We all love a good roast, and if you’re anything like us you’re perpetually on the hunt for ‘the best’ out there (your mum’s aside, of course).
Well, one restaurant and bar in Manchester has just been crowned the UK’s best to get a Sunday roast – and if you haven’t been, we strongly recommend putting it on your list.
Ducie Street Warehouse in Manchester city centre has just been awarded the gong of the best roast dinner in the country by Rate Good Roasts, an annual list that pits dinners up and down the country against each other in a never-ending search for the best of the best.
The Manchester restaurant, which has its own dedicated cauliflower cheese menu as part of its roast dinner offer, came in joint first place with The Hawthorn at Howarth.
Now in its fifth year, the Rate Good Roasts list also ranked Manchester eateries 10 Tib Lane, The Refuge, Kong’s Kitchen and Ate Days A Week amongst the best roast dinners of 2022.
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“Every roast is reviewed against ten categories that make up a special Sunday lunch,” the team at Rate Good Roasts explained.
“We score each of these out of ten to work out the score and rankings. The categories are meat, vegetables, sides, venue, drinks, value, potatoes, gravy, service and, of course, Yorkshire puddings.”
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The ‘Sunday with Sides’ roast at Ducie Street Warehouse includes options like dry-aged local shorthorn beef sirloin, rosemary roasted leg of lamb and roast turkey breast with stuffing and a pig-in-blanket, as well as a regularly changing vegan roast served with all the trimmings and a vegan Yorkshire pudding.
All plated roasts are served with ‘proper’ roast potatoes, a giant Yorkshire pudding, seasonal vegetables and gravy, with more sides available to order from £1.50.
Additional sides include extra Yorkshires and gravy, Tuscan pork stuffing, maple roasted parsnips, Honey roasted rainbow heirloom carrots, lemon and garlic tenderstem broccoli gratin, and macaroni cheese.
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As for cauliflower cheese sides, there are a total of seven different options available topped with everything from frazzles to truffle.
Scott Monroe of Ducie Street Warehouse told theManchester Evening News: “It was a bit of a surprise to get ranked first but, in the same breath, we’re not surprised because the quality of our roasts are just so good.”
“I’ve been here since the inception of the Sunday roast menu and I’ve been able to watch it grow from a concept into this absolute machine. We’re very happy to get this kind of recognition.”
Feature image – DSW
Eats
Man replicates Manchester pizza restaurant’s loo in his own home
Daisy Jackson
A man has fallen so in love with the loos at a Manchester pizza restaurant that he’s recreated it in his own home.
Yep, while most of us spend our time trawling Pinterest or Instagram for our interiors inspiration, local Matt Hatt got his inspo on a trip to the toilet in town.
He was so obsessed with Nell’s vibrant orange bathroom interiors that he’s now created his very own cookie cutter version in his own house.
And Nell’s has been so impressed, they’ve even got stuck in to lend a hand with the finishing touches.
We are totally on board with Matt’s appreciation for a good restaurant loo – you can spend all the money in the world fitting out a dining room, but it really can fall apart if you head to a toilet with a wonky seat or a door that doesn’t shut or hideous fluorescent lighting.
Thankfully you don’t find too many of those around town these days.
From the ultra-luxury bogs around Spinningfields to the cheeky nude-covered toilets in the Northern Quarter, Manchester has a load of brilliant restaurant loos to explore.
One of the best is Nell’s, the New York-style pizza joint down at Kampus, which is painted a vibrant shade of orange.
Matt has nailed that bright toilet decor in his Victorian home in Manchester, down to the white subway tiles, the rounded wall mirrors, and the globe light fixture.
He even slid into Nell’s DMs to let them know about his project, and they offered to give him a branded pizza box, which Matt framed and hung on the wall.
Sharing his inspiration in a video filmed at Nell’s, Matt said: “If you’ve never been in a men’s toilet before, welcome. This is Nell’s Pizza in Manchester and this is the inspiration for our downstairs loo. Isn’t it fab?
Manchester’s smash burger and ice cream legends Big Licks launch huge crowdfunding effort
Daisy Jackson
Big Licks, the Manchester restaurant that’s found the ‘sweet spot’ between amazing burgers and delicious desserts, is sailing through a huge crowdfunding campaign.
The restaurant, which has an eye-catching location down on Liverpool Road as well as two sites in Scotland, has already raised a whopping £135,000 for its expansion dreams.
It’s now pushing to hit £150,000 so that it can open new restaurants and franchises across the UK.
Big Licks was first launched by two teenagers in 2009 as a takeaway – it’s now gone on to be a rapidly expanding name bringing in £3m in sales and more than 400,000 customers in the last 12 months alone.
On their menu you’ll find incredible smash burgers (with up to four patties in each bun) made with free-range grass-fed beef that they source directly from farm, or buttermilk chicken topped with their signature ranch sauce.
There’s also an impressive menu of house-churned ice cream made with quality local ingredients, and cakes, cheesecakes and brownies all baked in house daily.
All that is alongside fried chicken, loaded fries, and other mouth-watering sides.
Next on the agenda for Big Licks is expansion across the country, offering up the chance to become a shareholder in this bright young business.
They want to use the money raised to prepare the business for franchising, with a target to open 18 restaurants by 2027.
Then any extra money raised will be used to open more company-owned restaurants.
And there are rewards on offer for those who choose to invest in Big Licks.
If you invest £100, you’ll get a Big Licks White Card which gets you 10% off in store, as well as owning a share of the business.
Then the rewards continue with other things like free burgers and shakes all the way to merch and much bigger discounts.
Co-founder Anees Ahmed said: “It is clear that the potential is great.”
He added: “We believe one of the key ingredients to a successful restaurant is creating a hangout spot, a vibe. That will always be our aim when you come to Big Licks.”
The businessman then said: “We won’t compromise on quality. We will always keep sourcing within head office. This means we keep producing our own ice cream using locally sourced organic milk and the finest Italian flavours.
“We’ve found that sweet spot. The combination of sweet desserts and smashing burgers that opens up audience’s doors, covering off every craving.
“We want you to be part of the journey and become a shareholder in Big Licks.”
You can find out more about the Big Licks crowdfunder through Crowdcube here.
*Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.