Eats

The best restaurants and bars named at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards

So proud of Manchester always.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 27th January 2025

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards (MFDF) has honoured the best restaurants, bars, producers and more in a glittering ceremony in Manchester tonight.

The annual food and drink awards celebrated the best of the hospitality industry across 18 categories, including Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, and Newcomer of.

More than 350 hospitality professionals piled into New Century to see the top spots in town crowned, with a whopping 136 worth venues, traders, places and people nominated.

Every year, the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards sets out to recognise the individuals and businesses who have shaped the city’s culinary scene over the last 12 months.

The shortlist is chosen by a panel of judges made up of food and drink writers, experts and critics, before the overall winners are chosen through a combination of public votes and mystery shopping visits by judges.

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This year, the MFDF Awards celebrate everything from Michelin star to back-alley street food.

Alexa Stratton-Powell, Awards Director of Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards commented: “We’re thrilled to be announcing this list of incredible winners. In such tough times for the industry, we want to thank, support and celebrate every nominee and winner and their fantastic achievements.

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“We hope that the food fans of Greater Manchester and beyond will be inspired to go out and support all of these exceptional venues that we are so lucky to have on our doorstep.”

All the winners at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards 2025

Affordable Eats Venue of the Year

Nell's Pizza at Kampus
Nell’s Pizza at Kampus
Nell's at Kampus
Nell’s at Kampus. Credit: The Manc Group

Winner: Nell’s Pizza

Shortlist:

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  • Café San Juan, Stockport
  • Nell’s Pizza, Kampus
  • Wow Banh Mi, Ancoats
  • Hong Thai, Ancoats
  • Salt & Pepper, High Street
  • Nila’s Burmese Kitchen, Stretford
  • Mia’s Arepas, Freight Island
  • Sips & Dips, Levenshulme

Takeaway of the Year

Winner: Fat Pat’s

Shortlist:

  • Chips @ No. 8, Prestwich
  • Ad Maiora, Ancoats
  • Maida Grill House, Salford
  • Lucky Mama’s, Chorlton
  • Codi’s Kitchen, Prestwich
  • Fat Pat’s, Portland Street
  • Mrs A’s Kitchen, Eccles
  • One Sushi, Oxford Road

Coffee Shop of the Year

Winner: Another Heart To Feed

Shortlist:

  • Grind & Tamp, Ramsbottom
  • Fort Coffee, Deansgate
  • Allpress Espresso, NOMA
  • California Coffee & Wine, Altrincham
  • Another Heart To Feed, Northern Quarter
  • Bold Street Coffee, Cross Street
  • ManCoCo, Hewitt Street
  • Oscillate Coffee, Urmston

Food and Drink Retailer of the Year

Winner: Lily’s Deli

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Shortlist

  • Wandering Palate, Monton
  • Petit Paris, King Street
  • Out of the Blue, Chorlton
  • Chorlton Cheesemongers, Chorlton
  • Littlewoods Butchers, Heaton Chapel
  • Ancoats Deli, Ancoats
  • Lily’s Deli, Chorlton
  • Oseyo, Arndale

Food Trader of the Year

Winner: Honest Crust

Shortlist

  • House of Habesha, Kargo MKT
  • The Little Sri Lankan
  • Cardinal Rule, Northern Quarter
  • Ad Maiora, Ancoats
  • Jaan By Another Hand, Exhibition
  • Baity, Kargo MKT
  • House of Bun, Radcliffe
  • Honest Crust, Mackie Mayor

Foodie Neighbourhood of the Year

The Pearl in Prestwich has made it onto the list of the Top 100 Local Restaurants in the Good Food Guide. Credit: The Manc Group
The Pearl in Prestwich has made it onto the list of the Top 100 Local Restaurants in the Good Food Guide. Credit: The Manc Group
Doughnuts at All The Shapes in Prestwich. Credit: The Manc Group

Winner: Prestwich

Shortlist

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  • Monton
  • Prestwich
  • Salford
  • Urmston
  • Levenshulme
  • Altrincham
  • Denton
  • Sale

Independent Drink Producer of the Year

Winner: Cloudwater Brew Co

Shortlist

  • Cloudwater Brew Co, Piccadilly
  • Pomona Island Brew Co, Salford
  • Sureshot Brewing, Piccadilly
  • The Salford Rum Company, Salford
  • Steep Soda Co
  • Pod Pea Vodka, Salford
  • Hip Pop, Piccadilly
  • Balance Brewing & Blending, Piccadilly

Independent Food Producer of the Year

Great North Pie Co at Kampus. Credit: The Manc Group
Great North Pie Co at Kampus. Credit: The Manc Group

Winner: Great North Pie Co.

