“I don’t feel like we are similar to Italian restaurants. We are something new”
Brothers Adam, Farid and Amro have opened Damò in Altrincham(Image: Damò)
Three Italian brothers are making a bold impression in Greater Manchester with a new Italian breakfast and brunch restaurant that they say is unlike anywhere else in the city-region right now.
Opened at the end of July, Damò on Ashley Road in Altrincham is already making waves with its breakfast and brunch dishes featuring freshly-made pasta and Romanian-style square pinsa pizzas.
Brothers Amro, Farid and Adam Faisal, who were raised in Macerata in Italy’s Marche region, near to the Ancona coast, before settling in Reddish, say it has been their dream to open a restaurant. The name behind the restaurant signifies they have reached that milestone in their lives.
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“It’s hard to explain the name as it’s one of those Italian words that you can’t really translate well into English,” middle brother Amro, 25, explains to the M.E.N. “It basically means something that took place a long time ago.
“We wanted to open this restaurant a long time ago and we can finally say ‘Damò, we’ve opened the shop’. There’s quite a sentimental meaning to it for us.”
Damò says they use the freshest ingredients and in-season produce(Image: Damò)
For oldest brother and head chef Farid, 28, getting to the point of opening his own restaurant has been something he’s worked towards all his life.
“I have always had a passion for food,” he explains. “I love to travel around, I like to taste and explore different cuisines and concepts.
“I was born in Rome originally but the family then moved to Marche, where I did hospitality school for five years and got a diploma to work as a chef. I got experience in Italy working in seafood and vegetarian restaurants before I moved to London.
Fresh pasta (Image: Damò)
“I spent three years in London, my last job there was working at Gordon Ramsay’s Heddon Street Kitchen Restaurant in Soho. It was a great experience. I then moved back to Italy before we decided to move to Manchester as a family.”
With front of house duo Adam, 19, and Amro’s own experience in restaurants, the idea of a family venture was just waiting to happen. “I studied biology and chemistry and, at the same time, I was working part time in a restaurant,” Amro explains.
“When I got my degree, I continued to work in hospitality. I like to be around people, I like to be social. When I came here, I worked in some restaurants in Manchester city centre until we decided to open up Damò.”
The brothers say they want the concept restaurant to share the story behind each dish(Image: Damò)
The brothers insist Damò is not an Italian restaurant of the kind we’ve seen around the city-region before. Each dish, sourced from local Italian ingredients where possible, has a story to tell and the brothers want each customer to be part of that journey from the moment they step in.
Damò currently focuses on a breakfast and brunch menu only. There are plans, naturally, to venture into staying open in the evenings but that’s an idea for a later day.
“I don’t want to say there is no one else doing anything like this here, but it’s a different concept,” Amro says. “I don’t feel like we are similar to Italian restaurants. We are something new.
The breakfast Salmone croissant is an early hit with diners(Image: Damò)
“Without discriminating against anyone, we feel it is very hard to find a real Italian experience here in Manchester. We wanted to prove that it can be done. We don’t want people to just come in and eat, we want them to have a lived experience where we can tell them the story behind every exact dish. Everything has a concept here.”
Head Chef Farid adds: “We have an Italian supplier based in Manchester and London. It’s very hard to find eggs from Italy, but what I can do is get the flour, the cheese and the oil from Italy.
“All ingredients and dishes are what you would have in Ancona and Marche. The menu changes seasonally, we use the freshest ingredients and in-season produce. You can really taste the difference.”
Truffle and mushroom ravioli(Image: Damò)
Farid says it is hard to choose a favourite from the menu. But the Pomodoro featuring freshly-made Tagliolini, alongside a Marzano sauce, Burratina cheese and basil oil (£14.50) is one of them.
The Pappardelle, featuring a lamb stew slow cooked for four hours (£19) and the Marinara Pinsa – a square-shaped pizza – with San Marzano tomato sauce, garlic oil, Stracciatella, basil, tomato confit and olives (£10.50) are other popular choices. There’s even the Tiramisu French Toast (!!) for people wanting a sweet start to the day.
Amro’s own personal favourite is the duck gnocchi (£18) which incorporates a duck ragu, San Marzano tomato sauce and Parmesan in a traditional Marche recipe from home.
Head chef Farid, who has worked in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in London, says he is passionate about introducing people to new foods and flavours(Image: Damò)
Farid says the breakfast Salmone croissant with smoked salmon, lemon ricotta avocado and cucumber (£14.50) is currently their top seller. “The idea behind that was to create something that brought our Italian culture together with what is popular here,” Farid says.
“In Italy, you would normally have a croissant with a Cappuccino. We saw that people like to have salmon and avocado on toast so we combined the two things and people are really enjoying it.”
In fact, the brothers say people have really been receptive to the restaurant, which features an interior designed and built by their dad Franco, since opening.
The team at Damò(Image: Damò)
“We’ve already had people come in a few days in a row,” Amro says. “It’s a good feeling to have people return and say how good the food is. They will come for coffee, try the breakfast and then come for the brunch.
“People think it’s a really interesting concept. There are things on the menu they have not seen or heard of before and everyone is just in love with the pasta.
“We never wanted to do a classic Italian restaurant, we wanted something different. We are fresh, we are young and the chef has a lot of skill. We are confident it is going to be a success.”
Damò – Ashley Road, Altrincham, WA14 2DW – is open 8am to 4pm every day except Monday. Bookings can be made online.