Vero Moderno will open until 1am, giving diners a chance to experience the late-night Italian tradition of midnight spaghetti for FREE

Popular independent Italian restaurant Vero Moderno is hosting a free-to-attend dinner in partnership with Italian craft beer company Menabrea as it looks to share the magic of the Italian tradition of ‘midnight spaghetti’ with Mancunians.

On the continent, it’s not unusual for groups to flock home and commune over a late-night bowl of simply-cooked noodles. 

Beer is poured, ingredients from the kitchen are brought out and the party comes together to enjoy a delicious meal at midnight. So far, so magical.

But whilst we expect quite a few readers are no stranger to drunkenly cooking a bowl of pasta late at night in their kitchen, we’d hazard a guess not many have done it like this. Until now, anyway.

This Thursday, locals will have the chance to experience the tradition of midnight spaghetti themselves as a late-night pasta feast comes to the Chapel Street restaurant. 

Taking place from 930pm to 1am, the one-off dinner will be held alongside Italian craft brewers Menabrea on Thursday 25 August, giving local pasta fans a chance to partake in a long-standing tradition.

Stevie Parle, the well-known chef and restaurateur of London pasta kitchen Pastaio, has developed a midnight spaghetti recipe especially for the evening, keeping things simple with a mixture of classic ingredients like garlic, chilli and olive oil.

Throughout the night, the restaurant’s team will serve up hearty-yet-simple portions of pasta alongside free-flowing pints of Menabrea’s popular Italian craft beer.

After that, you can party the night away with a DJ and enjoy different interactive areas throughout the night. Menabrea will be served throughout the night, alongside a delicious twist at midnight.

Read more: Gordon Ramsay to open ‘enormous’ three-storey Lucky Cat restaurant inside old King Street bank

The evening will begin with a workshop led by Stevie, where attendees can learn about how they can recreate their own midnight spaghetti evening at home with friends and loved ones. 

Guests will be sampling free-flowing pints of Menabrea throughout the session, to truly uncover how Italian flavours can come together. 

Speaking on the upcoming event, Angus Lawrie, spokesperson at Menabrea, said: “As an award-winning Italian birra with 170+ years of brewing expertise, we are passionate about facilitating authentic Italian experiences through the highest quality food & drink. 

“Italy is integral to the Menabrea brand and Italians always have a special way of doing everything, which is why we can’t wait to launch Menabrea Midnights and bring this unmissable concept to the UK.”

Chef, restaurateur at Pastaio and Menabrea Midnights partner, Stevie Parle, added: “I’ve been cooking Italian food professionally since I was 17 and have been obsessed with pasta my whole life. 

Read more: A new pasta restaurant is opening inside the old Vertigo site on Cross Street

“It’s great to be working with Menabrea, as they share my values and always strive to produce the very best and most delicious results, be that in beer or classic Italian cookery.”

Tickets are free to those who register via Eventbrite here but be quick as there is only a limited number available.

Feature image – Vero Moderno

Manchester’s Princess Street is a veritable treasure trove of underrated and overlooked restaurants, not least hidden Greek taverna Bouzouki By Night.

It might appear no more than a takeaway stand from the street, but venture underground and you’ll discover a huge Meditteranean restaurant complete with checkered tablecloths, colourful fairy lights and expansive landscapes of the Aegean Sea.

When we visit, owner Photis Nasaris is perched on a chair outside smoking a cigarette, an ashtray and half-empty coffee cup balanced on what, we assume, is his car bonnet.

We’ve come for some traditional Greek wraps, in search of a quick and cheap lunchtime fix. Little did we know we’d find a huge restaurant underneath to transport us to sunnier climes.

A fixture here for over thirty years, during the day students and office workers flock to Bouzouki’s Little Greek shopfront for warm spinach and filo pastries, sweet baklava, affordable souvlaki and gyros.

Stuffed with your choice of pork, chicken, halloumi, kofta or falafel, plus chips, salad, hummus, tzatziki and chilli sauce, they’re quite the lunchtime steal at £5.30 a pop – and filling too.

But come nightfall it’s a different story altogether, as the name not so subtly suggests. Locals in the know head down every Friday and Saturday for a taste of Bouzouki’s signature spanakopites, dolmathes (stuffed meat vine leaves) and mousaka, and a spot of post-dinner dancing.

On Fridays and Saturdays Bouzouki also serves a special Greek meze banquet packed with hot pitta, greek salad, houmous, tzatziki, halloumi, chicken skewers, kofta, rice, spanakopita, stifado and more.

