A new bottomless brunch has landed in Manchester featuring breakfast bahn mi, big boy English and Gujarati fry-ups, non-stop pints and bloody Marys.
Launched by New Century, the historic music venue at NOMA that is also home to an impressively large bar and street food kitchen, the offering kicks off for the first time on Saturday 15 July.
Priced at £30 a head, for that diners will be treated to 90 minutes of non-stop drinks and a brunch plate of their choice from one of the kitchen’s independent street food traders.
As part of the offering, each trader has worked to create a special brunch dish from around the world – meaning that the menu here is probably one of the most eclectic bottomless brunches you’ll find in Manchester.
Vietnamese favourites Banh Vi have created two delicious takes on the traditional baguette, stuffed with either pan-fried folded spinach omelette or smoked portobello Mushrooms with herbs and chilli. Both are served on a warm demi baguette with spicy ketchup.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Elsewhere, you’ll find a hearty Full Indian courtesy of The Spice Yard featuring a masala omelette, spicy baked beans, crispy potatoes, onion bhaji, and Indian bread with chilli butter, and a twist on the classic bacon sandwich made with Indian bread, sweet chilli sauce, salad and a garam masala and coriander dressing.
Add to that the Poha, a traditional Indian breakfast made with flattened rice cakes and potato tossed in mustard seeds, curry leaves, and topped with peanuts, then tell us you’re not getting hungry.
There’s more, still, with Wild by Ply serving herby tomato bruschetta and a tempting antipasti Board featuring toasted focaccia, Italian deli meats and cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes, grilled artichokes and mozzarella cheese.
And for those craving something quintessentially British, it has to be the Tallow Full English made with Frosty’s Grandma’s sausage, crispy smoked streaky bacon, homemade ham hock black pudding, crumpet, hash brown, spicy baked beans, butter roasted portobello mushroom, plum tomato and a fried egg.
Tallow is also serving a Bacon, Sausage and Egg Crumpet for those traditionalists who find themselves craving something a little lighter.
As for drinks, these come in two tiers with the likes of prosecco and house lager flowing freely for 90 minutes as part of the basic £30 price.
If you want to go all-out, though, you can opt to upgrade to breakfast cocktails for an additional £5 – well worth it for unlimited Mimosas, Bloody Marys, Bellinis, Espresso Martinis and Breakfast Martinis
New Century’s bottomless brunch will take place every Friday from 12-4PM, and every Saturday and Sunday from 10AM-4PM.
Places for bottomless brunch must be booked via email and guests will have the table for two hours.
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Eats
Inside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Hotel Chocolat has today opened the doors to its first Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester, serving up shakes, hot chocolates, sundaes, and loads more.
Part cafe, part retail space, inside you’ll find everything from molten chocolate fountains to a full range of chocolate boxes, bars and hot chocolate powders.
The popular chocolatier has stores up and down the UK selling its ethically-sourced sweet treats, hitting a new level of fame with its Velvetiser, an invention that creates velvety smooth hot drinks at the touch of a button.
They’ve been so popular, Hotel Chocolat is now opening Velvetiser Cafes across the UK – and Manchester is next.
There are exclusive-to-Manchester-sundaes in store, each one inspired by their most popular chocolates, like a Billionaire’s Shortbread and an Eton Mess.
You can also grab yourself a hot choc shake, with loads of flavours, milks and toppings to choose from.
Hotel Chocolat’s new Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterThe chocolate boxes at Hotel ChocolatInside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterMix-and-match hot chocolate selection boxesInside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterExclusive-to-Manchester ice cream sundaesCroissant with a molten chocolate potInside the Velvetiser Cafe in ManchesterInside the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester
The Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe also has pastries, which you can order with a side of melted chocolate for dipping and drizzling.
As part of the experience inside, there’s a wall of hot chocolate sachets, which you can mix and match to build your own selection box.
And all along the way there’ll be samples, and loads to learn about the chocolate industry.
The Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe has officially opened its doors today on Cross Street in Manchester city centre, just next to the new Joe & The Juice.
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.
Georgina Pellant -
14th July 2023 
