The Hong Kong greasy spoon-style cafe in Prestwich selling milk tea and toast
If you're a fan of milk tea and thick, white sandwich bread slathered in condensed milk, peanut butter and lashings of golden syrup, Hea Toast & Dessert is the place for you
A Hong Kong-style cafe has opened up in Prestwich selling tea and toast with a distinctively eastern twist.
Opened by owner Jack Lau in June, here you’ll find butter-drenched toast, Hong Kong’s famously silky milk teas (inspired by our very own British cuppa) and Yeun Yeung – an iced drink that’s typically made from two-parts milk tea and one-part black coffee.
Made famous amongst Western foodies by Anthony Bourdain in Parts Unknown following a trip to China Cafe, a former fixture in the city since 1964, this Hong Kong-style French toast has now made its way to Bury of all places.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
All done on the cheapest white sandwich bread, over in Prestwich Hea’s signature Hong Kong Toast – also known as sai do si, or ‘western toast’ – is layered into a peanut butter sandwich, then dipped in egg and fried before being topped with a thick slab of butter and lashings of golden syrup. We’ll be honest, it’s the sexiest eggy bread we’ve ever had.
That’s not all that’s on offer here, though. There’s also a host of savoury toast options – a little kimchi and cheese number for the veggies, a tonkatsu pork and cabbage toast, and ‘The Classic’ made with scrambled egg, honey roast ham, sweetcorn, cabbage and a secret house sauce.
This cafe, the first of its kind to open in the area, is loosely modelled on the classic Hong Kong cha chaan teng – or “tea restaurant” – a phenomenon that’s been popular in the region ever since the British colonisation.
Just like our greasy spoons here, these cha chaan teng are no-nonsense cafes and tend to specialise in relatively low-brow, East-West hybrid fare – combining the culinary traditions of two different worlds.
Drinks are central to the whole concept, and at Hea we find multi-colored ice cream soda floats sitting side by side with the aromatic Hong Kong-style milk tea, which is typically brewed strong and served with evaporated milk.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
It’s a refreshing shift away from your standard greasy spoon or butty shop and is staffed by the most lovely people. The service we receive on our visit is so warm and friendly, with owner Jack and his employee Jack Chan smiling non-stop, that we instantly feel at home.
They even offer us some complimentary Shuimai, a sort of traditional Chinese dumpling, to enjoy alongside the raft of food we greedily order.
In the corner, a little ukulele sits in a box next to a sign that reads ‘play me’ and a tiny dog bowl of water. This really is just the most wholesome spot – good for the soul and full of comfort.
You’ll also find matcha ice cream, bubble waffles and a host of different milkshakes on the menu here, with the option to build you own however you like it – but it’s the tea and toast we’ve really come for, and it’s what we recommend you go for too. Trust us, you won’t regret it.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
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 -
26th July 2022 
