Salt Dog Slims – an American diner crossed with an underground speakeasy – is officially opening a new venue in Manchester.
The bar, which specialises in world beers, steins, cocktails and US-style chilli dogs – has already found success in Liverpool under GSG Hospitality, boasting a menu containing items such as bacon-wrapped hot dogs, Texas bbq dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches.
A new two-floor Salt Dog Slims is set to launch in Bow Lane near Albert Square this year; featuring a ground floor and basement bar.
The 3,000 sq ft venue will cater for 200 people at full capacity.
Salt Dog Slims is moving to Manchester
No move-in date has been confirmed yet – but owners say the ground floor bar will launch in a “few months”, with the basement welcoming customers before Christmas.
Salt Dog Slims Manchester will have the edgy interior of its predecessor in Liverpool, accompanied by creative cocktails and steins, plus the American diner-inspired food menu.
GSG Hospitality has completed a full rip out and installed a new kitchen and bar, with plush new booths being fitted this week.
A focus on soft furnishings will follow before the venue is ready to launch.
The diner-speakeasy concept has proven a big hit in Liverpool
Matt Farrell, Director of Salt Dog Slims, said: “We set our sights on opening a venue in Manchester a while ago and we’re very excited to be opening the doors to Salt Dog Slim’s very soon.
“Despite the challenges that COVID has created, we’ve pushed on with the build of the venue and behind the scenes we’ve been working on our interesting cocktails and new food menu for when we open.”
Fellow Director John Ennis added: “Salt Dog Slims is famous for providing steins, brines and good times and we’re really looking forward to bringing that same energy to Manchester and welcoming our guests for the first time in the coming months.”
The new Manchester venue is also recruiting staff including management, bartenders, chefs and more. CVs and cover letters can be sent to dougie@graffitispiritsgroup.com.
Food & Drink
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.
The Manc -
16th July 2021 
