A new Vietnamese restaurant promising super fast food service is opening in Trafford this summer.
Called HOP Vietnamese, it is already a huge hit in London and is famous for its super speedy service – promising to have you in, ordered and out with your food in three minutes.
Now, having conquered the capital, the team has its sites set on Manchester as owners gear up to open the first HOP Vietnamese site up north inside the Trafford Centre this summer.
Promising to bring big flavours to Manchester this summer, guests visiting the new Manchester branch in the Orient food court can expect fresh made-to-order, fully customised dishes inspired by Vietnamese street food vendors.
Choices on its London menus include traditional bahn mi baguettes stuffed with Asian pickles and meats like duck, chicken and pork, alongside a range of ‘HOP Boxes’ that combine various proteins with crunchy Vietnamese salad and rice.
You’ll also find bun noodle salads and aromatic pho noodle soups (it is the Vietnamese national dish, after all), plus coconut soups, mango rice pudding and a range of sides like prawn dumplings, VFC dippers, Vietnamese slaw, ‘naked’ broth, pork ribs and prawn crackers.
According to bosses at HOP, the restaurant’s forward-thinking digital approach and commitment to innovation creates a truly next-level guest experience as well as a super-fast ordering operation.
Speaking ahead of the new opening Paul Hopper, Founder of HOP Vietnamese, said: “Being a Northerner myself I have always dreamt of taking HOP up north one day – so when an opportunity came up in Manchester’s Trafford Centre it was hard to say no.
“I’ve believed for some time that HOP’s offering is perfectly suited to the needs of busy shoppers looking for a more exciting alternative to the regular fast-food offerings you typically find in shopping centre food courts. As one of the UK’s busiest shopping centres – Trafford Centre is the perfect place for us to demonstrate our appeal to this new audience.”
Simon Layton, Centre Director at Trafford Centre, added: “We’re delighted to welcome HOP to Trafford Centre, particularly as this is the brand’s first opening outside of London. HOP will make an excellent addition to our ever-evolving dining offer and we’re confident visitors are going to love it!”
The new opening follows the launch of HOP’s third restaurant in London (with Bond Street opening last month), and comes as the Vietnamese chain adds further options to their ever expanding menu.
This includes the addition of bubble teas, soft serve ice cream, iced Viet Coffees, homemade lemonades, both of which are available in a host of different flavours. The new offering also includes a children’s range and a selection of beers and cocktails.
Featured image – HOP Vietnamese
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 -
19th June 2023 
