Some big, familiar restaurant names have rocked up in Manchester in recent weeks, and will continue to do so into June.
But there’s plenty of homegrown talent popping up all over the region, including some old favourites moving up in the world.
Take Pollen, who have just moved into their enormous new site at Kampus, or pizza pedlars Corner Slice, who have paired up with Jimmy’s in Ancoats.
Then there’s a very familiar old name in the form of a new Blockbusters cocktail bar, and plenty more newcomers joining the fray.
Keep reading to see the new restaurants and bars opening in Manchester this June.
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Kitten Izakaya, Deansgate Sq
When it opens on Deansgate Square this June, Kitten will feature modern Japanese fine-dining and contemporary cocktails in a swanky setting
Guests can dine with a front-row seat to the sushi chefs, glancing into the semi-open kitchen to see dishes grilled over one of the largest charcoal Robatayak grills in the city.
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Bringing modern Japanese fine-dining to the heart of the city, the menu will focus on high-end sushi, sashimi, and robata-grilled dishes, all served in an exceedingly glamorous setting boasting a 5-metre-high Bonsai treet, bamboo walls and elegant Venetian plastering.
Opens 17 June
Blockbuster NQ
Nothing says Y2K quite like spending your Friday night in a Blockbuster, which makes the arrival of this new Northern Quarter bar particularly timely.
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Paying homage to the glory days of video rental, the video shop-themed bar has gone the whole hog with cocktails like the ‘VHS Presso Martini’, ‘Alcopop-corn’ and the ‘PG&T’.
Split across two floors, its main floor is modelled on the classic Blockbuster store set up and even includes a ‘naughty films’ section hidden at the back.
DVD cases line the walls and there’s even a separate x-rated section dedicated to adult videos.
Downstairs, meanwhile, black walls, velvet chairs, and a sparkly stage for performances lend a cinematic feel to the bar’s entertainment space.
Open now
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Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons has opened on Market Street, bringing its best-selling donuts, breakfasts, and burgers to Manchester city centre for the first time.
Open until late, you can get your fix of Tim bits (made using the leftover dough taken from the donut holes) and those liquid gold French vanilla lattes on Market Street throughout the week.
Open now
Adelphi Lads Club
Image: supplied
Salford’s historic Adelphi Lads Club will reopen this month as a new bar and kitchen after over a decade of closure.
The 134-year-old building will be brought back to life by the teams behind Elnecot and Tokyo Ramen, who will bring a new BBQ food concept to the historic Salford site.
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Diners can expect to see similar themes running through the new bar and kitchen, with signature bold flavours, smoke and fire all playing a prominent part on the menu.
From the team behind crazy golfing aficionados Junkyard Golf comes Paradise Skate World – a new ‘intergalactic’ roller skating rink set to open on Deansgate this June.
With a cutting edge rink and huge bar serving ‘intergalactic cocktails’ alongside a selection of Japanese and Mexican bar snacks, it’s certainly something a little bit different.
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If you fancy sipping on space cocktails and skating off into the cosmos, well, then look no further.
Opening in June
Neon Tiger
A new Thai BBQ restaurant, Neon Tiger opens in Manchester this June in the former Grindsmith unit on Bridge Street.
It will pay homage to traditional charcoal cooking methods with a host of grilled skewer dishes and sharing plates, bringing street food-style barebque dining to the city.
Using traditional cooking processes of live fire and smoked meat, diners can expect to find the likes of house made lemongrass and turmeric smoked sausages, King oyster mushroom skewers, and coal-roasted aubergine on menu when Neon Tiger opens its doors later this month.
Manchester’s hip-hop-themed burger shop has returned to Stockport after an eight week hiatus, and we’re buzzing to have them back.
The dirty burger peddlers are back at The Drawing Room in Bramhall serving up a menu full of towering smashed patties, fried chicken, and loaded fries.
Dishes are named after hip-hop icons like Snoop Dogg and Childish Gambino, and are are available to order for delivery or collection only.
Read more:Manchester’s hip-hop-themed burger shop has returned to Stockport
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Open now
Pollen at Kampus
Image: The Manc Eats
Six years after its fledgling opening in a Piccadilly archway, Pollen is gearing up to open its second Manchester cafe.
The new cafe and kitchen at Kampus will serve a varied menu alongside pastries, cakes, speciality baked goods and its much-loved range of sourdough bread.
It will also boast a ‘glass gallery’ looking into the kitchen, meaning diners will be able to watch Pollen’s talented pastry chefs at work as they tuck into a seasonally-changing menu of breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes.
As well as offering diners a front-row seat to all the kitchen action, the new cafe will also be significantly bigger than the Ancoats site.
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It will open from Wednesday to Sunday, with plenty of seating both indoors and out, with an al fresco area overlooking the green foliage of the Kampus garden.
