Over on Oxford Road, Manchester curry house Zouk is creating a very special curry that takes an entire day to prepare.
A traditional dish, taken straight from the Indian subcontinent, Zouk’s lamb nihari is somewhat of a rarity.
It is not often seen on restaurant menus in the UK, due to the fact it takes so long to put together – and, according to brothers Tayub and Mudassar Amjad, their restaurant is the only place in Manchester you can get your hands on the highly sought-after dish.
Image: The Manc Eats
A special slow-cooked curry that originates from Lahore in Pakistan, its base alone takes six hours to put together using lamb bones – all before chefs start piling in chunks of premium lamb fillet, which are slow-cooked until soft, tender and simply falling apart in a thick and spicy sauce.
Always served with a spice tray of six ‘fixings’, alongside your curry you’ll typically find sliced fresh green chillies, fresh ginger, Zouk’s garam masala, fried onions, lemon wedges and fresh coriander – although, as it’s customary to personalise your fixings, you’re welcome to request alternatives.
Image: The Manc Eats
This dish has a special place in Zouk’s founders’ hearts, being one of the first curries to have been put onto the restaurant’s menu when they opened their first site in Bradford.
Sixteen years later, it’s still there, and the stock is prepared pretty much daily – a testament to both its quality and popularity amongst diners.
First founded in Bradford in 2006, Zouk has made its name combining street food found in the markets of Lahore with more traditional dishes from the Indian subcontinent.
Found where the edge of the city centre meets Manchester’s University district, this long standing curry house might still be a bit of a mooch from Rusholme’s legendary curry mile – but it’s very much up there with Manchester’s best.
Image: The Manc Eats
The lamb nihari is a classic example of the more traditional elements of the restaurant’s menu, whilst elsewhere you’ll find a grill and roast section and a sizeable ‘small plates’ menu that takes things in a more contemporary direction.
Here, you can enjoy that same slow-cooked lamb nihari, pulled and stuffed into a freshly cooked naan bread with fresh lime and yoghurt, alongside the likes of Lahore wagyu sliders, butter chicken bao, prawn and pomegranate tacos and crispy okra chips.
The restaurant is also a popular choice for shisha, and has a gorgeous covered and heated outdoor terrace where you can drink, smoke and dine to your heart’s content.
To find out more and book a table, visit Zouk’s website here.
Eats
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Georgina Pellant -
31st March 2022 
