Now that cafes have reopened, it’s time to discuss desserts – and Manchester is home to some of the most delicious treats!
In the following list, we take a closer look at some of our favourite dessert location across the city and beyond – giving you a few potential options to indulge over the course of the weekend.
Grab a spoon….
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Shakedown
Withington
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_pgc4F7–/
Shakedown make some ridiculously good milkshakes – even have one tailor-made for Mancunians; the Manchester Bee Shake with Honeycomb Pieces, Honey Comb Syrup & Whipped Cream.
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There’s also an Oreo-infused shake packed with cookies and cream, and a tantalising menu chocked full of waffle creations from a classic flavour of fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce.
The pick of the bunch is perhaps the Road Block: Which is stuffed with Oreos, Crispy M&Ms, White Kinder Bueno, White Chocolate Drizzle and Nutella Drizzle.
Black Milk is on a mission to create the most extravagant waffles possible. And they’re doing a damn good job, too.
The waffles and pancake stacks here are out of this world, but Black Milk also has a great range of cookie dough, sickly sweet freakshakes (some are even topped with a slice of cake) and slabs of chocolatey goodness!
The brand also got exposure on Sky News recently; with owners talking about how they will be adjusting their creations for the Eat Out to Help Out scheme running throughout August.
Oxford Road, MCR Arndale & Piccadilly Train Station
Archie’s has three locations in Manchester – popular among locals and VIPs alike for decadent shakes and waffle stacks.
One of the brand’s most popular fully loaded waffles is the Cookie Monster – which is topped with crushed Oreo cookies and then drizzled in chocolate sauce.
There’s also The Snowflake – a large waffle topped with crunchy Malteasers and finished off with lashings of white chocolate.
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Maybe skip lunch if you plan on dining at Archie’s to ensure you have enough room to eat it all up…
Ginger’s is the perfect place to go for a Mancunian-made ice cream.
An award winning real dairy ice cream business, this Affleck’s emporium offers a range of exciting flavours which even include vegan options.
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The flavours change quite regularly so there will always be something new to try on every visit; they recently served a vegan chocolate brownie flavour which went down very well!
When getting lost in Affleck’s, Ginger’s is the perfect pit stop to enjoy a scrumptious dessert and soak up the atmosphere.
Dessert Republic is a family business with a dedication to serving delicious and heavenly desserts to satisfy all cravings.
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The brand is particularly adept at Nutella recipes; whether that be on top of hot cookie dough, one of their freakshakes or fluffy loaded waffles.
Cornflake Cakes with custard are also on the menu – offering a lovely little trip down memory lane to when you were a kid.
DR use Swiss ice cream Movenpick to create their desserts and famous milkshakes – with many customers saying the flavours remind them of being on holiday (a feeling many of us are craving at the moment).
Just a short tram ride away from the city centre is Slattery, the home of desserts and all things chocolate!
The Whitefield shop is full of surprises – including the Strawberry and Marshmallow Kebabs served with two chocolate pots filled with white and milk liquid Belgian chocolate – perfect for ‘dunking’ in!
Or you could really test yourself and try their Chocolate Challenge. This involves a large portion of their American-style chocolate fudge cake, served warm, with a portion of homemade chocolate ice cream, a portion of fresh cream and two chocolate pots filled with liquid chocolate sauce. Add a glass of any of delicious hot chocolate and the challenge begins!
If you manage to eat all this (without the help of your friends) you will be rewarded with a Slattery chocolate medal and a 100g box of handmade chocolates.
Frurt specialise in Frozen Yogurt (Froyo), with dairy and non-dairy options available.
The dessert spot has several locations scattered around Manchester, with more than 50 toppings (many of which are vegetarian, with some vegan) up for grabs.
You create your masterpiece by picking and choosing from fresh fruit, dry fruit, sweets, Chocolate and premium sauces such as pistachio, ruby and Bueno including warm sauces like biscoff and Nutella.
