As of Monday 17 May Manchester will have officially entered ‘Step Three’ of the roadmap out of lockdown.
This means new rules permitting indoor drinking and dining for the first time in months, as well as the reopening of some long-shuttered local businesses like cinemas and museums.
For the roughly four in five Manchester hospitality businesses left unable to trade during the strict nationwide lockdowns, this is welcome news indeed.
The majority have been unable to open since before Christmas. Others have been closed for the best part of a year.
Lockdown saw us lose some real city centre gems, with casualties including city centre favourites Nexus Arts Cafe, Bock Biere, Teacup Kitchen, Lunya and Earth Cafe.
We’re very sad to announce that Nexus has not been able to weather the Covid-19 storm. As a not-for-profit organisation, our margins were always very small, and even with your help we didn’t have the reserves to keep us going. pic.twitter.com/ZRA3dNhOQ3
Now, with the next few months set to be pivotal for the success of many local hospitality businesses, we are at risk of losing more if they don’t get the support they need.
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So, as the city takes one more step back towards normality, we thought we’d put together a list of the places that will reopen for indoor drinking and dining from May 17.
Let’s go and show them some support.
This piece will be regularly updated as new information becomes available.
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Manchester bars and restaurants reopening the week commencing May 17:
Albert Square
Reds True BBQ Slug and Lettuce Speak In Code The Allotment Vegan Wood & Co. Armenian Taverna
Ancoats
Blue-Eyed Panda Second City Erst Jub Thai Street Urchin (Wednesday, 19th May) Sugo Viet Shack Cha-ology
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Bridge Street
Dishoom Mason’s Restaurant and Bar MOJO
Castlefield
Albert’s Shed The Wharf Cafe Istanbul Cibo The Wharf
Central
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American Pies The Bank Crown And Anchor Circle Tavern The Flying Monkey Annies San Carlo Bottega Browns The Bull & Bear Chish & Fips Harvey Nichols Second Floor Bar and Brasserie Mamucium The Restaurant, Bar and Kitchen Peru Perdu TGI Fridays Sam’s Chop House Three Little Words The Brotherhood of Pursuits and Pastimes City Arms
Chinatown
Little Yang Sing Phetphalin Teppanyaki Chinatown Yang Sing Yuzu The New Emperor Seven Oaks
Corn Exchange
Pizza Express Pho Vapiano
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Deansgate
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Be At One Las Iguanas Slug and Lettuce The Knott Ark Bem Brasil San Carlo Cichetti Cloud 23 Dimitris Taverna Gaucho Hawksmoor La Vina Evuna Dirty Martini
First Street
Junkyard Golf Club Indian Tiffin Room HOME
Great Northern
Vesper cocktail bar James Martin Manchester Platzki Fat Hippo Siam Smiles Cafe
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King Street
Flight Club Grand Pacific Kala Rosso Honey at Gotham King Street Tavern
Northern Quarter
63 Degrees Allotment NQ The Abel Heywood Bem Brasil Band on the Wall Behind Closed Doors Bar 21 Castle Hotel CBRB Cottonopolis Dusk Til Pawn English Lounge Herd NQ Junior Jacksons NQ64 Noi Quattro 33 Oldham Street TNQ Restaurant & Bar The Lost Cat Night & Day Turtle Bay Restaurant & Bar SoLIta NQ Chakalaka (?) Ciaooo Pizzeria Pen and Pencil Penang Evelyn’s Cafe & Bar Ply Seed and Cherry Sicilian NQ
Oxford Road Turtle Bay Restaurant & Bar Joshua Brooks Dog Bowl Temple Bar One Plus Oishi Q Navarro Lounge The Refuge
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Peter Street
Asha’s Don Giovanni Don Marco Ezra & Gil The French at The Midland) Mount Street Dining Room and Bar at The Midland Peaky Blinders The Blues Kitchen Manchester (20th May) Peter Street Kitchen
Piccadilly
Brasserie Abode Bundobust Chez Mal Ducie Street Warehouse Franco Manca The Green Waldorf Hotel Escape to Freight Island
Printworks
Bierkeller Chiquito Frankie & Benny’s Hard Rock Cafe Nandos Wagamama Wasabi O’Neills Walkabout
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Shudehill
Lower Turks Head The Pasta Factory
Spinningfields
Fazenda Tattu BLVD
The Village
Jasmine Grill Habesha Arnero Napoleon’s bar and Chinese restaurant Yizhichuan Samsi
Food & Drink
The Manchester restaurant serving up the ‘world’s hottest curry’ for just a few days
Danny Jones
City centre favourite Zouk is serving up ‘the world’s hottest curry’ again to celebrate National Chilli Day next week.
The popular tea bar and grill located on Chester Street just off Oxford Road is slap bang in the middle of student central and has hordes of patrons lining up day in, day out, to taste their incredible Indian and Pakistani cuisine.
Now, to celebrate every spicy-food lover’s favourite day, Zouk is putting on special, limited-time-only menu to cater to all you heat freaks and speaking collectively on The Manc‘s behalf (several of us having tried it), it’s no joke.
