Eats

Insomnia Cookies is giving away FREE cookies for life – if you’re willing to get a tattoo

Never had any interest in getting inked - until now...

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 14th August 2024

Late-night legends Insomnia Cookies are offering an exciting new promotion that’s not for the faint-hearted or those who want to keep their skin unmarked; they are genuinely offering free cookies for life to anyone who comes and gets a tattoo.

Taking place for one day only later this week, as well as serving up their irresistible hot and cold treats, Insomnia Cookies will be offering people who truly love the brand, their baked goods, or just freebies in general, a chance to earn themselves cookies for life.

It really is about as simple as it sounds – there’s no catch, you simply have to be in the right place at the right time and willing to get a random cookie-related tattoo on your body, of course.

If you or someone you know is covered in seemingly random designs anyway, this is nothing short of a golden opportunity.

Insomnia has teamed up with city centre parlour Rain City Tattoo Collective, based over in Chinatown, to deliver the exciting crossover promotion to Mancs after some new ink and a lifetime supply of complimentary cookies.

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The offer – fittingly titled ‘Till Death Dough Us Part’ (very good) – has been set up to promote their new loyalty card app, where you can grab rewards when you buy cookies, ice cream sandwiches, hot chocolate and more.

In fact, even before you go right ahead and get a tattoo, you can score a new member bonus and earn yourself one deluxe cookie by simply signing up for the rewards scheme.

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Customers can earn a whopping 10 points for every £1 spent and a classic cookie awaits you at just 250 points. You can download the app HERE.

As for the official Insomnia tattoo that will score those cookies for life, you can see the different designs that you can choose from down below:

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So how does it work? Well, the offer is only available from their Fallowfield store on Sunday, 18 August from 11am until close.

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The free Insomnia Cookies for life tattoo offer will be strictly first come, first serve, and you’d be a fool if you think you’re the only person who will be queuing up for this one, so we’d advise being there bright and early.

But fear not, even if you end up missing out, you can always order yourself some of their exclusive temporary tattoos to claim your free box of four cookies until Monday, 19 August.

You can find the full terms and conditions HERE, but if you don’t mind getting a cute little cookie-based tattoo somewhere on your person, stunning scenes like these could be in your future:

Credit: The Manc Group/The Manc Eats

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Featured Images — The Manc Group/Insomnia Cookies (supplied)

Eats

Cutting Room Square’s first-ever Indian restaurant set to take over former Rigatoni’s site this month

Danny Jones Danny Jones

Manchester foodies, strap in because it’s something big because a brand-new Indian restaurant is coming to the heart of Ancoats later this month.

Indian Affair, the family-style restaurant that has already seen great success on Barlow Moor Road over in Chorlton, is now set to take over the former Rigatoni’s site (previously Sugo Pasta Kitchen and then Sud) which closed back in May.

Not only will this exciting new opening be Affair’s second location as their reputation around Greater Manchester grows but it will also be the first-ever Indian restaurant to pop up on the ever-bustling Cutting Room Square.

A real hotbed for good food in the city and culinary competition on its own, landing a lot on the square is no mean feat and if you’ve seen their food already, you’ll how exciting this is.

indian affair restaurant chorlton
what happened to rigatoni's manchester?
Credit: Indian Affair (via Facebook)/The Manc Eats

Owned by loving couple, Harshit and Natasha Chopra, the new Indian Affair venue is the first of its kind for the area, focusing on Indian small plates and thalis.

Their flagship restaurant in Chorlton only opened back in October 2022 but quickly became a hit with the locals and is sure to have the same success over in Ancoats – after all, as a city famous for the Curry Mile, it’s fair to say we’ve got a lot of love for the Indian cuisine.

Commenting on the announcement, Harshit said: “We always dreamed about opening a city centre restaurant. We’ve been totally blown away by the love for our Chorlton site and are extremely grateful to those who’ve visited and made it a success. 

“As a family, we enjoy spending time in Ancoats, exploring the restaurants and Sunday markets. Cutting Room Square has a community like no other, we felt it was the perfect space for a modern Indian restaurant.”

With a menu inspired by the couple’s favourite flavours from home back in Delhi, every dish will be hand-selected by the husband and wife duo, with thalis options – a selection of smaller plates served on an Indian-style round platter – aiming to offer guests a bit of everything, be it vegan, veggie or carnivorous.

Indian Affair also encourages guests to dine family-style, prioritising socialising, sharing, and tasting a bit of everything on the table just as much as enjoying your own meal.

