By Neil Sowerby
WHATS the Sardinian for skin of the teeth or seat of the pants? The thought struck me as I leaned on the bar at the latest incarnation of Solita, in Didsbury, and felt the varnish still sticky. Only a few hours to go the launch party and the posse of workmen,tangled up in wires or tightening taps, were struggling to find time for a cuppa.
Owner Franco Sotgiu had invited us over for a quick preview of whats on offer, not anticipiating a raft of last minute teething problems. Still Franco, before he rushed off to pick up some essential gas equipment, demonstrated the kind of hospitality associated with the Old Country (his dad came over from Sardinia in the Sixties). Many things are not quite ready, but you can drink all you want (we were driving) and the chefs will provide (they did graciously, breaking off from the canape production line).
I just had time to ask if that was him or James Gandolfini on the wall behind the cash desk one of a host of starry caricatures by Stanley Chow, the Mancunian illustrator who works for the New Yorker magazine. You are not the first to have asked, he said before bombing off,
By the time you read this Solita, in the building that was Cibo and before that La Tasca, will be fully operational. With 140 covers and a terrific people-watching terrace, it has been playfully transformed, bringing in the light, a quite different party beast from its Northern Quarter sibling, and promising off that Inka Grill will come lighter-style grills, chicken and fish skewers, while the lobster and sweetcorn hush puppy starter is the pre-launch hot ticket!
The upper floor features a Manchester-themed 10 metre wall mural by Manchesters most respected muralist and graffiti artist Russell Mehan. If Solita in the NQ originally stood for South of Little Italy, it is now very much a Manc institution. Ciao, Franco.
Solita Didsbury, 10-12 Warburton Street, Manchester M20 6WA. It opens at 6pm on September 18 and will open seven days a week, from noon until late during the week and from 10am until late at weekends. Advance bookings are being taken now via www.solita.co.uk or 0161 434 4884.