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.
An alternative Christmas market with flaming mulled wine and independent food traders is coming to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
There’s a new Christmas destination worth your time in Manchester this winter – and it’s a very different offering to the traditional Manchester Christmas Markets.
This brand-new winter venue will include a 200-capacity heated tent, bars serving flaming mulled wines, and will have a food and drink offering that features some of our city’s top independent businesses.
Christmas at St John’s will be operated by GRUB – and if you love to spend your spare time in a market setting, you’ll already know you couldn’t be in more trustworthy hands than this.
The GRUB team, champions of independent food and drink in Manchester, will be teaming up with St John’s on this lively winter hideaway.
At the centre of everything will be a Feuerzangenbowle bar, serving flaming mulled wines, with pop-ups from resident favourites like Trading Route and Stables Tavern as well as Good Wines and Verdant brewery.
Expect a revolving door of the region’s most exciting chefs and traders, serving unique festive dishes you won’t find anywhere else.
There’ll be eight rotating street food traders across the month-long event. Some of the names taking part include Soots (the Altrincham Market plant-based pasta kitchen that recently opened its first restaurant in the Northern Quarter); BAB with gormet kebabs; and Akin Club serving Middle Eastern small plates.
Soots. Credit: The Manc GroupKnight’s BBQ. Credit: SuppliedJim’s Table. Credit: SuppliedSome of the traders taking part in Christmas at St John’s, an alternative Christmas Market in Manchester
There’ll also be a Jims Table x Good Wines small plates and wine pairing collab, plus Knights BBQ with Jamaican flavours, and Yorkshire legends Spud & Bros with poutine too.
This alternative Christmas Market will have you tucking into open-fire cooking, hand-rolled pasta, tandoor dishes, nostalgic Christmas comfort food, and GRUB’s take on classic bratwursts.
Christmas at St John’s is promising to be a ‘celebration of creativity, quality and culture that brings together everything Manchester does best: independent food, crafted drinks and a sense of community you won’t find anywhere else’.
You’ll even be able to reserve and collect your Christmas tree from here, right in the centre of town.
There’ll be live entertainment all season, like Matty White’s festive food quiz, comedy nights, alternative choirs, and more.
How Christmas at St John’s could look. Credit: Supplied
It will all take place with a cosy 200-capacity heated tent and 60-metre custom-built event space.
Bailey, GRUB’s Director, says: “We’ve pulled out all the stops for this one. Calling on our trusted partners from years of delivering street food events across Manchester, we’re creating something truly unique this Christmas.
“You won’t find these offerings anywhere else. Christmas at St. John’s is all about good food, proper drinks and creating special Christmas memories.
“It’s also a taste of what’s to come as we work with Allied London to bring GRUB’s flagship home to life at Grape Street next year.”
Christmas at St John’s will run from Thursday 20 November until Sunday 21 December and will be open from Wednesday to Sunday every week.
‘Craic Den?’ – New Irish bar to open on Albert Square this week
Daisy Jackson
A new Irish bar is set to open in Manchester this week (yessir, another one), and its owners have been on the hunt for its new name.
Tokyo Industries has announced plans to reopen the Red’s True BBQ site, right off Albert Square, as a new Irish bar.
They’re promising it will have an ‘Irish American feel’ and will be serving food like all-day Ulster breakfasts as well as roast dinners with Guinness gravy.
Aaron Mellor, CEO of Tokyo Industries, has shared a call-out for name suggestions for the new bar, with the shortlist so far including names like ‘The Craic Den’ and ‘House of Guinness’.
Red’s True BBQ was famed for its slow-cooked meat, and outrageous specials like its doughnut burger, but shut down in Manchester in 2023.
It had previously been rescued by Tokyo Industries, which also operates other venues in town like Gorilla and Deaf Institute, Impossible, and Factory 251.
The site itself is in a magnificent Grade II-listed building on the corner of Albert Square, facing out onto the Town Hall (and soon, the Manchester Christmas Markets).
A new Instagram account shows the space slowly being transformed into an Irish bar, with green leather and Guinness logos slowly taking over the space.
It also suggests that, sadly, The Craic Den hasn’t made the cut as the new name – instead it’s set to open as Dirty O’Sullivan MCR.
Aaron Mellor shared last week: “Deciding on names for venues is always so hard – we’ve come up with about 300 names & suffering choice fatigue…
“It’s a new Irish bar with an Irish American feel set in the Reds True Barbecue site on Albert Square, Manchester.
“Amazing food – Great live entertainment – The finest Guinness – The coolest cocktails – All day Ulster Breakfasts – Guinness Gravey Sunday Roasts Mmm.
“Favorites So: Dirty O’Sullivans, Reds True Irish, Luck of the Irish, The Dublin Docker, The Hare & Harp, The Craic Den, The Perfect Pint, The StoreHouse, House Of Guinness, Murphy’s Law, Oscar Wildes.”
Dirty O’Sullivan is set to open on Lloyd Street at Albert Square this week.
Georgina Pellant -
9th August 2021 
