One of the north’s best restaurants has had to raise its prices to a whopping £250 per person as the cost of living crisis continues to push costs higher.
L’Enclume, which is the only restaurant in the north to have three Michelin stars, said that ‘every single thing’ they pay for has become more expensive in recent months.
In an interview with The Times, L’Enclume said it’s facing some ‘astronomical’ overheads.
The Lake District restaurant is now having to up its prices to try and cover those costs and prevent it from operating at a loss.
Credit: L’Enclume
The tasting menu is rising almost 30%, from £195 per person to £250 – and that doesn’t include wine, which costs between £90 and £275 for a paired flight.
The restaurant has also scrapped its £100 lunch option, leaving just the £250 tasting menu at all times of day.
Headed up by Simon Rogan, the acclaimed chef who previously ran The French in Manchester’s Midland Hotel, L’Enclume is widely considered to be one of the best restaurants in the world.
It’s now on its way to being one of the most expensive in the UK, too.
Simon Rogan at work. Credit: L’Enclume
Sam Ward, managing director for Rogan’s restaurants, told The Times: “The rapid change that’s happened over the past three months means that restaurants either don’t respond and take the losses or they raise their prices. Every single thing that we spend money on has gone up in price.
“Labour is a big one. We are committed to pay people to give them a decent standard of living. We will not have the price of our menus subsidised by our team making any sort of sacrifice.”
In a message to customers on Tripadvisor, L’Enclume added: “The decision to increase our tasting menu from £195 to £250 and to remove our £100 lunch menu from 1st June has not been taken lightly.
“A myriad of different reasons has meant that we cannot continue to operate at the same level with the existing price and menu structure. With the new pricing, we are confident that we will be able to support our team and our suppliers and therefore, the future of our restaurant and the community we are so proud to be part of, will be more stable.
“The overall cost of running a business has increased across the board to include rising food costs – with some ingredients almost doubling – soaring energy prices, and a considerable increase in labour costs.”
Featured image: L’Enclume
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.
Daisy Jackson -
2nd June 2022 