Fress are best-known for doing a banging bottomless brunch – but you should also know about their desserts.
From brownies to cookie dough and even a topped croissant, Fress have a fab range of new and exciting sweet treats ready to try.
Customer favourites include their Afternoon Tea selection which hosts a whole tier of Fess’s homemade goodies, from their Biscoff cheesecake to a stack of blueberry pancakes.
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When chatting to Fress, they teased to their newest item launching very soon which will be a new Dream Burger: A fully-loaded Nutella bun, Oreo , strawberries, ice cream, dream cheese frosting with edible gold leaf.
Don’t fancy pigging out on a dessert in public? The Midnight Delivery is the dessert parlour for you.
This place makes all their tasty treats in Salford and delivers them straight to your doorstep through their app.
Their menu is vast and you can have anything from topped birthday cake flavour cookie dough with chocolate ice cream to a Galaxy caramel & Nutella cookie tower sandwich!
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There’s also fresh batches of brownies and share-size boxes of pick and mix perfect for any movie night.
Another spot to grab some great vegan pudding is one of the most popular Vegan diners in Manchester: V-REV.
At the moment they are working on a reduced menu – but there’s a couple of items definitely worth digging into
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These include the New York baked cheesecake with salted caramel pretzel pieces, Biscoff sauces, chocolate sauce and Biscoff crumb served with chocolate peanut butter cookie ice cream, and their thick vanilla and cookie-flavoured milkshakes.
A Tafford Centre pit stop isn’t the same without some warm topped cookie dough!
My Cookie Dough has reopened at the shopping centre – returning with a large list of flavours to try from Red Velvet to Fudge & Honeycomb (which you can customise by adding your own choice of toppings and ice cream).
My Cookie Dough also launched a Build Your Own kit which you can have delivered straight to your doorstep containing all the ingredients you need to make enjoy your My Cookie Dough experience at home.
These kits are fully customisable so you can choose exactly what goes into your box and have the freedom to create your own exciting combinations.
They are available to purchase through their website.
Hungry yet?
We bet you are.
Get out and explore Manchester’s vast dessert scene and see what treats you can find.
Eats
The lost but still much-loved Greater Manchester food and drink spots that Mancs miss the most
Danny Jones
Unfortunately, these days, it feels as if we read about another place closing across the Manchester boroughs almost every week at this point – in fact, many of you might find out about those very closures right here on The Manc.
But, like anyone, we often just sit thinking back on some of our favourite bars, restaurants, takeaways and more that have sadly closed over the years.
10 of the most missed restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs in and around Manchester
1. Danish Food Centre
Starting off with the one we saw the most in the comments is the Danish Food Centre on the shopfront of the Royal Exchange on Cross Street, before sadly closing during the mid-1980s.
Exactly what it sounds like, this old Scandinavian spot first opened back in 1965 and was even known for a traditional sarnie known as ‘The Danwich’, as well as an interior lounge dubbed ‘Copenhagen Corner’.
That being said, many people used to nip here on their dinner break, to meet friends for lunch and a brew, or even to buy things to take home. It was eventually shut down by the Danish government, and we still envy those who got to experience it; still, without the original, we’d never have the likes of KRO Bar.
2. Horts/Ronnie’s Cafe Bar
Another one that popped up plenty in the long list of replies was Horts that used to sit on St. Ann’s Square and the attached Ronnie’s.
The former was more of a wine bar and the latter your standard cafe, but together, they were an ideal city centre favourite that served locals day and night.
By the late 80s, both had sadly disappeared, but people still reminisce about “the grand piano sat under a gorgeous glass dome” and how much they “loved the comfy leather Chesterfield sofas.”
Also up there in the trio of most-mentioned places below the post was the legendary Dutch Pancake House – no, not the one that rears its head at the Manchester Christmas, but at least you can still look forward to your annual fix.
