Just when you think Greater Manchester has nailed the modern-day takeaway, along comes a new contender – and this time, they brought French tacos.
You’ll find French Taco’o down on Chapel Street, not far past Salford Central and the People’s History Museum.
You’ll also find a fast food dish so weighty Ryanair would probably charge you extra just to carry it onto the plane.
This is the home of the French taco, otherwise known as matelas, which translates as ‘mattress’.
What you’re essentially looking as is what you’d get if you mixed together a gyros, a doner kebab, and a burrito – which is exactly what you want to eat at the end of a night out, on a severe hangover, or when you just want to chow down on some comfort food.
At French Taco’o, they load flour tortillas with a variety of fillings, including grilled chicken thighs, sheesh kebab, falafel and beef patties.
Then in goes Algerian sauce (a spicy, tangy, mayo-based sauce), mixed vegetables, cheese sauce, and – very importantly – French fries.
French Taco’o is a Salford takeaway that specialises in French tacos. Credit: The Manc Group
The whole thing is then flattened and pressed like a panini before being handed over to change your life.
When you cut the French taco in half, the cross-section is giving mosaic tiles, but with pure spud instead of ceramics.
This brilliant takeaway also serves all your usual booze-soaking stuff, like burgers, pizzas and loaded fries.
And it’s not just for late-night – these may be calorific fast food items, but they’re made from scratch with a lot of love.
French Taco’o is not the first French taco establishment in town – there’s also an Airstream caravan up on Oxford Road that specialises in them.
These Greater Manchester French tacos are like a cross between a doner kebab, burrito and gyros. Credit: The Manc GroupYou’ll find French Taco’o on Chapel Street in Salford. Credit: The Manc Group
Robbie Reviews commented: “So so so good here. And the lads who work here are fantastic!!”
Someone else wrote: “I stumbled into this place last year after a night out. The guy is such a nice bloke I’m made up that he’s getting some love from pages like this.”
And someone else posted: “The best French taco thank you Cedric.”
French Taco’o might be the best and most filling £7.99 you can spend in Salford.
Bundobust and Madre announce bold new Indo-Mexican collaboration
Clementine Hall
Two of Manchester’s best-loved casual dining spots are joining forces for a limited-edition collaboration.
Bundobust and Madre will be teaming up this summer to create a menu inspired by two world-famous street food cultures – India, and Mexico.
The Indo-Mexican menu will feature dishes like ‘Naanchos’, and plenty of other Desi-flavoured Mexican dishes.
It’ll be mashing up iconic ingredients, techniques, and flavours, with a menu of brand new spice-packed dishes and cocktails combining Desi and Mexican influence.
So, what can we expect?
Mexican street food classics chimichanga and quesadillas get the Desi treatment, while Bundobust’s Indian street food favourites like chaat get a little Latino heat.
All paired with spicy summer-time cocktails, as a homage to Mexican drinking culture, plus the return of Bundobust Brewery’s new golden Cerveza, SANJA Mexican Lager.
We can’t think of a better place to spend our summer evenings to be quite honest.
On the menu there are crunchy Indo-Mexican ‘naanchos’, topped with salsa verde, crema, tamarind, onion, coriander, and a punchy pickle masala.
Madre and Bundobust are teaming upNaanchos, from the Bundobust x Madre menu
There’ll also be a ‘Tikkadilla’ – a corn tortilla packed with oyster mushrooms, red tikka sauce and Oaxaca cheese, with a side of desi birria sauce for dipping.
That’s alongside masala chimichanga, birria-ani, and corn chaat.
Then you can wash that down with a cashew colada, an avocado lassi, spicy mango margs and loads more.
The Indo-Mexican menu will be available at all Bundobust and Madre locations from Monday 14 July until Sunday 17 August 2025.
Northern Quarter cafe to give out 100 FREE slices of cake to celebrate its birthday
Emily Sergeant
A little Northern Quarter cafe is celebrating a big milestone this week, and is giving out 100 free slices of cake for the occasion.
Nibble is turning eight this week, and nothing makes a birthday better than cake.
The female-run independent cafe on Oldham Street in the heart of the Northern Quarter first opened its doors to hungry Mancs back in July 2017, after owner and manager Lauren had dreams to take her business of selling brownies at local artisan markets and turn them into a cosy cafe of her own that catered to people with all sorts of dietary requirements.
The cafe has since been acknowledged by tastemakers as one of the most accessible places in Manchester.
Not only is Nibble known and loved for serving up some of the best homemade bakes in the city, with something for everyone to tuck choose from, but they also provide a tasty selection of all-day brunch dishes, salads, and sandwiches, as well as corporate catering too.
So of course, to celebrate eight years of the lovely Nibble team feeding the good people of Manchester, the business is giving away free slices of birthday cake on Friday.
Nibble NQ is giving away 100 free slices of birthday cake / Credit: The Manc Group
After doing something similar to celebrate their birthday last year, this time around they’re taking things once step further, as it’s not just 100 free slices of scrumptious cake you can get your hands on, there’s plenty other prizes too.
Nibble will be ‘levelling up’ and throwing in some ‘hidden surprises’ in the form of vouchers, giving people an opportunity to win a free brunch, brownie box, or coffee and cake.
To be in with a chance of taking away one of the 100 free slices of birthday cake, all you’ll need to do is head to Nibble on Oldham Street this Friday (11 July) and line up outside the cafe from 9:30am, then you may just be lucky enough to start of your day in the sweetest way possible.
Daisy Jackson -
21st August 2024 
