House of Fu, the hit ramen spot from Leeds, has confirmed it’ll be in the market for noodles, karaoke, cocktails and general mischief from October 20.
It announced that it was planning to open a Manchester branch way back in the summer of 2022, but now it’s nearly ready to open its doors.
The restaurant will be located on Portland Street, in what was formerly the historical Architect’s Society building, now operated by Manchester developers Bruntwood.
The award-winning House of Fu first opened as a pop-up in Leeds at the Belgrave Music Hall in 2014, inspired by fact-finding trips to New York, Tokyo, Portland and Los Angeles.
Owners Simon Stevens and Ashley Kollakowski then founded their first bricks and mortar restaurant in 2021 on the Headrow, offering up the same hand fashioned gyoza, katsu and long-simmered tonkotsu broth.
Dishes have been designed by collaborator chef Ben Illey, who worked for a decade in Tokyo, having cut his teeth under a host of world renowned chefs including Marcus Samuelsson, Bill Granger and Ivan Orkin.
He said: “Going for a bowl was the thing to do in Tokyo, it was almost a competition amongst friends to take the group to their newest find or introduce them to their favourite neighbourhood Ramen bar.
“It’s that excitement and love for a good bowl we want to bring to Manchester. Whilst the core menu will consist of some firm favourites, each week the kitchen team will be challenging their creativity, producing their own specials to serve up so our guests can enjoy something different and new every time they visit.
“We want House of Fu to be somewhere chefs want to train as much as they want to eat.”
Owners Stevens and Kollakowski added: “Manchester is home to some of our favourite restaurants and shops and it’s been great getting to know the city a little more whilst looking for a home for House of Fu.
“There’s such an exciting food scene in Manchester and there seems to be more great openings announced every week, we’re really excited to be part of it.
“We’ve developed some incredible new dishes for the Manchester menu which we can’t wait to share with you alongside the obvious hits like our spicy tantanmen and the sleeper fave, the cucumber salad.”
The Manchester restaurant will open daily from 11.30am, with a happy hour from 4pm to 6pm, where two cocktails will be yours for £13. The ‘Hello’ cocktail bar will open late from Thursday to Sunday, and the state-of-the-art karaoke rooms available daily from the early evening.
It will be holding a soft launch night too, and is offering sign-ups to its mailing list the chance to get 50% off their bill.
