Brand new CGIs have been released that give us a glimpse into Chotto Matte, the rooftop restaurant that will make up part of Gary Neville’s new £400m St Michael’s development.
The luxury new Japanese-Peruvian restaurant is set to open early next year on the 20,000 sq ft rooftop at St Michael’s, a huge new development taking shape behind the historic frontage of the old Bootle Street police station.
St Michael’s has today given a first look at what the restaurant rooftop terrace will look like when it opens its doors in 2025.
There’ll be terrace seating surrounding an atmospheric fire pit with views right across the city centre.
The CGIs also show off an indoor sushi area with intimate table seating.
There’ll be design elements like an open sushi counter, a robata grill, sushi torched at your table, lava stone, and graffiti-inspired artwork.
The interiors have been inspired by Manchester music and dance history, as well as the ‘vibrant urban landscape’.
Its design scheme comes from international architect, designer and company director of Superfutures, Andy Martin, who’s worked with Chotto Matte since its inception a decade ago.
The brand already has six restaurants globally, but this will be its first in the north of England.
When it opens, Chotto Matte will specialise in Nikkei cuisine, with fusion cooking that combines Japanese and Peruvian influences, ingredients and styles.
Inside Chotto Matte, the new rooftop restaurant at Gary Neville’s St Michael’s development in Manchester. Credit: Supplied
The landmark development launched last July with a vision to transform an underused area of the city between Jackson’s Row and Bootle Street.
Kurt Zdesar, co-founder and owner of the restaurant brand, says: “We are delighted to be working with Gary Neville and his incredible team to launch Chotto Matte in the much anticipated St Michael’s development, immersing the brand in the dynamic and burgeoning food scene of Manchester.
“The CGIs provide a real insight into the unique rooftop location of the restaurant.
“It’s fantastic to mark the first UK launch of Chotto Matte outside of London with this site and gives us a new opportunity to showcase our concept to a wider audience.”
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Daisy Jackson -
21st March 2024 
