Mother’s Day is nearly upon us, meaning it’s time to start getting your ducks in a row if you haven’t already.
Organising cards, presents and table reservations are just a handful of ways of showing we care, but really there’s nothing better than just spending a bit of quality time with your mum to let her know how much you love and appreciate her.
As we hurtle ahead towards April, with things only set to get more expensive, Manchester’s restaurants are doing us a solid by laying on various free meals, drinks and gifts for the special ladies in our lives to give us a helping hand. Goodness knows we need it.
From bottomless mimosas and endless Yorkshire puddings to Molton Brown goodie bags and complimentary glasses of fizz, keep reading to find out who’s giving away what this Mother’s Day.
Peter Street Kitchen
Image: Peter Street Kitchen
This lauded contemporary Japanese and Mexican fusion kitchen on Peter Street is offering all mums a complimentary glass of fizz when they come to dine on Mothering Sunday.
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Fine wines, Japanese whiskeys and signature cocktails abound on the bar, whilst on the menu, you’ll find a selection of exciting, modern small plates that combine the best of two, very different, cuisines.
All served within the stunning settings of the five-star Radisson Blu hotel, if you love a spot of people watching make sure to request to sit in the stone alcoves facing onto Peter Street.
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Ducie Street Warehouse
Image: Ducie Street
Image: Ducie Street
Mums can enjoy bottomless mimosas on the house this Mothering Sunday when they dine at Ducie Street Warehouse.
Those out celebrating can tuck into classic roast meats like dry-aged shorthorn beef sirloin, cornfed chicken, leg of lamb, and smoked free-range gammon, alongside a hefty selection of sides that includes its own dedicated cauliflower cheese menu.
Bottomless mimosas are only available in the first hour of the table booking for mums only. You must book online in advance, quoting how many mums are attending:
La Bandera
Image: La Bandera
Image: La Bandera
Mums can eat for free at Spanish and Catalan tapas restaurant La Bandera this Mother’s Day.
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When you order a minimum of six tapas plates, the restaurant will knock the three cheapest off the bill as a small way of saying thank you to Manchester’s tireless mums.
The offer is available all day on 27 March, but you must quote ‘MD22LB’ when booking to redeem it. Terms and conditions apply.
The Botanist
Image: The Botanist
At The Botanist in Manchester, mums will receive a special free gift as a token of appreciation when dining out.
The restaurant and cocktail bar is open for lunch and dinner bookings, with a special set menu offering Sunday roasts and hanging kebabs.
Two courses are priced at £25, three for £30, both served with tea and coffee included. Live music will fill the restaurant throughout the day, with a special roast just for children.
Zouk is on a mission to show the mums of Manchester how loved they are, chucking in a free boxed-up cupcake as well as a glass of prosecco or Shloer for all mums on 27 March.
The much-loved Indian restaurant will be serving up its famous Sunday roast sharing platters, built for two, four or six people.
Each one is loaded with three roasted meats and all the trimmings – with a Zouk twist.
The restaurant has also installed a beautiful flower arch and bench in its reception area so you can take a Mother’s Day family photo together as a keepsake.
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Cibo Manchester
Image: Cibo Manchester
This Mother’s Day, Italian restaurant Cibo Manchester will offer a surprise ‘gift for mum’.
Mums dining at the restaurant on 27 March will be given a ‘lucky dip’ scratch card on arrival that will reveal either a glass of fizz or a complimentary dessert.
They can opt for any dessert from the menu, with choices including panna cotta, tiramisu, profiteroles and gelato.
Motley Manchester
Image: Motley Manchester
Motley Manchester will celebrate Mother’s Day with unlimited Yorkshire puddings and gravy this year, as part of its Sunday roast offering.
In honour of Manchester’s mums and all the hard work they put in to keep us in check, on Sunday 27 March from 12pm until sell-out, guests can heap their plates high with as many fluffy Yorkshire puddings as they can muster.
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The offer is open to everyone dining – not just mums. Simply ask your server for more and they’ll happily oblige.
20 Stories
Image: 20 Stories
Manchester’s highest restaurant has partnered with Molton Brown to offer its diners luxury goodie bags this Mother’s Day.
Guests can opt to dine from the Sunday roast menu or tuck into dishes from the restaurant’s A La Carte offering. A special Mother’s Day rose and rhubarb cocktail, created by the bar team, has been paired to match Molton Brown’s latest fragrance.
There will be live music in the restaurant between 1-4pm, and the Molton Brown team will also be on hand offering hand and arm massages and fragrance profiling throughout the afternoon.
Feature image – 20 Stories
Eats
The Pack Horse – the Michelin-recommended Peak District pub serving the best pre-hike breakfast in the North
Daisy Jackson
There’s a pub in the Peak District that’s comfortably established itself as one of the very best in the UK, and this banging local isn’t just about pints and Sunday roasts.
The Pack Horse in the village of Hayfield is also a purveyor of an excellent breakfast, perfect to fuel you up before a big hike in the surrounding hills.
Want a little taste of this pub’s accolades? In the space of just one week, The Pack Horse placed in the Top 50 Gastropubs and then got added to the Michelin Guide – a stunning double header.
