Food & Drink
M&S reveal full Christmas food range including festive Colin the Caterpillar
The M&S Christmas food range can be accessed online from September 26th
Marks and Spencer is already getting in the Christmas spirit as it has just revealed its seasonal food range with shoppers saying they’re ‘so excited’ to see it.
The M&S Christmas 2023 collection includes festive versions of cult favourites including Colin the Caterpillar and Percy Pig, as well as a huge return of its light-up, musical biscuit tins and chocolate boxes.
For the big day itself, M&S will launch the everything-in-the-box £45 Christmas turkey dinner that takes around 60 minutes to cook, making the special feast much easier to make but keeping it tasty.
There’s also a range of party foods and picky bits to nibble on including vegan snowman-faced bao buns, perfect for those who’ll skip the meat on their dinner this year.
Air fryer cooking instructions will be added to the packaging of party foods for the first time this year, as more and more households opt to cook this way during the cost-of-living crisis, as well as remaining on a four-for-three offer to offer value for shoppers.
M&S Cafes will launch their festive menus from November 1st, and the menu will include tasty Welsh Rarebit cheesy crumpets for £4.50.
The turkey toastie will also be back with the added option of adding a pot of gravy on the side to dip them into. Turkey gravy can be purchased for an additional £1.
And what would a dinner be without a delicious dessert to finish it off with? M&S have that covered too with a delicious variety to satisfy your sweet tooth, including a new take on the festive mince pie.
Desserts include new takes on the traditional yule log, as well as chocolate and hazelnut mince pies at £4 for a four-pack. The Christmas Colin the Caterpillar sees him dressed in a cosy icing Christmas jumper as well as a chocolate Santa hat priced £12, and will be available in stores from December 7th.
There will also be a bigger range of hampers than ever before with around 80 to choose from. Hampers will range from letter box ones for £20 all the way up to huge £1,000 ones, containing exclusive M&S goodies.
Shoppers can also get excited for the return of the light-up gin and fizz bottles, as singles or part of gift pack options – available online now.
Party food includes the return of M&S’s ‘best ever’ prawn toast, pulled beef and rosti towers and the viral sensation snowmen steamed bao buns, all priced at £7.50 per pack.
The Christmas food range will officially launch on November 1st though shoppers will be able to access the food items site online at M&S from September 26th. Food orders can be collected in-store from December 21st to 24th. To see the full M&S Christmas food range, click HERE.
Food & Drink
Popeyes opening new drive-thru in Manchester tomorrow with FREE chicken
It’s the second Popeyes to open in Manchester
Louisiana-style fried chicken chain Popeyes has announced plans to open more restaurants this year, including a second site in Greater Manchester – which opens tomorrow, Friday April 26th.
The chain opened its 33rd UK site in Piccadilly Gardens in October last year, which proved an instant hit with visitors forming queues along the street and around the corner just to sample its classic Southern fried chicken.
Regular customers have learned to take early lunches to avoid the rush as it fills up with hungry people every day.
Now its new drive-thru, located on Bury New Road, is opening tomorrow, Friday April 26th, with both the doors and lanes officially opening from 11am.
Greater Manchester and the North West’s first drive-thru location, the restaurant will mark the brand’s 11th opening in 2024 and 47th site in the UK.
And of course, they’re giving away FREE chicken on opening day, with the first three people queuing both on-foot and in cars winning free Chicken Sandwiches for a whole year.
As well as that, the first 25 customers in both queues will also be rewarded with a free Chicken Sandwich and exclusive Popeyes merchandise.
You’ll have to get there early if you want to be one of the first three, however, as fans queued for more than 16 hours when the Piccadilly Gardens site opened last year.
And from Saturday, April 27th, you’ll also be able to grab breakfast at the new restaurant.
The ‘Brekkie’ menu features British Breakfast classics with a New Orleans twist, like the Big Cajun Breakfast Roll, Cajun Hash Browns and Nutella-topped buttermilk biscuits.
Breakfast will be available until 11am every day, and will even include a Bacon Roll Meal for just £1.99, which includes a Bacon Roll, a Hash Brown and a drink.
For those who have not yet had the pleasure of sampling Popeyes’ crunchy flavoursome goodness, its menu features classic offerings like the Chicken Sandwich, with signature 12-hour marinated chicken and original Southern biscuits and gravy.
