TWELVE busy months on from being crowned Manchester’s Chef of the Year vegan champion Matthew Nutter is making the giant leap from Vernon Street, Stockport into the heart of the city centre.
The Allotment Vegan Restaurant is now becoming The Allotment on Lloyd Street, taking over the site formerly occupied by Buca di Pizza (and before that Baltic Cellar).
Matthew will close the current Allotment on Sunday, September 30 and open in Lloyd Street on Saturday, November 3 and it’s all thanks to a financial backer who realised the health-promoting properties of plant-based cuisine.
Businessman Anthony Sheridan’s portfolio includes Barca and The Mitre Hotel, neither of which you’d associate with cutting edge vegan cuisine; his conversion to the cause came when his 11-year-old son developed Crohn’s Disease.
“Anthony chose to seek alternative methods of treatment and found a plant-based diet was workinh so well for his son,” Matthew told ToM. “As a result he was keen to promote it and contacted me. My partner and I aren’t business minded and it had felt a struggle to be able to grown in the way we wanted. Now we can.
“The giant hype around Veganuary has calmed down now but it helped change people’s perceptions and show how delicious and good for you vegan (and gluten-free) food can be.”
The switch won’t divert Matthew from the distinctive take on plant-based food he developed originally at his ‘Plantfood Powerchef' pop-ups. Check out the current 10 course tasting menus at Stockport – 7 courses £45 a head and 10 courses £65 a head (£7.50 for a supplementary nut-based vegan cheeseboard).
These will continue to be served at lunchtimes, 12pm-3pm Wednesday-Sunday (closed Mon and Tue) when Matthew will be cooking. For the moment in the evening it will be three courses and platters, prepared by staff he is training up. The new venture will take advantage of the substantial bare area they inherit f with the emphasis on local craft beers and cheese plates instead of Buca’s bottomless pizza and proseccos.
After renovations the new Allotment should offer 40-45 covers in the restaurant area and a similar number in the bar area.
ToM’s special request is that this talented chef doesn’t ditch our fave dish – his carpaccio of cauliflower pickled in turmeric, ginger and orange, with whipped coconut and macadamia, raisin and lemon.
