all our fellow independents going THROUGH it.”
One customer replied: “Happy to pay the extra but shocked for you at the increases your side – very useful post to see how things are changing and how this affects small businesses.”
Another wrote: “Thanks for putting this together for customers to see! It’s a bit mad init!!!”
There are similar stories from struggling independents right across the country who have lent their voices to Long Boi’s statement.
Albie’s, a popular coffee shop over in Sheffield, said: “We actually thought we were going mad when I said butter used to be under £40 – I had to check old price lists to make sure I in fact wasn’t going bonkers!!
“Hard to imagine how we’ve even come through these last 5 years. Lots of flat whites. Love the transparency. The info in black and white really hits home even for those of us that are paying it too!”
And Big Bear Bakery up in Glasgow wrote: “Never seen trading conditions like this been baking for 18 years and in hospitality for 30. The latest NI contributions are the final nail!”
Coosh in Nottignham commented: “The increase in chocolate prices was eye watering.”
Did you have any idea just how expensive ingredients have become? If only the bigger brands would be as transparent as Long Boi’s Bakehouse.
Bundobust is giving away free beer after ’embarrassing mess-up’ – on one condition
Daisy Jackson
Bundobust has hit the free beer klaxon again, giving away hundreds of pints next week after a ‘real mess-up’.
The beloved Indian street food brand, which has two sites in Manchester as well as its OG restaurant over in Leeds, shared a statement that says ‘Well this is embarrassing’.
Bundobust has revealed it had planned a huge free pint giveaway for National Beer Day on Monday…
Except National Beer Day isn’t actually until June. They were looking at the American calendar, the silly sausages.
But not one to throw a good marketing stunt away, Bundobust has decided to crack on with its free beer giveaway as planned, on one condition – you must order in an American accent.
The restaurant will be handing out hundreds of free pints of its own Bundobust Brewery beer on Monday 7 April.
Just pop in with a friend, and any time one of you orders a beer and wishes them a ‘Happy National Beer Day’ (don’t forget the accent) you get a free beer for you and your mate.
Bundobust said: “Well this is embarrassing. We’ve really messed up this time.
“For weeks now, we’ve been planning to give away hundreds of FREE PINTS of Bundobust Brewery beer this National Beer Day, Monday 7th April.
Bundobust is giving away free beers after ’embarrassing mess-up’. Credit: The Manc Group
“All you’d have to do is bring a friend in, any time one of you got a Bundobust Brewery beer and wishes us “Happy National Beer Day” you’d get your beer PLUS a free one to give to your mate.
“So simple. So elegant! Only one problem though. Monday 7th April is National Beer Day in America. Ours is 15th June.
“We don’t want to wait that long though!! Also we’ve already programmed the “free beer for a mate” button into the till, which takes a good 5 minutes, so we’re going to go ahead with it this Monday 7th April!
“There’s one catch though: you have to do an American accent when you say “Happy National Beer Day”. Deal? See y’all on Monday, pardner.”
Their cock-up is our win – free beer deal is available at all Bundobust sites from 12pm on Monday.