TAMPOPO has beens serving pan-Asian street food, first to Manchester, then further afield for 17 years. Now the innovative, independent chain created by David Fox and NIck Jeffreys has taken to the streets!
Tam-Pop Up! (ouch) is now open in Exchange Square not far from Tampopos cellar eaterie in the Corn Exchange, now mothballed while the entire complex is refashioned at a cost of £30m into a major food destination, home to 13 independent restaurants and a boutique hotel.
That will feature Tampopo serving their signature Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, Filipino and Korean dishes. Until then there is the 35 cover baby Tampopo specially built for the occasion. Its more ethnic than the chains normal, minimalist look.
Wooden benches and long communal tables have made way for cute, kitsch table clothes of patterns favoured by street food cafes of South East Asia, with Vietnamese style plastic stools. Cleverly designed with a glass and steel roof, and retractable features, allows for light, bright, al fresco dining and drinking, while coping with the onset of winter.
The food also offers something new for Tampopo, with the arrival of their first small plates menu featuring pared down version of their usual offerings, enabling punters to share a variety of tastes. Theres also a serving hatch for a Grab and Go menu for that takeaway noodle yen.
Tam Pop Up will be home to the brands first Bahn Mi the classic Vietnamese sandwich and 50p from every Bahn Mi sold with be donated to Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
Co-founder Nick Jeffrey says:
The spiritual home of our menu offer comes from the hawker stalls and street cafés of Bangkok, Tokyo and Hanoi. So we love that our little Pop Up allows to us take that cuisine back to its roots. And were delighted to be partnering with Mines Advisory Group, which does so much good work to improve the lives of countless people around the world, especially those who were so blighted by the Wests military forays into Asia in the last century, who are still living with the effects now.
Tam Pop Up is now open from 12noon 9pm (and a bit later at the weekends).