Additionally, a variety of side dishes like mac & cheese, mash with Cajun gravy, and original biscuits will be served, alongside milkshakes in various flavours including vanilla, chocolate, mocha, and specialities like Oreo, Lotus Biscoff, and strawberry cheesecake.
What’s more, fans across the UK can now start their day with a Cajun twist – with Popeyes Breakfast Menu now available nationwide.
Tom Crowley, Popeyes UK Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Following the success of our Manchester Piccadilly restaurant, we are thrilled to bring our newest Popeyes to Bury New Road, marking our third restaurant in the North West.
“Our new restaurant will also be a Drive-Thru, meaning customers in Greater Manchester can enjoy our Famous Louisiana Chicken by dining in, via the Drive Thru lane, or by ordering online for kerbside collection.
“Our most recent openings have been some of the biggest to date, not just in the UK but for Popeyes globally, and we’re confident that Bury New Road will be just as popular.”
If you fancy winning free Chicken Sandwiches for a year, but don’t have time to queue up outside the new restaurant, then keep your eyes peeled on our Instagram tomorrow, Friday April 26th, as we’re going to be running a competition where you can win just that!
T&Cs: Offer entitles the holder to 3 free Chicken Sandwiches per week for 52 weeks. The 12 months starts on receipt of the email containing the first 3 links. Available in any Popeyes Louisiana Chicken UK restaurant, only on our Classic or Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Non transferable, not valid in conjunction with any other offer. Offer is redeemable only when you order online for collection through our website. Over 18s only.
Food & Drink
Popular Italian launches new menu with fresh cheesy pesto pasta and king prawns
If you’re in search of an authentic Italian dining experience in Manchester, look no further than Italiana Fifty Five
A popular Italian restaurant in Manchester has launched a new A La Carte menu.
Italiana Fifty Five has added some appetising new dishes to its menu to expand its offering this spring.
Diners can sample the newly added seasonal items and its authentic classic Italian favourites at all three of its Manchester sites – at the Great Northern, Liverpool Road and Didsbury.
The new A La Carte dishes include Gamberoni Grigliata which is tiger prawns cooked in garlic, butter, lemon and fresh chilli and served with toasted altamura bread for £13.95.
Also new to the menu is the Zoupa which is a hearty seafood soup with king scallops, king prawns, and muscles for £13.95.
Brand new appetisers include the Insalata Tricolore with avocado, beef tomato and buffalo mozzarella for £9.50, and the Bruschetta Speciale made with toasted sourdough bread and buffalo mozzarella spread, roasted heritage cherry tomatoes, garlic, onion, fresh basil and pesto for £9.75.
And if that’s not enough to entice you, diners can also tuck in to the new risotto and pasta dishes, including Risotto Zafferano which is a saffron risotto with parsley, garlic, onion and pecorino cheese for £14.95.
And the Trofie ala Pesto made with trofie pasta in homemade pesto sauce, finished with buffalo mozzarella for £14.95.
Complete your visit on a sweet note and indulge in one of Italiana Fifty Five’s best-loved desserts such as the Tiramisu or panna cotta.
To find out more or book a table at Italiana Fifty Five, click HERE.
Food & Drink
Restaurant famed for ‘cheese wheel pasta’ and ‘towering lasagnas’ looking to come to Manchester
A taste of la dolce vita could be coming to Manchester
The ‘OTT’ group famous for its pasta served in a wheel of cheese and 10-level lasagnas is reportedly looking to open a new Italian restaurant in Manchester city centre.
French-based Big Mamma Group, which owns over-the-top Italian restaurants in London – Gloria, Carlotta, Jacuzzi, Ave Mario and Circolo Popolare – will open a new venue in Gary Neville’s under-construction St Michael’s development off Deansgate.
Its restaurants are known for their flamboyant, retro interiors, resembling vintage maximalism Italian eateries, as well as US-style red sauce joints.
The regularly changing menus feature a variety of Italian classics, including fettuccine alfredo al tartufo, spaghetti with meatballs, a famous ’10 level’ lasagne and carbonara served in a huge cheese wheel.
The Manchester restaurant will be the first UK venue to be located outside of London and will – sit alongside the also announced Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Chotto Matte, also to be built at St Michael’s.
The move follows a host of other operators in the capital choosing to open new sites in Manchester.
Soon to arrive in the city will be the likes of Caravan, Flat Iron, Soho House and Blacklock.
Big Mamma – which was founded in 2013 by French entrepreneurs Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux – has more than 20 restaurants across Europe including Paris, Monaco, Milan, Madrid and Berlin.
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