Adding to the long list of big restaurant groups from the capital opening sites up north in Manchester such as Flat Iron, Blacklock and Caravan is Big Mamma Group. Famed for their viral restaurants, aesthetic interior design and Italian dishes, Big Mamma Group has now opened Circolo Popolare in Manchester, its first restaurant in the North.
Boasting five incredibly popular restaurants in London, their unbelievable interiors some spanning multiple floors and with quirky features like 20,000 bottles of booze on the walls and unreal Italian cuisine (think pasta cooked in a huge cheese wheel and humongous slices of lemon meringue pie) transport you to the trattorias of Italy without having to hop on a plane. Now, Manchester can experience the hype surrounding their restaurants and Circolo Popolare will be open from Friday 6th June.
Named Circolo Popolare, the Manchester restaurant will be a trattoria filled to the brim with collective joy and good times, bringing the electric atmosphere and playful spirit of its namesake in London and Madrid, to take guests on “the ultimate celebratory Italo-escape”.
Big Mamma Group has opened their Manchester restaurant within the St Michael’s Development currently underway by Gary Neville’s development group Relentless. The restaurant joins another highly-anticipated opening, Chotto Matte, an acclaimed Japanese-Peruvian dining experience.
Interiors include twinkling festoon lights sprawled across the eucalyptus-clad ceiling of the wild overgrown courtyard floor, filled to the brim with antique trinkets, testa di moro, and a lucky Italian wishing well. A ceramic staircase in the restaurant leads up to the villa hideaway, a cosy terracotta den where from the kitchen counter you watch Head Chef Alfonso turning fresh British seafood on the grill, or crafting crispy-soft Neapolitan pizza.
Commenting on their first restaurant in the North of England, Co-Founders Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux, have shared: “Our 10-year Big Mamma adventure has continued to surprise and challenge us, and we couldn’t think of a better restaurant that encapsulates everything we strive for than the joyful and atmospheric Circolo Popolare, in the vibrant community-driven city of Manchester.
Having visited Manchester multiple times to find this unique spot, we have both been bowled over by the sheer plethora of hospitality talent within the city. We are hugely excited to be even a small part of this, and to bring our superb Italian products we spent 3 years personally sourcing to another major European city.”
Circolo Popolare will have a sharing menu featuring Big Mamma’s largest-ever selection of produce, carefully selected from their 170 family-run Italian artisans. From visit Puglia with Salvatore Montrone’s chubby burrata from Puglia to prosciutto from Parma and San Daniele.
Diners can also toast at a long sharing table with XL jugged cocktails, or take a shot from their three-litre amaro bottle that’s circulating the room, before settling to dolci for twisted classics such as, pistachio tiramisu scooped tableside, or grab the whole tray to feast with friends.
Big Mamma Group was founded in 2013 by Tigrane Seydoux and Victor Lugger with the aim to share the authenticity and warmth of traditional Italian trattorias abroad. The group currently has five restaurants in London – Circolo Popolare, Gloria, Ave Mario, Jacuzzi and Carlotta famed for its ten-tier chocolate fudge cake.
You can now book a table at Circolo Popolare in Manchester here.
📍Circolo Popolare is open at No 1 St Michael’s, 36 Jackson’s Row, Manchester, M2 5DA from June 6.