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
James Blunt announces huge Manchester gig on new European arena tour
Daisy Jackson
Singer-songwriter James Blunt is heading back out on tour next year, and has announced a massive Manchester gig as part of his run of arena shows.
The singer, perhaps best-known for his iconic 2005 pop ballad ‘You’re Beautiful’, is hitting the road again in 2027.
The newly-announced European tour is in celebration of his new album Airplane Mode, which is set for release this autumn.
James Blunt will kick off his tour in Leeds next spring, before heading over for a night at the almighty Co-op Live in Manchester.
Then he’ll head to more cities including Newcastle, Birmingham and London.
His new album, Airplane Mode, is being released on 6 November and will, according to his press release, be ‘exhilarating’.
James has already released the first single, ‘Tastes Like Summer’, and ‘Weight Of It All’, with 10 more songs to come on the record.
Airplane Mode was recorded with James’ brilliant long-standing live band, who’ll be back on tour with him next year.
Speaking of the new album, and recording in Pig Music Studios, he said: “Somewhere back there, I lost my way, but found it again in a studio in Banbury.”
James Blunt will be at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester on 3 April, 2027. Tickets go on sale from 10am on 9 September.
Major pop star crowns humble rice and three cafe as ‘Jewel of Manchester’ ahead of sold-out gig
Thomas Melia
A beloved city centre takeaway has been given the title of ‘Jewel of Manchester’ by chart-topping UK singer Sam Smith.
Known for hits like ‘Stay With Me’, ‘I’m Not The Only One’ and more recently ‘Unholy’, UK pop-ballad act Sam Smith also likes to drop a food review every once in a while.
Currently on the road with a run of shows in Manchester and London for their ‘To Be Free’ live shows, Sam Smith is stopping off at some of our city’s much-loved spots.
On their food-reviewing account titled ‘Sam Served’, where they adopt the aptly-fitting nickname ‘Ham Smith’, Sam has visited restaurants across the globe – and most recently turned their attention to Manchester’s own This & That.
Smith decided to pop in and grab a cheeky rice and three from long-standing backstreet food business This & That, and it certainly went down a treat.
After sampling their amazing selection of meat, vegetable and vegan curries, the musician crowned this family-run Indian takeaway a ‘Jewel of Manchester’.
The hitmaker described this Northern Quarter Indian eatery as ‘Everything food should be’ and definitely enjoyed all the curries on offer ‘leaving belly and heart full’.
This & That prides itself on affordable and comforting food with its ‘Rice and Three Curries’ starting from just £6 – not bad for a city centre foodie spot.
Sam has racked up an impressive 490k followers via their ‘Sam Served’ profile, with famous faces like Lily Allen, Denise Welch and CMAT all wanting to know the superstar’s foodie thoughts.
After enjoying a curry or three, Sam Smith also made sure to feed their soul to by venturing down to Afflecks and getting lost in the music at Mars Tapes.
Recognised as one of the UK’s only cassette and tape shops, Mars Tapes lets you flick through their crates of physical media and even preview tracks before you buy with its dedicated listening areas.
It’s safe to say that Smith has ‘Latched’ onto Manchester’s independent business scene and we’re here for it.
The London-born artist has just released their latest album Hazel Eyes and is currently amid a UK residency tour with two dates in Manchester’s Albert Hall and eight shows set for London Coliseum.
Georgina Pellant -
10th August 2022 
