Mana, the first restaurant in Manchester to get a Michelin star in 40 years, has had its highly coveted sign stolen from outside its Ancoats home.
The eatery, which is currently the only Greater Manchester restaurant to boast a Michelin star, has had its sign swiped from right under its nose.
When it was first awarded its start in 2019, the fine dining restaurant proudly placed the eye-catching red plaque outside its home on Blossom St – but now it seems that the proof has simply disappeared as its chef-owner Simon Martin revealed that the sought-after sign had been nicked.
Image: Mana
Image: Mana
Having been taken from the wall outside its own front door, Martin revealed that the plaque has been missing for several weeks.
This, in turn, had led to some speculation that the restaurant may have lost its one Michelin star rating.
In response, Martin took to Twitter to clear a few things up and reassure fans that the restaurant is still very much included in the Michelin Guide.
The chef tweeted on Saturday: “Dear the people of Ancoats and Greater Manchester, Thank you for your messages of concern regarding mana being included in the @MichelinGuideUK.
“Unfortunately, our plaque was stolen, we have requested a new one which we will re-fix in a sturdier manner.”
He then added an emoji showing a face rolling its eyes and looking frustrated, before signing off the tweet: “Peace!”
In a further comment later given to the Manchester Evening News, the restaurant has confirmed that the sign had been stolen “a few weeks ago” from outside the front door, adding: “A sparkling new one is on its way to us and we’ll make sure it’s more sturdily fixed on.”
Mana offers one of Manchester’s priciest fine dining menus, with its evening set menu currently priced at £195 per head. It also serves a “reduced menu” with fewer courses for £95 per diner.
Feature image – The Manc Group
Food & Drink
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 -
14th November 2022 
