Sugo Pasta Kitchen

Nestled in the foodie market town of Altrincham, Sugo is the region’s first southern Italian pasta kitchen. The restaurant is compact and cosy, with rustic wooden sharing tables and an open kitchen filling the space with appetising aromas, while the succinct menu focuses predominantly on pasta slow-dried in Bari. Our starters were simple and well-executed, from crisp arancini filled with oozing Campania mozzarella and pesto to creamy Puglian burrata with fragrant peach, chilli marmalade and grilled radicchio. Pasta dishes were superb (especially the signature orecchiette with meltingly tender slow-cooked beef shin, pork shoulder and spicy ‘nduja ragù), and we also relished a delicate vanilla pannacotta with poached plums and homemade almond biscotti. There’s a short but considered list of regional Italian wines too. Though everything (except the portion sizes) is compact, Sugo’s cooking packs a punch that ensures a regular stream of locals as well as first-timers. News that the owners are opening a second site in Manchester in 2018 is most welcome.