An Italian Christmas market with tipis and a fire pit is opening in Manchester
Italian restaurant Salvi's is launching a Christmas Market at Deansgate Square in November. The market will feature two tipis, four festive huts, and loads of food and drink.
An Italian take on a Christmas Market is heading to Deansgate Square in Manchester city centre.
With two tipis and four festive huts, plus a fire pit, workshops, and live entertainment, the new winter hub comes from beloved Italian restaurant Salvi’s.
The Italian Christmas Market will take shape at the foot of Manchester city centre’s giant skyscraper neighbourhood from November 27.
Salvi’s will be opening a new permanent site at Deansgate Square in the new year, but in the meantime, visitors to the market will be able to feast on authentic Italian food and drink, like sweet and savoury takes on soffietti (fried doughballs).
Salvi’s owner Maurizio Cecco has created the Italian Christmas Market. Credit: Supplied.
Italian drinks legends Aperol, Campari and Peroni will all run their own bars on site, whipping up warming tipi tipples.
ADVERTISEMENT
Expect hot mulled negronis (£8, made with Campari, red wine, sweet vermouth, gin, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange), Aperol Spritzes (£8), and Italian mulled wine (£6).
There will also be other twists on the classic negroni cocktail, like a fig negroni (£8), a hazelnut negroni (£8), and a negroni sbagliato (£8) which is topped with prosecco.
ADVERTISEMENT
A ‘Vin Brule’ – the Italian version of a mulled wine. Credit: Supplied.
The Italian Winter Market will also include traditional Italian soft drinks like Crodino, Chinotto and Cedrata, plus house wines, prosecco, and – of course – limoncello.
The other tipi bar will be manned by Peroni, serving their lager on draft (£4.50) and their alcohol-free Peroni Libre.
During the market’s run, the tipi will host occasional Peroni and Pizza parties.
ADVERTISEMENT
You’ll be able to pick up gift hampers from the festive huts at the market. Credit: Supplied.
As well as that, visitors will be able to get stuck in with tiramisu or panettone-making workshops.
One of the four festive huts will be a grotto of Salvi’s produce, where you can pick up top-quality Italian produce like pasta sauces, cheese, oils and meats, plus gifts like aprons and hampers.
The whole thing will be soundtracked by a programme of DJs (every Friday and Sunday), live music (every Thursday and Sunday) and live entertainment.
Salvi’s will put on some entertainment and events for children too, and people can borrow blankets to sit around the fire pit.
ADVERTISEMENT
Salvi’s owner Maurizio Cecco said: “We are so excited to be involved in the Christmas market at Deansgate Square; with our new venue opening there in early 2022 we want to create an authentic Italian festive wonderland for customers old and new.
“Come along for food, drinks, dancing, or just a chat if you’re passing… the Salvi’s door is always open.”
The Salvi’s Italian Christmas Market will be open in Manchester from November 27 to December 22. Head over here to discover all things Christmas in Manchester this year.
Feature image: Supplied / Wikimedia Commons
Food & Drink
Manchester City Council green-light new venue at Medlock Square, with Mamma Mia! The Party to open the immersive space
Danny Jones
The smash-hit ‘Mamma Mia: The Party’ is set to land in Manchester next year as the maiden event of another brand-new space set to open as part of the upcoming Medlock Square development.
Etihad Campus has seen a lot of moving pieces over the past few years, be it the building of Co-op Live, the ongoing expansion of Man City’s home ground, the soon-to-launch hotel attached to the stadium and now Medlock.
But those in control of the land are content with stopping there; this looks to be just the start of a whole new evolution for the East Manchester area, with an as yet untitled new immersive arts, experience and events venue also set to join the new slate of projects.
You see another glimpse of the purpose-built mini arena, of sorts, down below.
With plans having now been approved by the City Council, the ‘immersive’ space will be situated between the Etihad, Co-op Live and Medlock Square itself, holding up to 600 guests per performance.
Currently set to open in late 2027, following the rest of the square’s launch window being fully rolled out, we still don’t know the name of this next addition, but the structure itself will dovetail with the surrounding buildings and areas as part of seasonal activations, live shows and sports screenings, as well as pop-ups, brand collaborations and more.
