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Manchester Hospitality

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#1 ·
News, views, and nights.

The Southern, Chorlton.



 
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#386 ·
i went to Riot Jazz at Moho's the other week, didn't know there was a back room of considerable size. Tidy venue i thought, good night too. What's the 'newish' Trof like? The one by the footage?
Its good. Should be a wicked venue. the ground floor bar is typical Trof and worth a visit any time of the day or night. The cocktail bar downstairs is smaller , quieter and comfortable though it could do with a little more design.

The top floor is what sets apart from the other establishments. there's an old theatre/cinema space with a mini stage, stalls and stand. The rear seating - that looks like it was hoisted striaght of the Place theatre - is itself flanked by thick, red curtains, giving those on the dance floor a picture perfect view of neat lines of stewdies sat gawping at the giant centre piece mirror ball, above.

Bags of character. Its just a bit too bloody loud though. The music on the floors should get progressively quieter, with the basemant cocktail bar being more of a retreat. This will stop people back tracking out of the rooms and onto the stair wells to hear themselves think.

Well worth a visit though. just made sure you check out all the rooms.
 
#387 ·
Planning Application is in for the new Love Saves the Day at Carvers Warehouse.

Carvers Warehouse
77 Dale Street
Manchester
M1 2HG

Change of use of ground floor meeting room to delicatessen incorporating restaurant/cafe, sale of hot and cold food for consumption on and off the premises, sale of alcohol for consumption on and off the premises. (use class sui generis) and formation of new entrance.
http://www.publicaccess.manchester....lication_detailview.aspx?caseno=JWHL6EBC06N00

No documents online yet.
 
#389 ·
Name That Bar

And win £1000. And your own custom cocktail

The Manchester 235 casino wants to rename it's bar. The trouble is, they can't think of a name, so they're asking the good people of Manchester to come up with one.

Put forward your suggestions, and if the panel of judges like yours the most then you'll get a cool £1k in cash, and a cocktail will be named in your honour.

So you could end up sipping your own cocktail, in a bar that you've named, with a grand in your pocket. Not bad!

One of 235's marketing people said: "We are asking the people of the North West to delve deep into their imagination banks to re-name our famous bar in a fashion that they think would mirror the bar’s funky style and reputation within the Manchester bar and leisure scene.”

The search for the new name ends on the 31st May, so you have until then to get your suggestions in. To enter call by the bar (on Deansgate, inside the Great Northern Warehouse) and drop your name in to specially prepared box.

The lucky winners will be revealed in June, a panel of "Manchester's movers and shakers".
http://www.whln.co.uk/manchester/news/Name That Bar
 
#390 ·
I love the Night and Day Cafe... you Mancs are lucky with that Northern Quarter of yours!
 
#391 ·
From Manchester Confidential:

Two Manchester Bars in the World's Top Ten

What's going on with a weird list of the world's best bars


We like them a lot, but are Socio Rehab on High Street (pictured), and Velvet on Canal Street, good enough to merit inclusion in the top ten of the World's Best Bars?

According to website 'worldsbestbars', sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey, they are. Click here

Socio is the third best bar and Velvet seventh. Let's remind ourselves we're talking best anywhere in the whole wide world. You know that big round thing, third from the sun.

Even odder is the fact that Liverpool's Exclusive Newz Bar on Water Street is the daddy of them all, the greatest in the world, top dog, big cheese, numero uno, head honcho. This can't be right, of course, simply because any person involved with spelling news like that should be imprisoned and given spelling tests until they die.

Here, apparently, are the top ten bars


The Exclusive Newz Bar, Liverpool
Barasti, Dubai
Socio Rehab, Manchester
Club 11, Amsterdam
Bar Bacca, Belfast
Vertigo, Bangkok
Velvet, Manchester
Der Raum, Melbourne
George V Hotel Bar, Paris
Raoul's, Oxford

Confidential thinks famous GaGaville bar, Talking Through My Arse, might be number 11.

Obviously there's something clearly amiss with 'worldsbestbars' such as sanity, judgement and maths. For example the total number of votes for Exclusive Newz Bar total 39 (amongst the 7 billion people of the world) and Socio Rehab has 52 votes, which obviously puts them behind Exclusive Newz Bar. Eh?

We tried to contact the website about these odd calculations. And we tried to contact them about the judging methodology, but we haven't had a response. Clearly the staff are in a ditch somewhere doing multi-coloured medication. We also suspect all the bars have Jameson Irish Whiskey in stock and the website is based in the North West.

Still, it got us thinking.

