Top 15: New restaurant and bar openings in Manchester in 2018 (6-10)

Welcome to our guide to the best restaurant, street food and bar openings of 2018. Below you’ll find entries 6 to 10 which, coincidentally, all happen to be in Ancoats. Click here to read entries 1-5 and here for 11-15.

Pollen – sourdough superstars with a new, canal-side location (pictured)
This café and bakery officially makes the finest sourdough bread and pastries in Manchester – and moving from a railway arch premises to a larger venue with seating and a canal side view in Ancoats has been a smash hit. The menu includes  brunch dishes such as greens, eggs and salsa verde and the house shakshuka, but the real draw is the bread.
Cotton Field Wharf, 8 New Union Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6FQ. Tel: 07479 255743 www.pollenbakery.com

Trove Ancoats– brilliant bread, brunch & more
Levenshulme’s leading bakery and café opened a sister outlet in Ancoats in 2018 – and it’s another reason to head to this blossoming neighbourhood. The menu is similar to Trove mark one – think Merguez sausages with eggs, labneh, dukka and pickled turnip on toast, hot smoked trout with a potato dill and caper salad, or tofu with kimchi, kale, chilli oil and sesame rice, French toast with homemade croissant loaf, pear, crème fraiche and grabola (all £6-9)– and they also sell their sourdough and other loaves, cakes and pastries to take away.
5 Murray Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6HS. Tel: 0161 432 7184 www.trovefoods.co.uk

Restaurant Mana – Manchester’s best new fine dining establishment
Restaurant Mana is the first stand alone fine dining outfit from chef Simon Martin. He previously worked at Noma (as did Sam Buckley from Where the Light Gets in and many others) and he’s in love with the fresh, foraged and really high end, fine dining formula which the Danish three Michelin star restaurant kick started. The menu could include Scottish langoustine, cured egg yolk and spruce or reindeer moss sprayed in chocolate, whiskey and honey truffle egg nog. Nine courses are £65, or go for the full 14 at £105.
42 Blossom Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6BF. Tel: 0161 392 7294, www.manarestaurant.co.uk

Canto – proper Portuguese small plates in Ancoats
When Simon Shaw opened his flagship tapas restaurant and bar, El Gato Negro, on King Street in Manchester in 2015, it became a local favourite pretty much overnight. Talented Portuguese chef, Carlos Gomes (ex Barrafina) was a key player in the El Gato team, and he heads up the group’s second restaurant, Canto, which opened in Autumn 2018. Small plates are the thing – think prawn crispy pancake, tender octopus tentacles, wrapped around pickled baby onions and homemade pastel de nata (custard tarts). Wines are typically Portuguese and good value, and the atmosphere is ideal for date night or dining with friends. Read our review.
Cutting Room Square, Blossom Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DH. Tel: 0161 870 5904, www.cantorestaurant.com

Sugo Pasta Kitchen Ancoats – pasta, pasta, pasta
Sugo in Altrincham is really popular, with tables almost impossible to come by. So, 2018 was the ideal time to open a second branch in Ancoats, which enjoys a similar level of patronage and popularity. We recommend the ‘arancino’ filled with basil pesto and mozzarella and the ‘House Sugo’ made with fresh orecchiette Pugliese pasta (made by the Ligorio family in San Vito) with slow-cooked beef shin, pork shoulder and nduja ragu, parmesan. Other attractions include a smart, casual, modern interior, carafes of house red and mozzarella-flavoured ice cream made by our favourite local ice cream maker, Ginger’s Comfort Emporium.
6 Blossom Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6BF. Tel: 0161 236 5264, www.sugopastakitchen.co.uk

Click here to read entries 1-5 and here for entries 11-15.

For more food and drink openings in Manchester click here.