A new Mediterranean-style restaurant is opening inside the old Solita unit in Northern Quarter this week, breathing new life into the former dirty burger favourite.
Called Pupa, it will bring a host of charcoal grill dishes to the neighbourhood under the stewardship of new owner Armando Pupa, a 27-year-old chef originally hailing from Albania.
But that’s not all. As well as promising a host of charcoal-blackened meat and veg, Pupa will also serve a range of wines made by Armando’s uncles back home.
Elsewhere, diners will find a selection of more ‘English-style’ burgers and sharing platters, as well as some of Solita’s famous American-style burgers, which have been added to the menu in a nod to the site’s longstanding history as one of Manchester’s original burger dens.
Pupa is opening in the old Solita site. Credit: Instagram, @pupa.restaurant
Chef owner Armando has built up plenty of experience as a head grill chef, working for a number of years at different restaurants in and around the city.
Now, he is branching out on his own, taking over the iconic Northern Quarter site with his very own Mediterranean-inspired concept.
He has also re-fitted the kitchen so that he will not need to use electricity or gas, cleverly side-stepping the energy bill rises affecting many operators as we head into the colder months.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News about the new opening, he said: “I’m from Albania so I’m trying to match that with an English style — with burgers and sharing platters.
“We have made a few changes. We will not use electricity or gas at all.“We will have lots of meat and veg on the grill, and steaks as well. I’ve been a chef since I moved to the UK, and when I was at uni I was always cooking.
“I started cooking with my mum, but it was my auntie who said I should work in restaurants.”
The new opening follows the news that Solita bosses has sadly closed all seven of its UK restaurants.
However, with every cloud comes a silver lining, as it appears that die hard Solita fans can still enjoy a taste of their favourite dirty burgers at Pupa when it opens its doors this week.
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 -
22nd August 2022 
