Some guy on TikTok is being absolutely roasted after making what he claims is ‘the official sandwich of Manchester’ and we can quickly confirm two things: one, no it’s not and two, we’ve absolutely never heard of it whatsoever.
The online food content creator known as ‘Big Nibbles‘ started a series where he began making the official sandwiches of UK towns and cities earlier this year and now several episodes in, he has been rumbling locals all across the country — none more so than us Mancs.
Posting the video of the so-called official Manchester sandwich across his social platforms, he was quickly met with droves of people promptly responding, “can safely say never had this”, “I’m a Manc and we deffo don’t eat this” and so on.
In fact, the whole thing has gone so awry that multiple videos have been hit with copyright strikes and he had to replace his original voiceover with generic ‘food-tok’ music.
Assembling what we can only surmise is either pulled pork or some form of brisket, a kind of quick-pickle red onion and slices of gouda cheese on a big sub-style roll, this absolute heretic is peddling nothing more than a pretentious pretender to the throne.
ADVERTISEMENT
The reaction was summed up pretty succinctly by one commenter who quipped, “oh yes the famous Manchester pulled pork Gouda and onion hoagie”.
Better still, there were countless people that simply replied, “Surely the official sandwich of Manchester is a chip barm?”, “bacon butty” or even just “a crisp sandwich”. Preach — less of this faffing about.
ADVERTISEMENT
Obviously made fairly tongue-in-cheek, with his original voiceover labelling 0161 as “London 2.0” with an “alarming amount of gun crime”. Wash your mouth out, you cheeky get.
With plenty firing back by saying, “‘London 2.0’ nah don’t insult Manchester like that” and asking “What has Manchester done to you?”, we were glad to see plenty of you lot sticking up for the best place in the world.
It might have been exactly what he said we’d do but the point still stands…
All that being said, if you were in charge of creating the official sandwich of Manchester, what would you put in it? Then again, you could always just go and get a chip butty or slap some Walkers between two slices of bread and have absolutely no complaints.
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.