A new food hall is set to open on Manchester’s Peter Street this year, adding three new kitchens and two new bars to the area’s already thriving food and drink scene.
Put together by the team behind the aperitivo and coffee bar Haunt, opened in the same building last summer, the new opening Exhibition will bring together three of Manchester’s best chef operators inside the iconic St George’s House.
Hosting three new kitchens from the Michelin-recommended Osma team, the Michelin-trained Carlone Martins of the Sao Paulo Project, and Ramsbottom’s lauded Basque fire cookery restaurant Baratxuri under one roof, this already sounds like it will blow every other local food hall out of the water.
Diners will be able to tuck into fine Brazilian-British fusion, Scandinavian and Basque dishes as part of the new dining experience, whilst elsewhere Exhibition will also boast two new bars, fresh beer straight from in-venue Manchester Union lager tanks, and a number of exhibition spaces for local artists.
Caroline Martins, Great British Menu chef and Manchester’s Chef of the Year nominee, will be launching the Sao Paulo Bistro, serving popular dishes from her popular fine-dining residency in Ancoats in a more relaxed setting.
ADVERTISEMENT
At her Bistro, you’ll find daintily-plated oysters, hand-dived scallops in creamy cassava, Lancashire ribeye steak sandwiches with Garstang blue, and a showstopper chocolate dessert made using liquid nitrogen and specially-imported cocoa beans from Brazil.
Read more:
ADVERTISEMENT
Keeping local suppliers at the heart of her menu whilst exploring her fusion theme, chef Caroline will work closely with Platt Fields Market Garden, Dormouse Chocolates, Northern Cure, The Flat Baker and more to promote quality produce.
She will be joined by a team from Ramsbottom favourite Baratxuri. The specialist fire cookery restaurant will also move in, serving a selection of lunchtime pintxos alongside its classic Basque dishes – available as a mixture of small and large plates.
Think big cuts of meat and whole fish with a mix of large sharing dishes, such as its famed Capricho Oro’ Txuleton (a 1kg bone-in rib steak), alongside various nibbles like boquerones and the finest grade jamon Iberico de bellota, sourced from free-range pigs that roam the oak forests between Spain and Portugal.
ADVERTISEMENT
Elsewhere, Prestwich favourite Osma will bring a new relaxed edge to its Scandinavian concept serving open sandwiches, fresh salads and hearty soups during the day before switching its menu offering to something a little more sultry come nightfall.
Think tempting small plates like Avruga caviar pots with toasted brioche, whole lobster with herb butter, sashimi with caper and shallots, and a dish of roasted and pickled beetroots with raspberry and rose,
Elsewhere, the bar operation will be headed up by the award-winning Gethin Jones (formerly of Ducie Street Warehouse and Cottonopolis) with a specialist cocktail bar menu focused exclusively on brandy throughout autumn.
The bar offering will also include a dedicated rotational line for Manchester breweries like Sureshot, Cloudwater and Pomona, and a carefully chosen wine list designed to complement the kitchens stellar food offering.
Due to open in Manchester this autumn, a date has not been set but we’re expecting it will be some time in November. To keep up to date until then, make sure to follow Exhibition on Instagram here.
Feature image – Supplied
Food & Drink
Live your Come Dine With Me dreams with this all-new dining concept
Thomas Melia
Across the world, one app has been uniting strangers in 235 cities, matching six lucky diners for an evening meal at a surprise restaurant table and now Manchester is the latest city to open its taste buds to this pseudo-Come Dine With Me concept. Only this one involves less cooking.
Guests are expected to partake in an evening of food, booze and plenty of interesting conversations between six total strangers, only with hopefully less drama than the hit Channel 4 show. Strictly no Jane’s spoiling anything…
The concept is being pushed by French entrepreneur Maxime Barbier and his company ‘TimeLeft’. He has a lengthy career in the nightlife industry behind him and now wants to further strengthen good food and good times via this app.
And it’s clearly working: according to the company’s official website, 96% of dining groups consider themselves compatible meaning their carefully selected pairings are pretty accurate.
All curious diners have to do is download Timeleft and take a personality test before they’re whisked away for a night of entertainment and lush catering picked out by the pioneering new app.
Fear not, there will be a ‘Break the ice’ game where you can get to know the like-minded and compatible strangers you’re spending the rest of the evening with.
Once the table fills up and the evening is well away, everyone round the table will receive a notification to continue the night at a nearby bar chosen once again by this new dining concept app.
This new mealtime experience is a really good way of making connections, especially for newcomers to the city who are looking to expand their friendship group and navigate Manchester with some similar fresh-faced companions. There’s crucially much less cooking involved too, by which we mean none.
Throughout their website, the company shares a range of blogs breaking down everything from ‘6 tips for smoothing over a heated conversation’ to ‘the ultimate guide to Timeleft’.
In a standout piece entitled, ‘The 10 types of strangers at your table‘, they discuss the different types of personalities that you may come across during your meal.
From the simpler and recognisable labels like the introvert and extrovert to the more complex like the contemplative and the humourist, these little excerpts are handy to anyone who may have any nerves ahead of the meeting.
So, anyone located in Greater Manchester who might be interested in this new dining concept can participate by downloading the TimeLeft app and seeing where the night takes them.
You might not go home with £1,000 in cash but you’ll certainly create some memories and come pretty close to living out your Come Dine With Me fantasy – there really is an app for everything.
The stalls causing massive queues at the Manchester Christmas Markets
Daisy Jackson
If you looked at our comment sections during the Manchester Christmas Markets you’d assume everyone hates them – but one look at the queues forming again this year proves that is FAR from the case.
The annual festive event is back with a vengeance for another year, with wooden sheds and pop-up bars all over the place.
Whether you’re after a traditional mulled wine and bratwurst, or a loaded mac and cheese and shimmery cocktail, you’ll find it.
And while the Manchester Christmas Markets always get busy, especially at the weekends, this year is looking especially lively.
Videos shared online show huge queues of gridlocked people on Market Street, in Piccadilly Gardens and on King Street.
The cause of one of the biggest queues is again The Flat Baker – the Ancoats indie debuted at the markets last year with huge croissants served with pots of dipping sauce including pistachio and dulce de leche.
For 2024 they’ve introduced hot chocolates served in an edible cookie cup.
It went viral last year, it’s gone viral again this year, and the queues have gone so wild there’s now actual fences, Disney-style, specifically to manage The Flat Baker crowds.
These wind all the way from their stall in Piccadilly Gardens to the outside of the markets, travelling along the Piccadilly Wall.
And while getting your hands on a Flat Baker croissant requires some grit and determination, it’s not the only spot where you’ll be facing a wait.
Molten dark, milk and even golden chocolate can be bought here in an edible chocolate cup, poured over brownies and strawberries, or used as a base for hot chocolates and affogatos.
The team here move fast but if you go at peak times you’ll still be looking at a queue.
Down on the King Street section of the Manchester Christmas Markets you’ll find Waffle Kart, a brilliant little business serving fun family recipes inspired by Hong Kong street food.
Expect fried chicken and waffles, waffle prawn toast and loaded waffle fries – and a bit of a queue that’s worth the wait.
And finally, the biggest queue of the lot is just Market Street in general.
This is Manchester’s main shopping street so ahead of Christmas it’s always busy, but now that there are stalls all the way down it luring shoppers in, it’s totally gridlocked.