A brand new Japanese restaurant is opening in Manchester city centre this weekend, with stunning interiors and affordable prices.
Hakkapo is ready to welcome its first diners this week to the bright and airy restaurant down on First Street.
They’ve taken on the old The Laundrette site (it was also, briefly, School For Scandal) and turned it into a modern dining space.
The unit on Jack Rosenthal Street is blessed with plenty of natural light thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides.
They’ve embraced that by decorating the space with rattan, light wood, wicker, and white marble throughout.
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And Hakkapo will be a haven when summer finally rolls around, with a large weather-proof terrace out the front (it’s covered and heated, because we all know Manchester summers are a smidge temperamental).
As for the menu, Hakkapo is keeping things much more affordable than a lot of other Japanese restaurants that have opened in Manchester lately.
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You’ll find delicious dishes including ramen, donburi, bao and Japanese small plates, all at a similar price point to Wagamama’s.
The outside terrace at Hakkapo in Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupHakkapo, a new Japanese restaurant opening in Manchester this week. Credit: The Manc Group
Many of the ramens begin with a traditional tonkotsu base, a creamy pork broth, which is then jazzed up with ingredients like black garlic ketchup, chashu pork, smoked pork belly, and slow-cooked bbq pork.
There’s also a tori chintan shoyu, a ramen made with clear chicken broth, braised chicken thigh, and naruto fish cake.
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Hakkapo stuffs fluffy bao with fillings like kaarage chicken, smoked sausage, and ebi katsu (or crispy squid).
Traditional Japanese donburi rice bowls come with toppings like salmon sashimi, chicken katsu, salt-aged sirloin and miso aubergine.
Fried ice cream bao at Hakkapo in ManchesterMatcha affogato
And on the small plates side of things, there are pickles, salads, yakitori skewers, and sweet-and-salty fries.
The desserts include a miso and vanilla fried bao, and a beautiful matcha affogato with red bean paste.
And as well as sake and Japanese soft drinks, there’s a menu packed with wines from central Europe.
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Hakkapo will officially open its doors on Tuesday 5 March.
The cosy Peak District pub serving a pick’n’mix sausage and mash menu
Daisy Jackson
There’s a Peak District pub that’s turned one of Britain’s most beloved comfort foods into a full-on pick’n’mix.
Tucked away in the postcard-perfect village of Castleton, Ye Olde Nags Head is serving up a fully customisable menu of sausage and mash dishes.
We’re talking near-endless combinations of proper pub grub.
You start by choosing your sausages from a daily rotating selection (not a sentence you hear every day, but we’re into it).
Expect classics like Cumberland alongside more adventurous options like venison and mustard, or even wild boar and orange, plus a veggie sausage daily.
Then it’s onto the mash – you can go for flavours like cheese and onion, wholegrain mustard, or even black pudding mash.
Classic cumberland, mustard mash, and mushroom sauceVeggie sausage with cheese and onion mash and classic gravyTucking in
To finish? A choice of rich, hearty gravies and sauces to bring it all together, whether that’s a classic onion gravy, a peppercorn sauce, or a creamy wild mushroom sauce.
And if that wasn’t enough, you can even upgrade your bangers and mash pick’n’mix by having it all served inside a giant Yorkshire pudding.
Ye Olde Nags Head is a historic 17th-century pub, with a roaring fire in every room and cosy bedrooms upstairs.
Inside Ye Olde Nags Head pub in the Peak DistrictYe Olde Nags Head pub is near Mam Tor
It’s one of those flagstone-floored, beamed-ceilinged, mismatched-furniture type pubs that welcomes everyone in every state, whether you’re caked in mud from a hike or popping in on a coach tour.
Another of the pub’s specialties is the Derbyshire Breakfast, a hearty plate of sausage, smoked bacon, black pudding, free range egg, grilled tomatoes, field mushrooms, baked beans and fried bread.
The pub also offers takeaway breakfast butties, so you can use it for both a pre-hike stop and a post-hike pint.
Given it’s just minutes from the ever-popular Mam Tor hike, this is one pub you’ll definitely want to add to your next Peak District day out itinerary.
The hillside farm in the Peak District making its own ice cream
Daisy Jackson
Did you know there’s a 300-year-old farm in the Peak District serving up some of the freshest ice cream you’ll ever taste? And yes, you can meet the cows that made it while you’re there.
Welcome to Hope Valley Ice Cream, a family-run gem where things are kept refreshingly simple: happy cows, proper farming, and seriously good ice cream.
Set in the heart of the Peak District countryside, this place is about as wholesome as it gets.
The ice cream is made on-site in the farmhouse, literally just metres from where the dairy herd are out grazing.
You can watch the animals, wander around the farm, and then tuck into a scoop or three perched on a milk pail stool, or a picnic bench (or even a decorative tractor).
Hope Valley Ice Cream has some amazing seasonal ice creams, like lemon curd, elderflower, and blackberry, alongside all the classics and a rather delicious tiramisu.
You can grab a cone, sit down with a coffee (again, made with milk from the nearby cows), or go all in with a freshly-made waffle if you’re feeling fancy.
Takeaway tubs from Hope Valley Ice CreamYou can get a mini pail of ice creamMeet the newborn calves at Hope Valley Ice CreamTuck into your ice cream on a milk pail stoolHope Valley Ice Cream
And if you’re the type who really loves ice cream? You can actually order a full pail of it, with four huge scoops plus whipped cream and sauce.
The farm itself is run by the Marsden family, who’ve been working this land for generations. It shows in everything – they’ve created a place that feels genuinely welcoming, not just another tourist stop.
Beyond the ice cream, you’ve got plenty of reasons to stick around. There are calves (including the newest tiny arrivals), plus donkeys and pigs to say hello to.
Whether you’re heading out on a hike or just fancy a drive into the Peaks, this is one pitstop that’s absolutely worth it – and honestly, it’s worth the trip on its own.
Daisy Jackson -
4th March 2024 
