The Botanist is giving one lucky person the chance to win free kebabs every day with their very-own ‘black card’.
Tucking into free kebabs 24/7 would undeniably be the mouthwatering dream of many a foodie, but now, it could actually become a reality thanks to the popular restaurant chain, The Botanist – which has a number of restaurants in Manchester and across the North West, and is known for its famous hanging kebabs.
By now, the concept of a ‘black card’ is well known.
It’s common knowledge that rapper Stormzy has an elusive Greggs ‘black card’ to his name, which gives him free pastries and baked goods for life, and chart-topper Ed Sheeran has proudly flashed his Nando’s ‘High Five’ card in the past that promises all the peri-peri chicken he could want for a whole year.
But while it seems that celebrity status has been the only ticket to free food up until now, The Botanist is thinks one of its customers would be more-deserving recipient to go where no famous name has ever been when it comes to food perks.
The Botanist is giving one lucky person the chance to win free kebabs every day with their very-own ‘black card’ / Credit: The Botanist
The Botanist revealed a first look of its exclusive ‘Golden Leaf’ card on Instagram last week to celebrate hitting 100,000 followers, and explained that the card entitles the owner to free hanging kebabs at any of its venues across the country every single day for three years.
Only one Golden Leaf exists though, so how do you get your hands on it?
The restaurant chain isn’t willing to give the card away to just anyone, so it’s not as easy as entering a competition and hoping for the best, as instead, you’ll have to prove your love for hanging kebabs by telling The Botanist team “what hanging kebabs mean to you” before the closing date of Friday 11 March.
10 people will then be taken through to the next stage of the vetting process, although the criteria for selection is mysteriously vague, and no details about how the lucky winner will be chosen at the next stage have been revealed either.
The Botanist is known for its famous hanging kebabs / Credit: The Botanist
To be in with a chance of snapping up The Golden Leaf, then you’ll need to head on over to The Botanist’s Instagram page here.
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.
Emily Sergeant -
10th March 2022 
