It’s another great week for eating and drinking out in Manchester, with a host of new pop-ups, one-off events and new dishes to be getting stuck into.
Dare we say it – but there seems to be a general feeling of optimism in hospitality right now.
Launch parties are finally being thrown, residencies are being announced, and nature – as the meme goes – is finally healing.
Keep reading to discover our top food and drink picks for the week.
A hidden bar takeover with natty wine and french fries
Wine and fires have long been a perfect pairing, then add in the reopening of one of Manchester’s secret bars and you’re on to a guaranteed winner / Image: Vin De Bodega
Natural wine hustlers Vin De Bodega team up with Amsterdam-inspired Fry By this week – taking over the small cocktail bar hidden underneath The Corner Boy, formerly known as Double Down, for a night of top-tier natty wine and loaded fries.
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Wines, all handpicked favourites of the Vin De Bodega team, will be available by the glass or the bottle – as well as fries from upstairs, loaded with your choice of over 50 different flavour combinations. There will also be a special portion of fries available on the night to enjoy with a paired wine.
Find them underneath The Corner Boy, Stevenson Square this Thursday 12 August from 5 pm.
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“A gift from the pasta Gods” at Sugo
Sugo’s new Paccheri all’ Amatriciana is a simple classic based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, white wine and datterini tomatoes / Image: Sugo Pasta Kitchen
Such is the excitement around Sugo, a single new dish is more than enough to have us shouting from the rooftops.
Described by the team as “a gift from the pasta Gods,’ the new Paccheri all’ Amatriciana is a simple classic based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, white wine and datterini tomatoes. To be enjoyed with “at least” half a litre ofBarbera on the side, it looks and sounds absolutely divine.
Find Sugo at 46 Blossom St, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6BF.
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A new pop-up restaurant in the KAMPUS bungalow
Caramelised walnut cream with green strawberries, covered in frozen & shaved buttery Eccles cake / Image: Tine.
Fine dining fans, this one is for you.
Tine, the restaurant project by chefs Josh Shanahan and James Lord, is popping up in the KAMPUS bungalow with some gorgeous seasonally-inspired dishes until the end of September starting this Friday.
Calling on experience at Mana, Where The Light Gets In and Manchester House, the pair plan on serving a 5-course set menu of British flavours with their signature umami twist. Find them cooking up a storm on Thursday to Sunday evenings right through to the end of next month.
The lads are also working with Le Social Wine (KAMPUS’s other residents right now) to curate a wine list in tandem with bottles from their own cellar, so expect some really special pairings on the side.
Reservations are live now. Find Tine at KAMPUS, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3DA from Friday 13 August.
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Indian chippy teas from a hidden Chorlton gem
The Indian-Scottish take on fish on chips: fresh Panga fried in Roti gram flour batter, fluffy masala potatoes and curried chickpea ‘mushy peas / Image: Roti
If you’d like to try a chippy tea with a twist, Roti in Chorlton has to be the spot. It opened just before the pandemic so hasn’t been given the shine it should – but we’re here to fix that.
Here you’ll find some great Indian Scottish fusions. Think a ‘chip butty’ roti, filled with curried aloo and chickpeas marinated in an aromatic pickle, or ‘mince and tatties’ Roti spiced pork with house chole potatoes.
That said, it’s the take on fish and chips that’s got us really excited. Made with fresh Panga fried in Roti gram flour batter, it’s then served with fluffy masala potatoes and curried chickpea ‘mushy peas.’ Enjoy with an Irn-Bru cocktail and for the ultimate naughty treat finish with a deep-fried Mars bar.
Find Roti at 559 Barlow Moor Rd, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 8AN.
Focaccia sandwiches from Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria
Pulled beef with sage mustard, taleggio, rocket and balsamic served on Batard bakery focaccia / Image: Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria
Not busy enough with two kitchens on the go and the launch of a new packaged meal service in South Manchester, Lazy Tony’s has just added two new focaccia sandwiches to the menu to coincide with the fact that they’re now open for lunch as well as dinner at Radium Street.
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This weekend just gone, the Ancoats kitchen premiered two new butties using focaccia from Batard: one with pulled beef, sage mustard, taleggio, rocket and balsamic; another with buttermilk fried chicken, chilli marinara, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan.