Opens 9 June
Corner Slice x Jimmy’s
Manchester’s original Detroit pizza slingers, Corner Slice, are officially making their move into the city centre with a new dine-in kitchen at Jimmy’s in Ancoats.
The hugely popular Failsworth pizzeria still retains its original location, adding a second string to its bow with a kitchen takeover at Cutting Room Square.
Known for its exquisitely fluffy deep pan pizzas, finished with marinara, traditional Italian toppings and a curly cheese crust, its already cornered the market in East Manchester – now its moving into town.
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Corner Slice will be in the kitchen at Jimmy’s all summer, serving up their Motor city-inspired rectangular pizzas. If you’ve not tried one yet, this is your cue to go.
Read more:Popular pizza ‘peddlers’ Corner Slice to take over Jimmy’s kitchen in Manchester
Opens 3 June
Box on the Docks
Box on the Docks returns to Salford Quays this month with flowing beers, freshly-baked bagels, and boozy ice cream.
Back for its third year in a row, MediaCity’s popular outdoor dining concept takes on a brand-new format for 2022.
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Working in partnership with Salford-based brewing company Seven Brothers, head down to discover a rotating residency of the region’s best established and emerging independent food and drink pop ups.
There’ll also been an exciting lineup of live music and events for all ages.
Moor Hall – What it’s like to eat at officially the best restaurant in England
Daisy Jackson
There are a lot of good places to eat around the north west. Some are even great. But very few are exceptional – and only one can claim to be the best not just in our region, but in the entire country.
The restaurant in question is Moor Hall.
This two Michelin-star spot, just outside Greater Manchester in Lancashire, opened back in 2017. It achieved its first Michelin star at break-neck speed, proudly mounting a red plaque within six months of opening. A year later, it got its second. It’s been named the Best Restaurant in England two years in a row at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards. And that’s just the tip of the glittering iceberg.
All this might seem quick, but I doubt anyone has walked through these doors without emphatically agreeing that Moor Hall deserves every accolade on its shelves. If I had the power, I’d give it another star on the spot.
The experience begins before you’ve even got through the door.
You’ll drive through the stone gates and down the winding driveway, passing a lake, a group of geese pottering about on the lawn, and around the back of the beautiful former mansion house.
You could have arrived on the set of Bridgerton (if the Bridgertons happened to have a wine list so comprehensive that the table shakes under the weight of the menu).
As each guest is given a staggered arrival time, they know who you are the second you walk through the door. Being greeted by name takes us both aback – is this how the Beckhams feel all the time? Fetch me my Birkin! Where’s my security?!
Anyway. The initial grandeur of Moor Hall carries through for the first part of your meal – drinks and snacks in the bar area, where the walls are covered in dark wood and cosy bay windows look out onto the lake.
The main dining room at Moor HallMoor Hall’s Provenance menu The experience includes a walk through the kitchens
Here, you begin to see the many, many cogs that go into making a restaurant like this function. Someone is in charge of water. Someone else is carefully slicing charcuterie into slices so thin it dissolves on your tongue like butter.
Tiny black pudding bites pack a rich, meaty punch that immediately makes me wish we were staying overnight and could eat breakfast here too (there are 14 guest bedrooms at Moor Hall plus new garden rooms being constructed in the grounds).
The next miniature mouthful bursts open with flavours of barbecued asparagus and smoky chorizo, then a dinky English muffin topped with buttered lobster turns me misty-eyed.
A pair of pretty leaf-shaped crackers, each one embossed with herbs, arrives next, alongside a tin of cod roe and caviar, like a classic pate but 1000 times richer and more interesting.
Crackers with cod roe and caviarAn English muffin with poached lobster
At this point, you’re whisked off your feet by another Moor Hall staff member, who promptly escorts you out the door. Have we done something wrong? Nope – it’s time to see the kitchen gardens.
He expertly points out all the herbs, fruits and vegetables that are grown on-site in the beautiful walled gardens, tended to by a small team of gardeners.
The tour then spits you out into the kitchen, where each of the many, many chefs whipping up your dinner will greet you with a friendly smile, and chef-patron Mark Birchall offers a warm handshake and yet another snack (this one resembles a small bird’s nest, filled with smoked eel and potato).
While the bar is dark and stately, the dining room is a modern, simple space flooded with sunlight and views of the lake.
The dishes at this stage of the Provenance menu become instantly more theatrical.
‘Royal Oak Rainbow’ – baked carrots with doddington cheese ‘snow’Rudy red Devon beef with beetroot and mustardGuinea hen with morel mushoomsGrilled cornish turbot with mussel and roe sauce
Suddenly we have people spooning brilliant white crumbles onto plates of carrots, herb-infused stocks being poured onto plates, quenelles of butter being rolled out of wooden dishes.
