Greater Manchester cafe Grandpa Greene’s has brought back its epic Easter egg hot chocolate for 2022 and this year, it’s looking better than ever.
The popular canalside ice cream parlour and cafe in Diggle, Saddleworth, has teamed up with beloved local chocolatier Slattery’s to give the people what they want.
This year, they’ve updated their original hot chocolate recipe and it now comes with a full Slattery Easter egg, marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and mini eggs.
What more could you possibly want from an Easter treat?
Image: Grandpa Greene’s
Available at the cafe from now through to the Easter weekend itself, the fan favourite comes served in a huge Grandpa Greene’s cup and topped with a Slattery’s egg, cracked in half and stuffed with all the sweet goodies your heart could possibly desire.
There’s plenty more for sweet tooths to enjoy here, too. Open seven days a week with service running from brunch through to dinner and tea, you can sample a huge range of homemade, luxury ice creams in flavours like blackcurrant and liquorice, honeycomb and cookies and cream.
In total, there are 32 different flavours to choose from – including vegan-friendly ice creams and sorbets.
Elsewhere, you’ll find indulgent ice cream sundaes, stacked plates of waffles and pancakes, grilled cheese and other artisan sandwiches, bread bowls and more.
Image: Grandpa Greene’s
Great for all the family (dogs included), across the way an obstacle adventure course is on hand to entertain the little ones – or alternatively, you can opt to take a stroll down the waterside and soak in the countryside surroundings of Saddleworth.
For indoor dining, you’ll need to make a reservation in advance but al fresco dining is open to walk ins if you feel like turning up on a spontaneous one.
To find out more and book, head over to Grandpa Greene’s website here.
Feature image – Grandpa Greene’s
Eats
Lupo Caffe Italiano – a taste of sunny Rome on a Prestwich industrial estate
Daisy Jackson
The sun is beating down on you, there’s a couple of luminous orange Aperol Spritzes on the checked tablecloth, Italian pop music is trickling out over the speakers and you’ve got two heaping bowls of pasta on the way.
The setting could easily be a cobbled street in front of the Colosseum in Rome. But it’s not. It’s an industrial estate in Prestwich.
Lupo must be one of Greater Manchester’s most hidden gems in a very literal sense.
To get here, you have to drive or walk a strange looping circuit around industrial warehouses peddling everything from splashbacks to burglar alarms to grow tents.
One of these warehouses, located in the very furthest yard, looks a little different to the others, festooned with bunches of garlic and dried herbs strung up from the ceiling.
There are shelves full of pasta, sauces and even crisps, a fridge packed with delicious Italian wines and beers, and retro football shirt-inspired merch hanging from the walls.
Its awkward location does nothing to hold back its loyal customers, who repeatedly return for the authentic taste of Rome on offer here.
Lupo is operated by Nico Pasquali, who first ran it as a tiny Italian cafe on Chapel Street in Salford (before all the high-rises appeared), then shifted it over to the odd shiny-commercial-office-land that is Exchange Quay, then took it almost entirely remote to trudge through the pandemic.
Lupo’s charming interiorsNico has added outside seating to LupoThe pasticceria selection at Lupo
At one point, Caffè Lupo existed mostly on WhatsApp, with customers texting in their orders ready for a doorstep drop on a Friday night.
But now the large-ish commercial unit is its main business, and it’s a special one.
You are greeted, always, with a friendly wave, then given the sort of service where you’re very gently guided to order all the best things on the menu that day, feeling like you’ll personally offend Nico if you order differently and stray from his recommendations. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to trust this man.
It’s extremely hard for me to see amatriciana on a menu and not order it – so I don’t try. One bowl of rigatoni amatriciana for me, and make it cheesy.
This is a textbook example of the deceptively simple pasta dish. Fatty guanciale cooked right down so that all that delicious pork fat melts into the tomatoes, then it’s seasoned with, I presume, several generations of secrets and love from Italian nonnas.
Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchietteA spread of Lupo’s Italian foodPepernata – Nico’s mum’s recipeThe Pizza Lupo
The sweet, salty, meaty sauce is available on a pizza too, which will be top of my list next time I visit.
Across the table it’s a special (but it’s been on the menu for a while now) of orecchiette with fennel sausage and romanesco broccoli.
Nico tells us a customer once refused to pay for this dish because it wasn’t ‘saucy’ enough. Heathen.
That’s the running theme with Lupo – don’t come here expecting Neapolitan pizzas, or flat whites, or hot honey dips for your pizza crusts. It isn’t the Roman way, and Nico isn’t about to veer away from his proud roots to mould into any passing fads or trends.
If you’re after authenticity and tradition though, this is comfortably the top Italian in Greater Manchester.
If you can come to Lupo and walk away without ordering something sweet from the counter, you’re a stronger person than me.
PasticceriaOwner NicoLupo’s famous millefoglie
They’re famed for their doughnuts (rightly), with bouncy dough filled with flavours including pistachio cream, lemon, and homemade jams.
Also displayed in neat rows are fruit tarts with a glossy glaze, towering cream cakes in neat layers, and puff pastry cannoncini.
But Nico is adamant, absolutely adamant, that we order a slice of his millefoglie. It’s a sell-out, he says. We’re lucky he even has some in stock, he tells us. Who are we to argue?
And if you’ve made it this far, just stop reading right now, get in the damn car and go get yourself a slice before it sells out again.
Layers of lighter-than-air homemade pastry are sandwiched together with delicately sweet cream, hints of almond throughout, and it’s good enough to bring a tear to your eye.
We leave with a doughnut in a box too, so that we at least have a snack if we get completely lost finding our way back out of the industrial estate.
A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
A bottomless brunch with unlimited pints of lager will be launching in Manchester this month.
Forget the mimosas and warm prosecco and lacklustre portions of French toast – this new bottomless offering is all about proper pints and hefty focaccia sandwiches.
The Lager, Lager, Lager bottomless brunch is the newest fixture in the Trading Route’s roster, taking place in the lagerhouse at St John’s every Saturday.
It’s designed to be Manchester’s first bottomless tailored to those who love, tall, foamy pints of the good stuff.
Every punter will get 60 minutes of unlimited, freshly-poured foamy pints, as well as a choice of the restaurant’s focaccia sandwiches, made in-house every single day.
DJs will be spinning classic house and disco tunes as you tuck into your pints and butties.
Jamie Scahill, Trading Route Co-Founder said: “Lager, Lager, Lager isn’t an underworld event, it’s for everyone who loves a freshly poured foamy pint to come down and enjoy.
“Whether you were born slippy or not, the fun is to leave slippy, having revelled in great beer, food and company.”
A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester
Trading Route opened last year, specialising in perfectly-poured pints of Manchester Union, as well as rotisserie chicken and huge sandwiches.
As well as Lager, Lager, Lager’s launch, over the bank holiday weekend there’ll be a happy hour which will include £4.80 pints, cocktails at £8.50 and a carafe of wine for £12.50 on Thursday 21 August.
Funkademia will then take over the venue from 5pm on Friday 22 August.
Lager, Lager, Lager will begin on Saturday 23 August and will run every Saturday from 12pm until 5pm.
The Trading Route bottomless lager brunch costs £28, and you can book your spot HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
24th February 2022 
