A new rooftop restaurant is set to open at the top of Gary Neville’s St Michael’s development, bringing one of the world’s most upmarket eateries to Manchester.
Called Chotto Matte, it will bring upscale Peruvian and Japanese cuisine to the heart of the city centre, opening its first UK restaurant in the north on the developments’ 20,000sq ft rooftop space just a stone’s throw from Albert Square.
Part of a global chain, currently Chotto Matte currently only has one UK site in Soho, West London, as well as global sites in locations like Miami and Toronto.
However, that is all set to change when it opens its doors up here following the development’s completion – bringing its famous sushi doughnuts, octopus tentacles and lychee ceviche along with it.
Image: Chotto Matte
The restaurant will feature open sushi counters, Robata and Hibachi grills, and sushi torched right at your table.
Design-wise, it will incorporate inspiration from lava stones and graffiti through its artwork, with live entertainment promised in the evenings too.
ADVERTISEMENT
Specialising in Nikkei cuisine, must-tries on the menu at Chotto Matte include delicate ceviche, spicy tuna rolls and salmon tataki tartare.
Elsewhere, you’ll find BBQ edamame, tostada chips with guacamole, Japanese wagyu sirloin (flamed at your table, no less), plus spring rolls and various meat and plant based gyoza.
ADVERTISEMENT
The famous Nikkei sushi doughnut, available at Chotto Matte. / Image: Chotto Matte
The restaurant’s menus also span a large range of sashimi, tempura and sushi, as well as tempura dishes and premium meat and fish cooked on its Robata grill.
From the grill, think marinated and smoked lamb chop with coriander, and Peruvian chilli miso, tentáculos de pulpo (baby octopus with yuzu and purple potato), and black cod in a chilli miso marinade with yuzu and chives.
Alternatively, if you really want to go all out, there’s also an option to have tuna belly and top-tier wagyu cooked at your table on a special Hibachi grill.
ADVERTISEMENT
Image: Chotto Matte
As for sides, choose from the likes of steamed or fried rice, cassava wedges and truffled purple potato mash. This is the place to go all out.
Sharing a mock up of the new restaurant to the brand’s Instagram today, the Chotto Matte team wrote: “We are thrilled to announce that Chotto Matte will occupy the spectacular 20,000sq ft rooftop at the upcoming St Michael’s development, brought by the Relentless Developments group and @gneville2.”
The £200m St Michael’s development, located at the old Bootle Street police station site, will also feature a nine-storey office block and a new public square.]
Image: Chotto Matte
Image: Chotto Matte
Image: Chotto Matte
Work began on the St Michael’s development earlier this year, with the first phase scheduled to be ready by 2024.
Founder and owner of Chotto Matte, Kurt Zdesar, said: “We are delighted to continue our expansion plans and allow more people to experience the very best of authentic innovative Nikkei cuisine across the UK.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I am personally very excited to bring Chotto Matte to such an ambitious place. I have been monitoring the city’s growth for years but never found the right opportunity until now.
Image: Chotto Matte
“It is only when meeting with Gary Neville and understanding his vision, with Relentless, for this first of a kind development that I felt a great synergy with our brand.
“The city is growing at an exciting pace and timing couldn’t be better for Chotto Matte to bring diversity to the local landscape. I see this new opening as an important part of our international expansion plan.”
Government officially approves Eton’s plan to ‘remove barriers’ and open new FREE college in Oldham
Emily Sergeant
Eton’s plans to open a new free college in Oldham will officially go ahead following Government approval this week.
In case you need bringing up to speed a bit, plans for three new post-16 colleges – with the other two being in Dudley and Middlesborough – that are designed to help give young people who’ve done well in their GCSEs the opportunity to achieve the A-Levels they need to go to Oxbridge and other elite universities across the world were first announced back in March 2022, and then given the green light in August 2023.
Eton has partnered with Star Academies – which is said to be the highest-performing state school trust in the country – for the new colleges.
The colleges will aim to recruit ‘dynamic young people from deprived communities’, including in Oldham, and provide them with a ‘rigorous and rounded education’ that supports their ambitions to achieve places at ‘the very best universities’.
