Sud, the pasta kitchen formerly known as Sugo, has announced a new chapter after saying it would be closing all four restaurants in their current guise.
The much-loved local Italian spot has said that Sud will cease to exist in Ancoats, Altrincham, Sale, and at Exhibition, from the end of this year.
But it’s not totally curtains for the restaurant group, with new plans for a brand new concept now confirmed.
The new restaurants will be called Rigatonti’s, and will serve hearty bowls of house-made Rigatoni from just £7.50.
The founders of Sud and Rigatoni’s say they want to bring ‘pasta to the masses’, with pasta made fresh daily at each site.
The pasta will be extruded through a bronze die, lending it a rough texture for sauces to cling to, ‘asciutta’ style.
Sauces to go with the rigatoni include nduja meatballs in Amatriciana (£13.50), brown crab in vodka sauce (£12.50), and Fazool white beans with garlic, fresh chilli and parm (£9.50).
Or to keep it cheap and easy, there’s a simple extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and parm rigatoni for £7.50.
For appetisers, there are dishes including a £6 fried mozzarella and pesto sandwich, salami and potato crocchette, and chickpea fritters, plus foccaccia toasts with toppings including Gorgonzola whip and hot honey, grated tomato and garlic, or black olive and caper.
Sud’s new venture in Manchester will be called Rigatoni’sSud’s new venture in Manchester will be called Rigatoni’s
The new restaurant will still be fronted by the Manchester-born brothers behind the original Sugo Pasta Kitchen, which launched in Altrincham way back in 2015 and expanded fast across Greater Manchester.
Alex de Martiis, co-founder, said: “Change has been a regular thing for us recently – that stops with Rigatoni’s. We want to build a sustainable business that allows us to serve the customers in our communities for years to come.
“The next chapter in our journey is all about creating an accessible, uncomplicated menu that makes Rigatoni’s somewhere that people come to time and time again.
“Whether it’s a quick lunch on a Tuesday, or a Saturday night with mates, pasta shouldn’t just be for occasions.”
The launch dates for each restaurant will be announced on Rigatoni’s social channels, with bookings open in January. For more information or to sign up to hear more visit www.letsrigatoni.co.uk.
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 -
20th December 2023 
