Over in Ancoats, there’s a charming little chocolate shop and cafe serving up homemade lollipops, outrageously indulgent drinks and delectable cakes in all shapes and sizes.
Called Cocoa Cabana, it has been a fixture in the trendy suburb since 2019, having already established itself down on West Didsbury’s Burton Road.
Still, whilst Manc locals and tourists alike know all about its viral Augustus Gloop hot chocolates far less are privy to the details of its hidden tapas menu – and that is a crying shame.
Served at the Ancoats site every Friday and Saturday night, the hidden Spanish menu on offer here is the brainchild of talented chef José Núñez.
Núñez launched his pop-up tapas restaurant Maricarmen inside the Ancoats cafe in May and is using its kitchen on Friday and Saturday evenings to cook up all manner of delicious morsels.
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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Ranging from blackened and blistered Padron peppers to patatas bravas, Iberico meat and tortilla, fans of authentic tapas are well catered to here – as are foodies looking for more out-there dishes.
The menu also puts a twist on some classic European favourites, meaning you’ll also find the likes of truffled lasagne, plump garlic prawns drenched in olive oil with garlic and dried chillies, and cheese foam-topped potatoes on offer.
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Add in quails egg-topped croquettes filled with chistorra, the best Iberico pork cuts products, crunchy lasagne with boletus, and lagarto with cassava truffled puree, and it’s fair to say that this pop-up has to be one of Ancoats’ best kept secrets.
Plates are washed down with beautiful Spanish wines that have been painstakingly sourced by the team, with a variety of different Spanish cocktails also on offer.
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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Promising to deliver an ‘unforgettable culinary experience’ in the city, Maricarmen ’s chef José Núñez told The Manc: “We are thrilled to bring an innovative twist on traditional Spanish wine and tapas experience to the wonderful city of Manchester.
“We aim to provide our customers with extraordinary quality dishes and wine that would leave a long lasting impression and bring them back for more.”
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
A ‘Bubble Planet Experience’ with giant ball pits and an infinity room is coming to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Manchester will soon welcome a ‘dreamlike world’ filled with giant, colourful bubbles, when Bubble Planet Experience makes its Manchester debut.
Expect giant ball pits, giant balloons, floating soap bubbles, and an infinity room in this brand-new-for-us immersive experience.
Bubble Planet Experience has already been visited by more than four million people in cities across the globe, including New York, Los Angeles, and London – now it’s time for its first trip to Manchester, where it’ll pop up inside Depot Mayfield.
Visitors will be able to explore 10 themed rooms, each one offering a different surreal landscape that will ‘blur the boundaries between dream and reality’.
Highlights include the Bubble Ocean, a vast expanse of bubbles designed to evoke calm and serenity, and the Infinity Room, where mirrors and shifting lights create the illusion of endless space.
Underwater Bubbles will transport visitors into a hypnotic aquatic world, recreating the magic and mystery of deep-sea exploration.
An infinity room at Bubble Planet Experience
There’s also a Bubble Dome, where younger visitors can unleash their creativity in a play area, plus the chance to go on a virtual reality adventure.
Expect dazzling light displays, interactive installations, and unexpected textures.
Bubble Planet Experience is co-produced by family entertainment producer Exhibition Hub and Fever.
Hamza El Azhar, CEO of Exhibition Hub, said: “We are delighted to be bringing Bubble Planet to Manchester for the very first time alongside the team at Fever, and to be part of a city with such a strong and celebrated cultural identity.
“We look forward to welcoming everyone to experience a joyful, immersive adventure that sparks curiosity and wonder for all ages.”
The waitlist for early access to tickets is available HERE.
How and where to recycle or donate your Christmas tree in Manchester | 2026
Emily Sergeant
The new year is here, and the ’12 days of Christmas’ are up… which means it’s time for a fresh start.
Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve both feel like things of the past now, and for most of us, this is our first proper week back at work too, which means (if you haven’t already) it’s time to tackle the task of taking down and putting away all the festive decorations – even if it is one of the dullest times of the year and it signals that the magic of Christmas is over.
For those of us that opt for a real Christmas tree though, the end of the year always brings one question – now what do we do with it?
Manchester City Council has aimed to answer that very question by providing residents with a handful of different ways to recycle their Christmas trees to make sure they’re put to good use and don’t go to waste or get dumped.
Here’s the different options.
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Recycle it in your food and garden waste bin
You can recycle your Christmas tree by cutting it up and placing it in your food and garden waste bin, but you’ll need to make sure you take the following steps before doing so.
Remove all decorations and fairy lights
Take off the base or wooden block if your tree has one
Make sure the trunk is not thicker than your wrist. Wood thicker than your wrist is too big and can’t be put in the garden and food bin. Large trunks and wooden bases can be taken to a recycling centre.
Donate it to charity
Did you know you can donate your Christmas trees to charity? That’s right – for residents living in Manchester, all you’ll need to do is register your tree with national charity JustHelping, along with a donation towards the collection, and you can help a local hospice or charitable cause in the city-region.
The money raised will go to good causes in the area, including Moya Cole Hospice (previously St Anne’s Hospice), Francis House, and We Love Manchester.
You can find more information and register your tree here.
It’s time to take down and recycle our Christmas trees for another year / Credit: Myriam Olmz | Tanbir Mahmud (via Unsplash)
Take it to a local drop-off point
You can drop your real tree throughout January at:
Angel Meadow Park (entrance Old Mount Street) – M4 4HA
Wythenshawe Park and Gardens Athletics Track – M23 0PH
Heaton Park (Middleton Road entrance) – M8 4NB
Boggart Hole Clough (near the Visitor Centre) – M9 7DH
Patchett Street, off Hyde Road in Ardwick – M12 4RY
Bring it to your local recycling centres
And finally, wherever you live in Manchester, you can take your real Christmas tree – and even your artificial tree that is beyond reuse – to your local recycling centre for free of charge, but it’s worth noting that if you’re planning on using a van, pick-up truck, or a twin-axle trailer to dispose of your tree, then you’ll probably need to apply for a permit.
You can find information about your nearest recycling centre here.
Are you elsewhere in Greater Manchester? Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) has teamed up with local councils and charities across the region to provide Greater Manchester residents in all 10 boroughs with several different options for either recycling or donate their old Christmas trees.
Georgina Pellant -
19th June 2023 
