Brasa at Freight Island

Caroline Martins is at it again. Not content with creating Manchester’s most dramatic fine dining experience – the Alice In Wonderland-style SAMPA – she’s now on a mission to showcase a more rugged side of Brazilian cuisine. 

Need a clue? Her new project is another all-caps five-letter word: BRASA, which means ‘ember’ in Portuguese. You guessed it: fat steaks and flatbreads, grilled on a flaming hot barbecue that dominates the area, caveperson-style.  

For this, she’s using the mighty Freight Island as her base. Specifically, the kitchen and dining space formerly occupied by the similarly big and beefy, Basque-inspired Baratxuri. BRASA rightly takes centre stage for 2026, with smoky aromas spilling across the huge hall, luring people in, siren-style. 

Of course, it’s Caroline, so it’s not as simple as buying a block of beef and heating bits up. BRASA involves charcoal-steeped oil sprays, ex-dairy cows, and a series of boundary-pushing sides and starters. 

There are two menus. One, street food style, designed for mooching around Freight Island, enjoying the DJs and events. This includes barbecued flatbreads including pão-de-alho (Brazilian garlic bread), alongside cheese breads (pão de queijo), and crispy croquettes (salgadinhos).

But the chef’s table is where the mágica happens. Ten seats and an à la carte sharing menu, with a view of the grill and kitchen in action. 

Those in the know know Caroline is Manchester’s most exciting prospect, and BRASA is a chance to see her flex her heritage while you get a bit drunk and eat some of the city’s best-sourced, best-prepped, best-cooked steaks. 

Rally your mates and book a table, this is a dining event that won’t cost an arm and a leg. Although you can probably consume a leg’s worth of cow, if that’s your thing. BRASA runs Thursday to Sunday for the foreseeable.