The group has applied for a licence for a unit on Deansgate in premises formerly occupied by the Blacks outdoor supplies shop, according to Manchester Evening News.
The application is not approved yet, with the consultation period for the licence going on until mid-May, according to the paper.
The Manchester site would mark the second planned restaurant outside of London for the affordable steakhouse group, which was launched by Charlie Carroll in Soho’s Beak Street in November 2012. The group is also opening a restaurant in Cambridge this year with a site on Market Street that was formerly home to a NatWest bank.
The group currently operates 12 London restaurants in Kensington, Covent Garden, Soho, Kings Cross, Borough, London Bridge, Marylebone, Waterloo, Shoreditch, Westfield, Spitalfields, and Tottenham Court Road.
Its most recent opening was a 90-seat restaurant on Young Street in Kensington, just off Kensington High Street, which launched last month.
Flat Iron serves a flat iron steak for just £13 and has regularly been named as Best Value Restaurant Group in Restaurant Magazine’s R200 Awards