Shortlist

  • Companio Bakery, Ancoats
  • H.M.Pasties, Oldham
  • La Chouquette, Didsbury
  • Great North Pie Co, Wilmslow
  • The Flat Baker, Ancoats
  • Long Boi’s Bakehouse, Levenshulme
  • Yellowhammer, Stockport
  • Half Dozen Other, Cheetham Hill

Neighbourhood Venue of the Year sponsored by SH Comms

Winner: Bar San Juan

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Shortlist

  • Cibus Pizza, Levenshulme
  • Ornella’s Kitchen, Denton
  • Fold Bistro & Bottle Shop, Marple Bridge
  • The Pearl, Prestwich
  • 425 Bury New Road,, Manchester, M25 1AF
  • Restaurant Örme, Urmston
  • Tawny Stores, Marple
  • Vero Moderno, Salford
  • Bar San Juan, Chorlton

Plant Based Offering of the Year

Maray in Manchester has loads of vegan and vegetarian options.
Maray in Manchester has loads of vegan and vegetarian options. Credit: The Manc Group
Vegan Sunday roast at Maray in Manchester
Vegan Sunday roast at Maray in Manchester

Winner: Maray

Shortlist

  • Maray, Lincolm Square
  • Lily’s Indian Vegetarian Cuisine, Ashton-under-Lyne
  • Wholesome Junkies, Northern Quarter
  • Allotment Vegan Eatery, Cathedral
  • Walled Gardens, Whalley Range
  • Little Aladdin, Northern Quarter
  • Herbivorous, Withington
  • Sanskruti, Withington

Pop up or Project of the Year sponsored by ASP Events 

Winner: Love From

Shortlist

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  • Bungalow at Kampus
  • Tartuffe, Side Street Studio
  • Midori Didsbury at Wine & Wallop
  • The Landing, Stockport
  • Love From, Kampus
  • Root to Flower
  • Sampa
  • Manchester Wine Tour

Pub or Beer Bar of the Year sponsored by JW Lees

Mulligans has revealed its new look with an extra floor now open. Credit: The Manc Group
Mulligans has revealed its new look with an extra floor now open. Credit: The Manc Group

Winner: Mulligans

Shortlist

  • Heaton Hops, Heaton Chapel
  • Port Street Beer House, Northern Quarter
  • North Westward Ho, Chapel Walks
  • Pall Mall, 19 Chapel Walks, Manchester, M2 1HN
  • Mulligans of Manchester
  • The City Arms
  • The Britons Protection 
  • The Old Abbey Taphouse, Hulme
  • Café Beermoth

Great Service Award

Winner: Schofield’s Bar

Shortlist

  • Flawd Wine, Ancoats Marina
  • The Pearl, Prestwich
  • Higher Ground, New York Street
  • Skof, NOMA
  • 10 Tib Lane
  • Schofield’s Bar, Quay Street
  • Adam Reid At The French, The Midland
  • Ornella’s Kitchen, Denton

Bar of the Year sponsored by Conductr

Winner: Hawksmoor

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Shortlist

  • Red Light, Kampus
  • Flawd Wine, Ancoats Marina
  • Speak in Code
  • Project Halcyon, St John’s
  • Hawksmoor, Deansgate
  • 10 Tib Lane
  • Stray, Mackie Mayor
  • Sterling Bar, Stock Exchange Hotel

Newcomer of the Year

Winner: Skof

Shortlist

  • The Pearl, Prestwich
  • Skof, NOMA
  • Medlock Canteen, Deansgate Square
  • Onda Pasta Bar, Oxford Road
  • Tawny Stores, Marple
  • Caravan, St John’s
  • Hakkapo, First Street
  • Flat Iron, Deansgate

Chef of the Year sponsored by Boutinot

Winner: Tom Barnes (Skof)

Shortlist

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  • Iain Thomas (The Pearl)
  • Joe Otway (Higher Ground)
  • Tom Barnes (Skof)
  • Sam Grainger (Medlock Canteen)
  • Patrick Withington (Erst)
  • Danielle Heron (OSMA)
  • Sam Buckley (Where the Light Gets In) 
  • Julian Pizer (Another Hand) 

Restaurant of the Year

Winner: Where The Light Gets In, Stockport

Shortlist

  • Skof, NOMA
  • Higher Ground, New York Street
  • Another Hand, Deansgate
  • Where the Light Gets In, Stockport
  • The Pearl, Prestwich
  • Restaurant Örme, Urmston
  • mana, Ancoats
  • Adam Reid At The French, The Midland

The Howard and Ruth Award for Outstanding Achievement

Winner: Sam Buckley

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time

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.

In the last year alone we’ve had Mother Mary’s, the Salmon of Knowledge, and O’Connell’s open in the city centre, plus that huge expansion for the legendary Mulligans.

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’.

@nancyspains

Live music all day Shoreditch Saturdays are amazing, but can you imagine then once we get Manchester going? #murphys #nancys #irishpub #fyp

♬ original sound – Nancy Spains

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.

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Featured image: Supplied

Eats

Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Lucky Mama's in Chorlton

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's
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’s
Traditional Roman pizzas
Traditional Roman pizzas
Lucky Mama's pink restaurant in Chorlton
Lucky 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.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

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