The Alchemist at Media City is taking things up a notch this Bank Holiday weekend and throwing a huge party on its waterside terrace.
Bringing the party vibes to its stunning quayside setting, the inimitable smoke-and-mirrors cocktail bar is welcoming some of the city’s finest selectors to bring the Ibiza party spirit to Costa Del Salford.
The usually chilled-out waterside bar will amp things up in honour of the long weekend, with a mix of disco, house, and techno favourites played out across the outside space all through the afternoon into the early hours.
Starting from Saturday 1 May, those heading down to The Alchemist at Media City this summer can expect a series of DJ weekends, drinks tables and bar service running late into the night.
Image: The Alchemist
The 360-degree wrap-around bar will be stacked and ready to serve, both inside and out, with a host of wines, beers and spirits on offer alongside The Alchemist’s inimitable new cocktail menu.
Think a fully edible cocktail where you can even eat the cup, a drink that – when flamed – looks like a stick of dynamite, and classic refreshed favourites, such as the Nextpresso Martini – served with an indulgent dark chocolate spoon and caramel caviar.
The bar’s new fully edible cocktail, aptly named The Edible One, consists of Manzana Verde, Avallen Calvados, lime sherbet, salted caramel, apple juice, white chocolate foam.
Elsewhere, you’ll find theatrical concoctions such as the T&T, a fragrant tequila, pink grapefruit, lime, tonic, ‘fire mix’ and flash sting cocktail that, when flamed, resembles a stick of dynamite.
And if you fancy a bite to eat, there’s a brand new food menu on offer too.
Celebrating the sustainable efforts of the brand, its also suited to a variety of different dietary requirements – with a composition of dishes that means 58% are vegetarian, 38% are gluten-free and 44% are vegan.
Walk-ins are welcome but if you want to secure your seat in advance for the party, head over to The Alchemist’s website here.
Feature image – The Alchemist
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 -
29th April 2022 
