Two of Manchester’s beloved independent eateries have announced the launch of a takeaway Christmas Day service to make the festive period a little less stressful.
Tucking into a hearty meal is no doubt one of the real highlights of Christmas day, but having to adequately plan and prepare for the whole thing to go off without a hitch, and then ensure everything is cooked to perfection, is really quite the task.
It can stress even the best of us out.
Which is why both Trof and Herd – two popular restaurants in the heart of the Northern Quarter – have today launched a service that lets you place an order for your Christmas dinner to be pre-made and collected to take all that worry away.
How brilliant does this sound?
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With “no pre-dinner stress, no big shop and more importantly, no pots to wash” Trof’s Ultimate Christmas Dinner Kit can simply be collected from the restaurant from Christmas Eve – between 10am – 4pm – and then all you’ll need to do is follow the super-simple reheat instructions for a delicious three course meal.
To start, you can chose from Celeriac & Apple Soup (truffle oil, chives) or VEChicken Liver Pate (winter chutney, sourdough toast), for the main course, it’s a choice of either Roast Cheshire Turkey (roast potatoes, bread sauce, pigs in blankets, gravy), or Mushroom & Cranberry Wellington (roast potatoes, gravy, seasonal vegetables), and then for dessert, it’s either Christmas Pudding (with brandy sauce), or Buche De Noel (chocolate yule log) with dark chocolate sauce.
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The Ultimate Christmas Dinner Kit is priced at £35 per person, and includes a bottle of Prosecco for two people.
Trof NQ
Designed to “take the stress out of Christmas day cooking” with everything prepared as much as possible so you can “enjoy more time out of the kitchen and more time getting merry after this dreadful year”, Herd’s Christmas Trimmings Hampers could be a real lifesaver.
Each hamper comes loaded with everything you need to accompany the perfect Christmas dinner.
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You can take your pick from a hamper for two (£35), four (£55), or six people (£75), and if you feel like pushing the boat out a little further, you can also add on a Herd fillet of beef wellington to you hamper for the ultimate Christmas feast.
The Christmas Trimmings Hampers are available to purchase now for collection from the 22nd – 24th December and will come with full reheating and cooking instructions, plus a little Christmas treat.
Herd NQ
Not only does this concept take huge weight off your shoulders at a busy time, but it’s also a great way to help out local / independent hospitality businesses when they truly need it more than ever and are feeling the lasting effects of lockdown.
This is brilliant and unique way to do your bit for hospitality if you can this year.
You can find out more information about Christmas offerings and place your orders via the Trof NQ website here, and through the Herd NQ website here.
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The Manc Group has partnered with Deliveroo to help local restaurants deliver during lockdown as part of our #StillServingMCR campaign.
Working alongside Deliveroo, The Manc will ensure all restaurants on the service will get the amplification they need across our social platforms. We’ll update our one million-strong audience on your latest updates and deals and we’ll create conversations with the masses about our favourite scran from your menus.
Basically, we will champion you, and we will go above and beyond to do it.
Former Lunya site to be taken over by kebab house, five years after closure
Daisy Jackson
The restaurant space that was previously home to Lunya will finally be brought back to life, with a new kebab restaurant moving in.
Lunya, which had a two-storey restaurant and deli on Deansgate in the beautiful Barton Arcade, shut down in 2020.
It was one of the earliest and most high-profile closures caused by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, with owner Peter Kinsella penning at the time a heartbreaking open letter to then-PM Boris Johnson.
The Lunya site has remained empty for the last five years despite its enviable location in the heart of Manchester – but finally, new signs have gone up and a new operator is swooping in.
The windows now tease the arrival of Great British Doner, touting itself to be ‘the ultimate doner experience’.
The new opening will be selling wraps and boxes stuffed with beef, chicken, halloumi and falafel.
In a statement supplied to Place North West, Andrew Hynes, director at Hynes Illingworth said: “Barton Arcade will be the first UK opening for British Doner with two additional locations also secured in Manchester city centre.
Great British Doner is moving into the old Lunya site on Deansgate
“The business has been established by experienced restaurateur, Mehmet Korkut, previous owner of Café Istanbul and UK franchise owner of heritage brand Sultanahmet Koftecisi.”
There’ve been a lot of changes down this end of Deansgate in the last couple of years, including the openings of Simmons, with the city’s ‘biggest happy hour’, and Mama Roux’s, as well as the departures of Classic Football Shirts within the Barton Arcade.
When it opens, Great British Doner will join the likes of award-winning coffee shop Pot Kettle Black, and independent menswear retailer The R Store in the landmark building.
The viral factory in Oldham that sells £2 Colin the Caterpillar cakes
Thomas Melia
A factory in Oldham has gone viral online after sweet fiends discover they sell ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ cakes for less than half price.
There are some things that just go hand in hand: a brew and a biscuit, peanut butter and jelly and Brits and their crazy obsession with a character chocolate cake from M&S called Colin the Caterpillar.
Since hitting the shelves in 1990, more than 15 million Colin the Caterpillars have made their way from supermarket shop floor to our sweet-treat-awaiting plates.
Who would’ve ever guessed that the home to this cheeky chappy, who M&S have made their unofficial mascot (after Percy Pig, of course), has been crafted and created right here in Oldham?
The utterly delicious Colin the Caterpillar cake which you can get for £2 at Park Cakes.The shelves at Park Cakes are stacked with Colins and Connies.Credit: The Manc Eats
Established in 1937, The Park Cake Bakeries – or just Park Cakes, colloquially – has been serving up this critter-inspired cake for over 30 years, and savvy shoppers have flocked to their factory shop to get their hands on some very sweet savings.
There’s a whole range of cakes on offer at this Oldham dessert factory shop, including slabs, sponges, loaves and even sweet pies too.
Whether you’re a firm believer that the birthday person deserves all of Colin’s white-choc face or you precisely cut it up so everyone gets some, Park Cakes has the solution, selling bags of the character’s chocolatey face so you can have one all to yourself.
The cake isn’t the only thing that leaves a sweet taste in your mouth, as the prices will too. Colin the Caterpillar, who normally retails for just under a tenner, is sold for around £2 at this Oldham factory shop.
It’s always the ones that look unassuming, isn’t it?
Alongside producing one of the most adored cakes in the UK, they’re also responsible for lots more of your favourite supermarket sweet treats, and we’re definitely not complaining.
You can let your sweet tooth go wild in this factory shop as they sell everything from rainbow birthday cakes to sticky toffee puddings.
There’s so much on offer too, how about a giant bag packed to the brim with misshapen golden flapjacks that’ll last you over a week and cost you less than a fiver? Sounds like a plan to me.
If you haven’t had enough of your Easter chocolate fix, why not trek over to Oldham and stock up on even more chocolate and sweet treats? Trust us, there’s plenty to choose from.
Park Cakes factory shop can be found on Ashton Road in Oldham and is open from 10am-4pm, so go and grab yourself a seriously sweet deal before everyone else beats you to it.
Mini Colins, small in size but still packed with all that chocolatey goodness.Flapjacks and cookie dough bites are just some of the wonderful treats you might be able to get hold of.Credit: The Manc
Emily Sergeant -
19th November 2020 
