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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Inside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Hotel Chocolat has today opened the doors to its first Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester, serving up shakes, hot chocolates, sundaes, and loads more.
Part cafe, part retail space, inside you’ll find everything from molten chocolate fountains to a full range of chocolate boxes, bars and hot chocolate powders.
The popular chocolatier has stores up and down the UK selling its ethically-sourced sweet treats, hitting a new level of fame with its Velvetiser, an invention that creates velvety smooth hot drinks at the touch of a button.
They’ve been so popular, Hotel Chocolat is now opening Velvetiser Cafes across the UK – and Manchester is next.
There are exclusive-to-Manchester-sundaes in store, each one inspired by their most popular chocolates, like a Billionaire’s Shortbread and an Eton Mess.
You can also grab yourself a hot choc shake, with loads of flavours, milks and toppings to choose from.
Hotel Chocolat’s new Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterThe chocolate boxes at Hotel ChocolatInside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterMix-and-match hot chocolate selection boxesInside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterExclusive-to-Manchester ice cream sundaesCroissant with a molten chocolate potInside the Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterInside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester
The Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe also has pastries, which you can order with a side of melted chocolate for dipping and drizzling.
As part of the experience inside, there’s a wall of hot chocolate sachets, which you can mix and match to build your own selection box.
And all along the way there’ll be samples, and loads to learn about the chocolate industry.
The Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe has officially opened its doors today on Cross Street in Manchester city centre, just next to the new Joe & The Juice.
The old fire station in Salford that’s now home to a bakery, brewery and bar
Daisy Jackson
A former fire station in Salford has been turned into a bustling base for some of the North West’s finest baking and brewing talents.
The Old Fire Station, right beside the University of Salford, is now operating as a bakery, brewery, bar, cafe and restaurant.
That means pastries, bread, pizzas and even beers are made within a few feet of where you’ll be eating and drinking them.
The space is beautiful, still boasting those gigantic red fire station doors and the traditional ceramic tiles that would have been here when the space was still home to fire engines instead of bread mixers.
Around half of the pastries coming out of the bakery, headed up by Erick Molero Delgado (his CV includes top bakeries across the USA and Europe), are completely vegan – not that you can tell from looking at their glossy, laminated layers and extravagant fillings.
We’re talking perfectly cubed laminated brioche with sweet maple flavours, mini pizzettes with olives and tomatoes dotted inside a pastry wall, and striped pain suisse stuffed with nuts and chocolate.
Then there are the not-very-vegan-at-all pastries, like a spandaeur, which is like a croissant and pastel de nata hybrid, and thick slices of Basque cheesecake.
There are new signature ‘Salford bagels’ too developed by assistant head baker Scott Shannon, which are a fusion of North American, German and Jewish styles, fermented for up to 48 hours with a crisp outer shell and a chewy centre.
A spandaeur pastry and a pain suisseHeirloom tomato bruschetta on sourdoughThe bakery line-upThe ‘Salford Bagel’ with smoked salmon
We had ours stuffed with smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers and raved about it all the way home.
Erick says: “Our new menu is a true labour of love by the whole team – from early ideas and experiments right through to the final bake.
“If someone has an idea, we run with it. That creative freedom is priceless. It keeps the work exciting, and it means our customers have the opportunity to get something fresh every time they visit.”
As for the beers, they’re all made on site too – on the opposite side of The Old Fire Station is Lark Hill Brewery, headed up by Jack Dixon, who’s able to experiment and explore new flavours in this top-spec microbrewery.
Jack Dixon in the Lark Hill BreweryLaminated briocheThe Old Fire Station bakers at work
There are experimental beers, sometimes made in collaboration with researchers at the University, as well as true-to-style classics like a New England Pale Ale and the Lark Helles, a fresh take on a classic German lager.
Jack said: “Having the autonomy to design and brew what I want, without limits, is rare and exciting,.
“It means every beer we pour here has a story and a personality. We’re proud to bring something new to Salford’s craft scene.”
This summer, they’re launching New York-style pizzas, made on slow-fermented, hand-stretched pizza dough.
And very little goes to waste here – the trimmed-off croissant pastry is now being turned into their own croissant loaf, which they’re whipping into French toast for the brunch menu.
Everything at The Old Fire Station is crafted with talent and love, and you can really taste it.
Georgina Pellant -
18th March 2022 
