IT’s always fascinating when a venue undergoes a complete re-invention. When Paul and Kathryn Roden opened Grafene in 2016 on that oddly off the beaten track walkway between King Street and Chapel Gardens their casual fine dining offering wasn’t a radical departure from the site’s previous occupant, Brasserie Blanc.
After Raymond had decided his mainstream culinary brand was never going to conquer Manchester the unit lay empty for years. That’s not the case this time. Grafene shut up shop on January 26 and is due to reopen in time for Easter as Mash Tun, focusing on sausages, mash, gravy and beer. Offering 10 different choices of the first three and a much larger roster of the latter – 26 taps featuring their own brews and rotating guest ales. Throw in a promise of life music and the radical overhaul is complete.
It will even look strikingly different from the soberly glam Grafene. A bar will now extend across the length of the ground floor, with a stage being erected for live music until late on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Mains will cost between £10 and £18.50, with a separate lunch menu aimed at office workers – a far cry from the ambitious tasting menus of Grafene’s last head chef, Ben Mounsey, such a loss to the city.
Mash Tun is the latest venture from Adam Regan, who has had fingers in many pies across the city. In Ancoats there was The Cutting Room and Mexica (both now closed) and Goose Fat & Wild Garlic, which never opened (Canto now occupies the site). In the Northern Quarter he helped launch both Folk & Soul and Stage & Radio bars and in NOMA’s Federation curated the coffee shop food menu.
More recently he has opened Fundamentum Taproom & Kitchen in Piccadilly Place Unit 3 (where Pita Pit was), which will be supplying Mash Tun with bread and in-house beers brewed by Adam’s business partner Scott Martin. Mash Tun/Fundamentum was originally earmarked for the old Oddest Bar site in Chorlton. Now with the Rodens as passive business partners, it has a much more glamorous stage.
Mash Tun, 55 King Street, Manchester M2 4LQ. Scheduled to open on April 19.