One of Manchester’s most popular restaurant spaces, in the heart of the city’s shopping district, is staying open right the way through the festive season.
The Brasserie at Harvey Nichols has one of the best views in the city centre, perched above the Christmas Markets.
People will be able to tuck in to three-course party menus throughout December, sipping on champagne or sipping coffees with a view across the historic Corn Exchange building.
The restaurant is tucked up on the second floor of the luxury department store and is always popular with shoppers.
Inside the Brasserie at Harvey Nichols. Credit: Supplied
The Brasserie is famed for its afternoon teas, a perfect way to finish a day of Christmas shopping.
ADVERTISEMENT
One of the city’s best, visitors are treated to a tower of miniature sandwiches and cakes, with unlimited tea and coffee for £25 per person, or upgrade to champagne for £35 per person.
The rest of the food offering ranges from brunch classics like scrambled eggs on sourdough, eggs Benedict, and full English breakfasts, to hearty toasties stuffed with fillings like nduja and pesto, or mature cheddar and caramelised onion chutney.
ADVERTISEMENT
Credit: Supplied
There are Sunday roasts, where a choice of chicken supreme or Josper-grilled striploin from Cheshire is served with roasted chunky root vegetables, cauliflower cheese, tenderstem broccoli, carrot and swede, duck fat and rosemary roasties, Yorkshire pudding and bottomless gravy.
Vegans can still get in on the roast action at the Brasserie with a vegan Wellington served with plant-based trimmings.
It’s open for lunches and dinners too – expect modern fare from across the globe like rack of lamb with a pistachio herb crust, beef fillet carpaccio, and pan-fried chicken breast with creamy pesto gnocchi and rocket.
A tiny new train station pub has opened at Manchester Oxford Road
Daisy Jackson
A tiny craft beer pub has opened at Manchester Oxford Road, making all those inevitable train cancellations a little sweeter.
The new boozer comes from the same team behind some of the UK’s best train station pubs, who already have bars at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria.
The Oxford Road Tap has plenty of charming nods to its proximity to the great British rail network.
There’s the big red National Rail sign that they’ve restored and turned into a beer tap, an arch over the bar that mimics the shape of the station, and even a departures board so you can work out how many more pints you can squeeze in.
You’ll find plenty of British craft beers behind the bar as well as a great selection of European lagers, plus spirits and wines.
The bar from Bloomsbury Leisure Holdings Limited has taken over the former cycle hub at Manchester Oxford Road.
The small building is directly opposite the entrance to the busy train station on the southern side of the city centre.
The Oxford Road Tap pub is now open in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
This will be the third site for the pub group in Manchester.
They already operate the Piccadilly Tap, that two-storey beer bar on Piccadilly Approach with a heated rooftop space and outdoor patio.
The team are also responsible for the more recently-opened Victoria Tap, which took over the former bin store at Manchester Victoria.
That particular pub has a heated beer garden constructed just inches away from where the trams tootle past and has a departures board where time is measured by pints (got 10 mins til your train leaves? That’s one pint, sir!)
Enormous Manchester venue set to open (again) after brief rebrand
Daisy Jackson
A huge, glamorous restaurant and bar space looks set to reopen just months after it closed down and attempted to rebrand.
SakkuSamba announced back in June that it was closing for a short while to undergo a refurbishment.
That news came after two years hosting all-you-can-eat sushi dinners and star-studded parties in Spinningfields, like an afterparty with Ne-Yo following his show at the AO Arena.
They wrote at the time: “Exciting News! We will be closing our doors on June 2nd for an exciting refurbishment and upgrade. We’re sorry to be closing for a little while, but stay tuned for updates over the next couple of weeks as we begin this transition!
“We can’t wait to show you what’s coming next soon!”
But then SakkuSamba never reopened and the space instead became Raft, essentially Manchester’s most boujie buffet.
Raft had a huge dining room upstairs, a hidden club room, a ‘toilet disco’, 360-degree DJ booths, and a ‘coastal boozer’ on the ground floor.
The restaurant when it was previously SakkuSamba. Credit: The Manc GroupVs when it was Raft. Credit: The Manc Group
Raft was only open for three months when it was suddenly bolted shut, with a forteiture notice in the window that was apparently linked to a ‘historic dispute’.
And now, in an unexpected twist in events, SakkuSamba has shared that it’s coming back to Manchester.
Keeping up okay? Let’s continue.
In the first post since announcing the temporary closure and refurbishment of both of its restaurants (in Manchester and in Bradford), SakkuSamba wrote: “SakkuSamba 2025. Manchester keep your eyes peeled, major announcement coming soon.”
If it follows the same format it took previously, that means a fusion of Brazilian and Japanese cuisine together in a swanky all-you-can-eat setting.
And hopefully it’ll last longer than poor Raft did…
Daisy Jackson -
26th November 2021 
