San Carlo Fumo

Daisy Miles

Visit now

San Carlo Fumo

1 St Peter's Square, Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 5AN
0161 236 7344
  • Monday12:00pm - 10:00pm
  • Tuesday12:00pm - 10:00pm
  • Wednesday12:00pm - 10:00pm
  • Thursday12:00pm - 10:00pm
  • Friday12:00pm - 11:00pm
  • Saturday12:00pm - 11:00pm
  • Sunday12:00pm - 10:00pm

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Book now

Fumo, or in English, smoke, is the crux of San Carlo’s most recent development. Their menu remains passionately traditional, but this time with an emphasis on their Robata charcoal grill. Fumo’s new lunch menu demanded a trip out to investigate. 

On the corner of St. Peter’s Square is their little sun trap. Branded umbrellas popped up, tables out, ready for an aperitivo. The most traditional thing about the restaurant is probably the service. Heavy accents and heavy hospitality greet you (and everyone is, of course, exquisitely groomed).

We start with the wine menu. It’s a great size – large enough for varied tastes, but small enough to show discernment and curation. And they’re really quite good. It’s a hot day, so we do whites and roses, and they come super dry, fresh, and go down very easily. The Falanghina Lila, in particular, is a must-try.

The lunch menu works as such: you pick either two courses for £21.95, or three for £25.95. We do two, and we thank ourselves for it. The portion sizes are the second most Italian thing about Fumo.

The first plates hitting the table are the Calamari Fritti and the Arancini Tartufo. It’s always a relief when you bite into an arancini to find rice, instead of an ambiguous porridge-like thing. In fact, it’s maybe the best thing on offer. You can smell it before it even gets to your mouth – whole, visible chunks of truffle and a smooth Grana Padano base.

The calamari is textbook. No rubbery squid here. Squeeze your lemon over the top and fight over the aioli. Although I must reiterate, there is definitely enough for a small village. This, I would argue, is the appropriate amount of aioli. 

For mains, we have the Pollo Milanese and the Ravioli Spinaci e Ricotta. The Pollo is a super tenderised, hammered-out chicken breast. It’s a little bit kiev, it’s a little bit schnitzel, but enhanced with Italian flavours like their Datterino tomatoes. I’m very judgmental about my tomatoes, and these slow-roasted, on-the-vines are really great. Fruity, acidic, and bright.

The Ravioli is stunning. Huge parcels lying flat under proper good lashings of sauce. The waiter asks if we want cheese on top. You already know the answer.

I think it’s difficult to balance cheese or cream-heavy dishes. It’s so rich, so powerful, it often overwhelms other parts of the dish. But this tomato sauce? Something to write home about. I don’t know where they get their tomatoes from, but I feel like I’m missing out. This is exactly how it is supposed to taste.

I’m eavesdropping on a waiter saying ‘we’re all Calabrian here, not Italian’, which is so authentic I didn’t even know that those politics existed. 

Fumo isn’t reinventing the wheel here. They’re doing what the Italians do best, and fiercely protecting tradition. The food is great, the portions are even better, and the service is unmatched. Remember to bring your appetite.

What's on near San Carlo Fumo

jonathan schofield giving tour
Until
Manchester
The Kimpton Clocktower Tour

Explore the incredible history behind one of Britain’s grandest and most storied commercial buildings: Manchester’s Grade II listed Kimpton Clocktower Hotel.

From £20
Commons at SODA
Until
ExhibitionsManchester
Commons at SODA

Commons is a programme of openly accessible, interactive events led by digital artists, showcasing the nuances of our interactions with tech.

Free entry
Poster for the exhibition Four-fold Reverie, a solo project by Pippa Eason at PINK. The poster features a blurred, soft-focus background in blueish tones with plant-like shadows, overlaid with a central image of a small clay object surrounded by yellow moss and scattered debris. Text reads:
Until
ExhibitionsStockport
Four-Fold Reverie at PINK

Four-Fold Reverie at PINK in Stockport is a solo exhibition by artist Pippa Eason, and encompasses sculpture, sound, scent and film.

Free entry

Where to go near San Carlo Fumo

Utility Gift Shop
Manchester
Shop
Utility Gift Shop

Utility Gift Shop on Oxford Road is all about products that are new, unique, quirky and cool. High street shopping at its best.

The Manchester Museum on Oxford Road Manchester
Manchester
Gallery
The Study
at Manchester Museum

Manchester Museum opened The Study on 11 September 2015. A reworking of the entire top floor of its historic Grade II*-listed building, The Study has been reimagined as a space designed to spark wonder, curiosity and a passion for research in all of its visitors.

Manchester Museum Tours at Manchester Museum
Manchester
Museum
Manchester Museum

The Manchester Museum isn’t one of the UK’s leading university museums for nothing – it has six million objects in its stores, including a full size T-Rex skeleton, and that’s just for starters.

exterior of Contact Theatre building
Manchester
Theatre
Contact Theatre

Following a major redevelopment, the iconic venue on Oxford Road will be reopening its doors to welcome the public back into the building this autumn. 

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North.
Theatre in the North

From outdoor shows to drama in the dark, our theatre guide celebrates genre-pushing work, new writing and contemporary performance.

Author portrait
Literature Events in the North

Our latest round-up features plenty of one-off live literature events to wrap your ears about, so get those diaries ticking over...

Two women stand next to an orange car.
Cinema in the North

August brings a huge LGBTQ+ film festival, plus a reggae classic and a spotlight on Japanese animation.

Blondshell by Hannah Bon.
Music in the North

From Lyra Pramuk’s sacred synths to the sugar rush of YAANG, our latest music picks bring ritual, rebellion and ridiculous levels of fun.