Stockport restaurants and residents have joined forces to help feed some the community’s most vulnerable people for free next week.
After expressing dismay at the current political climate – said to be with respects to the “unacceptable” £30 free school meal hampers provided to some children learning from home this week that have gone viral on social media – and believing that “no person should go hungry”, Ate Days A Week – a “new and inventive musical-themed” sandwich and pie restaurant, with a branch in Stockport and a pop-up unit at street food venue Hatch in Manchester city centre – has teamed up with independent cocktail business Cherry Jam Stockport and the Vara family to “offer free meals to anyone who needs it”.
Next Wednesday 20th January from 12pm, the collective has vowed to “dish out free meal bundles” for 150 people from across the community on a first come first served basis – and it’s not just next Wednesday either.
150 meals will be distributed for free every Wednesday “throughout the duration of lockdown”.
Spreading word of their intent to feed, Ate Days A Week took to social media with a post that read: “Just think of all those hungry mouths we have to feed, take a look at all the suffering we breed, so many lonely faces scattered all around, searching for what they need,”
Ate Days A WeekAte Days A Week
It continued: “We want to do something – we can’t count on the elected powers that be to look after us, so we’ll look after anyone we can.”
“No questions asked – any age, any colour, any creed, any walk of life is welcome.”
According to the social media post, those claiming one of the 150 free food bundles from next week can expect to took into a freshly-prepared hot meal, which will consist of either a Hotpot from Cherry Jam, or Vegetable Curry & Rice from The Vara’s.
And along that, they will get some fresh fruit and a roast chicken sandwich from Ate Days A Week.
All meals will be served at Ate Days A Week from 12pm on Wednesday 20th January, and every Wednesday after that until England’s third national lockdown amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic comes to an end.
You can find more information about the initiative here.
Ate Days A Week, 8 Vernon Street, Stockport, Greater Manchester, SK1 1TY.
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.
Emily Sergeant -
13th January 2021 
