Bury is famous for its historic market, home to everything from roast carvery sandwich spots to cake stands and the original Katsouris Deli, but venture five minutes down the road and you’ll find another interesting local gem.
Called Rawkies, this adorable family-run dessert cafe is the brainchild of husband and wife team Adam Greenwood and Sophie Bussey – and it’s offering something completely new to Mancs with a sweet tooth.
The first cafe of its kind in the north to sell edible, raw cookie dough, Rawkies specialises in cookies with a unique twist and has a host of different edible raw cookie dough flavours – spanning Birthday Cake, Chocolate Chip and Nutella, Honeycomb, Rainbow, Eton Mess, Fudge, and Vegan Salted Caramel Brownie.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
These can be ordered either as a ‘Classic Rawkie’ – mix-and-match scoops of raw cookie dough topped with various goodies like chocolate strands, whipped cream and sugary-sweet drizzles of sauce – or as something more substantial.
Other options see it stuffed into ice cream sundaes, atop pancakes, inside frozen cheesecakes, boozy (and regular) milkshakes, and even appear as an ‘egg and soldiers’ style combo with the addition of Kinder Milk Bars, white chocolate and caramel sauce.
Our favourite option, however, proved to be the ice cream breakfast bowls. Created as a nod to Northern Quarter dessert cafe Black Milk Cereal, which is run by a friend of Adam and Sophie’s, these swap cereal milk with soft serve ice cream for the ultimate indulgence.
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With cereal choices spanning American favourites like Honey Hoops, Marshmallow Mateys, Cookie Crunch, Choco Snaps and Frosted Flakes, plus extra toppings like chocolate strands, saucy drizzles and flavoured crumbs, you can guarantee you will be leaving on a sugar high at the end of your visit.
Elsewhere, the cafe also offers a selection of hot drinks and bar snacks, dessert cocktails, coffees, lagers and ciders, with a second menu of sandwiches and sides, and even a raw cookie dough afternoon tea for two that requires a 24-hour booking notice period.
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A charming little spot for a sugary pick-me-up, Rawkies is located in The Rock and opens from 12.30-10pm Tuesday to Thursday and 12.30-11pm Fridays and Saturdays. It is also available on Deliveroo.
Rudy’s toy-swap – You can swap toys for pizza in Manchester this Christmas
Daisy Jackson
You’ll be able to claim a free pizza in exchange for donating a toy to charity this Christmas, with the return of Rudy’s toy-swap initiative.
The popular pizzeria is teaming up again with Cash for Kids, for a community-led toy-swap initiative.
Mancs who take an unwrapped, new toy (worth £10) into any Rudy’s pizzeria will be able to claim a pizza on the house as a thank you.
One toy = one free Neapolitan pizza.
The toys collected in the charity drive will be donated to the Cash for Kids charity, spreading a little festive cheer to children in need.
When Rudy’s held a similar toy-swap scheme last year, they gathered 6,500 toy donations.
The donations and free pizza will be available from Monday 1 December to Thursday 4 December between 12pm and 5pm.
Commenting on the toy-swap initiative, Managing Director of Rudy’s Pizza Neal Bates, said: “We’re delighted to be bringing back our festive toy swap this Christmas in partnership with Cash for Kids.
“The campaign is a simple way for our guests to give back and help bring a little joy to children who might otherwise go without.
“Community has always been at the heart of Rudy’s, and this initiative is a small way for us to say thank you and spread kindness throughout our community, all with delicious pizza in hand.”
The Rudy’s toy-swap initiative is back in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
There’ll be new festive pizzas to try in every Rudy’s too, including the Porchetta (with Emilia-Romagna porchetta, sage-roasted potatoes and cranberry sauce); the Pesto Rosso (homemade sundried tomato red pesto base with capers and tomatoes); and the Pizza Sorbillo, inspired by Naples’ legendary Sorbillo Pizzeria.
There’ll also be seasonal cocktails including the spiced red berry spritz, the white Christmas margherita, and a winter spiced negroni.
Rudy’s toy swap initiative will run from 1 – 4 December across all of Rudy’s pizzerias in the UK – Manchester pizzerias include Ancoats, Peter Street, and Portland Street, plus branches in suburbs across Greater Manchester.
Stockport County’s Christmas dinner in a cup returns for 2025 as part of new festive food range
Danny Jones
We can’t believe it’s rolled around again already, but with the festive period well underway and the big day just a few weeks away, Stockport County have brought back their viral ‘Xmas dinner in a cup’for 2025.
Better still, the County Courtyard has seen some new Christmas specials added to its food menu, too.
The local football club are absolutely flying in League One at the moment, having spent plenty of time at the top of the table already and still well and truly contesting those promotion/play-off spots.
If you’re a Stopfordian, that’s plenty of cause for celebration right there, but with the Christmas dinner in a cup also up for grabs once more, the holiday season literally couldn’t taste any better right now.
For those who’ve never seen it before, it’s exactly what it says on the tin – well, cup: a little Sunday dinner in a County-branded takeaway coffee cup, complete with a healthy pour of gravy and pretty much all the trimmings you could hope for.
Yes, including sprouts, because all of you who still don’t touch them need to grow up already.
Currently priced at just £4.50, not only does it contain virtually all the major food groups (barring the customary matchday pints, of course), it might just be one of the healthiest and best value-for-money bits of footy scran around – certainly in Greater Manchester, anyway.
But, as mentioned, that’s not all this year; Stockport are also serving up the new festive hot dog and even a ‘leftover Christmas curry’ in a bowl, which might even be more warming on a cold night at Edgeley Park than the Xmas dinner in a cup or clinging onto a flask of Bovril.
Anyone else craving that curry with a cheeky bit of bubble and squeak now?
It’s also worth noting that you’ll only be able to get one of those on Boxing Day, by the way, when the Hatters host Lincoln City in the league.
As for the rest of it, County fans can get their hands on this seasonal scran for the first time this year at the weekend when Dave Challinor’s side take on Barnsley at 12:30pm, and two of the three specials will then be served at home every game over the holiday period.
Speaking of random Christmas food creations, there’s another limited-time-only and potentially divisive example that we’ll also be sampling this December…
Georgina Pellant -
19th May 2023 
