The sixth restaurant in the Elite Bistros group, KALA is set to open in Manchester city centre early next year in February. KALA will present diners with a 55-cover restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and a separate 15-cover bar space available for customers to enjoy a drink.
Headed by Zhelyazko Zhelyazkov, or ‘Jiji’, who has previously worked at the two Michelin Star Moor Hall and Raby Hunt, the KALA menu will feature bistro style dishes, such as burrata, beef tartare, braised featherblade, a monkfish, spinach and tomato fondue, apple tart and crème caramel, as well as bread baked on-site and Elite Bistro’s famed truffle and parmesan chips. The city-centre restaurant will also offer an all-day menu at the bar, featuring small, simple and delicious British dishes, such as pigs head sausage roll and pickled eggs.
Managed by Katy Mills, formerly Assistant Manager at Wreckfish in Liverpool, the restaurant will feature a more contemporary interiors than Usher’s other bistros, with an onyx-coloured pillar takes centre-stage, with the shade echoed throughout space, and polished concrete flooring. As well as the separate bar, which will feature plush bar stools to encourage comfortable dining in ‘your own space’, the bistro will have an open kitchen and ‘pastry pass’, where guests will be able to watch the signature tarts being made.
Gary Usher comments: “When I worked at Room on King Street 15 years ago, I never would have imagined that I would be opening a restaurant here myself. It has always been a dream to have a bistro in Manchester, but the money has just never been there so when this opportunity for KALA came along, I just couldn’t pass it up.
“KALA will retain our core values- great food, a lovely atmosphere and brilliant customer service but I think guests will have a little bit of a different experience here than at the other bistros. The interiors will be a little bit more modern than the other restaurants but still have that really lovely, comfortable vibe.
“I’m really excited for guests to see the bar space. We’ve put our heart and soul into making it a place where you really want to spend some time- whether you’re dining alone or with friends and family.”
KALA will open on King Street in February 2019 and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.
Five minutes with… Gary UsherLast December we sat down and talked with Gary Usher, here’s the full interview with insights to how he approaches his restaurants openings.
It’s not the only interview with Gary Usher we’ve done, if you want a no holds barred view from Gary Usher, here it is.