Viral pop up pasta restaurant gears up to open its own city centre site

A pop up pasta restaurant that shot to fame after going viral last year has announced it is opening its own site in Manchester City Centre.

Onda Pasta Bar soared to stardom in September after a video of its ‘tiramisu drawer’ went viral. The clip, seen by more than 30 million people and shared by thousands - including Hollywood actor Florence Pugh - featured a look at the restaurant’s dessert drawer that contains a huge slab of tiramisu ready for chefs to scoop up to order during service.

After the clip exploded tables at the restaurant, which is a collaboration between the team behind Gooey and Michelin-trained chef Sam Astley Dean, started to book out six months in advance with fans flocking to try its fresh Italian dishes, including a range of desserts and hand-made pasta which is rolled out in front of customers.

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It was a complete turn around for the business that went from initially struggling to make ends meet to regularly having queues out the door. In a candid video shared on Instagram, Sam, who has worked at the likes of Claridge's and Chez Bruce before, previously said the viral clip ‘saved our business from going bankrupt’.

In a bid to keep up with the new surge in demand the restaurant has now made the decision to close its pop up at The New Cross bar, between the Northern Quarter and Ancoats, and move into its own site in Circle Square on Oxford Road.

Onda will be taking over a space previously occupied by the New Zealand restaurant and bakery Tahi which shut its doors last year pointing to ‘a difficult time for