Eats

Popular Manchester name shuts huge six-month-old restaurant with immediate effect

It was the biggest sushi bar in the north.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 20th February 2025

A popular name on Greater Manchester’s restaurant scene has announced the immediate closure of one of its most well-known sites.

Unagi has suddenly shut the doors to its huge, beautiful Salford Quays restaurant that has been open for only six months.

Touted as the biggest sushi bar in the north, the brand’s latest location has closed down with immediate effect.

Unagi Media City was the futuristic sushi and Asian restaurant that was the business’s fifth site in Greater Manchester.

It was a stunning space filled with neon and paper lanterns, with an open kitchen to watch the masters at work.

On the menu were pan-Asian snacks, street food, and the brilliant sushi platters that have been the foundation to Unagi’s empire.

Unagi has expanded rapidly in recent years with locations now in Altrincham, Wilmslow, Cheetham Hill and West Didsbury.

Unagi in Cheetham Hill
Unagi in Cheetham Hill
A Manc's Guide to Altrincham - Unagi
Unagi in Altirncham
Unagi in Salford Quays. Credit: The Manc Group
Unagi in Salford Quays
Credit: The Manc Group

In a statement shared online, the restaurant shared that unfortunately the end has already come for its newest location in Salford Quays, so that they can focus on their other thriving restaurants.

They wrote that they would aim to ‘redeploy’ as many staff as possible to other roles in the business, thanking their ‘amazing team’

They wrote: “Dear friends, sadly, we must announce that we won’t be extending our stay in Salford Quays and will be closing Unagi Media City with immediate effect.

“It’s been a tough decision but it will enable us to focus on our thriving Unagi’s in Altrincham, Wilmslow, Didsbury and Cheetham Hill and get rolling on some exciting new openings in Manchester later this year.

“We will redeploy as many of our amazing team as we can and want to thank everyone for all their efforts and incredible service.

“A huge thank you to all our wonderful team and every guest we have welcomed. Onward we roll!”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Lupo Caffe Italiano – a taste of sunny Rome on a Prestwich industrial estate

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

The sun is beating down on you, there’s a couple of luminous orange Aperol Spritzes on the checked tablecloth, Italian pop music is trickling out over the speakers and you’ve got two heaping bowls of pasta on the way.

The setting could easily be a cobbled street in front of the Colosseum in Rome. But it’s not. It’s an industrial estate in Prestwich.

Lupo must be one of Greater Manchester’s most hidden gems in a very literal sense.

To get here, you have to drive or walk a strange looping circuit around industrial warehouses peddling everything from splashbacks to burglar alarms to grow tents.

One of these warehouses, located in the very furthest yard, looks a little different to the others, festooned with bunches of garlic and dried herbs strung up from the ceiling.

There are shelves full of pasta, sauces and even crisps, a fridge packed with delicious Italian wines and beers, and retro football shirt-inspired merch hanging from the walls.

Its awkward location does nothing to hold back its loyal customers, who repeatedly return for the authentic taste of Rome on offer here.

Lupo is operated by Nico Pasquali, who first ran it as a tiny Italian cafe on Chapel Street in Salford (before all the high-rises appeared), then shifted it over to the odd shiny-commercial-office-land that is Exchange Quay, then took it almost entirely remote to trudge through the pandemic.

Lupo's charming interiors
Lupo’s charming interiors
Nico has added outside seating to Lupo
Nico has added outside seating to Lupo
The pasticceria selection at Lupo
The pasticceria selection at Lupo

At one point, Caffè Lupo existed mostly on WhatsApp, with customers texting in their orders ready for a doorstep drop on a Friday night.

But now the large-ish commercial unit is its main business, and it’s a special one.

You are greeted, always, with a friendly wave, then given the sort of service where you’re very gently guided to order all the best things on the menu that day, feeling like you’ll personally offend Nico if you order differently and stray from his recommendations. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to trust this man.  

