About

A converted printworks, a short menu, two chefs on the pass.

I.

Theo Ashworth, head chef and owner.

Theo trained through kitchens that taught him to do less, better. Three years at Lyle's under James Lowe, two at Mountain in Soho, a long summer at Rovi with Yotam Ottolenghi's fire team. He came back to Manchester in 2021 to open something closer to home.

Chapter House opened in October 2022, in a small converted printworks off Jersey Street. Twenty-eight covers, a charcoal grill, one wood oven, and a pass you can see from every seat. The menu is short on purpose. The cooking is British in the widest sense, built from produce grown or caught on this island, and the techniques that make the most of it.

Theo still runs the pass every service. The day he stops is the day we hire someone with the same standards. Not before.

Interior view of the open kitchen and pass at Chapter House
The pass, Tuesday evening
II.

The people we buy from, named.

Every ingredient on the menu has a story, and the producers behind it. We name them because they are the reason the cooking works.

III.

Twenty-eight seats, low light, no piped music.

Reclaimed timber tables, a pressed concrete floor, ceramics made by a small studio in Stockport. The room does not announce itself. Neither does the cooking.

Dining room at Chapter House with warm lamp light and reclaimed wood tables
Main room, Tuesday evening service
Close up of plated ceramic and linen napkin on a wooden table
Ceramics by a studio in Stockport
IV.

What others have said.