What are the top ten bars in Greater Manchester? To help us out we thought we'd involve you – with another £50 bar tab for the winning entry.

What about these? Socio Rehab, Big Hands, Velvet, Kro, Knott Bar, Sand Bar, Odd, Common, Night and Day, Fuel, Iguana, Lime, Cloud 23, the River Bar, Purple Pussycat, Pi, Living Room, Walrus, Taurus, Cornerhouse, Pure Space? Some of these would definitely make our top ten list and some definitely wouldn't. Or maybe you know of barista excellence in Staly Vegas or Alty that we've not heard about. Let us in on it then.

Simple rules. The winning £50 tab will go to the best suggestion for the best Greater Manchester bar in the rant boxes below, with an argument to back it up.
 
#392 ·
Shopfront is almost in for Goji underneath GN Tower, mezzanine level is in place aswell just for the restaurant to go into the fitting stage now with construction nearing completion.

 
#393 ·
Bit in the MEN today about Manchester's newest celeb chef, Simon Rimmer (the one that presents that saturday(or sunday?) morning food show with Tim Lovejoy.

He says his Green's retaurant in West Didsbury (he also has Earle in Hale) will be expanding into the building next door. There's also plans for 2 more ventures in the next year: Another veggie restaurant in 6 months and non-vegetarian next year.

Specifics, including Locations, he hasn't yet decided but the city centre may be too expensive, he says. He hints at the possiblity of a pub "along the lines of what Robert Owen Brown did at the Bridge".

Either way I expect he will quite rightly making be more of his increasingly familiar name.

Ideas on possible locations, anyone? Where would you open a veggie restaurant or new non-veggie gastropub in the Manchester area?
 
#394 ·
Here is the article

Veggie food for all tastes

Adam Moss

2/ 5/2008

HE'S not a man to do things by half, so it was little surprise when TV chef Simon Rimmer explained his empire-building plans to me over lunch at his acclaimed veggie restaurant, Greens in Didsbury.

When he took over the smart little eatery in cosmopolitan West Didsbury in 1990 he had no formal kitchen training, and just two books on vegetarian food.

But today he's planning to double the size of the much-lauded restaurant by expanding into the premises next door - planning permission is already lodged for the conversion - he has a range of vegetarian ready meals about to roll out in Sainsbury stores and is on the verge of opening another two restaurants in Greater Manchester in the next 12 months.

That's apart from the half dozen or so networked TV shows he is a regular face on.

Simon Rimmer is certainly a man on a mission.

"I want to use the opportunity which is now available, to use the reputation I have, to expand and develop my businesses," he says. "Now my profile has been raised it is the right time to drive the business forward."

Add astute businessman to that list would you?

"Likes their meat"

I'm one of those blokes, as Simon so eloquently puts it, "who likes their meat", so it was a challenge, to say the least, to get me into Green's.

But one deep fried oyster mushroom and a Cheshire cheese sausage later and I was hooked. The food's great at Greens, even for carnivores like myself.

"I'm not vegetarian and the food has to be able to get past me before it gets anywhere near the menu," Simon tells me. "Because I am a meat eater I approach vegetarian food from a different mindset. It has to be exciting on its own because veg and two veg just doesn't work."

Simon has two restaurants. Greens, and the non-vegetarian Earle in Hale. And he's going to be opening two more in the next year.

"I will be doing something new, a vegetarian place, in the next six months or so. And then next year I have plans for a new non-vegetarian project. I can't say much more than that at the minute," he says.

"I looked at a few places in the city centre but the rents were very high. But I'd love to open a pub which serves great food in the city centre, along the lines of what Robert Owen Brown did at The Bridge. That's not in the plans at the moment but, you never know.

"I have to pinch myself at the moment because of everything that is happening," the affable Scouser tells me. "I was at a Liverpool game the other day and Robbie Fowler came over to me and said hello. I was in the directors' box with Alan Hansen and Jason McAteer and had drinks with Ian Rush too. I couldn't quite believe it to be honest. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop at the moment."
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...nd_drink/s/1047696_veggie_food_for_all_tastes
 
#395 ·
Cheers, Flange.

Another new spot for Chorlton:

http://www.manchesterconfidential.com/index.asp?Sessionx=IpqiNwy6IlEoJHqiNwF6IHqi&realname=Orlandos

Orlando's
Lynda Moyo discovers a bar with comedy, jazz, Carribbean and Afghanistani food – yes really

Orlando's is the brainchild of clubland ‘Godfather’ Rupert Campbell, one half of the duo who set up Sankeys Soap at Beehive Mill in the early 1990s.

