Pippy Eats launches fundraiser for new Noodlehaus in Manchester

Known by her Instagram moniker of Pippy Eats, Salford’s Pippa Middlehurst is a cancer research scientist turned cook, who in 2018 won the title of BBC’s Britain’s Best Home Cook.

She hosts supper clubs across Greater Manchester and teaches cookery workshops, with a focus on noodles, dumplings and broths, with particular attention to the molecular biology at play in cooking.

Now, she’s looking to open her first permanent cookery school and event space, called Noodlehaus, in a beautiful old mill in Manchester city centre.

Pippa is looking to raise over £30,000 on Kickstarter, which will help get Noodlehaus off the ground. The money will go towards equipment for the cookery school as well as free workshop spaces for local school children.

Noodlehaus will not just be for Pippa’s events, she says. It will be a space for anyone who has something to share. It will be a place to learn, create, and share via workshops, classes, supper clubs and events.

Aside from a busy schedule of Pippy Eats events (such as noodle workshops and supper clubs) the space will be available for hire to any creatives looking for events space.

They already have pencilled in some masterclasses from guest teachers, such as cake decorating, embroidery, life drawing, yoga and illustration workshops. 

There will also be some rewards on offer for those who invest, including a private six course supper club cooked by Pippa for 10 people, a year’s supply of her famous chilli oils, Lanzhou La Mian Noodle workshop and signed copies of her soon to launch debut cookbook Noodles and Dumplings, out next month.

Pippa has loved cooking since she was a child, learning from her grandmother and mother in the kitchen at home. She grew up collecting recipes she wanted to try, scribbled down on scrap paper with coloured pens.

As a young child her grandfather would take her and her brothers to a dim sum restaurant in Liverpool. She used to love trying all the new and exciting things – she says her brother really hated the egg drop soup, but she loved all the unusual textures.

Underneath the restaurant was an Asian supermarket, full of unfamiliar ingredients, which is where her obsession with Asian cooking began. 

In 2018 Pippa left her job in the lab and began hosting workshops and supper clubs full time. She travelled around Taiwan, China and Japan, attended noodle school in Lanzhou and wrote her first cookbook.

She recently came out of maternity leave early and started working and saving hard to secure the new city centre space and finally bring her vision to life.

“I am so excited to be able to create my dream cookery school in the heart of Manchester,” says Pippa.

“The building is in an old mill and has the most incredible natural light which will be amazing for the photography workshops I will be hosting.

“The space will be open to all and I am looking forward to working with the community to provide a space that people can come and learn about cooking as well as share my love of cooking.”

Covid-19 dependent, the Noodlehaus supper club and community space is set to open at the end of September. The Kickstarter campaign launches on Friday 24th July.

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