This weekend sees the return of the fabulous King Street Festival; a celebration of shopping, food, drink art and live music. It’s running along the whole length the street which lies at the heart of Manchester city centre, on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June.

El Gato Negro building frontage

We’ll be joining in the festivities alongside our fellow neighbours and traders. Chef Patron Simon Shaw will leading the street activities outside; look out for him and the team cooking al fresco, serving two special festival dishes, ready to enjoy at our pavement seating area, indoors alongside our menu, or to takeaway!

  • Chorizo, red pepper aioli and caramelised red onion sandwich £6 
  • Chargrilled vegetables with giant couscous and a salsa verde dressing £5

Our usual outside dining space will extend across King Street for the weekend weekend, so more diners can enjoy the fun of the festival from a prime position.

Our King Street Cooler for the King Street Festival

We’ll also be serving up a recent cocktail classic which celebrates our home: the King Street Cooler. Created with Midori, elderflower, apple, mint, cava & soda, it’s a vibrant, light and refreshing beverage to enjoy, day or night. El Gato Negro festival opening hours are midday onwards. Hope to see many of you there!

(Update) What a cracking weekend! We – along with hundreds of happy customers – enjoyed the weather and the atmosphere on Manchester’s best street alongside fellow traders and businesses!

With the recent spell of sunshine and warm weather, a profusion of flowers and leaves everywhere, and the very welcome return of longer evenings, it’s definitely springtime in the city. Spring always brings new growth and change, and we’re delighted to announce the introduction of new menus for spring 2017 at El Gato Negro.

Simon and Richard have refreshed the restaurant menu, adding an array of delicious new dishes celebrating seasonal produce and flavours. Regular customers may spot dishes which proved so popular as specials they’ve been included on the regular menu. These include the spectacular Pig cheeks with parsley root and apple purée, and morcilla; and LED tomato, Monte Enebro goats cheese and watermelon salad, with mint and basil.

A couple of our modern classics have also made it back onto the menu by popular demand: the chargrilled onglet steak with patatas a lo pobre, as well as Gillardeau oysters, yuzu juice, wasabi tobiko and pickled cucumber.

With a comprehensive selection of options for diners who require gluten free or vegetarian dishes, we’re sure the menu will delight everyone who dines at El Gato Negro.

In response to customer feedback we’ve also introduced a brand new lunch option to complement our main menu – the ‘Menú Rápido’. This menu has been developed to offer customers a curated range of dishes that can be enjoyed when there’s less time to enjoy a leisurely lunchtime dining experience. Perfect when you’re limited for time, and speedy service is as important as quality of the dishes you know and love. The ‘Menú Rápido’ is available during lunch service from Tuesday to Friday, alongside our main menu.

Last night we were thrilled to be revealed as the winners of CityLife Awards 2016’s ‘Best Restaurant‘ category at a ceremony at Crazy Pedro’s in Manchester.

Simon Shaw from El Gato Negro celebrates winning Best Restaurant award

Chef patron Simon Shaw with Lucy Lovell and Simon Binns from the MEN. (Photo: Joel Goodman/Manchester Evening News)

El Gato Negro was shortlisted alongside some of Manchester’s brightest and best restaurants so we’re honoured to have been voted as the city’s best, winning with more than a third of the public vote.

In a city with as dynamic and exciting a food culture as Manchester it’s a particular honour to be awarded ‘Best Restaurant’, and at the awards ceremony last night – surrounded by friends old and new – we were reminded how talented and welcoming everyone has been since we opened in February 2016.

At the ceremony Chef Patron Simon Shaw said

Wow, what a buzz! We’ve been open less than a year but the Manchester public have really embraced us and been so receptive of our vision and offering. This sets us up for a very exciting 2017, coming as it does just a few weeks before our first anniversary, and we have plenty of exciting plans for this year. Thanks for all the support and loyalty from our customers.

Coming on the heels of a run of accolades in 2016 – gaining a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand, Newcomer of the Year at the MFDF awards, Lancashire Life’s ‘City Restaurant of the Year‘,  and debuting in Restaurant Magazine’s National Restaurant Awards Top 100 has been a remarkable and inspiring experience.

A huge thank you to our incredible staff, suppliers and supporters… we really couldn’t have done this without you. We are so proud of the team here at El Gato Negro. As for our customers, thanks so much for helping us to make us feel so at home in the heart of Manchester in our first year. We look forward to serving you to the very best of our ability in the future.

 

As the aroma of cinnamon and vanilla from the markets on King Street remind us, the festive season is here! We’re very excited about our first Christmas in the heart of Manchester, and the forthcoming new year heralds the end of an incredible 2016 for El Gato Negro. There’s plenty on and we look forward to seeing you over the holidays… let the celebrations commence!

Opening hours

We’re open as usual until Christmas Eve, when our last food service in the restaurant will be at 6pm. The restaurant is then closed for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Our last food service on New year’s Eve will be at 9pm. We’ll be holding a select ticket-only event upstairs in The Black Cat at 11pm, to see in 2017 in style with cava and pinchos. Full details on this event can be found here.

Sat 24th (Christmas Eve)  Last service 6pm
Sun 25th (Christmas Day)  Closed
Mon 26th (Boxing Day) Closed
Tues 27th/Wed 28th 12:00–14:30 / 17:00–21:30
Thurs 29th 12:00–14:30 / 17:00–22:00
Fri 30th 12:00–22:30
Sat 31st (New Year’s Eve) 12:00–21:00 then private event
Mon 1st-Thurs 5th Closed

Christmas decorations at El Gato Negro Manchester

Dining

Since we recently increased our capacity to meet demand we’ve more space for smaller and larger parties alike, and are still taking bookings throughout December. We offer set menus for larger groups, which have proved incredibly popular since they were introduced. If you’d like to make a reservation please contact our host team. As there’s so much demand for our regular dishes – including our recently refreshed autumn menu – we’re not offering a specific Christmas menu, but look out for specials in the ground floor bar as well as the restaurant.

Drinks

Adding a touch of seasonal spice with a Spanish theme, we’ve been serving mulled sangria since the beginning of the week – something which has proved a welcome winter warmer for customers stepping into our ground floor bar off the street! Look out for some very special festive cocktails upstairs in The Black Cat too. elgatonegro_mcr_05sept2016-0397_1500px

Christmas presents

If you’re looking for a perfect present, why not purchase one of our gift cards? They’re the tastiest gift option around and whether the recipient’s dined with us or not, we’re sure they’ll be gratefully received!

Christmas gift cards at El Gato Negro

Christmas gift cards at El Gato Negro

StreetSmart restaurateurs in Manchester

Alongside some of Manchester’s best establishments we’re proud to be supporting a fantastic charity initiative for the rest of 2016: StreetSmart.

It’s a brilliantly simple, clever scheme and is focused on supporting local organisations which help the homeless in Greater Manchester. Between December 1st – December 31st we’ll be adding a discretionary 2.5% service charge onto each bill. Our customers get to enjoy great food and know they’re helping StreetSmart do something great too. Every single penny we raise contributes directly to the work being done in Greater Manchester to enable homeless people to build a better life for themselves. 

Simon Shaw, founder and Chef Patron at El Gato Negro said: “We are delighted to be taking part in StreetSmart and through this campaign want to support those charities working locally to get people off the streets and integrated back into society. It’s a simple way for us to join this worthy cause and at a time of year when the focus for people is very much on giving. People can really make a difference whilst enjoying themselves with a small charge on their bill.”

Please take the opportunity to have a real impact on the community in our area, and help us support StreetSmart in 2016. Thank you! StreetSmart logo