The story goes that Campbell saw a vacant car stereo shop on Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, and knew it had great potential. The result is a remarkable transformation straight from Campbell's own love of good grub, mellow music and cafe culture.

He said: “Orlando is my middle name. It doesn't neccesarily sound like a bar. It could be a restaurant or something else, which works well for what we want it to be. This isn’t just another bar. It’s very much focussed on the food. The occasional evening entertainment will be comedy interspersed with acoustic music.”

Think Nando's but with an independent twist says Campbell. Orlando's will serve Caribbean classics such as curry goat and rice and jerk chicken, rice and peas, straight from Rupert's home cooking specialities. In contrast the menu will also feature pot roast beef and onion and Afghan dishes such as Qaubili Palau- tender chunks of chicken breast under a heaping of sweet carrot strips, raisins and basmati rice, served with salad and dhal.


Full breakfasts really will be ‘full’ for less than £6, and house wine will start at £8 a bottle. On nights with live acts there will be the offer of a two-course meal for around £25, depending on the artist. A huge terrace out front will provide space for tables and chairs, and a barbecue in summer should be perfect for Campbell's 'sausage mania'- sizzling sausage sandwiches with salad.

Despite starting out as a musician himself, Campbell plans for intimate acoustic sessions rather than full scale gigs. He said: “We're not going to be putting bands on. We want people like Omar and D'Angelo who can sing without a band.”

“Chorlton’s a vibrant place, but it doesn’t quite cater for everyone as well as it caters for the younger crowd. I know what it’s like to have kids of various ages and not be able to comfortably eat somewhere with the feeling that you should be honoured to dine and end up with an expensive bill.”

Orlando's is open from 10am-10pm Monday to Thursday and 8am-10pm Friday to Sunday. See the gallery below.
 
#396 ·
Ideas on possible locations, anyone? Where would you open a veggie restaurant or new non-veggie gastropub in the Manchester area?
I think it will be somewhere quite central with high footfall and visibility. There's no point in becoming a "name" with TV shows galore and mass-market awareness and then hiding away in the arse end of the city centre.

But if it were my money I'd open a decent "buy the slice" pizza cafe in the Northern Quarter. You'd clean up. Proper oven, good bases, quality ingredients - anything around Croma level would be pitched right.

Sell it by the slice for £2/£3 for take out for lunch, have limited lo-fi seating, offer side salads etc, maybe beers or wine if you can be arsed getting a license, and do deliveries for the residential market in the evening.

Goldmine.

I don't want to be morbid but the Six-Pack site is ideal. If (when) they go bump I say someone should do it (after paying me a consultancy fee, natch).

Cheers

Thom
 
#397 ·
Cinnabar launches first clubnight

Destination is set to be the first event at the swanky Cinnabar (part of Vermillion) over in Miles Platting. Running from 10pm to 3am, the event is FREE (but via RSVP), they're putting on some exotic cocktails and (very) wisely picked a soundtrack of "elecro/nu disco". Check out a list of musical inspirations below...what's even more exciting is that they're bringing in guests DJs/artists in the future, including "a lot of the artists" listed below!

Is Cinnabar worth the trip from the city centre? Take a look at this picture and tell me that you don't want to party in a bar that looks that good!


Destination launches on Friday 9th May at Cinnabar

Destination’s aim is to attract the people who love good music, innovative design, fashion, cool people and most of all the best parties at an exclusive destination venue - Cinnabar.

The extensive drinks menu and a cocktails list which are second to none are going down a storm. Created by the renowned Gorgeous Group, they include such delights as a Saran Rom, made with fresh papaya, champagne and tequila or the Panag Punch made with passion fruit and rum.

The music and party style will come from Ed Banger, A – Trek, Chromeo, Dim Mak, MSTRKRFT, Kid Sister, Fashion Magazines, Scion, Danger, Justice, DJ Mehdi, Boys Noize, Cobra Snake, The Bloody Beetroots, LA Riots, Does it offend you? yeah, Fluo Kids, MIA, Van She, Toxic Avenger, Miami Horror, Santo Gold, The Cool Kids, Iheartcomix, Steve Aoki, DatA, Boyz Noise, Dem Jeans, Cut Copy, Discodust, The Midnight Juggernauts, Busy P, Valerie Blog, Fred Falke etc

A lot of the above artists will also be playing at Destination at Cinnabar at upcoming events.
http://manchester-clubbing.blogspot.com/2008/05/cinnabar-launches-first-clubnight.html
 
#398 ·
Ithaca: The Opening

Many millions later: Ithaca opens on Saturday 17th May.

