97 is the latest concept from the team behind popular Northern Quarter cocktail bar Tariff & Dale, and stalwart Chorlton institution, The Lead Station. The team have been working hard over the past few months transforming the site on Beech Road into a beautiful intimate hideaway and are excited to welcome customers through the doors on Friday 10th March.
We went over to take a look as they were putting the finishing touches to the new venue. It’s quite intimate with room for only 30 guests and has a beautiful classic feel to it thanks to smoky mirrors, dark wood, and tabletops made from marble and brass. 97 looks like a neighbourhood bar but it’s also quite classy too.
“The inspiration came from Parisian cafes and bars, like Hotel Costes,” owner Nick de Sousa tells us. “The sort of classic cocktails bars you see on Pinterest, just very relaxed, very intimate, and comfortable. The city centre’s not the only place you can open a bar like this which feels exclusive in terms of the fabrics and the bar tops, but it’s hopefully just a place you just want to go and hang out.”
Nick has owned the Lead Station next door to 97 for the past 16 years and Tariff & Dale in Manchester City Centre since 2015. Chorlton-native Ellie Craddick has been appointed General Manager at 97 and has been busy putting her stamp on a creative menu of timeless cocktails. So how did this new bar come about?
“I know this area really well and I’ve had a lot of people who have come to work with me over the years,” he explains. “Ellie and used to work at the bakery next door, before working with me for five or six years. She took a sabbatical last summer, travelling round Europe, and when she came back, she returned as bar manager at The Lead Station.
“We were sitting there chatting and we thought we should probably start looking for the next challenge for her. And literally, as we were talking, Pete, her old boss, who owns this building and the bakery next door, jangling the keys in front of us because this had become vacant, so we just looked at each other and it was a done deal.”
They always knew that it would be cocktail focussed bar from the outset. “Although we did go from thinking we were going to open a space age bar through to various looks, but I always try and do what’s right for the building,” says Nick. “The answer isn’t to over-engineer it but to make it feel like it should have always been here, even though it’s brand new. It’s just about hopefully doing really good drinks in a comfortable environment in the suburbs and doing it nicely rather than having that be the preserve of bigger venues in the city centre.
So where did Ellie’s passion for drinks come from? And what sparked her creative interest to develop flavours? “Lachlan (the GM at Tariff & Dale) and I spent a lot of time going back and forth messing about with drinks, experimenting and developing flavours and techniques when we were in lockdown and I absolutely loved it,” she explains.
Ellie’s collection of inventive and beautiful drinks include painstakingly crafted tinctures and infusions involving an almost scientific approach along with techniques such as fat washing, sous vide and using a Thermomix.
“Travelling meant I was able to visit a lot of other bars and see the ways different venues were run,” she tells us. “When I returned and we got this place I decided I definitely didn’t want classics on the menu, and yet I know that people were going to try and order them, so every drink on the menu has our twist on it, whether that be a tincture or an infusion, a garnish or a cordial.”
The menu includes 14 house classics with a twist including 97’s own distinctive, luxury take on a Margarita with coconut oil washed Patron Silver, dry curacao, yuzu sake and lime. Plus 11 signature house creations including Evergreen made with Calvados, Argentinian Mate Gin, Fino Sherry, Jasmine Verte, Basil & Pepper Tincture.
They are serious about their offering, but that doesn’t mean they take themselves too seriously. The drinks menu is presented in the form of a game of Top Trumps. The signature drinks cards are marked with a red border and Ellie’s original creations, a dark blue one.
“It can be overwhelming when you’re presented with loads of drinks,” says Ellie, “and it can equally be underwhelming when you’re not. I started off reading a book called the Flavour Thesaurus, researched a lot of culinary techniques, spending a time with the guys in the kitchen next door, then I started researching more of the scientific side of things.”
“The menu will continue to develop two or three times a year. So that’ll keep us on our toes searching for new ingredients and new techniques, but it also keeps customers wanting to come in and try new things.”
We had a look through some of the drinks on the menu, pulling out cards at random. The ‘East Side’ features ‘pandan and cocoa butter washed dark rum’. “Pandan is quite a hard flavour to balance right because it can be quite dominant,” Ellie explained, “but it was something I definitely wanted to incorporate. So we sous vide the dark rum with the pandan for a couple of hours and then fatwash it with the cocoa butter so that you get a creamy texture and vanilla, earthy, almost basmati rice flavours.
We picked another. A cocktail called ‘Next Door’ features ‘banana water.’ “You throw a bunch of bananas into a Thermomix with an ingredient called Pectinex which splits things and then blitz them, and they split apart,” says Ellie. Another one lists ‘tonka bianco vermouth’ which Ellie creates with a sous vide technique.
“We can’t wait for guests to try our cocktails – the menu is something special and the space is designed to be the perfect place to enjoy them,” she says, and we don’t doubt it.
Open from Wednesday – Sunday, Ellie’s team will be serving cocktails as well as exceptional wines and craft beers, creating the perfect place to escape for exquisite drinks and laid-back vibes. They’re not serving food as such, you’ll have to pop next door to The Lead Station for that, but you can get sharing plates, croutons, nuts and olives to accompany the drinks.
97 will officially open on 10th March but they’re having a soft launch period from the 1st if you happen to be in the neighbourhood.
Follow @97beech on Instagram.
97 Beech Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M219EQ
