This summer Manchester’s 5-star Stock Exchange Hotel will open the doors of a new luxury dining experience ‘Tender’ under the stewardship of chef-in-residence, two-time Michelin star Niall Keating. Named after the tender care put into crafting each dish and with a nod to the heritage of the hotel, Tender will offer gourmet food for everyday dining within the opulent and historic dining room of the Stock Exchange Hotel.

Officially opening on 5th June, in the newly renovated dining room, Tender will cater for a variety of culinary experiences, offering weekday brasserie lunch, a la carte dinner, afternoon teas, a special Sunday roast and chef’s table and special tasting menu, all created by Niall Keating. Niall, aged 33, earned two Michelin stars, achieved under 30, making him one of the UK’s youngest two-time Michelin star chefs.

Niall honed his skills in Michelin star restaurants around the world including Restaurant Sat Bains, UK (2 star) and Benu, San Francisco, US (3 star) before returning to the UK, where Niall arrived at The Dining Room at Whatley Manor Hotel, where he earned his first star in 2017 and a second in 2019. He opened Lunar Restaurant in November 2022. Niall's commitment to sustainability earned him a prestigious Green Star from Michelin in January 2021, making him a pioneer in eco-conscious gastronomy.

Anticipation builds as Tom Barnes announces that he will open Skof, his debut restaurant in Manchester’s NOMA district on Wednesday 29th May, with bookings available until Saturday 14th September.

Ahead of the opening, Tom has also revealed a taste of what’s to come with the release of a sample menu. At both lunch (Thursday to Saturday) and dinner (Wednesday to Saturday), he will serve two variations of his tasting menu, one 12-course and one 15-course which will be priced at £120 and £165 respectively. At lunch, Skof will also serve a four-course offering, priced at £50 per head. Dishes on the first set of menus include “Roasted Sladesdown duck, peach leaf, Ibis celeriac, wholemeal bread” and “Berkswell cheese sable biscuit, crushed broad beans, whipped roe, bronze fennel”.

In the lead up to the opening of Skof, Tom has been working on preserving ingredients to add depth of flavour to his dishes, also allowing them to be used all year round. As a continuation of this mindset, the team at Skof will create their own miso, used to flavour a “Lightly set custard”, served with Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms, truffle, mushroom dashi and their own “Amasake sorbet” flavoured with milk Oolong tea.

To Manchester, Tom brings the farm-to-table ethos so crucial at Simon Rogan’s Lake District restaurants, weaving in new suppliers as he tailors the offering to a new market in the vibrant Northern city. The sourcing for the menu reflects both his experience and background working with some of the best chefs in the world and the new path he has taken at Skof. So, alongside daily deliveries of produce grown specifically for him from Simon Rogan’s Our Farm in the Cartmel Valley, Tom will work with small-scale suppliers such as Cinderwood Market Garden in Nantwich and Lake District Farmers.

A lot of thought has gone into preparing different drinks pairings at Skof. Tom, alongside his restaurant manager Sean Oakford and assistant restaurant manager Max Lawrence (both ex-L’Enclume), have created a range of drinks options to include alcohol-free or mixed-alcohol pairings, or matching wines to go with the menu. The small but well-rounded wine list aims to give a variety of exciting options, spotlighting small-scale producers and the team’s personal recommendations. In addition, Tom has also collaborated with Manchester brewery, Track to create Sidney, a light and refreshing beer intended as an alternative to kick off the meal.

Tom Barnes commented: “It’s been a long time coming, so I’m excited to be able to finally release our reservations. I can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on and to return some of the incredible hospitality I’ve received from the people of Manchester. With Skof, my purpose is to create an incredible experience that focuses on great quality ingredients but above all, puts a smile on peoples faces.”

In conjunction with International Women’s Day, Madre have launched a fundraising initiative working with Mexican food tour company Eat Like A Local, to support women in Mexico City with their education and opportunities.

Born and bred in Mexico City, Rocio Vazquez Landeta founded the food tour company Eat Like Local in 2018. The business was inspired by a stint travelling; shocked by the tourist traps, overpriced restaurants and umbrella tours, it was on a night out in Istanbul, drinking and being shown the city by a group of homeless guys, that she realised seeing a city with the locals was how you really experience it. From here Eat Like A Local grew, taking hundreds of visitors a year around the markets, introducing them to the local street food vendors and giving them a true experience of what Mexico City’s food and drink scene had to offer.

Setting up a social programme, Eat Like A Local now work to support young females in the La Merced and Jamaica Markets. As Rocio explains “the main goal of the program is to expose kids from La Merced and Jamaica Markets to kindness, feminism, inclusion, respect, and love. We teach them to say no, that their voice matter, that they can leave any situation when they feel uncomfortable. We teach them to set boundaries, self-love, and self-care; we teach them everything we wish someone told us when we were kids growing up in a misogynistic world. We want to show them that education can actually lead to a better life and that knowledge can set them free, that they are not powerless. It is about cultural exchange, great ideas, and great people is about creating the world we want to live in, by changing one kid at a time.”

To support Eat Like a Local and their social programme, throughout the month of March, Madre will be adding a £1 donation to bills when serving tap water. These donations will be collated and sent to Rocio and the team with the specific aim of helping one female in particular who is currently trying to save money to study outside of Mexico due to the mafia becoming increasingly violent in her market.

Chef, Roux Scholar and Simon Rogan alumnus Tom Barnes confirms he will open his first restaurant in Manchester in spring 2024, with a vision to create an unpretentious yet ambitious dining experience in the North.

Having been rumoured for some time, Skof will open as a 36-cover restaurant in the NOMA neighbourhood in Manchester city centre. Known as one of the most skilful young chefs in the country, Tom has been developing menus that are deceptively simple yet brimming with technique and full of flavour. As a chef in some of the best restaurants in the world, his dishes are naturally in season, with local ingredients taking centre stage. Tom also aims to remove some of the seriousness associated with tasting menu restaurants by bringing an element of surprise and joy to his guests, which was evident with his Great British Menu win in 2020