Some dishes are simpler, like a loaf of the best sourdough we’ve ever had, but most are unimaginably intricate, like 80-day aged beef served with beetroot and mustard, and rich guinea hen complimented by even richer morel mushrooms.
Whatever the dish (and we get through a LOT), it’s the sort of food that makes you stop in your tracks. It triggers involuntary reactions – I keep catching us smiling, or closing our eyes, or gleefully pointing out goosebumps on our arms. I actually well up at one point. I didn’t know ice cream could move me to tears, but laced with spicy stem ginger – a staple on Moor Hall’s menu from day one – apparently it can.
And throughout, Moor Hall will go to great lengths to show you where each dish has come from (because let’s be honest, fine dining sometimes gets so complicated it stops resembling food at all), whether that’s showing the huge joint of meat your dish has been carved from or handing you a tiny card telling the story of Ormskirk gingerbread.
Three of four sweet courses on Moor Hall’s Provenance menu
If you add a cheese course, you’re even escorted into the cheese room (is this… heaven?) to build your own cheese board from the huge selection of British creations inside.
There’s a refreshing level of transparency throughout and although we’re surprised plenty of times, it doesn’t feel like trickery.
It’s hard not to appreciate the meal you’re eating because you’ve seen every painstaking step and every ingredient being used before you’ve even sat down, from the gardner pruning the rosemary shrub to the sous chef placing micro herbs on bright green butter with a pair of tweezers.
It’s elaborate but intimate, complex but never intimidating.
The cheese room, where you can build your own cheese course
You might wonder how a £235 tasting menu could ever NOT be intimidating to the average person, and that really comes down to the team who work at Moor Hall.
They’re so warm and inviting, it’s like dining with friends. They could switch it up from explaining one of the most intricate menus in the world to joining in with our debate about whether it’s weird for adults to have a favourite colour.
Vegan restaurant in Manchester pleads for ‘understanding and support’ after sharing ‘heavy news’
Daisy Jackson
Wholesome Junkies, a vegan restaurant in Manchester city centre, has asked for ‘understanding and support’ after announcing that they were having to overhaul their menu prices.
The restaurant is famed for its plant-based takes on classic junk food, whether that’s hoisin ‘duckless’ bao or a towering meat-free burger.
You can even get an incredible Sunday roast with all the trimmings, for an ethical twist on the British classic.
But now in a heartfelt statement shared this week, Wholesome Junkies has said it has some ‘heavy news’ to share.
The colourful restaurant beneath the arches near Manchester Victoria said it’s had to take ‘a hard look’ at its menu prices after ‘recent struggles with rising costs’ – an issue plaguing just about every business in the hospitality industry.
In their statement, Wholesome Junkies said that rising rents, wages, stock prices, utilities and VAT (‘the biggest battle of all’) has left them barely breaking even.
Wholesome Junkies, a vegan restaurant in Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupWholesome Junkies, a vegan restaurant in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
And so they’re having to action ‘big changes and a massive restructure’ in order to survive, from streamlining their menu to removing some items for more cost-effective options.
The restaurant then wrote: “We’re asking for your understanding and support. If you’ve enjoyed your time with us, please consider leaving a review or sharing your feedback.
“Every little bit helps as we navigate these choppy waters and it makes such a difference to our team who work tirelessly to keep this engine alive.
“We know times are tough, but we’re committed to weathering this storm together. Thanks for sticking with us through thick and thin. Here’s to brighter days ahead!”
Hey, Wholesome Crew! We’ve got some heavy news to share. Our recent struggles with rising costs have forced us to take a hard look at our menu prices. It’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly, but we’ve hit a point where we need to make some changes just to even keep the lights on. Some of the dishes and prices just aren’t working anymore, it’s not fair on our customers or on us.
From rent hikes, wages rising to soaring stock prices and utilities, and the biggest battle of all… VAT, the numbers just aren’t adding up. Despite our best efforts, we’re barely breaking even and I honestly don’t know how long we can keep going. Some days I do wonder why I’m even doing this at all, but I’m not throwing in the towel just yet. My love and passion has got us this far.
Starting next week, you’ll notice a big changes, I’m going to have to do a massive restructure of the business and menu for a chance to survive. We’ll be massively streamlining our menu, saying goodbye to some of our pricier items, and exploring new, more cost effective options. It’s all about trying to find that delicate balance between quality and affordability.
We’re asking for your understanding and support. If you’ve enjoyed your time with us, please consider leaving a review or sharing your feedback. Every little bit helps as we navigate these choppy waters and it makes such a difference to our team who work tirelessly to keep this engine alive.
We know times are tough, but we’re committed to weathering this storm together. Thanks for sticking with us through thick and thin. Here’s to brighter days ahead!