This week in food news we have not one, but two drink-based pop-up events with Love + Labour’s wine and food pairing evening at Hatch’s Takk, and creative cocktail champions, Into The Gathering Dusk at Volta. There’s news of a new food festival celebrating Northern food culture, and a reopening date announced for Michael O’Hare’s fine-dining restaurant, The Rabbit In The Moon. Small refined dishes are all very well, but if a towering plate of cake, cream and caramel sauce is more your thing, head to new Taiwanese import, The Dazzling Cafe.
The Rabbit In The Moon reopening soon
Michael O’Hare’s ‘Space Age Asian’ restaurant, The Rabbit In The Moon will be reopening on Friday 29 March. The much anticipated venture from the team behind Michelin starred Leeds restaurant, The Man Behind The Curtain received mixed reviews for adventurous Asian-inspired dishes. After launching less than a year ago the kitchens closed suddenly in October for a revamp of both the menu and the space. Head chef for the restaurant’s launch, Luke Cockerill, left suddenly in September, so Michael O’Hare heads up the kitchen single handedly for this second incarnation of the fine-dining restaurant. The team have announced just one item off the new menu – a smoked eel in oyster sauce, with avocado and jalepeno in a steamed bun. From this teaser, we’re excited to see what the rest of the menu will hold.
Opening Thu 29 Mar. The Rabbit in the Moon, Urbis Building, Cathedral Gardens, Todd Street, Manchester, M4 3BG. Tel: 0161 804 8560. www.therabbitinthemoon.com
New Italian restaurant: Trattoria Tre Ciccio now open in Altrincham
Since opening on Valentine’s day, Tre Ciccio has been wooing Altrincham locals with traditional trattoria-style fare. Taking its inspiration from a family run restaurant in Salerno, the menu is simple and the décor features heavy square tables and bare red-brick walls. Tre Ciccio (meaning three fat friends) has wood-fired pizza oven and covers all the classics from a Caprese with buffalo mozarella and confit cherry tomatoes to a Diavolo, with spicy calbrian Nduja sausage. Alongside pizzas, Tre Ciccio also serves up a signature dish of Goosnargh roast chicken (with a secret marinade) and potatoes.
Now open. Tre Ciccio, 4a Moss Lane, Altrincham, WA14 1BA. Tel: 0161 414 0196. treciccio.co.uk
Natural wine tasting: Love + Labour at Takk
Since opening early in 2018, Hatch Park on Oxford Road has slowly filled up its collection of bright yellow and blue shipping containers with independent businesses and food traders. Takk, the Northern Quarter Scandinavian-style coffee bar, was one of the first to set up shop in the new space beneath the Mancunian Way. This month, the original Takk on Tariff Street sets down its coffee beans and focuses on the food instead for a one-off collaboration with fellow Hatch resident Love + Labour. Takk provides the food, while Love + Labour raids its wine shop’s cellar, selecting the best natural wines for us to try.
Thu 29 Mar, Takk, 6 Tariff Street, Manchester M1 2FF. 6.30pm, £5 (includes one glass of wine), www.eventbrite.co.uk
Taiwanese chain, The Dazzling Cafe, opens on Mosely Street (pictured)
Manchester welcomes the first European branch of Taiwanese chain, The Dazzling Cafe. Brought to the city by the people behind Bubble Tea bar, Chatime, and launched in Taipei, the cafe has branches throughout South-East Asia, and one outpost in Canada. The cafe specialises in ‘honey toast’, a dish of a sweet, square brioche-style bread, toasted, and topped with ice-cream, fruit, sugar and sweet sauces. The effect is towering, colourful over-indulgence, and all very photogenic. Considering the over-the-top desserts on offer, the space has a black and gold theme, and is more subdued than its sister branches, which feature bunny ears on the chairs. The cafe serves savoury dishes too, such as rice casseroles, pasta and pizza.
Now open. The Dazzling Cafe, 58 Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3HZ. Tel: 0161 425 6330 www.dazzlingdazzling.com
A Good Feed: Sadler’s Yard food festival announced for May 2018
2018 will see food festival, A Good Feed, come to Manchester’s Sadler’s Yard. The five day long event in May will explore the best of Northern food culture, with events, talks, workshops and, of course, some top-notch scran. A collaboration between Stockport’s acclaimed fine-dining restaurant, Where The Light Gets In, Common and design studio Plant Noma, the festival aims to get people talking about the food culture of the North, and draw attention to the positive impact the region’s lively food scene can have on the area.
Thur 24 May – Mon 28 May. A Good Feed at Sadler’s Yard, Hanover Street, Manchester, M60 0AB. agoodfeed.co.uk
In short
Free party & offers: The Font Birthday Party: The Font in Chorlton celebrates reaching the ripe old age of five with a series of deals and events including half-price food and 2 for £5 G&T’s. Events run all week long. Read our round up here to find out more.
Wed 21 – Sun 25 Mar, The Font, Chorlton, 115-117 Manchester Road, Chorlton, Manchester M21 9PG. Tel: 0161 871 2022, www.thefontbar.com
Cocktail club with foraged ingredients: Into the Gathering Dust x Volta: If you missed Into The Gathering Dusk’s sellout event in Chorlton earlier this month, fear not, as the creative cocktail makers return to West Didsbury’s Volta in late-March. Taking over the restaurant’s second floor bar, the ITGD team will rustle up the drinks from their list of unconventional cocktails, inspired by the flavours of the season, and featuring foraged ingredients and hand-picked garnishes.
Sat 24 Mar, Volta, 167 Burton Road, West Didsbury, M20 2LN. Tel: 0161 448 8887. 10pm-2am. www.facebook.com
- Words:
- Olivia Rye
- Published on:
- Tue 20 Mar 2018
