New in Food: Baltic Market, Fress & more

Our latest Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds food and drink round-up...

Feature by Jess Hardiman | 13 Jul 2017

More for Cains Brewery in Liverpool

Independent Liverpool's long-awaited new project, the Baltic Market has finally taken flight at the Cains Brewery complex, where regularly-rotating food traders, a bar, live music, DJs, cinema screenings and more are given a home in an unintimidating, laid-back warehouse space. This not only reflects street food's role in the prevalence of relaxed dining, but also our unappeasable need for exciting, multi-purpose venues. Open now, Cains Brewery, @BalticMarketLiv

The old brewery has also just welcomed the arrival of two new spaces from gin haven The Botanical Garden, with huge drinking hall Dockleaf taking over Cains' original quality control room and the intimate Kiosk – housed in what was once a security hut – serving seasonally-changing drinks and food menus for just 20 people. Open now, @DockleafBar

Asian-inspired eats in Leeds

Meanwile, over in Leeds the food and drink scene is looking to the East for inspiration, with the recent openings of Issho and Tattu – the former is D&D’s Japanese-inspired, 7,807 square-foot new venture, crowning the new Victoria Gate shopping centre with a restaurant and rooftop bar (open now, Victoria Gate); the latter a sultry contemporary Chinese restaurant joining its popular original sister site in Manchester's Spinningfields district (open now, East Parade, @IsshoLDS / @TattuRestaurant). 

Local coffee roasters North Star will launch their first ever retail location, ticking all the boxes with an on-site roastery, coffee shop, general store and dedicated coffee academy, bringing you lunch and a rotating weekend brunch menu alongside in-house bakes from the award-winning Noisette Bakery. Opens 10 Jul, Leeds Dock, @NorthStarRoast

Barrel-aged cocktails and modern Victoriana in Manchester

Having been banging on about "an authentic taste of Ireland" for what's felt like an epoch, King Street's much-anticipated cocktail bar Roc and Rye finally opens its doors this July. Thankfully, it's sounding worth the wait with a special on-site laboratory for in-house experiments and developments and a whiskey-centric menu, featuring signature barrel-aged cocktail Lost at Sea, which combines Cooper’s Croze Jameson Whiskey, cherry and grapefruit shrub, cherry liqueur, smoky mezcal and sweet vermouth. Opens 7 Jul, King Street, @rocandrye

A former Oldham Street newsagents has been transformed into Fress, which bills itself as a sophisticated yet relaxed modern Victorian-style restaurant and bar, kitted out with slick marble table tops and classic light fixtures. Named after the Yiddish word for eating like a pig, the independently-owned, 40-cover joint will be serving up seasonal food that harnesses continental and Middle Eastern influences, with head chef Sam Morgan (of the now-defunct vegetarian restaurant 1847) at the helm. Open now, Oldham Street, @FressRestaurant

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