Manchester’s Northern Thai BBQ-inspired restaurant Neon Tiger is closing its doors after less than a year in the city, owners revealed last night.
Sharing the news in a heartfelt statement on social media, the team wrote: “We’re sad to announce that Neon Tiger will be closing our doors for the final time on Sunday April 30th.
“We’d like to thank everyone who has come to see us, raised a glass with us and made this place so special to us.
“We’d like to thank all of the staff for being so wonderful and for all their hard work. We’ll see you for a send-off drink or two this week…. remember when it’s gone, it’s GONE!
“Then, we might just see you again, only in a different form. Keep your eyes peeled, but for now, thank you again. x”
First opened by brothers Ben and Dan Morris on Bridge Street last summer, the short-lived venture briefly wowed diners with an adventurous New York-meets-Northern Thai menu focused on strong cocktails and chargrilled ‘baan yang’ sharing dishes.
Roughly translated to ‘grill house’ in Thai, these rural-style grill dishes saw Neon Tiger pay homage to traditional charcoal cooking methods with a host of grilled skewer dishes and a hero dish of coconut chicken curry noodle bowl – made using hand-pulled noodles created by the Manchester-based Komuji team.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Drinks, meanwhile, reflected the brother’s desire to bring a Dead Rabbit-style neighbourhood bar to the city centre and included a cracking negroni, alongside other strong cocktails, mocktails and a seasonally-changing wine list.
Inspired by the sort of cool New York neighbourhood joints where you can just pop in and enjoy quality plates with good wine and cocktails, Neon Tiger got off to a slow start when it opened on Bridge Street at the start of the summer – then wowed with the introduction of a new Northern Thai-inspired breakfast and brunch menu later in the year.
Now, it seems it has reached the end of the road less than a year after opening its doors in Manchester – and by the comments flooding in on the announcement, it will be very missed.
Featured 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 -
27th April 2023 
