Eats

These Manchester restaurants will prepare takeaway Christmas dinners to make your big day less stressful

And, there's no washing up either.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 19th November 2020
Trof NQ

Two of Manchester’s beloved independent eateries have announced the launch of a takeaway Christmas Day service to make the festive period a little less stressful.

Tucking into a hearty meal is no doubt one of the real highlights of Christmas day, but having to adequately plan and prepare for the whole thing to go off without a hitch, and then ensure everything is cooked to perfection, is really quite the task.

It can stress even the best of us out.

Which is why both Trof and Herd – two popular restaurants in the heart of the Northern Quarter – have today launched a service that lets you place an order for your Christmas dinner to be pre-made and collected to take all that worry away.

How brilliant does this sound?

With “no pre-dinner stress, no big shop and more importantly, no pots to wash” Trof’s Ultimate Christmas Dinner Kit can simply be collected from the restaurant from Christmas Eve – between 10am – 4pm – and then all you’ll need to do is follow the super-simple reheat instructions for a delicious three course meal.

To start, you can chose from Celeriac & Apple Soup (truffle oil, chives) or VEChicken Liver Pate (winter chutney, sourdough toast), for the main course, it’s a choice of either Roast Cheshire Turkey (roast potatoes, bread sauce, pigs in blankets, gravy), or Mushroom & Cranberry Wellington (roast potatoes, gravy, seasonal vegetables), and then for dessert, it’s either Christmas Pudding (with brandy sauce), or Buche De Noel (chocolate yule log) with dark chocolate sauce.

The Ultimate Christmas Dinner Kit is priced at £35 per person, and includes a bottle of Prosecco for two people.

Trof NQ

Designed to “take the stress out of Christmas day cooking” with everything prepared as much as possible so you can “enjoy more time out of the kitchen and more time getting merry after this dreadful year”, Herd’s Christmas Trimmings Hampers could be a real lifesaver.

Each hamper comes loaded with everything you need to accompany the perfect Christmas dinner.

You can take your pick from a hamper for two (£35), four (£55), or six people (£75), and if you feel like pushing the boat out a little further, you can also add on a Herd fillet of beef wellington to you hamper for the ultimate Christmas feast.

The Christmas Trimmings Hampers are available to purchase now for collection from the 22nd – 24th December and will come with full reheating and cooking instructions, plus a little Christmas treat.

Herd NQ

Not only does this concept take huge weight off your shoulders at a busy time, but it’s also a great way to help out local / independent hospitality businesses when they truly need it more than ever and are feeling the lasting effects of lockdown.

This is brilliant and unique way to do your bit for hospitality if you can this year.

You can find out more information about Christmas offerings and place your orders via the Trof NQ website here, and through the Herd NQ website here.

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The Manc Group has partnered with Deliveroo to help local restaurants deliver during lockdown as part of our #StillServingMCR campaign.

Working alongside Deliveroo, The Manc will ensure all restaurants on the service will get the amplification they need across our social platforms. We’ll update our one million-strong audience on your latest updates and deals and we’ll create conversations with the masses about our favourite scran from your menus.

Basically, we will champion you, and we will go above and beyond to do it.

You can find out more here.

Eats

Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time

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.

In the last year alone we’ve had Mother Mary’s, the Salmon of Knowledge, and O’Connell’s open in the city centre, plus that huge expansion for the legendary Mulligans.

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’.

@nancyspains

Live music all day Shoreditch Saturdays are amazing, but can you imagine then once we get Manchester going? #murphys #nancys #irishpub #fyp

♬ original sound – Nancy Spains

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.

Read more

Featured image: Supplied

Eats

Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Lucky Mama's in Chorlton

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's
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’s
Traditional Roman pizzas
Traditional Roman pizzas
Lucky Mama's pink restaurant in Chorlton
Lucky 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.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

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