Eats

Cop yourself some free chicken — Yard and Coop’s Wing Wednesdays are BACK

For you freshers new to Manchester, consider this a public service announcement.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 15th September 2023

It’s that time of year again: Wing Wednesdays are back at Yard and Coop and we’re about to spend a rather ridiculous amount of our midweeks here.

We’re sure plenty of you are more than familiar with this Northern Quarter institution but for those of you who might be new to Manchester — yes, freshers, we’re talking about you — Yard and Coop‘s isn’t just one of the best chicken spots you’ll find anywhere in town, they also happen to great deals all year.

As well as their famous ‘Eat for a Tenner’ menu where you can get a main and a drink for, well, a tenner, and the kids’ menu where they can enjoy their tea and a dessert for a fiver or even totally FREE at certain times of year, the Manc favourite also does a hugely popular promotion called Wing Wednesdays.

Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, the jist of it is that for as long as the offer goes on, you can rock up every Wednesday and grab yourself free wings with every main, meaning that you turn every meal you sit down for into more of a feast.

To enjoy the deal, all you need to do is present a student card upon ordering or one of the restaurant’s ‘Yard Cards‘ which are available to everyone and help you get the best offers and discounts all year round, such as free wings like these.

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And don’t worry, you don’t have to pay for it or anything — it’s also absolutely free and you can download it on your phone HERE.

The best part of all is that you aren’t just limited to Y&C’s usual flavours: their ever-inventive team of chefs are always cooking up specials in the kitchen and you can try a brand new flavour every week. For instance, have you ever tried a salted toffee popcorn wing? No, you haven’t, but you’re about to.

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You best believe we’re gonna scranning several plates of these.

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With the cost of living crisis affecting us all, it’s good to see places like these still doing their best to help Mancs and the likes of students moving into 0161 enjoy eating out without breaking the bank.

Look forward to bumping elbows with you next Wednesday.

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Yard and Coop is by no means the only place you can get some seriously good value-for-money wings in the city centre either.

The Manchester bottomless brunch with endless Szechuan chicken wings

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Image — Yard & Coop (via Instagram)/The Manc Group

Eats

Can we please make 2025 the year of the ‘wide burger’?

Danny Jones Danny Jones wide burgers food trend 2025

In 2025, I have just a few resolutions/goals that I’m determined to achieve this year: one is to lose a bit of weight, another is to improve my marathon PB and arguably the most important one is to champion the trend of the ‘wide burger’.

Yes, I’m fully aware that the burger thing doesn’t quite chime with the first two but I intend to reward myself with said burger after I hopefully smash the other ones.

First off, I want to begin this by making it clear that I am in no way calling for the end of the trusty dirty burger convention that has spanned more than a decade now (Manc pioneers like Almost Famous remain one of my go-to spots to this day), but I am advocating for some innovation.

I want this year to be the year of the wide burger, someone else can come up with a better name for it if anything comes to mind, I’m just a hungry ideas man.

See, wide burger = happy man. (Credit: Max Lopez/@Experiment-with-Life via DeviantArt)

If it isn’t already plainly obvious as to what I’m talking about, let me explain.

The culinary world often feels like it can get stuck in these cycles, be it people slapping pulled pork on things, salted caramel-flavoured everything or the current hot honey craze; they’re exciting for a while but, eventually, things move on as they should to keep our interests piqued and mouths salivating.

On the other hand, there are some food and drink staples that are so tried and tested that they rarely evolve that much, mainly because people will always eat them no matter what.

Case and point, burgers.

That being said, although there’s something undeniably enticing about a towering, food-porny mess of a burger dripping with cheese and grease, the advent has become so overly saturated in modern cuisine.

Besides the ‘smashed’ style enjoying its time in the spotlight – which we’re also really enjoying, by the way, this isn’t a diss on any perfectly cooked patty – I don’t think there’s been much evolution for a while and it’s almost starting to feel like we’ve seen most takes on burger a dozen times before.

All absolutely scran, no doubt about that. (Credit: The Manc Eats/Yard and Coop via Facebook)

Again, there’s no doubt that all of these bad boys are delicious – we’ve eaten them all, so we can definitely vouch for that – but we can’t pretend we haven’t seen similar creations not only in Greater Manchester but at countless places up and down the country.