It’s extremely hard for me to see amatriciana on a menu and not order it – so I don’t try. One bowl of rigatoni amatriciana for me, and make it cheesy. 

This is a textbook example of the deceptively simple pasta dish. Fatty guanciale cooked right down so that all that delicious pork fat melts into the tomatoes, then it’s seasoned with, I presume, several generations of secrets and love from Italian nonnas. 

Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchiette
Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchiette
A spread of Lupo's Italian food
A spread of Lupo’s Italian food
Pepernata - Nico's mum's recipe
Pepernata – Nico’s mum’s recipe
The Pizza Lupo
The Pizza Lupo

The sweet, salty, meaty sauce is available on a pizza too, which will be top of my list next time I visit.

Across the table it’s a special (but it’s been on the menu for a while now) of orecchiette with fennel sausage and romanesco broccoli.

Nico tells us a customer once refused to pay for this dish because it wasn’t ‘saucy’ enough. Heathen.

That’s the running theme with Lupo – don’t come here expecting Neapolitan pizzas, or flat whites, or hot honey dips for your pizza crusts. It isn’t the Roman way, and Nico isn’t about to veer away from his proud roots to mould into any passing fads or trends.

If you’re after authenticity and tradition though, this is comfortably the top Italian in Greater Manchester.

If you can come to Lupo and walk away without ordering something sweet from the counter, you’re a stronger person than me.

Pasticceria
Pasticceria
Owner Nico
Owner Nico
Lupo's famous millefoglie
Lupo’s famous millefoglie

They’re famed for their doughnuts (rightly), with bouncy dough filled with flavours including pistachio cream, lemon, and homemade jams.

Also displayed in neat rows are fruit tarts with a glossy glaze, towering cream cakes in neat layers, and puff pastry cannoncini.

But Nico is adamant, absolutely adamant, that we order a slice of his millefoglie. It’s a sell-out, he says. We’re lucky he even has some in stock, he tells us. Who are we to argue?

And if you’ve made it this far, just stop reading right now, get in the damn car and go get yourself a slice before it sells out again.

Layers of lighter-than-air homemade pastry are sandwiched together with delicately sweet cream, hints of almond throughout, and it’s good enough to bring a tear to your eye.

We leave with a doughnut in a box too, so that we at least have a snack if we get completely lost finding our way back out of the industrial estate.

You can find out more about Lupo here.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester

A bottomless brunch with unlimited pints of lager will be launching in Manchester this month.

Forget the mimosas and warm prosecco and lacklustre portions of French toast – this new bottomless offering is all about proper pints and hefty focaccia sandwiches.

The Lager, Lager, Lager bottomless brunch is the newest fixture in the Trading Route’s roster, taking place in the lagerhouse at St John’s every Saturday.

It’s designed to be Manchester’s first bottomless tailored to those who love, tall, foamy pints of the good stuff.

Every punter will get 60 minutes of unlimited, freshly-poured foamy pints, as well as a choice of the restaurant’s focaccia sandwiches, made in-house every single day.

DJs will be spinning classic house and disco tunes as you tuck into your pints and butties.

Jamie Scahill, Trading Route Co-Founder said: “Lager, Lager, Lager isn’t an underworld event, it’s for everyone who loves a freshly poured foamy pint to come down and enjoy.

“Whether you were born slippy or not, the fun is to leave slippy, having revelled in great beer, food and company.”

A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester
A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester
A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester

Trading Route opened last year, specialising in perfectly-poured pints of Manchester Union, as well as rotisserie chicken and huge sandwiches.

As well as Lager, Lager, Lager’s launch, over the bank holiday weekend there’ll be a happy hour which will include £4.80 pints, cocktails at £8.50 and a carafe of wine for £12.50 on Thursday 21 August.

Funkademia will then take over the venue from 5pm on Friday 22 August.

Lager, Lager, Lager will begin on Saturday 23 August and will run every Saturday from 12pm until 5pm.

The Trading Route bottomless lager brunch costs £28, and you can book your spot HERE.

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Featured image: the Manc Group

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