Eats

Manchester bakery creates amazing Barbie-inspired treats including 6″ pink stilettos

Is this Barbie heaven, or is this Barbie heaven?

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 20th July 2023

Everyone in Manchester seems to be getting Barbie fever at the moment, but one bakery has really pulled the pink goodness out of the bag with its limited edition Barbie-inspired treats.

Little Dessert Shop, which has two sites in Manchester in Chorlton and Cheetham Hill, describes itself as the UK’s most viral dessert shop – and after seeing what they’ve put together for their Dollicious collection, we can see why.

Highlights include the Glam Cake, which is comprised of layers of heavenly vanilla sponge, topped with a whimsical bubblegum frosting, and adorned with a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands alongside a mesmerising white chocolate drip.

There is also a soft pink Bliss Milkshake, made using Bubblegum gelato, strawberry sauce and cream, plus perfectly pink scoops of Bubblegum ice cream, and Dream Bites – perfectly crafted gelato bites encased in a smooth, blush pink chocolate coating.

dollicious barbie collection
Image: Little Dessert Shop
Image: Little Dessert Shop

Read more: A bottomless Barbie singalong brunch is coming to Manchester

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But the main draw, for us at least, has to be the Dollicious shoe – a 6″ hot pink stiletto made from chocolate, topped with luscious strawberry chocolate sauce, and elegantly paired with a handful of plump, fresh strawberries.

Paying homage to the iconic Barbie style that has got so many excited during Margot Robbie’s pink carpet press tour, we can’t think of a better way to celebrate the upcoming film release than devouring a lifesize pink chocolate shoe – can you?

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Image: Little Dessert Shop
pink edible shoe
Image: Little Dessert Shop

Whilst locals to Manchester can pop in and enjoy the Dollicious collection in house, some of it is also available to order for delivery through the Little Dessert Shop website. However, it is worth noting that the Dollicious shoe is only available to eat in at selected stores.

Read more: A wine festival dedicated to all things rosé is coming to Manchester

It’s worth looking at the full menu, too, because whilst these items are only available for a short time there’s plenty more we’d eat again and again – including gelato burgers, chocolate Cinderella slippers and a host of indulgent loaded waffles and crepes.

Featured image – Little Dessert Shop

Eats

Acclaimed restaurant staffed by prison inmates announces sad closure

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing

The Clink, an acclaimed restaurant where the food is prepared and served by prison inmates, has announced its devastating closure.

The charity behind the restaurant, which is attached to HMP Styal, has confirmed that it will close for good on 31 July 2025.

The Clink is famed for the training and experience it provides inmates, helping them to get a head start into the hospitality industry when their sentence ends.

It’s also achieved plenty of acclaim as a restaurant in its own right, consistently being rated as the best restaurant in Wilmslow and voted Cheshire Restaurant of the Year in 2024.

Over the years, hundreds of students have earned qualifications including City & Guilds NVQs in Food and Beverage Service, Professional Cookery and Food Hygiene.

The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing
The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing
The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing

But The Clink has now announced that it will be closing this summer due to ‘a number of factors’, including costs and participant numbers.

Donna-Marie Edmonds, Chief Executive of The Clink Charity, said: “The decision not to renew our contract at HMP Styal has been made with an incredibly heavy heart.

“The Clink Charity’s mission is to reduce re-offending and we have been doing this at Styal, producing outstanding results for over a decade.

“Although the restaurant will officially close this summer, our partnership at Styal will be remembered not only for its landmark training outcomes, but as a beacon of hope, where women have sought refuge and rehabilitation.”

As one of those students put it: “If it wasn’t for my journey at The Clink, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Deansgate’s new mini brunch triangle attracting big queues – and rightly so

Danny Jones Danny Jones New Manchester brunch spot triangle Deansgate

Manchester is absolutely bursting at the seams with brilliant brunch spots, and don’t even get just started on trying to pick from all 10 boroughs as a whole, it’s impossible.

However, over the past year or so, we suddenly realised that somewhat of a city centre trio of brunch spots serving unreal breakfasts, midday delights and early afternoon scran has emerged.

A new Manc brunch triangle, if you will.

While some have been there longer than others, all three of these places within aren’t just within spitting distance of each other but are enjoying a real wave of success at the moment – and it’s no surprise why: they’re all utterly incredible.

Three brilliant city centre brunch spots for you to try

1. Bruncho

First up on the list is the aptly named Bruncho, which opened just last summer, and despite announcing itself to the Manchester hospitality scene rather quietly at the time, it’s starting to pick up some serious pace now.

Specialising in unreal breakfasts and Mediterranean exports like menemen, Turkish eggs, their own spins of spicy favourite shakshuka, as well as plenty of dessert-forward plates with colour palettes as full as the plates themselves.

It goes without saying that you can obviously get a proper good ‘Bruncho Full English‘, but we’d encourage you to branch out and, who knows, maybe have a brekkie that features ice cream? In fact, it’s sentences like that which make it our Thomas’ favourite way to start the day – albeit ideally a lie-in.

2. Alex’s Bakery

Now, another very strong candidate which has been around on the Manc brunch scene much longer than the other two on this list is local success story, Alex’s Bakery, though we’ll admit we’d mainly visited this place for the unreal brownies, cupcakes and other assorted sweet treats until recently.

However, in addition to the popularity of their lunch deal (a panini, cupcake and drink), they’ve really stepped up their wider brunch offerings of late, going from what was once just a Manchester Artisan Market back in 2014 to branching out into everything good you can put on toast and tonnes more.

It may not garner the often ridiculously long queues of other places, but that’s because this place has a steady flow of regulars all week long who’ve steadily fallen in love with it over many years. They’re tres leches cakes alone are well worth the visit.

3. Acai And The Tribe

Last but not least, the acai craze is undoubtedly one of the biggest foodie trends around right now, as proven by the lines that gather outside this Great Northern venue at least once virtually every weekend – but Acai And The Tribe has actually been on the hype for ages.

That being said, after moving from Arndale Market to Deansgate Mews back in 2022 and now along the main strip in recent months, their popularity has skyrocketed. If you’re looking for a health brunch open packed with vibrance, vitamins and plenty of other very nice toppings, this is the one for you.

We’ll warn you, finding the right window to visit is essentially if you don’t want to wait around for ages these days, but both Clem and Daphne still greatly approve, so it’s it gets the seal of approval from us.

So, while we could recommend you a whole load of fantastic places in around Manchester city centre, we’ve been particularly charmed by this mini Manc brunch triangle around Deansgate.

Best of all, it’s just always great to see local businesses thriving, isn’t it? Especially when it comes to people lining the streets and sending it viral just for a chance to taste their offerings.

Modern breakfast and brunch are things that can be either perfect in their simplicity or surprising in their creativity; either way, we’re glad there are plenty of examples of that here in Manchester.

Trust us, we take this stuff very seriously…

The top 25 places for the best breakfast and brunch in Manchester

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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