There’s an all-vegan pizza festival coming to Manchester later this year, bringing with it some of the best vegan cheese and meat alternatives going.
Taking place next month on Sunday 29 May, it will see the fully vegan pizza festival return to Manchester once again – bringing with it a range of different pizza styles spanning across the world from Detroit to New York, Naples and Rome.
Always ahead of the curb, the event is being put on by GRUB – the pop-up street food fair turned venue located over in Manchester’s Green Quarter.
Image: Four Side Vegan Pizza
Here, vegans will be able to get their hands on a whole host of plant-powered meat and cheese substitutes – ranging from vegan n’duja and pepperoni, to ham to mozzarella.
A number of popular Manchester pizzerias will be taking part, including newly-opened Chorlton pizzeria Lucky Mama’s, Four Side Vegan Pizza, and NYC-style slice slingers Bakehouse 32.
They’ll be joined on the day by Clitheroe pis-slingers Marley’s Pizza and local Italian dessert champions, Paradiso Authentic Italian, who’ll be serving up vegan-friendly portions of tiramisu and other traditional favourites.
Lucky Mama’s will also have a selection of vegan pasta for sale on the day.
Elsewhere, there’ll be a fully vegan bar serving up guilt-free beers, wines, cocktails, soft drinks, and spirits, so no matter what takes your fancy there’ll likely be something to sample.
Tthere’ll also be live music and entertainment with DJs and other artists performing both inside and out throughout the afternoon.
Image: Bakehouse 32
What food will be available from traders on the day?
– Bakehouse 32 will be serving New York style slices – Four Side Vegan Pizza will be serving Detroit style pizza – Lucky Mama’s will be serving traditional Roman pizza plus freshly made pasta – Marley’s Pizza will be serving authentic Neapolitan style wood-fired pizza – Paradiso Authentic Italian will be serving vegan tiramisú and other desserts
How do I get tickets?
Taking place on Sunday 29 May from 12 to 6pm, the vegan pizza festival is not ticketed but large groups are advised to book a table in advance to avoid disappointment. To find out more, click here.
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 -
22nd April 2022 