The one we’re talking about was the busy corner of Elisabeth House (now 1 St Peter’s Square), which served a giant menu of sweet and savoury pancakes.
We lost it in the 2000s after developers bought the building, and lots of people are still angry about it.
Number four is Blinkers French and Bistro, which held that border between Salford and Manchester, and was owned by Cheshire-based millionaire, Selwyn Demmy.
The Wilmslow-born businessman may have been known for his famous ‘Hunter’s Moon’ in Wilmslow, but he was also the man behind the bar, restaurant and club which used to be on King Street West.
Before that, it was called the Le Phonographe, and it’s also not to be confused with the modern-day Blinker Bar now serving up top-notch cocktails over on Spring Gardens. By all accounts, it was a real ‘if you know, you know’ kind of gaff…
Next up is the old Grinch bar and grill, which used to be on Chapel Walks just off Cross St, and sadly closed back in 2016 after more than two decades.
More than a few Mancs said they “loved” either visiting and/or working here back in the day, and another cited that “their fried chicken was amazing”.
There’s plenty still open around there these days – including the likes of 10 Tib Lane, New Wave Ramen and the ever-reliable Town Hall Tavern – but evidently, there’s still plenty that really miss it. These days, it’s a pretty good Korean place called Annyeong.
6. Dry Bar/’Dry201′
This next one is a location that does still exist and is technically still a very busy bar most evenings, weekends and sunny afternoons if you can get a seat in the window.
However, many will argue that nothing quite compares to the old Dry Bar, a.k.a. Dry201/’FAC 201′, over in the Northern Quarter.
Nowadays, it’s home to the new and improved Freemount, which moved from its previous venue on Oldham Street; nevertheless, countless people still recall the watering hole in “the original format” as one of the best bars in town.
Their social presence still exists. (Credit: Dry Bar via Facebook)
7. UCP
One we’ve heard tales of now and again over the years, but still slightly wince whenever we hear the full name. In case you’re unaware, UCP is an abbreviation of United Cattle Products, which was the name of a company that had a big presence here in Greater Manchester.
To be fair, it was a pretty familiar brand across the region and the North as a whole, but their flagship four-storey shop over at Market Street/Pall Mall was the go-to place for lots of meat products.
We’ll say it, one of the main things people would go there to seek out was that word that still makes lots of people squirm: tripe – but remember, for generations this was a very common ingredient in various meals and for some, still is.
8. Croma
Ok, this one is more of a recent one that we’re sure lots of you still remember like it was yesterday, because in relative terms to most of this list, it kind of was.
Croma in Manchester city centre shut in 2022 after the pandemic, their Didsbury restaurant closed by March 2023, and the Chorlton site followed suit just last year.
However, we still maintain we’ve had some of our best pizza nights in these places.
For our/your penultimate pick, a fair few people noted Henry’s, which also lay claim to being Manchester’s ‘first’ cafe bar back in the day – that, of course, is still up for debate.
The group behind this brand opened up a venue in our city centre back in 1986, near Parsonage Gardens, but only made it to 2007 despite remaining fairly popular for a long time.
It went on to be replaced by another chain in Revolution; however, they are also closing locations all across the UK. Gutting.
It was arguably better known in London, such as in Mayfair. (Credit: Ewan Munro via Flickr)
10. Cornerhouse
Last but not least, the legacy of the Cornerhouse cinema needs no explanation, really, but there’s a lot to be said for the lasting love lots of people had for their memories made in there and the joint bar next door, quite literally spitting distance away.
Still sitting like a bittersweet reminder on the (you guessed it) corner leading up to Oxford Road Station and Whitworth Street, the theatre itself is home to little more than gig posters and an ever-changing rotation of murals these days.
However, you will be glad to know that the bar and visual arts centre across the road is still Manchester Metropolitan’s Arts, Culture and Media Hub, so it’s still alive in some fashion.
We (well, I*) couldn’t wrap up this round-up without paying tribute to one of the best places this city has ever seen, let alone just NQ.
