Salvi's Cucina, Manchester

Authentic Italian cuisine may be in short supply around these parts, but this family-run restaurant makes a strong claim to being one of Manchester's best

Review by Jamie Faulkner | 09 Jul 2014

Years ago, as an undergraduate studying French, I was fortunate to have what is known as a 'year abroad.' What this meant, in actuality, was frantically trying to secure any form of employment for a few months in some French-speaking place, preferably doing something that might realistically influence future career choices. Somehow, by twists of fate I can now barely recall, I ended up spending the summer working in a specialist wine shop on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Très romantique, n’est-ce pas?

Round the corner from the shop stood an Italian pizza joint named Pizza Vesuvio. Perennially busy from what I could gather and lauded by my boss and colleagues alike, Vesuvio became my default dinner option when I closed up at night, the brusque machismo and the roaring heat of the clay oven a world away from the hoity-toity business of selling over-priced wine to tourists. Often, I would devour a four seasons pizza, still blisteringly hot, while sitting on a street bench in the cool evening air, looking up every so often from my boxed feast to gaze at passers-by.

Since then, I’d not had pizza quite like it. Until, that is, I bit into a slice of quattro stagioni at Salvi’s Cucina, and these memories came instantly flooding back. So you can say, without fear of reprisal, this review is biased, clearly coloured by nostalgia for my stay in Paris. We all come to restaurants with irrepressible memories, tastes, and tics. And, don’t get me wrong, the likes of Honest Crust are making fantastic pizza in Manchester too, albeit of a slightly different ilk. But this was, y'know, meta.

Cucina sees Manchester-based Italian Deli Salvi’s setting out their stall: We do authentic Italian cuisine. There's definitely adequate room for them in the city centre, given that their only real competitor is San Carlo and its Cicchetti spin-off. But they're a different affair altogether. Cucina is far more laid-back: no marble, no black aprons, no tableside tartare-making in sight. Frankly, Cucina deserve credit for managing to use the red, white, and green colour scheme without eliciting derision; the lemon trees and basil plants are nice touches, which don’t look out of place, at least in summertime. "A taste of Italy without the tack," as my dining partner puts it.

So, to the food. The aforementioned quattro stagioni smacks of quality ingredients, with olives, ham and artichokes combining to tangy, salty effect. There is a wealth of pasta dishes on offer, some of which (gnocchi and ravioli) feature homemade pasta. The trofie with swordfish, aubergine, smoked mozzarella and pine nuts is intensely savoury and brought together by a very good tomato sauce. Cucina don’t do everything well, mind. A cauliflower salad, perhaps an outlandish choice in the first place, came carelessly dressed with balsamic glaze and missing the promised capers, with huge florets that could well do with being downsized. Having eaten my way through a fair few practice tiramisus of late, theirs needs work: too heavy and lacking the required one-two punch of coffee and booze. The wine menu is also one of the priciest I’ve seen in this kind of establishment, unless you go for a bottle. 175ml glasses bob around the £7 mark, about a third of the full bottle price. Given the portion sizes, the rest of the menu's prices are well pitched. 

Where beer is concerned they're still clinging on to Peroni, that mainstay of European lager offerings, but it's encouraging to see more recherché options, including Birra Gjulia. This was unavailable on our visit, so it was a Birra Toz instead, a Belgian-style blonde, which works surprisingly well with the pizza. I'm still waiting for an Italian restaurant (actually make that any restaurant) to stock some of Lomardy-based Brewfist's range, but Salvi's have definitely got the right idea.

So to those who can't share my memories or have a year (well, three months) abroad in Paris, go to Cucina instead: it'll give you an idea. And you'll save on the air fare. 

I you liked Salvi's Cucina, try:
The Italian Fish Club, Liverpool
Honest Crust, Manchester
San Carlo Cicchetti, Manchester

19 John Dalton Street, Manchester, M2 6LE