Cibo – an Italian restaurant in Didsbury

After nearly 3 weeks on honeymoon in Italy, we were whole-heartedly in love with Italian food and Prosecco. Coming back to a gloomy Manchester made us miss this incredibly!

So when am email came through saying a new Italian restaurant had opened in Didsbury, Manchester, we knew we had to go along and relive our honeymoon bliss. Promising authentic tastes of Venetian cuisine at affordable prices, we couldn’t wait for our Saturday lunch. And as luck would have it, we woke up to the sun shining and the nicest weather we’d had in the UK all year…this was going to be a good day!

When we arrived at Cibo (pronounced chee-bo) we were greeted with smiling faces and friendly staff. When we jokingly asked our Mancunian waiter if he’d speak Italian to make our experience even more authentic, he laughed along with us and called his Manager over (a native Italian) who indulged us by greeting us in Italian and asking us about our honeymoon. It was a really nice and friendly touch, the staff took the time and were bothered to actually chat to us. With a bottle of Prosecco on ice, we already knew this lunch was gonna be good! Then when they brought out some fresh strawberries on ice to enjoy with our Prosecco, we knew we’d be regulars!

Cibo boast that they make their pasta dough from scratch and use only the freshest ingredients, this is certainly evident from the menu and immediately sets them apart from the average italian chain restaurant on the high-street. We chose from their ‘Cicchetti’ menu, which is basically an italian tapas menu; lots of little dishes designed to share. This suited us down to the ground as we wanted a little bit of everything! We took their advice and went for the following platter to start (we received one of each of the below on a board and it cost just £10):

ST U F F E D ART I C H O K E WRAP P E D IN LAR D O
AUBERGINE BALL
ARANCINI SICCILIANI
SCAMORZA WRAPPED IN SPECK
BACCALA MONTECATO
CROSTINI RICOTTA BROAD BEAN AND MINT

Delicious and incredibly fresh and full of flavour! Then onto the mains, again tapas in style. We were advised to choose 5 or 6 dishes and we were hungry so we went for it (and another bottle of Prosecco incidentally). Here’s what we gobbled-up:

LAMB AND P ISTACC IO
F I L LE T ST EA K, R O C K E T, PARM E SA N & AG E D BA LSAM I C
MIXED CLAMS AND MUSSELS WITH GARLIC
RAV I O L I N E R I F I L LE D W I TH C RA B
MOZZARELLA & WILD MUSHROOM PIZZETTE
ZUCCINI FRITTI

We enjoyed every last mouthful! We finished off with a Lemon and Lime Eton Mess which we shared as in honesty, we weren’t the slightest bit hungry anymore, it just sounded too good to pass up.

If you are looking for an italian meal, different from the norm and incredibly authentic, then definitely head to Cibo as you won’t be disappointed. We sat on their sun-soaked terrace as we lucked-out with the weather, but the interior is incredibly appealing too and they also have a terrace on the 1st floor – plenty of options, come rain nor shine! Buonissimo!