Eats

Manchester family-run Greek restaurant launches emergency services discount to ‘give back’

Rozafa owner Al told The Manc he wanted to support hard working staff

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 5th January 2023

A Manchester family-run Greek restaurant that has been a fixture in the city for over fifteen years has launched a new discount to thank local emergency service workers for all their hard work.

In the midst of a winter NHS crisis, with British nurses and ambulance workers both striking in search of better pay and conditions, restaurant owner Al Rozafa told The Manc he wanted to give something back to workers – many of whom have been going non-stop since early 2020.

As a sign of appreciation for how hard frontline staff have worked during the Covid pandemic, the popular Greek restaurant owner has introduced a 15% off blue light offer that can be enjoyed by drinkers and diners any time this month.

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

Available to NHS staff, fire brigade and police workers, the discount is available to emergency service staff throughout January with workers just needing to show a badge or some form of ID to get the saving at Rozafa.

The family-run restaurant, recently named the best restaurant in the UK at a national awards ceremony, has two sites in Greater Manchester. its original site is based in Stockport, whilst the second can be found on Princess Street in Manchester city centre.

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Read more: This family-run Greek restaurant has just been named the best in England

Both can be relied upon to serve up innumerable delicious Greek favourites, including huge mezze platters, stuffed vine leaves, and whole shanks of lamb stifado, cooked slowly for hours until the meat just falls off the bone.

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The menu here is extensive, covering both Greek and Cypriot dishes with a host of colourful, heart-healthy options.

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

If you’re planning a visit, you can expect to find everything from mincemeat stuffed vine leaves and homemade keftedakia (meatballs), to charcoal-grilled Cypriot pork with melted halloumi and several different styles of saganaki.

Elsewhere, you’ll find the likes of grilled sardines and octopus on its fish menu, alongside some hearty favourites like moussaka and souvlaki.

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There’s so much on offer you’re definitely spoilt for choice. One visit probably just isn’t enough, if we’re being honest. Expect to leave incredibly full, to say the least.

To find out more and book, you can visit Rozafa’s website here.

Feature image – The Manc Eats

Eats

Hotly-anticipated new Lina Stores confirms Manchester opening date – and 50% off food

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Lina Stores has confirmed its opening date in Manchester. Credt: Supplied

Lina Stores has confirmed the opening date for its hotly-anticipated Manchester restaurant, and is slashing food bills in half while they get going.

The brand-new restaurant, delicatessen and Italian cocktail bar will be opening on Quay Street in just a few weeks, with a soft launch period offering 50% off food bills.

This will be the first time the beloved, decades-old London brand has headed outside of the capital, bringing fresh handmade pasta, deli-inspired antipasti, and indulgent desserts up north.

Lina Stores has now confirmed that it will be opening here in Manchester on Thursday 17 April 2026.

Blending coffee shop, delicatessen, restaurant, and bar, the new space will be styled in traditional Lina Stores shades of pastel green hues, warm timber woods, and terrazzo and timber flooring.

You’ll find bespoke marble tables, original vintage Bentwood chairs, dark green booth seating and opaline globe lighting inspired by the original Brewer Street delicatessen.

Lina Stores - Italian deli restaurant serving homemade pasta and more is heading to Manchester
Lina Stores – Italian deli restaurant serving homemade pasta and more is heading to Manchester. Credit: Rebecca Hope

The amenu will feature everything from Italian-inspired breakfasts like truffle scrambled eggs, to pasta dishes like 30-egg yolk taglioni, to salads, freshly-made panini, and delicate cakes and pastries in the open-plan delicatessen.

The 150-cover, open-kitchen restaurant will be open seven days a week, with a coffee and cocktail bar specialising in aperitivo, Bar Lina, beside it.

To celebrate its opening in Manchester, Lina Stores is offering a limited number of 50% off food bookings, available during its soft launch from 11 to 16 April. To be in with a chance of securing a soft launch booking, you can sign up HERE.

Lina Stores Manchester officially opens on Thursday 17th April.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Inside The Black Friar as Salford pub unveils incredible floral display

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Inside The Black Friar as Salford pub unveils incredible floral display

Spring has really sprung in Salford – legendary pub The Black Friar has just revealed a sensational makeover, with gigantic flowers sprawled across its frontage and a new seasonal menu to go with it. 

The historic pub is celebrating the changing of the seasons with both a striking floral installation and a menu that celebrates spring and Salford in equal measure. 

Most Mancs will by now have spotted the 4,000 flower-strong installation that now adorns the front of The Black Friar, with bright pink, yellow and purple flowers spilling from a gigantic pink tap. 

And all those florals continue inside, with the pub’s Tavern – previously a cosy winter hideaway – now filled with trailing blooms and woodland installations, just off their award-winning garden.

Cheshire-based artist Kelly Louise Chapman is the woman behind this sensational transformation of the much-loved gastropub. 

As for the pub’s kitchen, they’ve crafted a new very seasonal and very British menu, with plenty of nods to Black Friar’s Salford roots. 

There are dishes like a Boddingtons braised ox cheek (the pub still proudly displays its Boddingtons sign outside), aged beef tartare, butternut squash and ricotta tortellini, and pan-roasted cod fillet. 

Spring small plates at The Black Friar pub
Spring small plates at The Black Friar pub
Delicious spring drinks
Delicious spring drinks
Inside The Tavern at The Black Friar
Inside The Tavern at The Black Friar

A popular item from the Valentine’s Day menu – the Cornish crab vol-au-vent – will be sticking around on the spring menu, along with an enhanced grill section that includes a lamb Barnsley chop cooked over coals. 

Then for desserts, you’ll be spoilt with a banoffee knickerbocker glory, and passionfruit panna cotta. 

And for drinks (because this is a pub, after all), The Black Friar has put together a range of seasonal drinks like a rose sangria sharer, and non-alcoholic sodas like kaffir lime and coconut. 

Ben Chaplin, head chef at The Black Friar, said: “This new menu is all about celebrating the best of spring produce. 

“We’ve carefully crafted each dish to highlight fresh, seasonal ingredients and bold flavours, adding new depth to our offerings while still delivering the comfort that will always be associated with The Black Friar. 

“My top recommendation and personal favourite dish is the Slow-Cooked Boddingtons Braised Ox Cheek.”

Neil Burke, owner of The Black Friar, commented: “We wanted to bring a taste of spring to The Black Friar, inside and out. This floral installation will transform the space and bring sunshine and smiles, whatever the weather! 

“My top recommendation on the new menu is the Cumbrian Spiced Lamb Scotch Egg. It’s EXCEPTIONAL.”

To find out more about The Black Friar and to book a table, visit HERE. 

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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