The restaurant in Hayfield was praised by Michelin inspectors for being ‘a true village local’.
Just this week, it was also added to the Good Food Guide’s list of the best Sunday roasts in the UK.
Headed up by chef and co-owner Luke Payne, The Pack Horse in the village of Hayfield is an outstanding establishment.
Here is a pub where you can have a world-class meal that shows off the best of British produce, while sipping an ale, with muddy boots on your feet.
Inside The Pack Horse Hayfield. Credit: The Manc GroupOutside the Pack Horse in Hayfield
It doesn’t really matter who you ask, The Pack Horse is readily and consistently named one of the best pubs in the entire UK and anyone stepping through its door would struggle to argue with that.
Because although the price point sits a little higher than your average boozer, it still has all the trappings of a proper country pub.
Yes, there are crisps behind the bar. Yes, there’s a pub quiz. Yes, there’s a resident pub dog (Lola the Labrador will sit and stare you out if there is anything edible in your immediate vicinity).
But what we haven’t seen anywhere near enough people harp on about is the breakfast at The Pack Horse.
The ingredients on their breakfast menu are all sourced so locally you could probably hike to any of them with a bit of grit and determination.
From Port of Lancaster smoked kippers to bacon cut thick and laced with maple, everything is of the highest quality.
You can’t go wrong with The Pack Horse signature breakfast, which has eggs, bacon, Manchester sausage, crispy hash browns, Doreen’s black pudding, wild mushrooms, confit tomato, trotter beans, AND sourdough.
A bacon and egg muffin at The Pack Horse HayfieldCoffee, juice and a breakfast menu at The Pack Horse. Credit: The Manc Group
You can have the full portion for £20 or just take one of each item for £10 and then immediately regret not having more.
The bulk of the menu beyond that centres around the pub’s homemade English muffins, toasted and buttered and filled with whatever breakfast item takes your fancy (scrambled egg and bacon for me, always).
It’s a breakfast worthy of the fanciest hotels and most popular of brunch spots.
Once you’re suitably fuelled and ready for a walk there are two hikes nearby that aren’t too strenuous and crucially don’t take too long (those daylight savings hours really mess with a big hike, eh).
The Sett Valley Trail starts just across the road and is a consistent and mostly flat out-and-back.
Kinder Reservoir in the Peak District. Credit: The Manc GroupKinder Reservoir in the Peak District. Credit: The Manc Group
You can follow it all the way to the Torrs Millennium Walkway in New Mills if you fancy, or just turn back when you’ve had enough.
Or you can head the other way through Hayfield out towards Kinder Reservoir – the loop will take you over streams and stepping stones and little wooden bridges, past the huge body of water, through woodland and fields, and place you within sight of Kinder Downfall waterfall.
This is the poster child of the Peak District and one of the National Park’s best, most comprehensive walks.
You’ll also be close to Kinder Scout, but this is a more challenging hike and at this time of year we’d really recommend setting off nice and early to get maximum daylight hours.
And that would mean no time for a Pack Horse breakfast, which just won’t do.
Peek inside the space-themed festive tipi bar that’s appeared in Manchester city centre
Daisy Jackson
A gigantic new festive tipi has appeared in Manchester city centre, and this one’s out of this world.
Nova Star is an intergalactic, space-age tipi, filled with twinkling stars and shimmering galaxies.
The space-themed pop-up bar has appeared in Sadler’s Yard, right outside New Century.
Inside, you’ll be able to get your mitts on festive food specials from beloved Christmas Markets favourites Parmogeddon.
Their menu includes raclette-covered roast potatoes, with additional toppings like hot honey, brie, stuffing crumbs and gravy.
There’ll also be pigs in blanket hot dogs topped with cranberry and chilli ketchup and stuffing crumb, with an indulgent pot of gravy for dunking, plus profitteroles with a homemade brandy cream filling.
Nova Star’s bar will have a menu of shimmering cocktails and ice-cold beers too, with a full menu of Cosmos, including a Nebula Cosmo (which tastes a lot like a pina colada but is blue), a Cosmic Amore (close to a classic Cosmopolitan), and the Milkyway (a sweet and creamy concoction with hazelnut and vanilla).
Loaded raclette roasties at Nova Star, Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupA pigs in blanket hot dog. Credit: The Manc GroupProfiteroles from Parmogeddon. Credit: The Manc Group
Nova Star will be serving up their very own signature ‘Nova Staro’ pints, created in collaboration with Czech Pilsner specialists Staropramen in their first ever rebrand.
It’s a far cry from your typical Bavarian Christmas experience, swapping out holly and ivy for stars and shimmers.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy a line-up of festive entertainment.
Abby Moore, managing director at New Century, said: “Nova Star is all about celebrating Christmas at its most magical – and for us that means with all the dazzle of the space age.
“It’s a chance to escape the traditional and enjoy a spectacular atmosphere, stellar cocktails and incredible food.
“We can’t wait to welcome the people of Manchester to our space-age Christmas destination.”
Nova Star opens at Sadler’s Yard on Friday 22 November.
Georgina Pellant -
18th March 2022 
