We went down to the newly opened Lina stores to sample their new restaurant and bar, here is what we found.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. My name's Theo Kusenbet and today I'm very excited to say that I'm on my way to a brand new opening called Lina Stores.
00:07Now it's an Italian delicatessen and restaurant that has just opened its first branch outside of London and they've done it right here in Manchester.
00:15It's down where Blue's Kitchen is, so very accessible from the centre of the city.
00:19Now I'm going to this opening with our new writer Jess who's been in the job a couple of weeks now and has already put out some brilliant articles on our website.
00:25So please make sure to check out her stuff and get down to Lina Stores and we'll let you know what we think.
00:30Now since 1944, Lina Stores have been open in London selling amazing handmade pasta, authentic Italian produce from their deli on Brewer Street in Soho.
00:40This includes stuff like cured meats, cheeses and basically just stuff that you can't really get here in the UK.
00:45Certainly not to the standard that they deliver it.
00:48This is their 10th branch or location in the country and it's the first one outside of London.
00:53So it's yet another example of businesses coming from outside of that city and coming to what is commonly becoming known as, sorry Birmingham, England's second city.
01:02So this is what the Lina Stores restaurant looked like from the inside.
01:06You can see a really nice layout, a really nice design and honestly for a week after opening I'm really impressed by how busy it was.
01:12And it was no surprise.
01:14The staff were really hard working and managed to get everything really quick.
01:17Managed to explain the menu to us.
01:18They suggested having two of the antipasti and sort of two of the pasta and then maybe one of the mains as well between us.
01:24We weren't quite that hungry, but what we did get was this amazing focaccia.
01:27Just look at how great that looks.
01:28And then these little fried balls of ricotta and herb on a sort of spicy, sweet Calabrian chili jam type thing.
01:35And they were just unbelievable.
01:38I had, well, I had quite a lot of them.
01:40I'll be honest.
01:41Then this Amaro Spritz.
01:42They had a great range of drinks as well.
01:44Jess had a limoncello spritz, which looked awesome.
01:46And then this was the pasta, which was crab, lemon and olive oil.
01:50Really, really simple, but a great way of testing the quality of the produce.
01:53And honestly, it was top quality.
01:55And then right around the corner is where they've opened their bar, which was the reason that we were invited down.
02:00The bar opened this week and this was what it looks like.
02:03Really great atmosphere inside.
02:06And honestly, it looks like the perfect place to come with a couple of mates and just have a really nice, casual, laid back drink.
02:12The drinks were awesome.
02:13I had this 0% gin, pineapple and mint thing, which was just absolutely awesome.
02:18And honestly, I can't recommend it enough.
02:21So the front of Lena's doors opened last Thursday and it really was a great eating experience.
02:26The food was all absolutely awesome.
02:28You could really taste the freshness.
02:29And then tonight was the night that they've launched their bar, which is just around the corner.
02:33It might be not always the easiest to see, but it's really, really great.
02:37It's sort of very dark, sort of a red carpeted, really nice red sofas.
02:41And the drinks were awesome.
02:42And we don't know about costs yet because it's sort of been a bit of a soft launch experience.
02:46But when we do know, we'll put them out on our website.
02:49So make sure you're following along.
02:51Jess is going to have an article out on the experience as well.
02:54So it's well worth visiting the website, giving that a read.
02:56And that's all for now.
02:57Follow Manchester World for more.