A local restaurant in south Manchester has slammed ‘really unfair’ customers who pulled a no-show on Christmas day itself.
Family-run Indian restaurant Khandoker, in Didsbury, has said that it faced a disgraceful 30 no shows on Monday 25 December.
That’s 30 diners who failed to show up for their reserved table and failed to notify the restaurant that they weren’t coming.
Khandoker said in a frustrated post on Facebook that it was particularly unfair on the staff who were away from their own families to work serving people on Christmas day.
They also stressed that to skip out on a reservation creates a large amount of food waste and overall financial loss for local businesses.
The Kingsway restaurant has also said that the no shows will be banned from dining there in the future.
They wrote: “Over 30 No shows on Christmas Day is really unfair on all our hospitality staff who had to show up early and be away from there families to prepare for a busy day!
“It also creates a lot of food waste and overall loss for the restaurant trade. Please be respectful and call up if you can’t make it.
“The no shows will be banned from the restaurant in future. Not a great start to Christmas.”
Khandoker said it had taken deposits for all tables but hadn’t charged people for their full Christmas dinner upfront, which they thought ‘was fair at the time’.
The business has been flooded with messages of support from customers.
One person said: “That’s disgusting. I think in future you should take full payment by the beginning of Dec. The majority of place are doing this nowadays.”
Another wrote: “Totally disrespectful to both foh and boh staff.”
Someone else commented: “Disgraceful! You were very fair only taking deposits but they didn’t show any appreciation on the day so you know what to do next time.
“It’s ignorant people like this who make things hard for the rest of us but I completely understand why businesses charge the full amount upfront because of cases like this!
“Those places could have been filled if they’d given you enough notice! Hope everybody had a good day regardless.”
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.
Daisy Jackson -
27th December 2023 
