A popular Jamaican street food takeaway in Manchester’s Northern Quarter is being forced to close its doors after its building was sold to new owners.
Currently housed inside the Ride Low building on Church Street, Eat n’ Sweet has been a fixture here since 2014 – but its owners are on the hunt for a new space, having been given just six weeks’ notice to find somewhere else to go.
Renowned for cooking up some of the best curry goat in the city, Eat n’ Sweet is headed up by husband and wife team Dean and Marianne Ricketts and regularly has queues stretching out of the door.
Now with a move-out date now set for 13 April, they are appealing to customers and other local businesses nearby to help them find somewhere new to go and continue their roaring trade.
Curry goat, rice and peas with veg and pasta at Eat n’ Sweet. / Image: The Manc Eats
Curry goat, rice and peas with veg and pasta at Eat n’ Sweet. / Image: The Manc Eats
Co-owner Marianne Ricketts tells us: “We’ve looked around at some things in town but the prices are ridiculous. We’re an independent business, you know.
“In the interim, if we don’t find anything we do have a pop-up van but we don’t know, we’ve seen a few spots but with licensing a lot of areas are restricted within the city centre.”
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She adds, however, that their real goal is to find a new shop and that they’d much rather find a new home this way.
With room for just three people to sit and eat at once, their current home inside the Ride Low building (itself a fixture on Church Street for three decades) is small but mighty, with crowds flocking into their tiny corner kitchen takeaway in their droves.
It’s the sort of place where everyone seems to know each other, and as we sit and eat our lunch of tender curried goat, rice and peas, ackee and salt fish, we overhear each person ask Dean as they place their order and pay at the counter: “Have you found a new space yet?”
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Evidently, it has a big following, and it’s not hard to see why. Food is cooked freshly every day by co-owner Dean, who refuses to cut any corners and seasons and marinades all meat on the menu for 24 hours before serving it up to customers. Marianne describes him as their ‘chef extraordinaire’.
On the menu, you’ll find everything from snacks like fried dumplings and patties as well as fried and jerk chicken, whilst elsewhere there’s a full Jamaican dinners section with the likes of curry goat, oxtail, curried chicken, brown stew and jerk chicken.
A proper authentic Carribbean spot, it would be a shame to see this gem disappear. If you have a unit or know someone who might be able to help, owners are appealing for you to get in touch with them via their Instagram page here.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Eats
Popular Manchester restaurant bar to give out FREE sausage rolls to people called ‘Greg’
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s much-loved restaurant bars is doing a free sausage roll giveaway next week… but there’s a catch.
The catch being you have to have a certain name in particular.
It was only last week that popular high street chain Pret A Manger announced it would be slinging out free sandwiches to any Mancs with ‘Nic’ in their name over the late May bank holiday weekend, and now Tariff & Dale is getting it on the giveaway action, and it’s all to celebrate the iconic event that is National Sausage Roll Day.
In case you didn’t know – which is very likely, let’s be real – next Thursday (5 June) is the day dedicated to all things sausage roll.
So what better way to mark the occasion than with free portions of Tariff & Dale‘s legendary meaty treat?
The popular Northern Quarter restaurant bar is known for its creative comfort food, craft beers and cocktails, and laid-back industrial vibe, with one of the cult-classic dishes on its menu having always been the honey pork sausage roll – which just so happens to be a whopping 15-inches long, by the way.
Resembling something more of a pork wellington than a sausage roll, if you will, the dish is crispy, golden, and glazed with honey on top.
But to celebrate National Sausage Roll day, instead of parting with £9.50 for a portion or £48 for the full 15-inch thing, people with one specific name can actually get a slice for completely free of charge.
Tariff & Dale is giving away FREE sausage rolls to people with this name next week / Credit: Supplied
And that name is ‘Greg’, because if we’re honest, when it comes to sausage rolls, we all tend to think of Greggs.
So whether your surname is Gregory or Gregson, or you’re simply just called Greg, then all you need to do to claim your complimentary slice of sausage roll heaven is head on down to Tariff & Dale next Thursday 5 June from 12pm up until 9pm.
Make sure you show your valid ID proving your name when you order at the bar, and get ready to stuff your face.
Failing that, anyone not called Greg will just have to pop into actual Greggs instead.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
Eats
Plans to open a brand-new pub on the site of the Rovers Return
Daisy Jackson
A brand-new pub is set to open in Manchester city centre net month, with treats in store like complimentary bowls of crisps, an outdoor terrace, and a games parlour.
The Stables Tavern is taking shape in the St John’s district, poetically on the same site that was once home to Coronation Street’s iconic Rovers Return pub.
They’re promising this will be a ‘historic tavern reimagined for today’s lover of a proper pint’.
The pub will come from Shiko Group, which is also behind Courts Club, where you can play tennis or basketball followed by court-side pints, and Side Street, a bar-restaurant-events space with a mid-Century interior.
Neighbouring the Bonded Warehouse, The Stables Tavern will join this rapidly blossoming new creative district, just across the yard from Caravan, The Trading Route and Aviva Studios.
Inside, punters will find multiple beer taps with local beers, served with complimentary bowls of crisps as well as a menu of pub snacks like handmade sausage rolls and local pies.
The pub will be split into three sections – an outside terrace, a main bar, and a parlour area at the back of the pub for live entertainment, old school games, and rounds of whiskey.
This might be a new district but it’s a historic area for the city – the same building was a busy watering hole back in the early 19th century for workers, merchants and visitors who made use of the nearby canals and cobbled streets.
It was then the home of the Rovers Return, back when this area was the home of Granada Studios.
Hayley Sammé, Marketing Director, said: “We’re so excited to bring The Stables Tavern back to St John’s. The area’s extensive historical backdrop and burgeoning hospitality scene provides the perfect landscape for a traditional British pub.
“It’s the perfect addition to the existing scene, and we hope it’s going to become a popular spot in our new creative district.”
The Stables Tavern will open at St John’s on Friday 6 June.
Georgina Pellant -
17th March 2023 