Meat dishes can also be replaced for vegetarian options like garlic mushroom, chickpea stew, veg moussaka and stuffed tomato feta, so there is something on offer for everyone.

Bouzouki also carries a wide selection of dry, fruity Greek wines, perfect for getting you in the party mood.

Once diners are done with their meal, the fun really starts. Everyone is invited to get up and join the “big fat Greek good time” on the restaurant’s makeshift dancefloor, with plenty of singing and silliness carrying on late into the night.

Read more: This Manchester bar is doing a Spanish bottomless brunch with paella and endless sangria

Whether you simply fancy a good knees-up, or are hankering after some tasty Greek classics, Bouzouki is worth a look-in. To find out more and book a table, visit the restaurant’s website here.

Feature image – The Manc Eats

In April calorie labelling on menus became a legal requirement for restaurant groups employing over 250 staff in the UK, but now the government could be looking to drop them altogether.

Under the orders of the Treasury, government ministers have ordered an official review of its anti-obesity strategy. As a result, menu calorie counts could now be scrapped as part of a ‘drive to cut red tape’, reports The Guardian.

First introduced on April 6, new rules currently require larger hospitality businesses to display calorie counts ‘clearly and prominently’ along with the statement ‘adults need around 2000kcal a day’.

But now a new review, described by Whitehall sources as “deregulatory  in focus”, could see the policy ditched entirely, meaning many cafes, takeaways and restaurants thart have invested in printing new menus will now likely find them redundant.

When calorie labelling came into force, it was widely criticised by eating disorder charities, restauranteurs, chefs and food critics alike.

Then Public Health Minister Jo Churchill, said at the time: “Our aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to make healthier food choices for themselves and their families, both in restaurants and at home. That is why we want to make sure everyone has access to accurate information about the food and drink we order.

“These measures form an important building block in our strategy to support and encourage people in achieving and maintaining a healthier weight.”

Masterchef winner Simon Wood, who has a restaurant on First Street, appeared on TV the morning the legislation was introduced to speak out against it.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Oldham-based chef said that although the rules didn’t currently apply to him, he wouldn’t consider following suit unless forced.

He told viewers: “Sometimes given the current situation with hospitality and the supply chain things aren’t there, you have to adapt your menu on the fly, what are you going to do? Rewrite it every day? 

“What if things don’t turn up? What if you’re making a sauce and you need four bottles of wine but you’ve only got two?

This should also include reviewing measures like calorie labelling on menus, which add significant costs fuelling food price inflation and can also impact mental health and well being – online or on request would be better https://t.co/20tsDFjpBb

“What if someone adds too much salt, sodium, things like that that aren’t considered in calories, I think there’s a bigger approach to what people should be looking at than just a number.”

A week later, Manchester restaurant Dishoom made headlines for scribbling calories off its menu at a customer’s request. Soon after, it added a calorie free option.

Many others have since followed suit, suggesting the move to ditch calorie labelling could prove popular with business owners.

Read more: ‘Until I’m forced to do it, I wouldn’t’ says Simon Wood as calorie counts added to UK menus

However, the review may also look to ditch the 2018 sugar tax, a measure hailed by experts for helping to make soft drinks less unhealthy.

It is also likely to reverse bans on displaying sugary products at checkouts and multi-buy deals, as well as scrap restrictions on advertising before the 9pm watershed.

Health officials are said to be ‘aghast’ at the idea that the new Prime Minister could potentially scrap the new anti-obesity strategies, which were agreed upon and approved by parliament just this year.

The Obesity Health Alliance, a grouping of 50 health charities and medical organisations, has described it as “a kick in the teeth”.

“We are deeply concerned. It would be reckless to waste government and business time and money rowing back on these obesity policies, which are evidence-based and already in law. These policies are popular with the public, who want it to be easier to make healthier choices,” Katharine Jenner, the alliance’s director, told The Guardian.

Read more: Manchester restaurant Dishoom scribbles calories off menu at customer’s request

There has also been criticism of the move from within the Conservative party, with one Tory peer telling the paper: “Improving the nation’s health is one of the best ways we can increase productivity and workforce capacity and thereby drive growth. So I would be very surprised by any decisions that actually strive to make the UK less healthy.”

Liz Truss said in a recent newspaper interview: “Those taxes are over.

“Talking about whether or not somebody should buy a two-for-one offer? No. There is definitely enough of that.”

She added Brits “don’t want the government telling them what to eat”.

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