A brand new Salford restaurant will celebrate its launch today by giving away 1000 katsu curries, completely free.
Banana Tree is an award-winning Pan-Asian restaurant that started life down in London more than three decades ago.
It’s since expanded with restaurants across the UK, but this will be its first trip up to Greater Manchester.
The new Salford venue will officially open its doors today, Monday 12 February, at the Lowry Outlet Mall.
The restaurant will have space for 150 diners inside, and an extra 70 outside on an all-weather terrace.
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Dishes on the Banana Tree menu will include pad Thai, ramen, and katsu curry dishes, plus bottomless brunches seven days a week, and an all-day menu that will suit the pre-theatre crowd.
The menu champions traditional meals from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, including noodles, salads, curries and stir-fries.
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More than 40% of the menu is also plant-based.
Banana Tree is celebrating its arrival in Salford with a 1000-katsu-curry giveaway, running throughout the first seven weeks of its opening (or until curries run out).
To claim a free katsu curry, diners will need to fill out a form and book a table, with more than 500 slots available.
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Inside Banana Tree as it opens in SalfordBanana Tree will serve a Pan-Asian menu in Salford at the Lowry Outlet Mall
There’ll be both chicken and vegan options available, each coated in a crispy panko crumb and served with katsu curry sauce, rice, and edamame.
But if you miss out on the free dish tables, worry not – Banana Tree will also be running 50% off all menu dishes for the first five weeks of opening as part of its soft launch. Just book a table to claim your discount.
Banana Tree marketing director Tom Patrick said: “We’re so excited to be opening our first restaurant in the north and open our first restaurant in the vibrant city of Salford. This will be our 19th restaurant and we couldn’t have secured a better location!
“With an all day menu taking you on a tour of South East Asian cuisine, we know that there really is something for everyone. From Pad Thai to Ramen, Katsu to 2-4-1 cocktails we’re the perfect spot for a pre-show meal, a light lunch with friends or a full Pan Asian feast!
“To celebrate our arrival into Salford we’re giving away 1000 FREE Katsu curries with no strings attached!
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“The 30 strong team have been training hard in our sister restaurants throughout the country for several weeks, and now our team are training in site, we think our Salford restaurant could be our best looking one yet! We’re looking forward to welcoming you to our award winning restaurant.”
Click here to book your table and claim your free katsu curry.
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 -
12th February 2024 
