From pickles to pasta, The Creameries menu is taking a turn in a new direction as owner Mary Ellen McTague hands over the reigns to her Head Chef, Mike Thomas.
As of this week, he’ll be completely changing the restaurant’s existing menus and format – moving away from the fixed-price, fine-dining style taster menus for which the Chorlton restaurant has become known.
In their place, Mike will introduce a more straightforward, simple pay-by-the-plate approach – cooking up a range of fresh pasta dishes alongside freshly-made focaccia and bar snacks, created in-house daily.
Image: The Creameries
Embracing the flavours of Southern Eurp[e with a focus on Italy in particular, his new Campagna project will introduce dishes like beef shin ragu and parloude clams with chickpeas, pastis and rouille (a similar creation is currently doing very well on the specials menu at Ancoats pasta kitchen Sugo).
Elsewhere, foodies can sink their teeth into the likes of cuttlefish stew with braised fennel and confit duck leg with puy lentils.
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Diners can expect to find a new selection of starters, salads and desserts, including hazelnut torte with zabaglione cream, with prices ranging between just £7 and £14.
Hazelnut torte with zabaglione cream / Image: The Creameries
After stints at Where the Light Gets In, Bright, Rochelle Canteen & Leroy, and a couple of years at Honest Crust, Mike joined the Creameries as a Chef de Partie in 2019, quickly progressing to Head Chef in September 2020.
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He’s pretty much been running the restaurant ever since, with chef-owner Mary Ellen taking a step back to focus on her restaurant-backed charity project Eat Well MCR.
On Sundays, three courses will be available for £30 as the menu turns ‘Al Forno’ (roughly translating to ‘baked’), with lasagne a comforting favourite.
Rabbit ragu. / image: The Creameries
Raddicio salad. / Image: The Creameries
Think bubbling lasagne alla ragu bolognese or king oyster mushroom vincisgrassi (a style of vegetarian lasagne), accompanied by a crisp green salad, followed by a beautiful, classic tiramisu or a Courtyard Dairy cheese plate.
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Working with owner Mary-Ellen McTague at the Creameries he has been able to hone his craft and has developed a commitment to excellence and a passion for great ingredients.
On taking over The Creameries with his Campagna concept, Chef Mike Thomas is straightforward.
“It sounds pretty simple but I’m most excited about making people delicious food,” he said.
Mike has spent the last 4 years hosting his Umbra Foods supper clubs around Manchester and it’s finally time for his hearty yet refined, ingredient-led cooking to have a home of its own.
Dishes will change seasonally, in close collaboration with suppliers such as Cinderwood Market Garden, who will be growing specialist ingredients for Campagna, and Littlewoods butchers.
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The wine, as ever, remains a key, carefully curated part of the offer, with a focus on delicious, low-intervention Italian wines that are perfect with pasta.
A new children’s menu will also be available to make the new concept accessible to all.
Creameries owner Mary-Ellen McTague said: “It’s been a pleasure working with Mike this last couple of years, and to see his skills and confidence grow. I’m so excited to see Campagna come to fruition.
“Chorlton is in for a treat!”
Feature image – The Creameries
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Manchester United fans planning another major protest amid more upheaval around the club
Danny Jones
Manchester United supporters look set to stage another high-profile demonstration in protest against the INEOS Sports ownership group.
This is the latest response to the club’s continuing struggles, and not just the first proper organised mobilisation of the year, but the first since the most recent major march last spring.
Following the sacking of ‘manager’ Ruben Amorim, despite co-owner Jim Ratcliffe and his board of executives insisting that the Portuguese head coach (that distinction proving to be a crucial detail), the local sporting giants are once again starting from scratch and looking for another replacement boss.
With that in mind, militant fan group The 1958 announced their most recent protest ahead of a home fixture next month in a rather bold fashion…
As announced we protest against this dysfunctional co-ownership before Fulham.
Yep, neither Amorim, Erik ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, nor any face even remotely associated with Old Trafford/Carrington is safe from an AI parody.
As for The 1958 group’s actual protest plans, speaking via the BBC this week, the supporters’ trust has confirmed that they will be making a vocal statement outside the stadium on Sunday, 1 February.
Travelling Reds already made their thoughts known with a very blunt, provocative and somewhat controversial banner in the away end at Turf Moor for the 2-2 draw against Burnley.
With Man United approaching a third-round FA Cup tie against Brighton and two big games in the form of a Manchester Derby at home and a trip to Arsenal, they have decided to choose the Fulham game at Old Trafford to stage the march.
Despite admitting that the results under Amorim were no way near good enough, they insist that the – most notably the overarching and Glazer family shadow ever looming over the organisation.
Further details around the actual timings and locations are still yet to be shared by the organisers, but you can expect this to be a well-attended, large-scale event.
Often convening at The Tollgate pub near regular matchday tram stop, Trafford Bar, before walking down Talbot Road towards the ground itself, we imagine Reds will then descend upon the Theatre of Dreams in their thousands.
In case you didn’t already surmise from the video itself, Ratcliffe and co. will be no doubt the subject of the usual chants, as well as more banners and flags.
What do you make of the latest plans, Man United fans?
Nothing will ever be quite as bold as the infamous Old Trafford break-in from 2022 (Credit: The Manc)
More Greater Manchester football matches called off as Storm Goretti sets in
Danny Jones
Yet more scheduled football matches in Greater Manchester and the surrounding regions have been postponed and/or cancelled due to Storm Goretti.
The increasingly cold, blustery and icy conditions moving over from France and across more parts of the UK have already caused schools to close, flights to be grounded, and plenty more disruption.
Another such inconvenience has come in the form of live sports, large swathes of which now look like they simply won’t be taking place.
One of the latest to be called off is Salford City‘s upcoming game against Swindon Town in the FA Cup this weekend, with various other games involving teams up and down the footballing pyramid now facing uncertainty over whether their third-round fixtures will go ahead as planned.
Ironically, this is just the tip of the iceberg, if you’ll pardon the very obvious pun.
Another game that was called off late last week, between Chadderton and FC Isle of Man, is yet to be rescheduled; the same is true of Rochdale AFC’s meeting with Brackley Town, Radcliffe v Oxford City, as well as games involving Bury, Stockport Town, Irlam, Cheadle Town, Prestwich Heys and more.
Other nearby outfits, such as Chorley, Warrington Rylands and Ramsbottom United, just to name a few, are also still unsure of when their next game will be.
In many cases, it is simply a matter of the grounds being largely or completely frozen and deemed unfit for use following pitch inspections.
Oldham Athletic – which has already been hit with plenty of snow and frost – yesterday confirmed that their Notts County clash wouldn’t be going ahead due to that very reason.
With winds of up to 90 miles per hour also being reported, yellow and even red weather warnings have been issued across various parts of the country, with people being urged to check their routes home from work by local authorities.
Storm Goretti should start calming down this evening (Fri, 9 January) and into Saturday morning, but the after-effects could still play havoc over the next few days.
For instance, over in Cheshire, Macclesfield FC are going so far as to call on nearby residents to help clear their playing surface from heavy snowfall.
So, if you’re in the area and fancy helping out, they could sure do with your help.
VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED
Macclesfield FC are once again requesting the help of the fanbase and the local community to help clear the remainder of the compacted snow from the surrounding areas of the https://t.co/fL99QEEJ4D Stadium.
Georgina Pellant -
1st February 2022 
