A Manchester restaurant’s Instagram has been hacked – losing them thousands of followers and a key means of communication with customers.
Bada Bing sandwich shop – a Sopranos-inspired takeaway launched in lockdown by Meg Lingenfelter and Sam Gormally – had its social media infiltrated over the weekend.
The couple discovered they had been locked out of their account on Friday (July 2) – and now the account is actually being held to ransom.
A screenshot of the Whatsapp exchange, shared to Eatmcr’s story last night
The couple behind the successful sandwich takeaway project revealed they have received Whatsapp messages from the person who’s logged into their account, asking them for money to have it returned.
However, when they paid the $300 that was requested – the hacker asked for more money.
A new small business, Bada Bing has only been trading for a few months but had managed to acquire over ten thousand followers in that time.
Now, they’ve had to create a new account @badabing.mcr, which they’re asking people to refollow and share.
Bada Bing posted this image of Silvio Dante from The Sopranos to their new account over the weekend after their original one got hacked
Although the takeaway is on the food delivery app Food Stuff MCR, a large part of Bada Bing’s business is operated through social media – particularly Instagram.
Whilst orders can be made for click and collect through their website, social media is their main means of communicating with customers.
Bada Bing has contacted Instagram through the usual support channels but have not yet heard anything back about getting their original @badabingmcr account back. A quick look suggests the original account may have been deactivated or deleted.
Just a couple of the brilliant sandwiches on the menu at Bada Bing / Image: Bada Bing
The duo have not said much publicly on the matter but have shared an image simply stating “The Bing got got. Don’t disrespect the Bing.”
Bada Bing is currently over at The Refuge – having extended their residency there for at least the next couple of weeks. You can find them selling their brilliant Italian American deli-inspired hoagie sandwiches as part of Eatmcr’s street food takeover.
Head down Friday-Sunday between midday and 6pm to show them some love – and make sure to follow their new account, @badabing.mcr.
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.
Georgina Pellant -
6th July 2021 