They’re currently taking classic requests for this weekend – we see someone’s put ‘lasagne sandwich’ in the comments already, which we’re completely here for.
Find Lazy Tony’s new sandwiches at 23 Radium St, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6AY this weekend from midday.
Manchester’s Cat Café is set to reopen four years after its closure
Danny Jones
Feline fans, rejoice, because Cat Café Manchester looks like it is reopening more than four whole years after its unfortunate closure.
The city centre’s much-loved cat café – the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester and among just a small handful in the North West – closed back in 2021 following unavoidable economic struggles brought about by the pandemic
Despite being hugely popular before having to shut its doors, the business was unable to reach an agreement with their landlord at the time and the owners were left with no other choice than to close permanently – or so we thought…
Seemingly back from the dead and published their first post since 11 January 2021, the official Instagram page shared just one line along with a picture of their soon-to-be new premises.
Briefly teasing fans ahead of an official announcement, the post reads: “Manchester we’ve missed you! There’s only one thing this place needs…”
The shot taken across the road from Manchester’s historic Barton Arcade shows the large shopfront unit on the main Deansgate strip where the original Classic Football Shirts store used to be.
As you can see, although the vintage footy kit reseller’s brand and decals still remain plastered on the windows, the two-storey location has been vacant since October 2023 when CFS moved their flagship Manchester branch to Dale Street in the Northern Quarter.
We’ve personally been wondering what might take the old venue’s place for a while now, with the rest of the Grade II-listed Victorian shopping arcade populated by food and drink spaces, a barbershop and fashion retailers like The R Store, but after all this time the last thing we expect was the Cat Café.
This will no doubt come as wonderful news to the countless fans who were gutted to see it disappear just a few short years ago.
At the time, a fundraiser was set up in an attempt to rescue it and the pet-forward coffee shop format also paved the way for similar ventures like this one over Salford.
Although we’re still yet to hear any more details regarding a possible reopening date, we can safely assume their four-year hiatus will be coming to an end sometime in 2025.
When they were still up and running, the café had 10 resident cats at their original site on the edge of NQ, now home to one of two Gooeys in Manchester.
It is worth noting that there were some concerns raised around hygiene and animal welfare, though we’re sure steps have been taken to address these issues in the interim.
The Didsbury Dozen loses one of its best as The Dockyard confirms closure
Danny Jones
The Didsbury Dozen has lost one of its strongest stops as the much-loved Dockyard sadly closed for good this past weekend.
A favourite among those taking on the popular Greater Manchester pub crawl and a busy bar in its own right along the main Didsbury Village strip, The Dockyard has been a staple of South Manchester boozing for some time.
However, it’s time as part of the Dozen and in the heart of the community has come to an end, with the staff having completed their final service on Sunday, 19 January.
Sharing a short but heartfelt goodbye on social media, they welcomed customers to join them one last time “to raise a glass and say cheers!”.
An unreal beer garden too. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The post begins: “Right Didsbury… Thank you so much for your welcome and custom when we arrived here in the village, but the time has now come to say goodbye. We have had a blast over the last four years and we hope you have too!”
Although many relatively new to the area or at least its drinking scene will only know it as The Dockyard, the venue has actually been under a lot of names over the years.
Originally known as Times Square, it was then refurbished into a branch of O’Neills in 1996 before going on to re-open as The Stokers Arms in 2014.
Nevertheless, it maintained a regular and loyal following as The Dockyard and many will be “sorry to see it go”; one person commented: “Oh no! We had a fab time in here over Christmas and [were] hoping to return soon. Sorry to see you go and I will be visiting your other sites.
Thankfully, they did go on to confirm that the remaining pubs in Salford Quays and Northwich will remain open – as is the Left Bank location in Spinningfields overlooking the River Irwell. Better still, the building itself will still remain a pub and we already know what’s taking its place:
Although there is still no news on when we can expect to see The Salmon’s second venture launch, if it’s anything like the success the Northern Quarter one has seen then we’re in for a treat.
So don’t worry, The Didsbury Dozen may have taken a hit but it’s still intact and there are plenty of other pubs you can work into the crawl in the meantime.
For now, though, all we can say is rest in peace to The Dockyard Didsbury, you were a real one – we’ll always have the memories.
Georgina Pellant -
9th August 2021 
