Gino D’Acampo’s Luciano restaurant in Alderley Edge has announced its closure, just one year after it took over the former Piccolino site.
The celebrity chef launched the Luciano brand last January, named after his eldest son.
He said at the time that he had ‘kicked out’ Piccolino and spent ‘thousands and thousands of pounds’ into the restaurant and its kitchen.
But just over 12 months after it welcomed its first guests, Luciano announced its closure, serving its final supper on Valentine’s Day.
Italian restaurant giant San Carlo has now acquired the site on London Road, ready to add to its huge portfolio around Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
Gino D’Acampo at his Luciano restaurant in Alderley Edge. Credit: Luciano
In a post on Instagram last night, Luciano Alderley Edge said: “To all our wonderful guests. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to host you all but our time in Alderley has come to an end.
“Thank you to everyone whose celebrated, dined and drank at Luciano, we hope to see you all at our new Manchester site later this year. For updates, follow @ginomyrestaurant.
“But for now…grazie e ciao!”
His upcoming opening in Manchester city centre is believed to be in the former, currently-vacant Restaurant Bar & Grill on John Dalton Street.
In an email sent to restaurant subscribers and shared by the Manchester Evening News, Luciano added: “We’re on the move. As part of our plans to open upmarket restaurants in London, major UK, and international cities, including our imminent openings in Manchester and Leeds, we are to say a fond farewell to Alderley Edge.
“It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to host you, our valued guests, and we’d like to thank you for celebrating so many special occasions with us at Luciano. For now its over to the new owners, San Carlo, for whom we could not think of a better home for this fabulous location.
“We look forward to revealing more as to our plans for Manchester soon, and of course, to inviting you to join us at the launch.”
A joint statement released last week said: “Leading upmarket restaurant operator San Carlo has acquired iconic Alderley Edge restaurant Luciano.
“The deal is part of the (Luciano) business’s strategy to focus on opening upmarket restaurants in national and international major cities.”
Featured image: Luciano
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.
Daisy Jackson -
17th February 2023 
