It’s no great secret that modern-day Ancoats has a pretty strong restaurant scene. Local legends, rave national reviews, and even a Michelin star have all found their home on these streets.
But now there’s a new accolade for the area, with The Edinburgh Castle pub catching the eye of the Top 50 Gastropubs list.
The Blossom Street pub and restaurant, snapped up by the same team behind Cottonopolis in 2019, had been in a sorry state of neglect before.
But under their steer The Edinburgh Castle has been turned into a beautiful British pub in the heart of Ancoats, all dark green walls, polished wood, brass candlesticks and an occasional taxidermy duck.
While downstairs is more of a classic boozer, upstairs is a smart bistro restaurant space – and it’s now a restaurant space that’s been named the 24th best gastropub in the UK.
Executive chef Shaun Moffatt and his team have created a menu full of comforting plates that will do an even better job of soothing a bad day than a phone call to your mum.
Oysters with leek and cider, and golden beetroot with goat’s curd at the Edinburgh Castle pub in AncoatsA spelt risotto with egg yolk and parmesan
For starters, there are dishes like battered cod cheeks – fish with substance encased in a light, crisp batter, and served on a homemade chunky tartare sauce.
Huge cuts of British meat are treated right, like a gigantic pork chop served in slices swimming in jus, with the bone still standing on the plate like a porky radio tower.
A spelt risotto comes on a pretty patterned china plate with a wig of grated parmesan on top and a jewel-yellow egg yolk in the centre ripe for the popping.
When it comes to puds, you’d be a fool to skip over the Madeleines. Freshly baked, you can order a dozen or a half. The shell-shaped cakes are light as a pillow, with crispy edges, showered in icing sugar and ready to be dunked in a pot of cream.
There’s not really a dud on the menu (there can’t be, once you reach the hallowed halls of the Top 50 Gastropubs) and The Edinburgh Castle pub is proving that Ancoats probably can do it all.
Puddings at The Edinburgh Castle pub in Ancoats, including freshly-baked madeleines. Credit: the Manc GroupThe Edinburgh Castle pub in Ancoats has been named one of the best gastropubs in the UK. Credit: The Manc GroupInside The Edinburgh Castle pub in Ancoats
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 -
25th January 2024 