Looping back, the interactive, multimedia extravaganza that is ‘Mamma Mia! The Party’ will finally be making its Manc debut as part of the 10th anniversary of the all-singing, all-dancing and even all-dining in-demand production.
As per an official press release from the Medlock Square media team, the show will combine “live music, theatre, food and storytelling” and “offer visitors an unforgettable night out.”
The original UK production at The O2 in London has now surpassed more than 1,500 performances, with a total of 700k guests attending these shows in 110 countries across the globe. Safe to say it’s rather popular.
As for Medlock Square and the surrounding Etihad Campus, Manchester City supporters have also been given another look at the soon-to-open, immersive hotel tie-in experience.
With a skywalk, rooftop bar, a new MCFC shop and various other bits set to spill out onto Medlock Square, it all feels like a period of wholesale changes over in the blue half of the city – especially with the football club bidding farewell to their manager Pep Guardiola after more than a decade.
Following the new and improved North Stand being named after him in the first of many tributes, the City Football Group (CFG) are also set to commission a statue in his honour over the coming months.
Meanwhile, Medlock Square is also due to open later this year, although an official completion date has not been confirmed.
You can stay up to date with all the latest on Mamma Mia! The Part’s Manchester shows right HERE.
Not forgetting a brand-new women’s football facility, too, there is so much stuff going on over at the Etihad that it can be hard to keep track, but here’s the latest look at some of the rooms set to feature in the hotel of the same name.
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (CGIs via Medlock Square)
Food & Drink
Top Manchester restaurant ‘so chuffed’ after receiving glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
Top Manchester restaurant Skof has received a stunning review from a national critic, with the team saying they are ‘so chuffed’.
The acclaimed NOMA restaurant, headed up by chef Tom Barnes, has rapidly become one of Manchester’s most decorated restaurants.
Not only does it proudly display its first Michelin star – earned in less than a year after opening – but it’s also been named the coveted AA Restaurant of the Year.
And now Skof can add a rave Guardian review to the list too, with critic Grace Dent heaping praise upon the business.
She said that Skof is ‘well worth the hype’, describing it (much like its parent restaurant L’enclume) to be ‘one of those intensely relaxed yet still ferociously fancy restaurants’.
Dent praised ‘hugely scoffable’ snacks like a cheese biscuit topped with broad bean, pike roe and shiso, as well as a lightly set custard with truffle and mushroom dashi (‘a quiche filling on steroids’).
In her Guardian review, she also loved the final course always served at Skof no matter how much the menu changes with the seasons – the tiramisu served from a giant bowl, tableside.
“The final hurrah: that scoop of Tom’s dad’s tiramisu, served from a big bowl,” Grace Dent wrote.
“It’s a clunky, sentimental and, ultimately, glorious end to the meal. Many Michelin-starred restaurants bookend your visit with a gift of seeds, teabags or fancy chocolate, but at Skof they send you on your way with this tiny taste of boozy stodge that’s both incongruous with everything that went before but at the same time is also symbolic of Tom Barnes’ life and everything that went before.”
Grace Dent heaped praise on Skof in a recent Guardian reviewSkof placed 29th in the National Restaurant Awards
The amazing review also said: “Fine dining can at times be truly maddening, and leave diners hungry and hoodwinked, but Skof is proof that this often precarious blend of pacing, staging and portion size can be properly magical.”
She signed off by saying: “Skof is clever and emotional… It’s also well worth the hype, so do try to nab a table, if you can. It’s fancy, yes, but it also fills you up. This is fine dining that even a naysayer would like.”
Skof has said that it’s ‘so chuffed’ to receive the review, which landed in The Guardian on the restaurant’s second birthday.
They wrote: “Our 2nd birthday just got a quite a bit more special with an absolutely amazing review from @gracedent. We’re so chuffed with the write up. Hope the man from the traitors comes down, so we can serve him a crumpet.”
You can read Grace Dent’s full Skof review in The Guardian here.
Daisy Jackson -
19th November 2021 
