95
Manchester 2020/21
ITALIAN
Italian
Clarence Street, Manchester, M2 4DW
0161 835 9860
Manchester’s Piccolino is a capacious,
contemporary Italian restaurant. The Clarence
Street establishment serves breakfast, brunch,
lunch and dinner, with cover for up to 200 guests.
There’s a lot going on at the upmarket restaurant:
a wine boutique, cocktail bar, juice bar, theatre
grill, pizzeria, oyster and caviar bar, food hall and
al fresco terrace overlooking Albert Square, to be
precise. The Victorian listed building is a grand,
regal space in which to house the multi-purpose
restaurant. No expense has been spared in
kitting out Piccolino: the marble is imported from
Italy, the brass is antique, the oak English and
the chandeliers handmade. Blue leather, inspired
by the Italian yacht-builder Riva, completes the
look. The decor may be pleasing, but it’s the
food that has the wow factor. Meat and seafish
feature prominently, the latter including such
delicacies as line-caught sashimi-grade tuna,
lemon sole, wild seabass and Arctic salmon.
The shellfish is of a similar pedigree: Blackwater
wild oysters, hand-picked wild crab, rope-grown
mussels and wild Paloude clams. From Monday
to Saturday diners can enjoy a quick lunch
between 12pm and 5pm with one or two courses
available for a fixed price. When evening falls,
Piccolino’s charcoal and wood-burning grill
is cranked up to full capacity, to create such
succulent dishes as ‘Burning fingers’ grilled and
marinated lamb cutlets and Rose veal escalope
served with Parma ham and sage. For red
meat connoisseurs, the steak is pretty special.
Selected from Aberdeen Angus cattle and dry
aged on the bone for at least 35 days, it makes
for a tender and juicy steak, whether plumping
for the rump, ribeye or sirloin. From salads to
antipasti and from pasta to pizza, Piccolino does
Italian with flair and pizzazz.
CAFFÉ GRANDE PICCOLINO