It might not be right at the top of your dream revival list, but we’re sure plenty of you will agree that, for a period of time, CBR+B was the place to be.
Featured Images — The Manc Group/Dry Bar (via Facebook)
Eats
The ‘secret’ cash-and-carry near Piccadilly that’s selling amazing Italian food for less than the supermarkets
Daisy Jackson
We all know the pain of finally settling on what you want to eat for dinner, only to Google a recipe and discover a list of ingredients that your local Tesco definitely won’t have in stock.
‘Where the f*** am I going to get guanciale from at this hour?’, you think.
Well, just a stone’s throw from Manchester Piccadilly, you’ll find a cash-and-carry that’s an Aladdin’s cave of Italian food – and a damn sight cheaper than a supermarket, too.
Amato is a name you might recognise, with their grey vans regularly trundling around Greater Manchester delivering top Italian produce to all your favourite restaurants.
But you don’t need a wholesale membership to take advantage of their massive range of pastas, sauces, drinks, meat, cheese, and just about everything else you can think of – or to make the most of the prices either.
Amato has given up a small section of its 20,000 sq ft warehouse to be a retail space, where you can pick up everything from fresh filled pasta to truffle oil.
There’s also a selection of produce from beyond Italy, like Kewpie mayonnaise and gochujang.
Part of the huge warehouse operates as a retail spaceBob Amato started the business more than 30 years ago
And they’ve honoured the prices given to wholesale clients too, with smaller retail sizing, meaning you can pick up affordable produce without needing to bulk-buy (or lug home a 25kg bag of flour).
The business was launched by Bob and Deloras Amato more than 30 years ago, getting top Italian ingredients to chefs across the North West.
But the retail side has really taken off since the Covid pandemic, Bob explains.
“It’s a bit of a secret place,” he says, “As we don’t tend to advertise it too much.”
It all began (as so many local businesses did) back in 2020.
He says: “During the pandemic, as we’re a wholesaler, we realised there was a big demand for flour, which we had plenty of. People were crying out for flour and we had absolutely tonnes of it in 25kg sacks.
A whole range of little pasta – or pastinaOne of two aisles dedicated to Italian pastaPasta shapes you won’t find in a supermarket
“So we got some of our staff to come in and to repackage it in smaller packages that we could sell to retail customers.
“From that, people weren’t allowed to go out and they wanted to make pizzas and pasta, so they wanted tomatoes and mozzarella and pepperoni and other products.”
As a customer now, you can pick up things like tinned San Marzano tomatoes, harvested in the foothills of Mount Vesuvius; fresh burrata from Puglia (or frozen, if you want it to have a slightly longer shelf life); and traditionally-cured meats like guanciale, speck, and prosciutto.
Essentially, there’s everything you need to make a hearty Italian feast from scratch, or you can grab a bag of homemade pesto and pasta, made fresh on site, from the fridges for an easier dinner.
Bob and his team are encyclopaedias of information about the food produced all the way across Italy, knowing the back story of every one of their 1,500+ products.
Cured meat including guancialeTrays of cannoli You can also pick up fresh filled pasta at Amato
He tells us about why pasta shapes get their name, like Schiaffoni, which loosely translates as ‘slaps’ because of the sound they make when they plop onto the plate.
Bob also explains the reason that Scamorza comes in a snowman-like shape, with the cheese being strung up by its ‘neck’ to dry and age.
He chats us through all the different flours, and why you would use which in your pizzas; why good tinned tomatoes are worth seeking out (cheap ones are like ‘bullets’); and that you should always bring your burrata up to room temperature.
Even as we’re checking out with our armfuls of pasta, the staff member serving us is passing on tips for a perfect amatriciana sauce.
Amato is open from 7am daily (except Sundays), and if you’re stuck on what to make for dinner, pay Bob and his team a visit.
Jess Walmsley -
7th August 2020 