The World’s Hottest Curry will be available for five days from Monday 24 to Friday 28 February, with a challenge on Thursday 27 February with prizes to anyone who can finish the fiery karahi.
The dishes
When it came to coming up with the world’s hottest curry, Zouk didn’t have to look far for inspiration, they simply picked the world’s hottest chilli: the Carolina Reaper Chilli.
Combining the 1,569,000 Scoville scorcher of a chilli with their much-loved and already spicy chicken karahi and vegetable karahi recipes, they knew they were on a winner. You might have to sign a waiver to eat it but that’s all part of the fun, right?
Typically prepared in a wok and cooked over hot flames with tomatoes, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and cumin to create the sauce base, the karahi originates from the Northwest region of Pakistan and has a great flavour. Depending on how brave you’re feeling, you can have it as a kebab or a full curry.
Credit: Supplied
That being said, this version does contain dried Carolina Reapers so you might not taste much beyond the heat of the sun after a few seconds. While the chilli is deemed suitable for human consumption, even Zouk’s chefs have admitted to struggling with the dish. Gulp. So, what can you win?
The challenge and prizes
Us Brits love a good curry and we already know that plenty of you won’t be able to resist the urge to take on the Reaper Challenge simply out of pride, so we might as well just tell you what you’ll have to eat in order to win the prizes.
Here’s what’s up for grabs:
Finish the full Carolina Reaper Curry (either chicken or veg) in one sitting (max eating time 30 minutes and no helping from companions), Zouk will give you the meal for free.
PLUS, a £50 Zouk Gift Card so you can come back at a later date to try their full menu (including some less omg-spicy options).
You’ll also get a Zouk Ice Cream Sunday to help cool off afterwards. Trust us, you’ll need it.
Issuing a statement for National Chilli Day and the Reaper Challenge, owner Tayub Amjad said: “Our food is usually more about flavour than heat but it’s National Chilli Day, and we know our customers love this challenge.
“For those who complete the challenge, you still have chance to come back and dine on us at a future date, so you will still get to experience the real Zouk too.”
What you thinking, Manchester? Are you up for taking on the world’s hottest curry?
Prestwich pizzeria Dokes announces closure as neighbourhood goes through big changes
Daisy Jackson
One of Prestwich’s best-loved independent restaurants has announced the end of its current chapter, saying that it’s become too difficult to operate with tighter and tighter margins.
Dokes, a pizzeria that also served arguably the town’s best roast dinner, has said that it’s going to ‘have to call it a day’ after three years in the proudly independent neighbourhood.
The news comes just months after Rudy’s opened its first Prestwich restaurant just across the road from Dokes, though that of course may just be a coincidence…
The restaurant comes from the same team behind Elnecot in Ancoats, and opened in 2022, promising delicious pizzas made with (wherever possible) British ingredients.
In a statement issued today, chef and owner Michael Clay said that ‘it’s just not been possible for us to make the money required for the size of team needed to run as a pizza restaurant’.
He wrote: “We are a small restaurant and the margins that were there pre-Covid are not achievable anymore at this scale and only getting tighter month on month.”
He then teased that they would be keeping the Bury New Road site on, with plans to reopen as a new concept.
Prestwich has been growing in popularity in recent years, with a blossoming food and drink scene and healthily increasing house prices.
It’s on the precipice of a £100m overhaul too, which will see the Longfield Centre transformed and new facilities built near the tram stop, including a community hub, a new village square, a market hall, flexible retail and leisure spaces, landscaped outdoor and green spaces, a new travel hub off Fairfax Road and around 200 homes.
It’s always been a village packed with local small businesses until this year, when both Rudy’s and Gail’s opened up – prompting this heartfelt statement from another local indie.
Dokes’ full statement reads: “After nearly 3 years of trying our hardest, unfortunately we’re going to have to call it a day.
“Having originally taken on the premises in between the two lockdowns (remember them?!), we’ve been extremely proud of what we have achieved under sometimes unbelievably difficult circumstances. Our staff have been the cornerstone of this and we would like to thank them for all of their hard work. The feedback we have received over the past couple of years on their food, service and hospitality has been absolutely incredible and we are extremely grateful for the hard work they have put in and the commitment they have shown.
“We feel like we have created a product that you have absolutely loved and a space that you have enjoyed coming to and we now really feel like a part of the Prestwich community – and for that we can’t thank you enough! You came for the pizzas and stayed for the roasts and it’s been a lot of fun.
“Try as we might though, it’s just not been possible for us to make the money required for the size of team needed to run as a pizza restaurant. We are a small restaurant and the margins that were there pre-Covid are not achievable anymore at this scale and only getting tighter month on month.
“So it is with a heavy heart that we are closing the door on this chapter BUT…we aren’t going to be leaving you completely…
“We have plans for the place which we will be updating you about very soon so please watch this space for more details. We hope you’re going to love it.
“As Dokes, Sunday 9th March will be our final service so please come down over the next couple of weeks, grab a pizza or a roast and say hello. It would be lovely to see you all. Bookings are open and the cellar is stocked so lets fill the little place up and go out with a bang!
Georgina Pellant -
17th May 2021 
