A quirky Alice in Wonderland-inspired tearoom in Manchester has been named amongst the ‘most Instagrammable’ cafes in the world.
Richmond Tearooms in Manchester’s Gay Village offers a trip down the rabbit hole with Mad Hatter tea parties hosted by local drag queens, regular burlesque shows and all-out inspired interiors that nod to Lewis Carroll’s iconic tale of a girl, a rabbit and his pocket watch.
From an enchanted forest area where you can dine under the twinkling lights in a woodland-themed room, to the orangery which is the most warming garden even on the rainiest of Manchester days, the tearooms have long been a fixture in Manchester city centre.
Image: Richmond Tearooms
Image: Richmond Tearooms
Initially housed on Richmond Street (hence the name), the tearooms relocated to its current home opposite Sackville Gardens in 2019 – allowing it to double in size and expand on its kitsch interiors with a flower arch at its entrance, melting clocks, a sashed canopy, black and red velvet furnishing and portraits of the King and Queen of hearts.
On the menu you’ll find classic English breakfasts alongside pancakes and avocado toast served until 12pm alongside a selection of Alice in Wonderland-themed afternoon teas starting from just £10.75 for two tea-infused sultana scones, clotted cream, Tiptree preserve, and a pot of loose leaf tea.
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Inspired by characters in Lewis Carroll’s novel, choices include Alice, Hatters, Tweedles and Queens-themed afternoon teas, with the most indulgent being the Wonderland champagne afternoon tea – combining crustless sandwiches and mini quiche with an assortment of homemade cakes, scones and loose leaf tea, plus a glass of luxury fizz for £38.90.
Image: Richmond Tearooms
Image: Richmond Tearooms
Elsewhere, find light bites like cheese and onion pie and Alice’s rarebit plus a selection of sandwiches and a two-page menu of different premium tea blends.
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There are also children’s afternoon teas on offer from £9.95, as well as a dedicated kids menu featuring the likes of fish and chips, omlette, sausage and beans and a selection of sandwiches.
Add to that a counter bursting with staple cakes like coffee and walnut, Boston cream, carrot, chocolate fudge and ‘lemon dream’, plus a solid cocktail menu, and it’s easy to see why Richmond Tearooms has been a fixture in Manchester city centre for so long now.
Praised for its ‘retro setting’ and ‘vintage China teacups’, according to global travel site Big 7 Travel it doesbn’t get more ‘quintessentially British’ than this.
Ranking at number 43 in the site’s annual list of the 50 Most Instagrammable Cafes in the World for 2023, the tearooms features alongside a rainforest garden of waterfalls in Chiang Mai and the famous hot air balloons of Cappadocia.
Feature image – Richmond Tearooms
Eats
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.
Georgina Pellant -
22nd March 2023 
