Eats

Great North Pie – Manchester’s new pie and mash cafe, serving perfect chips and proper puds

Serving perfect chips and proper puds...

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 23rd February 2023

There’s a new restaurant in Manchester dedicated to the world’s greatest food item – pie.

Great North Pie Co is ready to open the doors to its first city centre venue, after establishing itself in Altrincham Market.

Its award-winning pies have been cropping up on pub menus and at farmers markets ever since, as well as in their own site in Ambleside in the Lake District.

And now the team have taken charge of a cosy unit at Kampus, with booth-style seating for up to 20 people, plus an outside (rain-proof) terrace overlooking the neighbourhood’s lush gardens.

On the menu are classic pies stuffed to the brim with quality ingredients from around the North West.

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Flavour combinations include Lancashire cheese and onion pie, made with Dewlay’s tasty Lancashire cheese and caramelised onion, and a 14-hour braised beef and ale pie, with Manchester Union Lager and redcurrant jelly.

Great North Pie Co
Great North Pie Co
Great North Pie Co
Great North Pie Co
Great North Pie Co. Credit: The Manc Group

There’ll be regular specials, like the current dish of minted lamb suet pudding with chip shop curry sauce and some of the best chips in Manchester.

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Every pie can be ordered with a range of sides, from mash to chips to mushy peas to pickled red cabbage.

For dessert, you’ve currently got one option, and it’s a good one – a proper chocolate pudding, served steaming hot and swimming in chocolate custard.

The menu will change seasonally, but what you’re guaranteed of is a huge bowl of comforting, proper northern grub, served in one of the city’s cosiest and most picturesque settings.

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The drinks menu includes the likes of Manchester Union Lager on draught, a selection of quality wines and proseccos, plus a handful of spritz style cocktails.

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Once the site opens on Monday 27 February, there’ll be breakfast sandwiches served daily between 10:30am and 2.30pm, plus cold pies to take home with you.

Neil Broomfield, co-founder of Great North Pie Co, said: “Since we started making pies it’s always been an ambition to have a base in the city centre. We’d been looking for a while and as soon as we saw Kampus, Little David Street and the gardens, we knew it was the right place for us.

“While it’s our first city centre venue, we don’t have plans to rollout out any more, as we place our focus on keeping the quality and consistency we aim for. We just want to concentrate on doing one thing and doing it well. The mix of traders coming into Kampus is amazing and we’re so proud to be part of it.”

Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

A restaurant in Ancoats is serving up plates of crispy fried squirrel

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

A Manchester restaurant is serving up plates of crispy fried squirrel – and their customers absolutely love it.

Taking game dishes to a whole other level, the wild crispy buttermilk fried squirrel at Ancoats restaurant Street Urchin comes served atop a creamy pulled ham hock cassoulet, with hazelnut bread croutons and nettle pesto and costs £22.50.

Sourced from their game supplier in Cumbria, it might sound nutty but owner Rachel Choudhary told The Manc that the dish has proven incredibly popular – and that the team has been ‘really surprised’ at how much of a hit it has become with customers since adding it to the menu.

She said: “We were looking for something new for the game options on the menu. Kev was speaking to our game supplier and randomly asked if he had any grey squirrels. Happily, he did.

“The whole team tried the dish the day it went on and the majority thought it was really good.

Wild crispy buttermilk fried squirrel with creamy pulled ham hock cassoulet, with hazelnut bread croutons and nettle pesto. / Image: Street Urchin
Image: Street Urchin

“We weren’t sure if it would sell, but have been really surprised. So many people have tried it and given good feedback. We’ve recommended that they eat it like chicken wings and pick it up, that way you get most of the meat.

“I’d never tried squirrel before and I absolutely loved it, it has great flavour, rich buttery texture, and it’s wild, free-range meat.”

The gray squirrel currently has an estimated population of 2.5 million in the UK according to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and is considered a good sustainable alternative to factory-farmed meat.

It is legal to control grey squirrels by shooting or trapping them in the UK in a humane manner and even helps protect the UK’s endangered native red squirrel population.

Whilst some might find the idea of eating squirrels a tad unappealing, many chefs argue it is better to eat them when culling as it means the meat does not go to waste.

Fresh clams, homemade chorizo, fennel and white bean cassoulet, garlic crouton. / Image: Street Urchin
Whole red mullet, warm red pepper and olive salsa, battered potato scallops. / Image: Street Urchin

English market diner Street Urchin was first opened on Great Ancoats Street in 2019 by husband and wife team Rachel and Kevin Choudary.

Read more: Two Manchester sisters are turning dead squirrels from Heaton Park into stationery holders

Prior to opening in town, the couple ran The Victoria in Altrincham for eight years before deciding that it was time to move on.

Their Ancoats market diner has made its name on being one of the few city centre restaurants specialising in fresh fish, with everything from clams and mackerel to cured chalk stream trout, king scallops, and whole grilled red gurnard regularly available on the menu.

Read more: Manchester rapper Aitch is doing a charity skydive for Down Syndrome awareness

Whilst the fish board is the main attraction, however, there are other dishes to explore on the daily-changing menu too – with game meat a popular choice whenever it is in season.

Featured image – Street Urchin

Eats

Gary Neville comes to woman’s rescue at Manchester restaurant Fazenda

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

Gary Neville has proven himself the utmost gentleman after coming to the rescue of a disabled woman who was struggling to walk to a restaurant in Manchester on Mothering Sunday.

The football pundit spotted Ann Knowles, 67, struggling to walk to Brazilian steakhouse Fazenda in Manchester’s Spinningfields and took it upon himself to come to her aid.

After approaching her and offering a lift, the former Manchester United star helped her into his car and then provided door-to-door service to the restaurant, walking her the last part of the way.

Ann had been on her way to meet daughter Samantha Ward, who was inside the restaurant when she received a phone call to tell her how the ex-footballer had saved the day.

She told BBC News: “I was upset thinking we’ll have to forget dinner, but then my daughter rang and said ‘it’s ok Gary Neville the footballer is taking her’ and I was like ‘what?'”

Image: Fazenda
Image: Gary Neville

“I said the actual footballer? Where did he come from? And she said he just appeared out of nowhere, obviously saw them struggling and said ‘you need help’.

“So he physically picked her up and gave her a lift to the door in this car.

“He delivered her to the restaurant and saved Mother’s Day.

“My dad was with my mum and he was in shock.”

Read more: Manchester to be filled with fresh blooms as annual Flower Festival returns this summer

She added that the family ‘legged it’ across the restaurant to meet her mother, continuing:

“I’ve always supported Gary but this just made my day,” she said.

“My daughter’s boyfriend’s jaw was on the floor. I think he was a bit star-struck.”

“It’s a bit of a crazy story, but ultimately we’re all really chuffed.”

Feature image – Geograph

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