Bez is bringing back his bottomless brunch to Manchester – try saying that ten times fast after a few bevs, we dare you.
Yes, the maraca-shaking Happy Mondays hype man is hosting a boozy brunch extravaganza at former railway station-turned-food hall Freight Island, and it sounds like it will be one hell of a party.
Hosted by the wild man of pop, the man who once shook the maraca so hard whilst ‘tripping [his] nut off’ that he wounded his hand, we think it’s fair to say that this event is already teed up to trump the competition – and that’s before we even get into the food and the drinks.
Promising a ‘rave-fuelled’ party atmosphere headed up by none other than Manchester’s best-loved party hero, those heading down will be twisting their melon to 90s club hits with more entertainment from singers and dancers.
Image: ETFI
There will, naturally, be a meet-and-greet opportunity with the event’s magnanimous host, plus lots of delicious street food and 90 minutes of bottomless drinks.
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Priced from £35 per person, for that you can enjoy an hour and a half of non-stop boozing from a new mimosa cocktail menu and a delicious custom menu brunch from Smoking Coal, who offer both vegetarian and meat options.
Other traders on site here (not included in the bottomless deal) include pizza spot Voodoo Rays, Amsterdam-inspired chip joint The Fry By, five-layer lasagne spot Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria, curry spot Payal, Koko Sushi and dessert spot Oh My Cheesecake.
Freight Island also boasts a number of different bars selling everything from cocktails and fine wines to craft beers, classic lagers, ciders and softs.
Taking place at Platform, the bottomless brunch with Bez will run from 12-2.30pm on Saturday 1 July.
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.
Georgina Pellant -
21st June 2023 