Arnie Hira must be one of the most determined bar operators in the city. The Manchester entrepreneur has been waiting in the wings with Ithaca, his multi-million pound, 7000 square foot entertainment complex, battling against the council, the naysayers and even the church. But the struggle is finally coming to an end, and his dream venue is about to open it’s doors.

It was July 2006 when this idea first became public knowledge and straight away the project was stuck in a quagmire after a Manchester church objected to the opening hours. Ithaca wanted to stay open late, or at least to 4am - which compared to some of the venues on Deansgate is actually quite early – and the church feared that this would keep their on-site representative, who slept a few metres away from the venue, up all night.

Manchester councils licensing team, a group of people who haven’t a brain between them, called it in the church's favour and Ithaca was forced to cut their opening hours. They’re now aiming to open till 1am, but there’s a hint that if the venue can get through its first few months without any trouble then the licensing team will look at the opening hours again.

(Last year I spoke to the PR man at the church, or rather I spoke to the father who was dealing with the press, and he was relaxed about the opening. The issue wasn’t half as important to them as had been reported, and we had a jolly time chatting about how websites work.)

The location, on John Dalton Street, is probably the most ideal. Far enough away from The Locks, Peter Street and the hard drinking taverns south of the city Centre, and close enough to Ithaca’s rivals: Panacea, The Circle, Restaurant Bar and Grill et al. It’s home is a four storey building that looks a little like a squat townhouse, formerly an Italian Resturant, and behind the black frontage and the Ithaca signage lies something quite special, or so we’re lead to believe.

What’s inside is still a mystery. Arnie won't be drawn on imagery, other than the exclusive snaps of artwork that he provided me with a few months ago, but you can expect something very special. Initially there were rumours of a glass floor in the VIP lounge, of huge bars cut from marble and of technology that would put other bars (and NASA) to shame, but the end result won't be visible until those glass doors swing open and the chrome lift rises for the first time. What we do know is that the project cost in the region of £3million, which suggests that this more Living Room and less Baa Bar. In fact, less Living Room and more Mash & Air (if anyone remembers that bar)

There's one thing that has changed since Arnie first spoke to me about his ideas in 2006, and that's the marketplace. Across town Vermillion has opened up, inside that is Cinnabar, and between them they provide food, drinks and high end decor for the great and the good in Manchester. This giant warehouse sized complex can hold thousands. The nearby Cloud 23, self proclaimed as the best bar in Manchester, was lauded as the ‘Bar of the Year’ for tourists, and it certainly is just that. Panacea, the bar beneath the Restaurant Bar and Grill, was something of a destination for the party elite, but thanks to some negative press (and frighteningly bad some of it is) it could easily lose its edge with the top end of the market. It may have been a long time coming but the timing for Ithaca may be perfect.

Food

The food that they plan on serving has to be good, and the early indications are that it would exceed expectations. There’s a small question mark over who will be in charge of the kitchens, but a special tasting session, which featured Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Ithacas head chef, was a success. The menu, at first glance, appears to appease both those who are experts in fine dining, and those who are just hungry. The bar will serve from a separate, cut down menu, and the inspiration for the food has been Asia, so expect some fusion dishes, and an oriental twist on the usual crowd pleasers.

VIP

Members bars don’t go down well with the Mancunian masses. They either fail, or attract disdain. (The Circle is the one exception, but that’s meant for meejah types rather than the elite, Bar Below is a prime example of a bar that worked well only after it abandoned its membership only scheme, and the only other alternative is the soon-to-be-relaunched Island bar inside Pure that caters for the mainstream elite). How does Arnie counter having an entire floor for members only? “We only have limited floor space, and demand is going to be high so membership is the only way to ensure our regular customers are looked after.” Hints that have been dropped suggest that Mancunians will never have seen a VIP bar like this before, including a ‘conch’ shaped bar (see Wikipedia!) made from Venetian black glass.

Despite it’s size there’s likely to be queues around the block for the opening bash, and the weeks to come (fairly warned, be thee). If Ithaca sounds like your bag then I suggest you have a quiet word in Mr Hira’s ear about getting hold of a membership card.
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating....

Ithaca opens to the public on Saturday 17th May, with a media event on Friday 16th. Following the launch the restaurant will be open for lunch and evening sittings, the Ithaca bar will be open in the evenings.
http://www.whln.co.uk/manchester/news/Ithaca: The Opening

http://www.ithacamanchester.com/
 
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