The best bottomless brunches to try in Manchester city centre this weekend
Bottomless Brunch in lockdown may have been a daily occurrence for those at home but now Manchester's restaurant scene has reopened, customers can finally have their avocado and poached eggs on toast with some never-ending drinks!
What beats a bottomless brunch?All the food. All the drink. Slap bang in the middle of the day.
It’s the perfect way to spend a Saturday or Sunday; bonding with pals over grub and booze before slinking off for an afternoon snooze.
More than a few of us might have created our own boozy brunches at home during lockdown, but now Manchester’s restaurant scene has reopened, customers can finally have their avocado and poached eggs on toast with some never-ending drinks.
Here’s a few of our top picks for bottomless brunches being hosted across the city right now.
Fress
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Fress is an award-winning white-subway tiled restaurant on Oldham Street that’s earned a stonking reputation for whipping up a seriously good bottomless brunch.
They have just reopened and are raring to go with a hearty menu featuring all the favourites – including the classic full English and posh beans on toast.
There’s also a mouth-watering selection of waffles and pancakes to alongside that… if you can manage it.
You can order drinks throughout your 1 hour 15 minute slot and choose from as much Prosecco, Mimosas, House Wine and House Lager as you like for a set cost of £15 extra per person.
You don’t need to book before going to Fress and their bottomless brunch is available 9pm – 4pm, seven days a week.
BLVD – the Spinningfields venue without the vowels and all the flavour – put their own unique spin on the bottomless brunch.
Available at the weekend, these dishes aren’t your traditional breakfast bites.
BLVD small plates include some tangy treats, from vegetable tempura to chicken penang spring rolls. This is ideal for those still wanting the luxury of a bottomless date but with a more sophisticated menu.
You can choose to drink Bloody Mary’s, Bottled Beers, BLVD Gin Cocktail or a Glass of Prosecco in your 90 minute slot and it costs £35pp.
Brickhouse Social opened in March last year on New Wakefield Street, but they’ve only been running their brunches since January this year.
The brunches are a bit special as they are themed and run every Saturday from 12pm – 6pm.
For the rest of July and August, the mood is ’80s style – which applies to the drinks, food and music!
Some of the cocktails inspired by the decade include the ‘Space Raider’ and ‘Purple Rain’, for example.
Later in the year, the restaurant will time travel to the ’90s, flipping the music to Spice Girl mixes with a ‘Wannabe’ or ‘Genie in a Bottle’ cocktail.
It’s priced at £30 per person and each guest receives a whole pizza of their choice, banging 80s/90s tunes and two hours’ worth of bottomless drinks (including prosecco, wine, and bottled beers)
Foundry Project moved into the Northern Quarter in 2018 and has quickly settled in its surroundings with some suitably superb food offerings.
Their bottomless brunch, in particular, is a real treat.
Customers can choose any dish from the burger, pizza or salad menu, indulging in unlimited Prosecco, Bellini’s, Mimosas or Bloody Marys for two whole hours.
The cost is £25 per person.
Foundry calls itself the “happiest place in Manchester”; you’ll certainly be feeling good after all that booze and grub at that price.
Shack
Shack Brunch
Open for walk-ins, the trendy Shack bar serves up some great brunch options designed to be enjoyed with bottomless Bloody Marys, Bellinis, Prosecco or Mimosas for £25 per person.
Their traditional brunch deal is banging, but from Monday they’re set to announce a new spin on their midday meals – including a fresh disco theme.
Gaucho is a cool and classy kinda place. And its electro brunch sees the venue come alive.
The Argentinian restaurant on St Mary’s Street has attracted hundreds of guests for its long-running music-fuelled all-you-can eat midday feast; with bar staff pouring cocktails to the sound of DJs spinning tunes.
The standard price is £45 each, of your can upgrade to unlimited food and cocktails for an extra tenner.
Choripan sandwiches, smashed avocado and steak & eggs are all on the menu.
Gaucho’s famous brunch runs every Saturday 11am right through to 4pm.
The Manc is supporting Manchester’s independent businesses with the hashtag #buzzingtobeback so if you fancy exploring more of what the city has to offer. Let’s continue supporting local independents to get the region buzzing once more!
Read more about what we’re doing for the industry here.
The old fire station in Salford that’s now home to a bakery, brewery and bar
Daisy Jackson
A former fire station in Salford has been turned into a bustling base for some of the North West’s finest baking and brewing talents.
The Old Fire Station, right beside the University of Salford, is now operating as a bakery, brewery, bar, cafe and restaurant.
That means pastries, bread, pizzas and even beers are made within a few feet of where you’ll be eating and drinking them.
The space is beautiful, still boasting those gigantic red fire station doors and the traditional ceramic tiles that would have been here when the space was still home to fire engines instead of bread mixers.
