A famous chef has caused a stir online for deciding to ban vegans from his restaurant after a customer complained about their meat-free meal.
UK-born chef John Mountain – who has appeared on TV cooking shows like Great British Menu and Chef Race UK v US – has decided to take on the entire vegan community after receiving a relatively mild-mannered complaint.
Taking to Facebook, the celebrity chef said that he had made the decision ‘for mental health reasons’, writing: “Sadly all vegans are now banned from Fyre for mental health reasons. We thank you for your understanding.”
He explained: “A young girl reached out to me and said she was coming to the restaurant and asked if there were vegan options.
“It was my only shortfall. I said I would accommodate her, I said we had gnocchi, vegetables… and that was that.”
However, after offering to accommodate her it transpires he swiftly forgot about the customer’s needs – blaming his forgetfulness on being distracted by catering for a private party.
He explained how this, in turn, led to his sous chef fuming at him for “not telling them about the vegan customer.”
Ultimately, because of this, the vegan customer was given just one option – a “vegetable dish” costing $32 which she later described in an online review as “okay but not that filling.”
Her feedback continued: “I think it’s incredibly important nowadays that restaurants can accommodate everyone and to not be able to have actual plant-based meals shows your shortcomings as a chef.
“I hope to see some improvements in your menu as I have lived in Connolly for quite some time and have seen many restaurants come and go from that building and none of them last.
“If you don’t get with the times, I don’t hold out faith that your restaurant will be the one that does.”
In response, Mr Mountain went in all guns blazing – having taken some offense at her polite feedback.
‘As for vegans/vegetarians being a very low minority, especially in the northern burbs’ I try to accommodate everyone else,’ he posted on the restaurant’s page.
‘Thanks for your negative review… please feel free to share your s**tty experience and I look forward to not seeing you again.
‘You and all your vegan mates can all go and enjoy your dishes in another venue. You are now banned.’
He then reiterated the ban with a further post on Google Review, which read: “But if you beautiful vegans want to join together and slag off my business then good luck, keep going, let’s see what my customers think.
“And from now on ALL Vegans are now banned from my restaurant. Thankyou for your disgusting review and please enjoy the Currambine. Xx”
Johnnie Mountain runs the Fyre restaurant in Perth, Connolly.
Featured image – Johnnie Mountain/ Fyre Restaurant
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 -
20th June 2023 
