The team behind Manchester’s most legendary burger bar, Almost Famous, will open the doors to a brand new burger concept this week.
Super Awesome Deluxe is taking over the old Lono Cove site on Thomas Street, serving up a short menu of smash burgers with a daytime soundtrack of 80s hits and a nighttime playlist of drum n bass.
If you don’t like beef burgers, look away now, but if you do, you’re going to like this one.
Super Awesome Deluxe will operate as a grab-and-go takeaway with just three core smash burgers on the menu – the Super (with deluxe sauce and pickles); the Awesome (shaved onion, deluxe sauce, ketchup, mustard and pickles); and the Deluxe (deluxe sauce, spicy ketchup, lettuce, tomato and pickles).
There’ll also be the Special, which will change every two months.
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And alongside those tender smashed beef burgers, topped with melty cheese, will be golden hand-cut fries which are taken ‘very seriously’ to bring maximum nostalgia to your takeaway.
The Super Awesome Deluxe fries are made with Cheshire spuds, cooked to crispy, salty perfection.
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Burgers will be made with meat sourced super locally from W.H Frost with a house blend of chuck, brisket, and aged marrow for a rich buttery flavour, ground for a steak-like texture and smashed hot into caramelised patties.
They’ll be limited daily until they’re sold out to ensure the highest quality and freshest buns.
Smash burgers at Super Awesome Deluxe Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupThe core menu at Super Awesome Deluxe is only three burgers, plus fries and homemade cherry lemo. Credit: The Manc Group
There’ll also be house-made cherry lemonade made daily, plus a special Super Awesome Deluxe lager made in collaboration with Tiny Rebel.
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Beau Myers, co-founder at Super Awesome Deluxe said: “Why is super awesome so super awesome? We’re doing more than just smashing burgers – we’re creating a whole vibe.
“We’ve created something completely fresh that hits in a new way and gives people what they need. It’s all about quality, energy, and keeping it real.
“Our menu is tight, the flavours are bold, and the beats are loud.
“We want people to walk out with a grin on their face, knowing they’ve just had the best damn burger ever. This isn’t just about food, it’s about the culture we’re building around it and the good times we’re bringing.”
Super Awesome Deluxe will open in the Northern Quarter on Wednesday 9 October, with 200 free burgers up for grabs on opening day (100 from midday, and another 100 from 5pm).
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Super Awesome Deluxe is open for takeaway from 12pm-3pm and again from 5pm-10pm, Wednesday to Sunday. There’ll be late night hours until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
‘New wave’ pizzeria where every pizza is served with scissors is heading to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Always a hot topic of conversation around a pizza is how to eat the damn thing – knife and fork, slice and hold, fold it up?
And now a new pizza concept is heading to Manchester, where authentic Neapolitan pizzas are always served with a pair of scissors for cutting up your dinner.
We here at The Manc are firm believers that scissors are a far superior tool for getting your pizza into slices, so news that Forbici (which literally translates as ‘Scissors’ from Italian) is opening in the city centre is music to our ears.
Forbici is taking over a corner unit on Cross Street, not far from the former site of much-loved family-focused Italian Croma.
Claiming to be arriving in town with ‘the world’s most powerful pizza dough’, the restaurant hails a ‘new wave’ of pizzeria.
Its roots will be firmly in Naples, with puffy biga dough handmade fresh daily and proofed for 12 hours. It’ll be made so fresh every day that pizzas will only be available while the dough lasts.
Forbici will serve its pizza the Neapolitan way too – quartered (it’s ‘four ways always’, with scissors, which protects that signature airy crust.
The pizzas are going to be topped with tomatoes from Solania, the only producer of true San Manzarno DOP tomatoes, and Fior di Latte Mozzerella from Vico Equese, a small coastal town where tradition runs deep.
They’ve even imported a pizza oven direct from Sorrento.
And drinks will come from Italian craft beer brand Amarcord, one of the nation’s first independent breweries.
Forbici says it will blend ‘born in Naples’ flavours with ‘rising in Manchester’ influences.
Andrew Garton, CEO of Forbici, said: “Forbici isn’t just another pizza restaurant—it’s a new way of experiencing pizza.
“We are pioneering a new wave of pizza in the UK, with the simple belief that pizza should be better.
“We have brought together the finest master bakers who have spent decades honing their craft in Naples to create the perfect formula for fermenting the world’s most powerful pizza dough.
“Born from centuries of Neapolitan expertise and heritage, Forbici will be rising in Manchester this year.”
Forbici will open its first Manchester pizza restaurant on Cross Street this spring – you can follow them on Instagram HERE for the latest.
Giuseppe’s – the tiny Italian bistro that proves Stalybridge is fast becoming a dining destination
Daisy Jackson
Giuseppe’s in Stalybridge is a restaurant that’s putting in an enormous amount of effort to please just a very small group of people – this teeny tiny bistro has just 18 seats.
With such a small capacity no one would blame them for sitting back and scaling back to a concise little menu of pizza – but Giuseppe’s really said ‘no grazie’ to such an idea and committed itself to a full bistro menu.
It’s yet another exciting addition to the rapidly-booming restaurant scene here in Tameside, where neighbours include Cafe Continental, Gladstone Barber & Bistro, and SK15 Bar & Bistro.
Giuseppe’s arrival on the Stalybridge high street has created a cosy corner for locals, one which could quickly follow in the footsteps of Ornella’s to become a fully-booked-for-months-in-advance destination.
Inside its welcoming navy blue walls you’re welcomed by a room filled with trailing plants, ceramic lemons and a huge doodle map of Sicily.
The menu also hails from Sicily, specialising in wood-fired pizzas but also dipping a toe into pasta and small plates too.
Pizza at Giuseppe’s Italian bistro in StalybridgeA spread of dishes at Pizza at Giuseppe’s Italian bistro in Stalybridge
Giuseppe’s pizza dough is meticulously made fresh with Italian 00 flour, left to ferment for at least 48 hours, before being stretched and topped and cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven until it’s all puffed-up and charred around the edges.
At lunch times, those delicious pizza doughs are folded in half to make Italian panozzi sandwiches, the charred dough encasing fillings like Sicilian fennel sausage and friarelli, and mortadella with stracciatella.
These are strong contenders for the best pizzas this side of Greater Manchester, with a soft and chewy crust that stands up against much bigger names in the pizza game.
Rum baba at Giuseppe’sThe team at Giuseppe’s in Stalybridge
Giuseppe’s pasta bowls include a hearty paccheri with Sicilian sausage AND guanciale, all salty and rich and creamy.
And once you’ve eaten your fill in this tiny little spot, where the windows go all steamed up in winter and you’re nudging up against neighbours chatting over pizzas, you can polish off with Italian desserts too.
There’s a very respectable slab of tiramisu on offer, plus a rum baba soaked in syrup and packed with fresh cream.
Giuseppe’s in Stalybridge may be small in capacity but it’s huge on spirit.
Daisy Jackson -
2nd October 2024 