Moreover, at what juncture are we feasibly going to stop and say, ‘Sorry, but this mountain of bread and meat is officially too tall and tackling it is more a challenge than it is the simple act of enjoyment that we hope for out of a burger’?…

We all know how appetising these things look at first glance in a picture and they certainly stand out from the other options on any given menu, but there has to come a point where a burger is just too unwieldy to even attempt eating and simply whacking even crazier, unexpected toppings won’t cut it.

That’s why I’m posing a rather straightforward change of tact or direction, rather: don’t go up, go out; don’t make it taller, just make it wider.

It’s also worth noting that this is by no means a totally original thought, but it is one I’m fully behind.

The proof is right there on the internet for everyone to see: the people have been asking the same question, ‘Why tall and not wide?’ for ages now and I think it’s time we put the prospect to the test.

Nerd Dad (via TikTok)
r/GreatBritishMemes (via Reddit)
The Two Markets Girls channel even built what they called ‘the BEST wide burger ever‘ to test their theory.

Big dirty burgers stacked high with an immense surplus of extras are great on paper, especially when one of those overly indulgent days comes along and you want to pig out, but are they the most practical? I would suggest perhaps not.

I don’t want to have to disassemble a burger’s excessive layers or unhinge my jaw like a python to try and get my chops around my tea, I just want to take a big bite of a big burger with lots going and, as far as I can tell, there’s no reason this couldn’t happen with a burger that has greater width instead.

They don’t need elevation, they need surface area – as proven by the resurgence of delightfully crispy smash burgers – and it could open up a whole new avenue for those naughty cheat meals.

You could argue wide burgers or at least ‘wide-leaning’ offerings already exist, with one example being the viral and cult favourite Fergburger, made popular over in Queenstown, New Zealand, which tends towards a larger circumference rather than height.

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@hawa.munches 📍fergburger, queenstown an iconic queenstown must eat 🫶🏻 we got: 🍔big al 🍔fergburger 🍟fries 🧅onion rings #queenstown #nzfoodie #nzfood #nzeats #foodie #foodlover #foodtiktok #foodtok #fyp ♬ original sound – cheekychowmein

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Better yet, if you’ve ever been to a greasy spoon, old school caff or just a local butty shop and ordered a large barm or seen someone ask for a ‘bin lid’ (if you know, you know), then finding bread/buns/baps/whatever you want to call them big enough doesn’t even factor into the equation.

Another bonus upside is that this will in theory make big stacked burgers less of a tired novelty but rather a push-the-boat-out treat and once again see them restored as a worthwhile variation on one of the most popular foodstuffs on Earth.

Manchester has the chance to be the pioneering city at the forefront of a new craze, which is an opportunity that is really rare in gastronomy these days.

So how about it? How about we make 2025 the year we give wide burgers a go? And if I’m wrong then I’ll happily slink back into my chair and keep my mouth shut – most likely because there’s a burger in it.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — The Manc Group/MolnarSzabolcsErdely (via Pixabay)

Eats

Independent Chinese street food favourite Little Bao Boy announces closure in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Little Bao Boy has announced its closure in Manchester

Little Bao Boy has shared ‘sad news’ this week, announcing its departure from Manchester.

The Chinese street food favourite has been serving freshly-made bao, plus contemporary Asian dishes like loaded katsu fries, tofu bites, and spicy slaws.

But now this much-loved indie, originally from Leeds, has announced it’s baoing (sorry) out from our city for good.

Little Bao Boy has said it has just over a week left in Manchester, where it’s been operating as part of the North Taproom at Circle Square.

The team said it’s been a ‘tough decision’ as they’ve ‘had a blast’ at the new development off Oxford Road.

Little Bao Boy wrote: “I’m afraid to say we’ve got some sad news…

“As of the first of February we will be coming out of Circle square taproom in Manchester. It was a tough decision as we’ve had a blast there the last couple of years but sometimes you need to take one step back to take two more forward.

Little Bao Boy has announced its closure in Manchester
Credit: The Hoot Leeds
Little Bao Boy has announced its closure in Manchester
Credit: Instagram, @littlebaoboy

“We want to ram all our focus into making Leeds as good as it can be and that’s what we’re going to do moving into this year.

“We just want to say a massive thank you to everyone from Manchester who has come down to support us over the years it really does mean a lot!

“Maybe one day you’ll see us pop back up in the M1 postcode but for now it’s see you later, thanks for having us and the always welcome to come see us in Leeds. James & JB.”

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Featured image: The Hoot Leeds

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