Around half of the pastries coming out of the bakery, headed up by Erick Molero Delgado (his CV includes top bakeries across the USA and Europe), are completely vegan – not that you can tell from looking at their glossy, laminated layers and extravagant fillings.
We’re talking perfectly cubed laminated brioche with sweet maple flavours, mini pizzettes with olives and tomatoes dotted inside a pastry wall, and striped pain suisse stuffed with nuts and chocolate.
Then there are the not-very-vegan-at-all pastries, like a spandaeur, which is like a croissant and pastel de nata hybrid, and thick slices of Basque cheesecake.
There are new signature ‘Salford bagels’ too developed by assistant head baker Scott Shannon, which are a fusion of North American, German and Jewish styles, fermented for up to 48 hours with a crisp outer shell and a chewy centre.
A spandaeur pastry and a pain suisseHeirloom tomato bruschetta on sourdoughThe bakery line-upThe ‘Salford Bagel’ with smoked salmon
We had ours stuffed with smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers and raved about it all the way home.
Erick says: “Our new menu is a true labour of love by the whole team – from early ideas and experiments right through to the final bake.
“If someone has an idea, we run with it. That creative freedom is priceless. It keeps the work exciting, and it means our customers have the opportunity to get something fresh every time they visit.”
As for the beers, they’re all made on site too – on the opposite side of The Old Fire Station is Lark Hill Brewery, headed up by Jack Dixon, who’s able to experiment and explore new flavours in this top-spec microbrewery.
Jack Dixon in the Lark Hill BreweryLaminated briocheThe Old Fire Station bakers at work
There are experimental beers, sometimes made in collaboration with researchers at the University, as well as true-to-style classics like a New England Pale Ale and the Lark Helles, a fresh take on a classic German lager.
Jack said: “Having the autonomy to design and brew what I want, without limits, is rare and exciting,.
“It means every beer we pour here has a story and a personality. We’re proud to bring something new to Salford’s craft scene.”
This summer, they’re launching New York-style pizzas, made on slow-fermented, hand-stretched pizza dough.
And very little goes to waste here – the trimmed-off croissant pastry is now being turned into their own croissant loaf, which they’re whipping into French toast for the brunch menu.
Everything at The Old Fire Station is crafted with talent and love, and you can really taste it.
Lord Mayor of Manchester opens crucial new community kitchen in Blackley
Danny Jones
The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Carbine Grimshaw, has opened an upgraded community kitchen in the heart of Blackley.
Recently refurbished and officially unveiled last week, the uplifting new space, based out of the GM ward’s Higher Blackley Community Centre (HBCC), aims to be a key outlet and amenity for the area.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony, which took place on Thursday, 17 July, was attended by local councillors, centre staff, as well as local community members and volunteers.
Christened with a commemorative plaque celebrating the completion of the important renovation, the work has been carried out by North West-based perimeter physical security specialists, ATG Access.
A wholesome moment with the Lord Mayor.
Having sat virtually untouched since the 1960s, the kitchen space was long overdue for some TLC, and now it has been reopened as a modern, purpose-built and community-driven facility.
Speaking at the event, the Lord Mayor said: “The work that has been done here is fantastic, especially the social value aspect of it. It’s clear to see it’s far more than just a community centre; it’s the hub of the community. The support it provides to so many people is remarkable.
“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the unsung heroes behind it all, from centre manager Kate and her dedicated team, to the board of trustees and all the volunteers. It’s a shining example of what community spirit can achieve, and I’d love to see it replicated right across Manchester.”
The kitchen itself is now kitted out with entirely new units, fresh flooring and splashback surfaces, as well as large appliances including a big range cooker, American-style fridge freezer and commercial dishwasher – all donated by ATG and its supply chain partners, Van Leeuwen and Welding Engineering.
But it isn’t just a place to cook; the sizeable room will host workshops, events, meet-ups and various other activities, from toddler groups to adult learning programmes, as well as offering services to various classes and groups.
BeforeAfter
In just its first week of being put to use, the kitchen has already helped provide meals for 11 families who would otherwise have gone without – nothing short of brilliant news for the district.
As for ATG, Managing Director, Richard Ellis, went on to say: “From our first visit, it was clear this was a place where we could make a real impact. The building was well-used and worn, but the people and the work being done there were inspiring.
“We felt a responsibility to help and were delighted to do so, getting ‘hands on’ through our volunteering programme.”
Finally, HBCC Manager Kate Shannon added: “It’s been a huge lift for the community. The new kitchen means we can do more, support more people, and take pride in our space again. It’s been a real team effort, and we’re so grateful to ATG.”
Well done to everyone involved in bringing the Higher Blackley Community Centre Kitchen to life.
Well done to everyone involved in bringing the Higher Blackley Community Centre Kitchen to life.
Jess Walmsley -
15th July 2020 