Oldham Council has welcomed the news that the new college – set to be named Eton Star Oldham – will go ahead, after the Government confirmed the conclusion of its national review into the proposals.
The decision means that Oldham will become one of the first places in the country to offer this new education model that combines high standards with strong partnerships and expanded opportunities for local young people.
The Government has officially approved Eton’s plan to open a new free college in Oldham / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Approval means pupils from every background will soon have access to the ‘very best’ opportunities.
Cllr Arooj Shah, who is the Leader of Oldham Coucil, said this is ‘great news’ for Oldham, adding: “Eton Star Oldham will give our young people access to life-changing opportunities, no matter their background or where they start in life.
“We have been clear throughout that this must be a college shaped with our young people, our parents and our communities.
“Now that the Government has confirmed it will go ahead, we will work closely with Eton College and Star Academies to make sure this delivers for Oldham’s children and opens doors for generations to come.”
Work will now begin on the detailed next steps – including design, delivery, and engagement with families and communities.
It’s also been confirmed that the college will be built on the current Tommyfield Market car park site in Oldham town centre.
Featured Image – Oldham Council
News
Former Salford Red Devils player planning phoenix club after the team’s collapse
Danny Jones
A former Salford Red Devils player is planning to start a phoenix club from the ashes of the fallen rugby league team.
Retired winger Mason Caton-Brown, who played for the Red Devils between 2014 and 2016, is leading the consortium currently being linked with resurrecting the Salford side.
The Greater Manchester sporting institution sadly folded following liquidation on 3 December after a prolonged period of uncertainty and crippling debts.
Despite investors promising funds and multiple adjournments to their winding-up ceremony, time simply ran out and now Caton-Brown and co. are, hopefully, looking to pick up the pieces.
Heading up the move to bring back the beloved outfit, the former chairman of the ‘Forever Reds Supporters Trust’ (FRST), Malcolm Crompton, local entrepreneurs Paul Hancock and Ashley Washington are also assisting with the proposal.
Simply known as ‘The Phoenix Bid’, they are said to have potentially secured a six-figure sum and have already reached some provisional pre-contract agreements with a new coach and several players ahead of the formal offer being taken into consideration.
Publishing a lengthy mission statement on social media earlier this week, the ex-pro wrote: “I moved to Salford from London over 10 years ago, and the club and city welcomed me with open arms.
“It made me who I am today. The Salford City community is like no other, and the club is a big part of that, so when I saw it was at risk of going under, I truly felt the need to be a part of a solution and give back to the club, city and the community.
“But I’m not on my own, I’m part of a team of people that are passionate about what this club means and truly focused on making sure a true Salford RLFC stays alive and is something the fans and the city can call their own.”
Chatting with BBC Sport Manchester in a recent interview, the 32-year-old Enfield-born athlete turned businessman – who also represented the London Broncos and Wakefield Trinity – claims that conversations with investors and stakeholders are progressing nicely.
🗣️ "We are looking to bring this club back to life"
Former Salford winger Mason Caton-Brown has outlined his plans for a new phoenix club.
Salford fans, make sure to listen back to last night's Total Sport.
Signing off the post with a strong assurance, he said: “If our bid is successful, I promise we will do everything we can to protect the club and build a future Salford can be proud of.”
As for the fans, a spokesperson for the aforementioned supporters’ trust dubbed the prospective personnel spearheading the revival as a “powerful and credible team”, with Caton-Brown promising to reveal all the exciting details if the bid gets green-lit.
Speaking in an official press release shared with The Manc, the one-time Jamaican international and adopted Salfordian added: “This isn’t just about rebuilding a club, it’s about rebuilding belief.
“Salford means everything to me as a club and is part of my story. We want to create something the city can be proud of again; a club that stands for honesty, sustainability, and genuine community connection.”
“We’re inviting the people of Salford to stand with us. Together we can rise again, not just to bring rugby league back to this city, but to make sure it thrives for generations to come.”
Do you think The Phoenix Bid will be successful and, more importantly, do you think this group are the right people to bring the club back and get them moving onwards and upwards again?
Georgina Pellant -
12th April 2022 
