"It's going to be a gamechanger" - Gary Neville and his new Michelin-Starred chef reveal plans for Stock Exchange hotel restaurant

He's the youngest ever chef to ever be awarded two Michelin Stars in the UK, and now Niall Keating, is bringing his proven star power to Manchester. But if you're picturing tiny portions with an eye-watering price tag, starched white tablecloths, and stuffy service, think again.

In just a couple of week's time, the Stoke-on-Trent chef will take over the ornate restaurant space at the historic Stock Exchange Hotel in Manchester City Centre. He's teamed up with Manchester United legend Gary Neville, who co-owns the hotel alongside Ryan Giggs and hotelier Winston Zahra, to bring 'Tender' to life.

Having now stepped away from his most recent project, Lunar, a 120-cover restaurant at the World of Wedgwood visitor attraction in Barlaston, Niall is busy putting the finishing touches on his next project - and he's determined that it be 'for everyone and anyone'.

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"I don’t want the restaurant to be branded as super high-end, Michelin fine dining, we need to accommodate for everyone that we can in this area," he reflects, sitting down next to Gary Neville ahead of a special preview event for the new restaurant.

"Sure, you could do a crazy, high price point and have only 12 people dining in the restaurant every night, but that just doesn't make sense to me. I want to see 80-100 people in the every day - it should be about accessibility, live music and making sure people come back."

The new chef-in-residence, follows in the footsteps of Tom Kerridge, another two-Michelin-starred chef who was the first to take on the restaurant space. The Bull & Bear opened to much fanfare, but at the end of 2022, Gary and Tom jointly announced they were to part ways.

Following this, the restaurant was rebranded at the Stock Market Grill, a first foray into the dining world from the brothers behind Manchester's award-winning Schofield's Bar - Joe and Daniel Schofield - together with wine expert James Brandwood. While the pair continue to run the hotel's cocktail bar Sterling in the basement, the restaurant venture was short lived - closing after just four months.

Opening in early June, 'Tender' is a nod to the "tender care put into crafting each dish" as well as to the history of the hotel as the city's former stock exchange. It will offer "gourmet food for everyday dining" within the opulent dining room of the Stock Exchange Hotel.

Gary too is keen that diners feel that they're getting value for money and that Tender be a restaurant people keep coming back to rather than as a 'one-off'. He told the MEN: "When I first went to speak to Niall about this opportunity I was quite sceptical because like everyone else I had seen two-Michelin-starred and you just know the levels you have to get to to reach that.

"However, it’s refined offer that Manchester seems to have rejected in large part over the last 20-30 years. Generally people want a great dining room, and I think the live music will be very important to that, but also great food where they feel that they've feel like it's value for money and decent portion sizes."

Keating, who honed his craft in the kitchens of the acclaimed Sat Bains in Nottingham and Benu in San Francisco, earned two Michelin stars for his menus at The Dining Room at Cotswolds' Whatley Manor Hotel. This level of skill will be on display at Tender, showcased across a weekday brasserie-style lunch, an a la carte dinner, afternoon tea, a chef's table experience and a special Sunday roast - it is the latter that makes him most excited though.

"When it comes to Sunday roast it just makes me think of home, I love family-style evenings and I think we sometimes miss out on it a lot these days with these intricate, individual dishes," he says.

"Where are the occasions where you have of 6-8 people sat around a table with a beautiful piece of meat carved in front of them or a whole stuffed chicken spit roasted and all the sides coming out together? That’s how I would have it back in Stoke-on-Trent with mum and dad.

"I just love the theatre and idea of everyone enjoying it together. We're also going to have cheese trolleys so we can bring some of that experience back into the restaurant."

The Sunday lunch menu will be priced at £38.50 for two courses and £48.50 for three, with starters including raw Orkney scallop and whipped goats cheese, before the main event, a 'Sunday Feast' featuring roast beef, spit roast chicken, braised beef and chicken leg served at the table will all the trimmings for a £6 supplement.

Meanwhile, the chef's lunch menu will encompass a £29.50 two-course option and £38.50 three-course option, boasting chimichurri tagliatelle, roast loin of cod, picanha steak, and pate en croute. Desserts feel homely and nostalgic, but ultimately refined, with the jam cinnaroll with crème anglaise sure to go down well.

"I might be biting off too much but I want to do everything, and we will, whether that’s a caviar serving, brunch, ladies that lunch, afternoon tea, all of it means so much to me.," confesses Niall. "I won’t let anything leave that pass unless it is perfect.

"When it comes to Sunday lunch I can’t think of a better experience a sharing experience with live music, a great bar, and amazing staff dressed up in the most incredible space in Manchester - that means more than anything to me."

And what about the design you might ask. Well long-gone are those TV screens many will remember from the early Bull & Bear days, but there's no major re-design on account of the building's Grade II-listed heritage.

Instead, there will a slight change to the colour scheme, furniture swaps and new artwork, but for Gary and Niall it was about hitting the ground running and getting the restaurant open again after a brief hiatus - that and there will be no blue moon cascading from the ceiling as was the case at Niall's last restaurant Lunar.

"We certainly won’t have a blue moon - it feels like everyone in this city has a blue moon at this moment in time," Gary quips. Niall's a Stoke fan so he's not going to have a blue moon.

"We only met 2-3 months ago, so there are changes but we will make more over the next few months but Niall was raring to go so we thought let's go for it. It’s a historic building so you can’t actually change that much, we will put in some different lighting aspects, furniture, but ultimately, It’s one of Manchester’s important buildings and it still tells its history.

"We’ve got one of the best dining rooms in the country, it doesn’t even feel like ours. "We’re just guardians of this historic part of Manchester, and it's the city's only Stock Exchange.

"The main thing is that Niall is going to be here, he is going to live in Manchester and be in the restaurant so people will come here and see him. The food is beautiful and everyone in Manchester will like it, it is important to connect to the people in the city."

Given Niall's culinary pedigree it would be fair to assume that they're eyeing the appraisal of the world's most prestigious food bible, but when pressed on it, both insist that it's not their first priority. Instead, it's the quality of the food and the atmosphere at the top of the list - the latter given a fresh boost of energy with nightly music sessions.

"Every night, Wednesday to Sunday you will be able to get live music in here, it's what we wanted from the beginning but it didn’t quite work out, because you’ve got to make sure that when you work with different chefs they have an influence," says Gary.

"Niall has been very accepting of the fact that we want that and because we need to keep those guests in our hotel. So, when they come down and hear the piano or a live musician, I think it’s a beautiful thing. Manchester likes the idea of live entertainment, and we want to make sure people have a special evening.

On whether they want to take the title of Manchester's best restaurant, they're coy too. "That won’t be determined by us but by the people who come in and dine here," Gary says. "I feel so social about Manchester so this idea that we have to be the best, well I just want there to be great restaurants everywhere."

Niall, echoes this sentiment, but as a man with plenty of culinary silverware to his name, he's surely still going for gold. "I do agree with Gary, but it will be the best offering of food," he grins.

Tender will officially open to the public on June 5, 2024. Opening hours will be Wednesday to Saturday, 12 noon to 10pm, and Sunday 12 noon to 7.30pm. Reservations and enquiries can now be made on the official website.