It’s made a name for itself with its handmade pasta dishes, including (my personal favourite) the nduja vodka pasta sharer.
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Onda also went quite ridiculously viral last September when they shared a video of their tiramisu drawer – yep, a whole drawer, full of tiramisu, which they generously scoop out and plop onto plates to order.
It’s had more than 57 million views across Instagram and TikTok, with subsequent behind-the-scenes posts also hitting millions of views apiece.
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The pudding drawer even caught the eye of Hollywood a-lister Florence Pugh. Which didn’t help with the demand to get a table.
So now Onda is branching out, with its very own restaurant space in Manchester set to open mid-May.
They’ve today shared a photo of their brand new location, down at Circle Square on Oxford Road.
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Onda’s handmade pasta dishesOnda is opening a new Manchester restaurantThe VERY viral tiramisuOnda has moved out of The New Cross and revealed plans for a new pasta restaurant in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
It’s a brilliant new addition to the area, which is already home to Federal (another place prone to a big queue) and North Taproom – but which recently lost gig venue Canvas, and New Zealand brunch spot Tahi.
Onda has said that their new restaurant will have around 48 covers in the main dining space, with about 26 more in the bar area.
Those who had tables booked at The New Cross will be given priority access to tables for the new restaurant, with Onda apologising for ‘letting those down’ who have been waiting as long as October to dine with them.
They wrote: “This was a really tough decision to make, first and foremost because we had to let down those who have booked with us but also financially as a popup it’s a huge hit for us to lose a month of revenue.
“A lot of these bookings were made in October/November and we hadn’t foreseen this demand for Onda in a million years, in August/September we were touch and go each week and a month later we had bookings being made 6 months in advance.”
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Speaking of leaving The New Cross for their new ‘perfect’ site, Onda said: “A massive thank you to everyone who’s visited us since we moved to @thenewcross in August, and to Chris + Rach, the owners of the bar and their team here for all their help and support. I’m not sure either us or them ever anticipated it to go quite like it did. It went mad.
“At times trying to run a restaurant from someone’s else’s bar was chaos to say the least but the feedback has made it all worth it and we’re really excited to properly open our own space in May.”
Onda Pasta Bar will open at Circle Square on Oxford Road in mid-March.
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.
Daisy Jackson -
25th March 2024 
