One of Manchester’s most popular outdoor bars and restaurants has announced that bookings are now live ahead of reopening next month.
Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unveiling of the government’s roadmap to lift England’s current national lockdown – which has seen all hospitality businesses shut, with the exception of takeaway services, for the duration – beloved city centre hangout The Oast House has revealed that it will be reopening to the public once again on Monday 12th April.
As per government restrictions however, the venue will only be reopening for outdoor hospitality on this date.
But as many Mancunians and visitors to the city will likely tell you, The Oast House‘s outdoor space is undeniably the best bit.
Given that it boasts one of the largest outdoor dining and entertainment areas in the city centre, many are known to flock to The Oast House to bask in the sunshine with a drink and a bite to eat during the warmer months, but that usual hustle and bustle has sadly been more subdued over the last year amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as, like the majority of Manchester’s hospitality establishments, the ever-popular Spinnigfields sun trap has been subjected to several temporary closures and ongoing COVID-safety restrictions.
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With a national goal to lift all limits on social contact before 21st June, at the earliest, though, business looks set to resume as normal before the best of the season is out.
The Oast House
The Oast House will be operating under ‘the rule of six’ once it reopens next month.
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Launching its online booking system for 12th April onwards, and providing customers with important details about the reopening, The Oast House said: “We welcome groups of up to six people to book in our outdoor courtyard.
“We kindly ask you to follow all current guidelines and as such groups may not split across multiple tables.
“To share the love and make it fair for all, bookings will be allocated a two-hour time slot and will be limited to one booking per group per day”.
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Visitors keen to pre-book a table are also advised bythat not all of the outdoor courtyard area is covered and it’s therefore best to bring an umbrella along with you to avoid getting caught out in the classic Manchester April showers, and for those looking to turn up on the day, The Oast House has confirmed that: “We have reserved a number of tables for people without bookings which will be available on the day on a first come, first served basis”.
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The reopening of The Oast House’s indoor premises are also planned from 17th May, and after this date, outdoor bookings will not be taken.
Group bookings of seven or more are also set to resume from 21st June.
You can find more information and book your table for 12th April onwards via The Oast House website here.
Food & Drink
Ancoats neighbourhood bar shames customers who ran off on unpaid rosé bill
Daisy Jackson
A waterside cocktail bar in Ancoats has slammed a group of customers who left the venue without paying their bill this weekend.
Finders Keepers on New Islington Marina has publicly shamed the trio, sharing CCTV images of them making off from the venue.
The local business has labelled the customers ‘Manchester’s newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners’.
They added that the group had enjoyed a few bottles of rosé wine but left before paying their £160 bill.
Finders Keepers also said that the incident occurred on a ‘record-breaking’ day last Saturday, when the city bathed in beautiful spring sunshine.
Since releasing the CCTV images this afternoon, the bar has been flooded with messages of support – including one very notable one from Sacha Lord.
Sacha has offered to pay off the girls’ tab so that the bar isn’t left out of pocket, AND has suggested providing a £500 reward to anyone who can name and shame them.
He commented: “Everyone knows how tough it is in Hospitality right now…how can anyone want to do this to a small independent business. I’ll settle that bill mate…plus give a £500 reward to name and shame them.”
Finders Keepers bar on New Islington MarinaFinders Keepers shared this CCTV of the customers who left the bar without paying
Another person commented: “foul behaviour! Sorry this happened to you guys.”
Someone else wrote: “Love a good photo shame when folk rip off a business… Hope they pay!!”
Posting earlier today, Finders Keepers said: “We’d like to thank Manchesters newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners. Who enjoyed a few bottles of Rosé wine with us on this record breaking Saturday, without paying.
“If you’d like to come back & pay your £160 bill then we’re back open on Wednesday, alternatively get in touch and we can send you a payment link.
“Next time you fancy a free bar tab perhaps join us for our quiz this Sunday from 7pm. £100 tab to be won!
Brilliant Salford Greek restaurant receives glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
A fabulous Greek restaurant in Salford has received a glowing review from a top food critic, who described its food as providing ‘its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Acclaimed restaurant critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise on Kallos in his Financial Times review.
The modest restaurant has been open for just over a year, but has already earned itself a place in the prestigious Michelin guide – and now a rave national review too.
Operated by couple Ioanna and Ivan, Kallos brings a taste of Santorini to their stripped-back, concrete-filled, light-flooded new space in Salford.
And while Jay Rayner admits in his review that Kallos’s interior hasn’t done much to lift this corner of Salford’s ‘badly organised grid of fast-rising apartment blocks’, the food itself ‘provides its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Rayner heaped praise on Kallos’s phenomenal flatbreads, noting how it’s impossible to exercise restraint ‘in the face of bread this good’.
He also raved about their topped flatbreads (like one with ‘knots of sweet roasted lamb shoulder cooked until it has collapsed’), red prawns the length of a hand, and soft dolmades stuffed with rice and minced meat.
Topped flatbread with lambTinned fishPrawn SaganakiThree of the dishes Jay Rayner loved at Kallos. Credit: The Manc Group
Kallos is part-owned by sommelier Ivan, who is striving to have the largest collection of Greek wines in the UK at the restaurant.
Jay Rayner noted both the selection and the affordability of this carefully-curated wine list, saying that it’s nice to find that ‘outside London, drinking well need not require the sale of a spare kidney or child’.
And then he came to the section of the menu that’s dedicated to premium tinned fish.
“It feels like the UK has woken up only relatively recently to the possibilities of impressively fine foods from a can,” he wrote.
Kallos in Cortland at Colliers Yard, SalfordKallos in Salford has been added to the Michelin Guide
“It is genuinely exciting to see Kallos devote a whole section of the menu to these treasures, even if it is basically the same victory of shopping that results in a good cheese board.
“But it takes both serious knowledge and a brave evangelical enthusiasm to offer a list like this.”
Rayner’s review went on to praise the tinned mackerel, served with a ‘balloon of hot bread’, pickled chillies, and an ‘aioli made with so much garlic, consenting adults should make sure to eat it together’.
Signing off his review, Jay Rayner wrote: “As the plate lands on the table, the sun finally comes out over both Salford and Kallos. Finally, the grey is banished. At last, all the beauty is here.”
Emily Sergeant -
1st March 2021 
