There’s a brand new pub right in the heart of the Northern Quarter, as The Lamb of Tartary officially opens its doors.
The stunning space has completely transformed the former Cottonopolis site on Newton Street into a bright and airy restaurant.
The Lamb of Tartary comes from the same team behind the Edinburgh Castle pub in Ancoats, which was recently named one of the best gastropubs in the country. So yeah – safe hands.
Executive chef Shaun Moffat (also an award-winner after being named Chef of the Year at the MFDF Awards), will be in charge of the menu, where he’s created a mouth-watering list of seasonal British dishes.
And they’ll be celebrating their launch today by giving away free pints of Heineken to the first 100 people through the door after 5pm.
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The Grade II-listed building itself looks almost unrecognisable from its previous form.
It’s now filled with ornate panelling and leafy green plants, with a beautiful terracotta-painted ceiling, faux windows with linen curtains breaking up the huge space, and quartz-patterned booths.
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The Lamb of Tartary has taken its name from an old tale, where people believed that lambs grew on trees and came from cotton plants, and is a nod back to Manchester’s history with the cotton trade.
As for the food, there’ll be small plates including Atlantic prawn cocktail with melba toast, burrata with pumpkin and green sauce, Otterburn Farm pork available as bacon collar and loin chops, and Cornish lobster with hollandaise.
The Lamb of Tartary is also going to have a tempting brunch menu, with dishes including bacon chop with fried egg and chips, wild mushrooms and lake’s fried egg on toast, and English muffin topped with potato rosti, fried egg, cheese and tomato jam, available from 12pm until 3pm.
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The brand-new pub, restaurant and bar will have 24 different beers on tap, like local breweries Manchester Union Lager, Buxton Brewery, and Mobberley Brewhouse.
Drinks will include the pub’s take on classic cocktails, like a Gimlet, Old Fashioned, and Sidecar, plus fan favourites like an Espresso Martini with chocolate and orange, and a Paloma with grapefruit and rosemary soda.
A range of hot drinks, soft drinks and a lower-alcohol drinks will be perfect for brunch too, like a Bloody Mary, a Garibaldi, and The Lamb’s Spritz.
Director of The Lamb, Nick Muir commented: “We’re excited to finally be able to welcome the public into The Lamb of Tartary next week.
“The venue has had a complete makeover, transforming it into a light and airy space perfect for enjoying a pint with friends or a meal with loved ones.
“After seeing such success at Edinburgh Castle, we are looking forward to creating something more accessible and casual to those who visit whilst still championing local produce and suppliers we’ve spent the last year or so building up.
“If you are looking for your new local in the Northern Quarter, then The Lamb of Tartary is certainly it!”
The Lamb of Tartary officially opens its doors in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on Friday 1 March – you can book a table here.
Its kitchen and bar will be open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm, with the bar open from 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays too.
‘Craic Den?’ – New Irish bar to open on Albert Square this week
Daisy Jackson
A new Irish bar is set to open in Manchester this week (yessir, another one), and its owners have been on the hunt for its new name.
Tokyo Industries has announced plans to reopen the Red’s True BBQ site, right off Albert Square, as a new Irish bar.
They’re promising it will have an ‘Irish American feel’ and will be serving food like all-day Ulster breakfasts as well as roast dinners with Guinness gravy.
Aaron Mellor, CEO of Tokyo Industries, has shared a call-out for name suggestions for the new bar, with the shortlist so far including names like ‘The Craic Den’ and ‘House of Guinness’.
Red’s True BBQ was famed for its slow-cooked meat, and outrageous specials like its doughnut burger, but shut down in Manchester in 2023.
It had previously been rescued by Tokyo Industries, which also operates other venues in town like Gorilla and Deaf Institute, Impossible, and Factory 251.
The site itself is in a magnificent Grade II-listed building on the corner of Albert Square, facing out onto the Town Hall (and soon, the Manchester Christmas Markets).
A new Instagram account shows the space slowly being transformed into an Irish bar, with green leather and Guinness logos slowly taking over the space.
It also suggests that, sadly, The Craic Den hasn’t made the cut as the new name – instead it’s set to open as Dirty O’Sullivan MCR.
Aaron Mellor shared last week: “Deciding on names for venues is always so hard – we’ve come up with about 300 names & suffering choice fatigue…
“It’s a new Irish bar with an Irish American feel set in the Reds True Barbecue site on Albert Square, Manchester.
“Amazing food – Great live entertainment – The finest Guinness – The coolest cocktails – All day Ulster Breakfasts – Guinness Gravey Sunday Roasts Mmm.
“Favorites So: Dirty O’Sullivans, Reds True Irish, Luck of the Irish, The Dublin Docker, The Hare & Harp, The Craic Den, The Perfect Pint, The StoreHouse, House Of Guinness, Murphy’s Law, Oscar Wildes.”
Dirty O’Sullivan is set to open on Lloyd Street at Albert Square this week.
Mulligans are making butties with the team behind some of the best sandwiches in Manchester
Danny Jones
We feel like we say this almost every time they set up one of these crossovers, but Bada Bing might have just hit it out of the park with their latest collaboration, as they’re teaming up with beloved Irish bar Mulligans to create what could be the sandwich of the century.
In case you’re wondering where we’ll be when this butty becomes available, we’ll be in the legendary Manchester pub, clutching at least three of these while asking the live band to play The Sopranos theme tune in full Celtic reel fashion.
Yes, two of our very favourite places in the city centre are teaming up not just for a one-off special, the Deansgate boozer – widely considered one of the best Irish bars (if not THE best) in Manchester – is actually going to be supplying the crucial ingredient in their limited-time menu item.
Teasing the collab earlier this week, the Bada Bing boys roped in Mulligans owner, Pádraig Brady, to play his role in the announcement that quickly went viral.
Now, in case you weren’t already salivating at the mere thought of it, wait until you hear what concoction they have come up with.
Simply titled ‘Split the B’ (nice), the Bada Bing x Mulligans special edition sandwich features Mulligans’ Guinness-braised short rib, crispy spuds, greens, pickled cabbage and crispy onions. Oh. My. Word…
With punters’ favourite ‘Mullies’ pouring in more than 13,000 pints of the black stuff every single week, it won’t surprise you to learn that those lines have to be cleaned and maintained almost constantly.
It also goes without saying that wasting even a single drop of that liquid gold is a tragedy, so they had the ingenious of using that surplus stout to create a limited supply of slow-roasted, Guinness-flavoured beef fit to grace any authentic Irish stew.
Slap that meat between bread, and what do you get? Perhaps one of the greatest culinary creations we Manchester foodies have ever seen.
Speaking on the collab, Pádraig said: “At Mulligans, we take pride in every pint of Guinness we pour, so when the chance came up to team up with Bada Bing and create something special for Mancs to enjoy beyond the pub, it just made sense. Quality recognises quality.”
“We’ve always admired Mulligans for how they do things – with no shortcuts”, says Sam Gormally, co-founder of Bada Bing.”
He went on to add: “This collab celebrates everything we both love about Manchester hospitality – craft, quality and a bit of heart. It’s a proper Manc sandwich, made with a proper pint.”
In case it wasn’t already blatantly obvious, we cannot wait to try this thing, and since it’s only being served for a few days, we intend to eat as many as possible.
The ‘Split the B’ Mulligans x Bada Bing Guinness Sandwich will be available exclusively at Bada Bing, 125 Oldham St in the Northern Quarter from Thursday, 6 November – and once they’re gone, they’re GONE.
Daisy Jackson -
1st March 2024 