Credit: Indian Affair Chorlton (supplied)

Small plates range from £5-13, with favourites including chicken tikka samosa, spinach fritters drizzled with yoghurt, tamarind and mint chutney; chargrilled lamb chops, as well as tandoori king prawns in garlic and garam masala. 

In addition to offering traditional Delhi-inspired offerings, the team has also curated dishes with more of a modern twist, including chicken and paneer bao and malai artichoke. Oh yeah, they’re clever these lot.

The menu also features classic biryanis, fluffy freshly cooked naans, parathas and rotis from the clay oven tandoor, alongside a wide selection of rice, salads and chutneys to choose from.

Better still: exclusive to the new Ancoats restaurant only, the team is also launching a new lunch menu featuring filled naan rolls, further contemporary Indian takes on loaded burgers and bao buns – all of which will be priced from £8.00 and served up with crispy masala wedges.

Sure to be a hit with the locals, for sit-in and takeaway, you’ll also be able to pick up a paneer tikka or lamb seekh rolled up inside one of those lovely garlic naans, packed with fresh onion salad, mint and coriander chutney. Hungry yet?

Or, if you fancy a proper good burger that’s a little bit different, the butter chicken burger is the passionate pair’s favourite new addition to the menu and not one to be missed. And to wash it all down, Cobra will be served on draft, met with wines, alcohol-free options and a great selection of cocktails. 

Mouthwatering stuff. (Credit: Supplied)

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Safe to say that just like co-owner Natasha, we’re very excited about this one. She added: “Our small plate concept has been a great success in Chorlton. We know the demographic in Ancoats enjoy sharing food whilst socialising, so we hope the menu will be popular.

“We’re excited to try out our new lunch menu with Indian twists on your favourite lunch classics. We’re looking forward to welcoming you all very soon.”

Indian Affair promises to showcase North Indian cuisine, inspired by Delhi’s diverse flavours and home-style cooking at its very best, whilst also reflecting both the traditional and modern sides of the city and their growing home here in Manchester.

Cutting Room Square’s newest arrival soft open on Monday, 16th September with bookings available from Friday, 20 September. See you there real soon, and we hope you’re in the mood for sharing – because we sure are.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Supplied/The Manc Group

Eats

Beloved Manchester pizzeria Nell’s to give one lucky person FREE pizza for a year

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Manchester pizza legends Nell's confirm plans to take over former Croma site

A beloved Manchester pizza place is offering one lucky person the chance to win free pizza for an entire year.

That’s right, how does a year’s worth of free Nell’s sound to you?

Since first opening inside Common in Manchester‘s Northern Quarter back in 2020, Nell’s Pizza has gone from strength to strength, and has since opened two other successful sites over in Chorlton and down at the city centre waterside neighbourhood, KAMPUS – serving up its signature NYC-style pizzas, slices, ice cream sandwiches, and so much more.

And now, another new Nell’s chapter is set to begin, as the eatery will be opening the doors to its brand-new site in Altrincham in the Stamford Quarter’s ‘Foundation’ building this weekend.

The new Nell’s will be located on the ground floor of Foundation, and will feature a large bar and outdoor terrace.

Nell’s is giving one lucky person free pizza for a full year / Credit: The Manc Group

To celebrate the exciting launch later this year, the new Nell’s Altrincham site will be serving up a whopping 250 ice cream sandwiches to hungry shoppers from midday right through until 2pm this Saturday 14 September.

There’ll be hundreds of ‘everyones a winner’ golden tickets for people to claim with their ice cream sandwiches too, with prizes like a round of drinks, and a free slice of Nell’s enormous 22” NYC-style pizza – but the grand prize everyone will be hoping to get their hands on is the golden ice cream sandwich that gives one lucky person free Nell’s every month for a full year.

“People know about our pizza, but we also hand-make an incredible range of ice cream sandwiches too,” said Nell’s founder Jonny Heyes, ahead of the event this Saturday.

“This event is a really fun way to get the people of Altrincham to try them before our arrival later this year.”

Speaking on the launch of the new Nell’s Pizza site inside the Stamford Quarter, James Tootle, who is the Head of Retail and Leisure at Bruntwood – which manages the Foundation building – said:
“We’re really excited to welcome Nell’s to the Stamford Quarter. Not only will they be serving up the best NYC-style pizza around, but they’ll also bring a great sense of fun and community feeling, which is exactly what this giveaway is all about.

“Stamford Square has been revitalised into a fantastic new space where the local community can come together, and we’re thrilled to partner with businesses like Nell’s to bring it more to life.”

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Head on down to Nell’s Altrincham from 12pm on Saturday 14 September for freebies.

Featured Image – The Manc Group

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