Food & Drink

NEW MANC EATS: feat. a hidden bar takeover and Indian-Scottish chippy tea

A "gift from the pasta gods", focaccia sandwiches and a new pop-up restaurant in the KAMPUS bungalow.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 9th August 2021

It’s another great week for eating and drinking out in Manchester, with a host of new pop-ups, one-off events and new dishes to be getting stuck into.

Dare we say it – but there seems to be a general feeling of optimism in hospitality right now.

Launch parties are finally being thrown, residencies are being announced, and nature – as the meme goes – is finally healing.

Keep reading to discover our top food and drink picks for the week.

A hidden bar takeover with natty wine and french fries

Wine and fires have long been a perfect pairing, then add in the reopening of one of Manchester’s secret bars and you’re on to a guaranteed winner / Image: Vin De Bodega

Natural wine hustlers Vin De Bodega team up with Amsterdam-inspired Fry By this week – taking over the small cocktail bar hidden underneath The Corner Boy, formerly known as Double Down, for a night of top-tier natty wine and loaded fries.

Wines, all handpicked favourites of the Vin De Bodega team, will be available by the glass or the bottle – as well as fries from upstairs, loaded with your choice of over 50 different flavour combinations. There will also be a special portion of fries available on the night to enjoy with a paired wine.

Find them underneath The Corner Boy, Stevenson Square this Thursday 12 August from 5 pm.

“A gift from the pasta Gods” at Sugo

Sugo’s new Paccheri all’ Amatriciana is a simple classic based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, white wine and datterini tomatoes / Image: Sugo Pasta Kitchen

Such is the excitement around Sugo, a single new dish is more than enough to have us shouting from the rooftops.

Described by the team as “a gift from the pasta Gods,’ the new Paccheri all’ Amatriciana is a simple classic based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, white wine and datterini tomatoes. To be enjoyed with “at least” half a litre ofBarbera on the side, it looks and sounds absolutely divine.

Find Sugo at 46 Blossom St, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6BF.

A new pop-up restaurant in the KAMPUS bungalow

Caramelised walnut cream with green strawberries, covered in frozen & shaved buttery Eccles cake / Image: Tine.

Fine dining fans, this one is for you.

Tine, the restaurant project by chefs Josh Shanahan and James Lord, is popping up in the KAMPUS bungalow with some gorgeous seasonally-inspired dishes until the end of September starting this Friday.

Calling on experience at Mana, Where The Light Gets In and Manchester House, the pair plan on serving a 5-course set menu of British flavours with their signature umami twist. Find them cooking up a storm on Thursday to Sunday evenings right through to the end of next month.

The lads are also working with Le Social Wine (KAMPUS’s other residents right now) to curate a wine list in tandem with bottles from their own cellar, so expect some really special pairings on the side.

Reservations are live now. Find Tine at KAMPUS, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3DA from Friday 13 August.

Indian chippy teas from a hidden Chorlton gem

The Indian-Scottish take on fish on chips: fresh Panga fried in Roti gram flour batter, fluffy masala potatoes and curried chickpea ‘mushy peas / Image: Roti

If you’d like to try a chippy tea with a twist, Roti in Chorlton has to be the spot. It opened just before the pandemic so hasn’t been given the shine it should – but we’re here to fix that.

Here you’ll find some great Indian Scottish fusions. Think a ‘chip butty’ roti, filled with curried aloo and chickpeas marinated in an aromatic pickle, or ‘mince and tatties’ Roti spiced pork with house chole potatoes.

That said, it’s the take on fish and chips that’s got us really excited. Made with fresh Panga fried in Roti gram flour batter, it’s then served with fluffy masala potatoes and curried chickpea ‘mushy peas.’ Enjoy with an Irn-Bru cocktail and for the ultimate naughty treat finish with a deep-fried Mars bar.

Find Roti at 559 Barlow Moor Rd, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 8AN.

Focaccia sandwiches from Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria

Pulled beef with sage mustard, taleggio, rocket and balsamic served on Batard bakery focaccia / Image: Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria

Not busy enough with two kitchens on the go and the launch of a new packaged meal service in South Manchester, Lazy Tony’s has just added two new focaccia sandwiches to the menu to coincide with the fact that they’re now open for lunch as well as dinner at Radium Street.

This weekend just gone, the Ancoats kitchen premiered two new butties using focaccia from Batard: one with pulled beef, sage mustard, taleggio, rocket and balsamic; another with buttermilk fried chicken, chilli marinara, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan.

They’re currently taking classic requests for this weekend – we see someone’s put ‘lasagne sandwich’ in the comments already, which we’re completely here for.

Find Lazy Tony’s new sandwiches at 23 Radium St, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6AY this weekend from midday.

Featured Image: Northern Quarter at Night | © Duncan Hull / Flickr

Food & Drink

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.

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Featured image: Supplied

Food & Drink

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.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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