Food & Drink
The Italian restaurant serving up incredible seafood specials and deep-fried pasta
‘Wine is not necessary for flavour if your ingredients are good.’
An Italian restaurant in Worsley has been keeping customers hooked for more of its authentic fish and seafood dishes.
Vesuvio, on Simpson Road in Boothstown, is a hidden gem amongst an ordinary shopping parade. Set back off the main road and nestled in with a bookies, a corner shop, a Chinese takeaway and an Indian restaurant, you could easily miss this little slice of Neapolitan heaven.
Childhood friends, co-owners and chefs Nico Vanacore and Guiseppe Lombardo, opened their Italian restaurant almost 10 years ago as it quickly erupted and became popular among locals ever since.
“We are very big on fish,” chef Nico Vanacore says, as the menu shows a selection of seafood dishes including, swordfish, cuttlefish spaghetti, mussels and octopus mayonnaise – amongst other oceanic delights.
Born in Naples, the pair followed in the footsteps of both of their dads, who were also chefs, and started their culinary journey working in Nico’s uncle’s restaurant back home. The friends have been cooking together since they were 10 years old. Fun fact: they even went to school with Gino Di Campo.
On how they keep their customers hooked , Giuseppe says: “We change the specials all the time. It’s a residential area so we have a lot of regulars who come on a weekly basis.
“If you come two weeks in a row, probably you’ll find mussels or scallops but done in a different way each time.”
Guiseppe came to Manchester in 1994 and began working at Tiggi’s in Preston before cooking at San Carlo’s in Manchester city centre. He and Nico later launched their very own restaurant Vesuvio to be closer to their homes in Worsley, with the idea that they would be able to spend more time with their families, and do the school runs as they’re closed in the mornings.
The duo are hands-on and get stuck in with the day-to-day running of things, taking it in turns cheffing in the kitchen at the rear, and running the ‘front of house’. The only time they get a proper rest is on a Monday but they love what they do, so they don’t seem to mind – although they joke that their wives sometimes complain that they are married to the restaurant.
Giuseppe explains they use fish stock for the base of many dishes but never add wine, saying: “Wine is for drinking, not cooking. Catering school taught us that if the fish is good and fresh you eat it the way it is, without embellishment. Wine is not necessary for flavour if your ingredients are good.”
Standing out amongst the dishes, much like the great Mount Vesuvius, is their famous, Mixed Vesuvio — a traditional meal of Naples. This is a hot pan of fish and seafood in a broth, topped with a pizza base for a lid, which absorbs all the flavours of the sea — great for tearing and sharing. This fragrant steamy dish makes an excellent feature for friends and families to enjoy whilst also sampling some more of Naples’ authentic cuisine.
Also on the menu is Vesuvio’s frittelle which is an indulgent fritter of pasta with pecorino cheese sauce, roasted ham and peas battered and deep fried until crisp. On the streets of Naples, you will find these in a cone along with deep fried courgette flowers, hunks of fish and calamari.
As well as rolled swordfish fillets stuffed with iron-rich Italian broccoli leaves (cime di rapa), scamorza (smoked mozzarella), anchovies and juicy tangy tomatoes. Unlike other more delicate fish dishes, this one socks you with a LaMotta-worthy flavour punch. And for those who fancy some meat, there’s the tender melting beef cheek reclining on a rich stock-based sauce.
As the drink is as important to Italian’s as their food is, this restaurant also boasts a selection of Neapolitan wines, and you can finish off your Mediterranean visit with some deep fried ravioli filled with chocolate and a glass of grappa to ‘blow the doors off’.
Food & Drink
Italiana Fifty Five’s new winter menu features pasta so fresh it’s made in front of you
So, so good!
Italiana Fifty Five, the popular Italian spot with locations in the city centre and Didsbury, has launched a brand new winter menu and it’s a must-try for pasta fans.
They’re serious about fresh pasta, and in the front window of their Wilmslow Road restaurant you can see chefs prepare various types of pasta on traditional equipment.
This includes everything from rigatoni cylinders to squiggly ribbons of reginette.
Manchester’s Finest Group
New additions to the menu include a carbonara, made to the traditional recipe with egg and parmesan, as well as a fresh ravioli with spinach and sage.
You’ll also find an eight-hour cooked beef shin ragù with pappardelle, and an oven-baked vodka sauce dish, complete with crispy bits on top.
Other new additions to the menu include a cappellacci di burrata, served in a meaty Tuscan sauce, and a mushroom-heavy reginette dish.
Manchester’s Finest Group
There’s a couple of autumnal-leaning starters too, including bruschetta topped with stracciatella di bufala, and some Sicilian-style arancini too.
The new menu is available at all sites, however you’ll only find the fresh homemade pasta in the Didsbury branch. Get yourself booked in HERE.
Italiana Fifty Five have extended their August 50% off deal on their a la carte menu, so you can now grab a bargain until Sunday September 15th.
This means dishes like their trofie with pesto, lobster ravioli and their famous linguine pecorino, served flambéed at the table from a giant wheel of cheese are still half price.
The a la carte menu is available all day, every day, and takes in a breadth of Italian classics, antipasti and pasta dishes, pizza, cuts from the grill and desserts.
Manchester’s Finest Group
You’ll be able to kick off with dishes like mozzarella fritta, calamari and capesante gratinate – seared scallops finished with parmesan cheese under the grill.
It will also, of course, include perhaps its most famous dish – the linguine pecorino, which is flambéed tableside in a huge wheel of aged pecorino cheese.
For pushing the boat out, there’s also a sharing slab of chateaubriand steak, carved at the table and served with parmesan baby roast potatoes and a cherry tomato and parmesan salad.
Manchester’s Finest Group
Then you can finish up with homemade desserts, like a panna cotta, pistachio cannoli or a classic tiramisu.
The offer is available at all three Italiana Fifty Five sites – Liverpool Rd, Great Northern and Didsbury Village.
Get booked in 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.
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