New restaurants and bars opening in Manchester in October 2024

Yet another reason to get fizzy about the ever-changing landscape of Stockport’s drinking and dining scene, Cantaloupe will be opening up courtesy of chefs Joshua Reed-Cooper – whose CV includes stints at Where The Light Gets In, Mana and Sterling, as well as the pop-up Tine, which resided at the bungalow at Kampus – and Mike Thomas, formerly head chef at Mary-Ellen McTague’s The Creameries and Campagna in Chorlton, as well as a stint at the Stock Market Grill. Opening on Great Underbank, we’re excited about this one.

The team behind key Manchester nightlife spots Ramona, Firehouse and Diecast have announced their new venture, opening this Autumn at Circle Square on Oxford Road. Detroit Slims will be a casual dining spot with a ‘game-changing approach to Detroit-style pizza’. The concept is simple: 10-inch long, rectangle-shaped bases to create the perfect quality takeaway option or speedy bite to eat-in. Plus, they’re giving away 10,000 free pizzas on opening. You can get yours if you sign up to their mailing list.

Celebrated craft brewery Fell, from deep in the Lake District, have been making excellent brews since 2013, opening their bars in Penrith and Kendal in 2017, and then ranging further with another in Chorlton in 2020. Now they’re continuing their expansion with another location in the Northern Quarter, taking over the Pelican bar on Dale Street, previously run by the excellent Squawk brewery. Expect fine Cumbrian ales and vibes.

Jerk Junction has been a benchmark of Manchester’s Caribbean food scene, the untouchable Jerk Junction has now opened up a new spot at the Trafford Centre, following last year’s new site in Wilmslow, and the much-welcomed re-opening of the original shop in Chorlton. Expect the same superb jerk, curry goat and patties while you take a break from your retail therapy.

This is a new concept from the masterminds behind MUSU, who are expanding their Bridge Street restaurant into three different dining experiences. KAJI is the first, and will focus on ‘advance grilling techniques’ with ‘bold, approachable flavours’. We’re intrigued.

This smart, contemporary new Greek cafe and wine bar just over the bridge into Salford – so-called after the ancient Greek word for ‘beauty’ – will be offering up Mediterranean-style all-day dining, running from breakfast and brunch to classic meze dishes in the evenings. Oh, and great wine too.

Didsbury’s La Chouquette has garnered a sturdy following for its superlative pastries and properly authentic baguettes since opening in 2020, despite its tiny premises. Since then, they’ve gone from strength to strength, opening up a second site in Poynton, and now another in Didsbury. This one, however, will be focussing on sandwiches, salads, great coffee, and a bit of outside catering too.

Spawned in Sheffield back in 2015, this sushi, ramen and teriyaki spot has now opened its doors in Manchester, at the foot of the City Tower. It will be specialising in fresh sushi rolls, steaming bowls of soup noodles, and sweet/sticky teriyaki, to ‘tantalise taste buds and evoke the authentic flavours of Japan’.

This plush new members-only venue will be opening on the site formerly occupied by the infamous Press Club, a rather less plush haunt for celebs and media types which ran on the same site for 150 years before closing in 2016. Behind the new club, which will cost between £350 and £500 a year to join, are the people behind London venue BEAT, which regularly welcomes DJ sets from dance music A-listers like Seth Troxler, Honey Dijon and Jamie Jones. It’ll be one of the few venues in Manchester with a licence until 6am, and will boast a towering Funktion One soundsystem.

Formerly NQ pizza bar Ply, The Salmon of Knowledge is now serving up superb stouts and ales from celebrated Cork brewery Franciscan Well, as well as a superbly good pint of Guinness on Stevenson Square. So-named after the ancient Irish legend, there’s also Irish sports on the telly, Irish music on the stage and traditional Irish ‘boxty’ pancakes coming out of the kitchen. It’s an Irish bar, by the way.

With a name like that, Super Awesome Deluxe is setting the bar high. Luckily, they’re comfortable with high bars. It’s from the people behind burger renaissance pioneers Almost Famous (their original venue was quite literally a ‘high bar’, being on the first floor of a walk-up on High Street). The new concept will be takeaway-only, and just around the corner from where it all started, where queues formed, burgers were flipped and good times had. Super Awesome will be considerably more pared down though. A tight menu of three, simple-but-effective smash burgers for the people, with hand-cut fries and homemade sauces, to a soundtrack of 80s vibes in the day, and drum & bass at night. Bring it on.

Coming in the wake of the likes of the Black Cat Club, Boom Battle Bar, Urban Playground and Deansgate’s Pong & Puck, Spider Box is ‘next generation social entertainment venue’. So we’re talking live music, tech-infused music quizzes, racing simulators and karaoke. All the fun stuff you can imagine. It will also feature the UK’s first ‘digital human DJ’, called DJ Dex, while the food offerings will be leaning towards Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian.

Pizza spot Wood Fire Smoke already has outlets in Wilmslow, Congleton, Macclesfield and now Sale, knocking out excellent Neapolitan style pizzas. You can find the new spot on the revamped Stanley Square, alongside the likes of Blanchflower, Portuguese tapas joint Petisco and The Oyster Catcher.

These guys have an original spot on Oxford Road, popular with shawarma enthusiasts and late-night revellers alike, and now they’ve brought their inflation-busting, Levy Bakery-rivalling fare to the Northern Quarter. Think shawarma or falafel, crammed into a fresh samoon or naan with salad, yoghurt sauce, pickles and chilli for a fiver. At the weekends they’re open late, as in late late too. We can only say: thank you Zaytoni.