Since closing its doors at Hatch last year, Manchester’s tiniest tapas bar has been almost constantly on the move.
Chef-owner Ana has busied herself hosting kitchen pop-ups in Stretford and Sale Food Halls and at The Chorlton Green, but now she’s found a new home in the Northern Quarter whilst she keeps working on her own bar in Chorlton.
As of Thursday, 11 August, the scientist-turned-chef will officially take over the kitchen at Alvarium from Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria with her Abeja concept.
Ana is known for serving inventive and unusual southern Spanish dishes like “berenjenas fritas” (aubergine fries with molasses), which we can confirm will be making a return to the menu alongside other recipes passed down to her through generations.
Abeja has found a new home. Credit: The Manc Group
You’ll also find painstakingly-sourced plates of charcuterie and cheese and tapas staples like Spanish tortilla and patatas bravas, the latter of which is available three ways as part of a £9 lunch deal between the hours of 12 and 4pm.
Elsewhere on the menu are a range of sourdough tostas made using Holy Grain bread, Iberico pork tenderloin pinchos, fat shell-on prawns and homemade croquetas, with sweets like chocolate churros and a Spanish almond torta to finish.
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Food and drinks at Abeja in the Northern Quarter. Credit: The Manc Group
When the team announced plans to close their Hatch site in January this year, they wrote on social media that it had been ‘an incredible journey […] despite opening a few months before Covid’.
Having begun the business with zero experience in the hospitality industry (Villegas left a twenty-year career as a research scientist to open Abeja), it was with heavy hearts that they decided it was time to move on from Hatch.
However things are definitely on the up for the kitchen, with Ana confirming that they are going to be busy working away at a new permanent site whilst running the Alvarium kitchen.
She told The Manc: “While we keep working on our own bar in Chorlton, we are really excited about this new venture in the Northern Quarter.
“It’s a great opportunity to work alongside Alvarium and want to make our home here for the long haul. Even the name it’s the perfect match for Abeja, as it stands for Beehive in Latin.”
Abeja is open at Alvarium from X to X between the hours of X. Find them in the Northern Quarter just off Tib Street.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
Historic hidden library in Manchester city centre reveals £11m transformation plans
Emily Sergeant
Ambitious plans to transform one of Manchester’s greatest historical hidden gems have been announced.
Founded all the way back in 1806, The Portico Library – which is hidden in plain sight on Mosley Street, in the heart of the city centre – played a central role in Manchester’s rise as the world’s first modern city, and since then, it has been serving as a window into the past and a providing a place of inspiration for anyone who needs it.
But now, these new transformation plans, titled The Reunited Project, will ensure the building not only survives, but also thrives as the UK’s most sustainable historic library for generations to come.
The Portico Library‘s transformational scheme is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and will look to ‘reunite’ the historic building’s three floors for the first time in over a century, creating a fully-accessible and sustainable cultural library.
Crucially, plans will see a step-free entrance and lift installed to make the library accessible to all.
There’ll also be new exhibition and event spaces introduced as part of the scheme to explore the stories of Manchester’s communities and the city’s heritage.
There will a Northern Bookshop, showcasing regional and emerging writers, and independent publishers, as well as a creative Portico Kitchen, which will celebrate the city’s food culture, writing, and history.
A place for school groups, families, and all people to explore Portico’s collection and experiment creatively also forms part of the plans.
“Portico Reunited is about more than restoring a building,” explained Dr Thom Keep, who is a Librarian & the Chief Executive of the Portico Library, after the transformation plans were submitted to Manchester City Council.
“It’s about opening doors to stories, ideas, heritage and communities across Greater Manchester.
“These plans secure Portico’s future, unlocking the power of heritage to inspire Manchester’s visitors and residents to explore, share, and celebrate their stories and the city’s literary and global heritage.”
If the plans are approved by the Council, The Portico Library will close for around 18 months for construction, during which it will continue to engage the public through its ‘Portigo !’ pop-up programme.
Featured Image – Portico Library
Manchester
Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly earns surprise England call-up
Danny Jones
Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly has earned himself a surprise England call-up for this upcoming international break.
The impressive young utility player, who has been deployed as both a defender and a midfielder under Pep Guardiola, has proved to be a popular member of the squad among Man City fans.
A north Manchester-born academy product, O’Reilly has represented the Three Lions throughout various age groups across the youth level, but this England camp will be his first senior call-up.
Yet another local lad flying the flag for 0161 in the national team.
The 20-year-old arrived at St George’s Park on Monday afternoon along with a number of ther young English stars such as Myles Lewis-Skelly, Elliot Anderson, Jarrel Quansash, who have recently been integrated by national team boss, Thomas Tuchel.
O’Reilly has been added to the squad following the withdrawal of fellow defender Reece James, with the Chelsea fullback having picked up yet another injury in the Premier League.
As detailed by England Football: “The Chelsea captain sustained an injury playing for his club over the weekend and has been ruled out of England’s October internationals following medical assessments.”
With O’Reilly able to play not only in defence but on either flank, as he has already done in Guardiola’s ever-fluid system, the versatile Man City rotation player isn’t just looking more and more like a first-team star but could soon be a capped England international.
Looking forward to seeing more of this on the big stage:
As you can see, Pep has continued to deploy him in even the biggest of games, and it seems as though he’s clearly impressed Tuchel enough to make him first in the queue to replace James.
Rightly so, we’d hasten to add; it remains to be seen whether or not he will feature in the two upcoming fixtures against Wales and Latvia.
Commenting on the moment of recognition, City expressed their pride and congratulations, insisting that the decision “also helps further cement what has been a quite magnificent start to the season for the 20-year-old” in which he’s already made nine first-team appearances across all competitions.
That now makes the number of Greater Manchester-born/based players in the current England squad to four (just one of those being from Man United in Barcelona loanee Marcus Rashford) – an admittedly smaller number than we’ve come to expect over the years.
Nico O’Reilly signed a fresh new deal at Manchester City just last month.
Georgina Pellant -
10th August 2022 
