TRIBE Manchester Airport
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Manchester’s largest 4-star hotel has swung open its doors, bringing a new standard of accommodation and hospitality to the Manchester Airport complex.
A special shudder should be reserved for any traveller braving the queues of one of the UK’s worst ranked airports, but that’s precisely why places like TRIBE should be celebrated. Just a stone’s throw from Terminal 2, this stylish new build makes departing from or arriving into Manchester a hell of a lot more pleasant, offering thoughtful design, charming Italian food and drink experiences, and a restful night’s sleep to travellers in need of a convenient bolthole.
Heading into the lobby, you’re struck by the vastness of the place, which boasts no less than 412 guest rooms. The centre of the towering building is carved out for the social hub on the ground floor, meaning the glass ceiling of the bar and working space stretches into the ether. It’s impressive, but more impressive are the clever interiors that partition the space; walls of curtains and low hanging lights create cosy areas where friends are clinking pre-holiday cocktails and business travellers are tapping away.
After a quick check-in, we head to our room on the sixth floor. True to the hotel’s ethos of ‘giving guests everything they need and nothing they don’t’, it scores high on the comfort factor and low on fussy thrills, with tasteful – if fairly basic – decor, a lot of natural light, and the cleanliness you’d expect from a hotel fresh out of the box. Despite the main road outside, you can’t hear a thing of the traffic, with blackout curtains and a comfy bed granting weary travellers a restorative night’s sleep.
We head down to the sleek-looking bar, which features a thoughtfully-curated selection of cocktails and Italian wines served by a team of friendly bar staff. We go for a bottle of the Stocco Merlot, which is luxuriously smooth and heavy on dark fruits and toasted oak. It’s the perfect pre-curser to the main event: a meal at TRIBE Table, an all-day Italian dining concept helmed by Venice’s own Daniele Pampagnin.
Tucked just around the corner from the bar, this 220-seat restaurant feels a world away from the carnage of the airport, the relaxed waiting staff, ambient lighting and tasteful playlist making for an atmosphere that matches that most comforting cuisine: Italian. Enter the appetizers: aubergine parmigiana, as rich and decadent as it gets, best mopped up with rosemary focaccia. For something lighter, try the buffalo mozzarella with tomato basil salad. Bursting with bright, fresh flavours, it really makes the most out of its minimal, high quality ingredients.
We’d heard good things about the hand-stretched, wood-fired pizza, and the four cheese doesn’t disappoint. The dough’s crunchy on the outside with a pillowy soft centre, and the cheeses pack a real punch, the smoked variety being the star of the show. Compared to the pizza, the flavour of the pasta alla Genovese is subtle, perhaps too subtle. Then again, maybe not every dish needs to smack you around the chops.
While we’re eating, we can see the chefs busily working away in the open kitchen, metres from our table. This really adds to the atmosphere, flooding the restaurant with yet more ambient lighting, a touch of drama, and – best bit – the most tantalising aromas.
From the concise desert menu, we select the classics. A whole dish of tiramisu is brought to the table and portioned in front of us, with our friendly waitress asking that most beautiful question: would you like a bit more? The mixed berry panna cotta, meanwhile, arrives in a cute little tea cup. Rogue mint leaf aside, this velvety smooth, tart desert is a refreshing way to close out a meal, but if it’s full-blown comfort food you’re after, the espresso-spiked tiramisu more than hits the mark here.
After 40 winks we’re in the same seats for breakfast, which is another win. You’ll find every base thoroughly covered – hot buffet, continental, and a bonus made-to-order omelette station. Tucked around the corner, there’s even a 24-hour Grab & Go counter with barista coffee, handmade treats and snacks for those arriving or departing at an ungodly hour. It’s a simple idea, but a great one.
And that seems to be the order of the day at TRIBE, which is all about simplicity done very well indeed. If you’re looking for a launchpad for any journey that starts or ends at Manchester Airport (god love it), you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one than this.
