Eats

You can now get a ‘Hawksmoor at Home’ festive food hamper delivered to your front door

'Hawksmoor at Home - The Festive Box' is the restaurant's most indulgent offering yet.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 20th November 2020
Hawksmoor Manchester

Prestigious restaurant chain Hawksmoor has announced it will be launching an indulgent festive special of its home delivery boxes this Christmas.

Since temporarily closing doors in Manchester due to the first lockdown back in March, Hawksmoor has been working hard to bring its unique dining experience into homes nationwide with the Hawksmoor at Home series, offering easy-to-make meal kits and some of its most popular cocktails mixed by bartenders, along with special edition spirits and different products added regularly.

And now, in the lead up to Christmas, it’s only gone and got even more special.

Hawksmoor is launching its most indulgent Hawksmoor at Home offering yet – ‘The Festive Box’ – at it’s available to order from next Thursday.

Inside is everything you need for an easy-to-prepare steak night.

Pre-dinner cocktails are followed by smoked salmon and champagne, fillet steaks with sides, Hawksmoor beers and a bottle of Pulenta Malbec, and finished off with a huge sticky toffee pudding to share.

Hawksmoor at Home
Hawksmoor at Home

What’s included then?

  • Sour Cherry Negroni
  • Hawksmoor smoked salmon, soda bread and cream cheese
  • Pamler & Co Brut Champagne
  • x2 300g Fillet steaks
  • Matt Brown’s Ultimate Oven Chips
  • Creamed Spinach
  • Bone marrow & Madeira jus (for making Bone marrow gravy)
  • A bottle of Rosso Braida
  • x1 large Sticky toffee pudding with Clotted Cream
  • x2 Hawksmoor lagers

The Festive Box comes with easy-to-follow instructions and a bar code to access videos by Matt Brown – Executive Group Chef at Hawksmoor – for anyone needing extra help with cooking.

Another bar code will take you to a specially-curated Spotify playlist to listen to if you wish.

The Hawksmoor at Home – The Festive Box will set you back £165 in total, but if you’re not big on drinking, or would prefer to pair it with your own tipples, you can get the Hawksmoor at Home – The Festive Box (Without Alcohol) for just £105 instead.

The restaurant chain has also chosen to give back this year too.

It has confirmed that £5 from each box sold will be split between three worthy causes that it has been cooking for and supporting in other ways this year – City Harvest, Wood Street Mission (Manchester), and Soul Food (Edinburgh) – and so far in 2020, Hawksmoor has donated tens of thousands of pounds and cooked over 30,000 nutritious meals for eight different charities.

Each of the organisations in London, Manchester and Edinburgh have been helping to fight hunger during what has been one of the most challenging years nationwide.

Speaking on Twitter about the decision to donate funds to chosen charities through the sales of the Hawksmoor at Home boxes this year, Hawksmoor said: “Christmas should be about being happy and doing something for other people. We hope that, whether the restaurants open or not, that we’ll all manage to make a few people happier this Christmas.”

How brilliant is this?

So, if you fancy treating yourself this season, you can get your hands on the Hawksmoor at Home – The Festive Box via the Hawksmoor website here.

Deliveries will start from Thursday 26th November, with last deliveries on Wednesday 23rd December.

Eats

The very best ice cream places in Greater Manchester

Danny Jones Danny Jones where to get the best ice cream in greater manchester places

We know it’s not often sunny out in these parts to enjoy the proper summery joy of lapping up lots of ice cream, but there are still bloody wonderful places to get it here in Greater Manchester – and we know some of the best.

It doesn’t matter if you prefer it chock-full of chocolate chips and coffee, mouth-frothingly fruity sweet, you’re in your pistachio phase or cannot get past the raspberry ripple, there are plenty of places to get whatever you’re after.

Be it Manchester city centre or beyond, we do ice cream pretty darn good for a place that basically rains for two-thirds of the year.

In no particular order, by the way, because we already hate playing favourites and all those serve our infinitely sweet tooth are created equal.

The best ice cream shops and parlours in and around Manchester

1. Grandpa Greene’s – Oldham

First up, there are few other fitting enough places to start than the Diggle Lock’s legendary Grandpa Greene’s, which serves not just some of the best desserts we’ve EVER had but stunning, homemade ice-cream that we here at The Manc have even helped make in the past.

In fact, this place has been such a hit in the area that they’ve gone on to open their own bistro and, unsurprisingly, it’s proved just as impressive and popular.

2. Milk Maids – Bolton

From Oldham over to the borough of Bolton and native favourite, Milk Maids, whose award-winning dairy farming expertise has seen them garner an iconic status among locals, and it’s no wonder.

We’ve been on to this place in Over Hulton for ages, but now they’re approaching a decade of serving their oh-so-sweet scoops, we can’t pretend to take even the remotest bit of credit. Their reputation precedes them and is about as long-standing as their lines.

3. Ginger’s – Northern Quarter

Number three is a go-to ice cream place for anyone in Manchester city centre: Ginger’s over in Afflecks Palace. Well, Ginger’s Comfort Emporium, to give them their full title, and we can only concur that it does provide us with immense comfort whenever we call upon it.

Made in small batches using award-winning, home-churned dairy ice cream just like Milk Maids, these guys have actually been here even longer, serving the massive multi-floored shopping complex and indie paradise since 2010. There are new flavours and specials on all the time, each as delicious as the last.

Credit: The Manc Eats

4. Big Licks – Printworks

In at number four is arguably the ice cream and dessert parlour with the very best name in Manchester, and that’s Big Licks, which recently relocated from Liverpool Road over in Castlefield to Printworks.

Now positioned in a much more central location, it’s no surprise that the spot has seen an increase in queues of late. You’ll find pretty much every combo you could ask for here; they also do some pretty banging burgers if you fancy eating both tea and afters here.

5. Macari’s – Stockport

As a native Stopfordian myself, my grandma only ever called dessert a ‘sweet’ or ‘pudding’, regardless of what it was, but regardless of what you call it around your way/in your family, we have a Stopfordian ice cream spot that you need to visit.

Macari’s Gelateria opened up over in Heaton Moor back in 2023, and it’s quickly grown a passionate cult following – ourselves included. From their punchy and/or fruity flavours, to the super soft texture that their perfectly flaky wafers just about hold up to, it’s pretty perfect. Remember the name.

Credit: The Manc Group

6. Lazy Sundae – Manchester Arndale

We’re past the halfway mark now, and if you’re not already feeling a bit sluggish after this sugary feast for your eyes, you almost certainly will after looking at the super indulgent Lazy Sundae, who do everything from bubble tea and creative Korean desserts, to standard ice cream cones.

But make no mistake, there’s nothing plain or basic about this place: it’s remained one of the best places for ice cream in Manchester, and while we may have said goodbye to their OG spot in NQ back in January 2025, the Arndale parlour now serves as the perfect flagship location.

@the.manc Lazy Sundae has arrived at the Arndale #manchester #lazysundae ♬ Synchronize – Milky Chance

7. Black Milk – NQ

Sticking with the city centre and whipping our way back to NQ (pun very much intended), we’ve got the brilliant Black Milk up next, who we confess most regularly visit for a proper good milkshake, but they do shine when it comes to pretty anything sugary, to be honest.

Ice cream-wise, you can’t go wrong with their cookies and cream sundae, and their special St. Patrick’s Guinness gelato is still one of the most unique desserts we’ve ever had. Speaking of gelato…

Credit: The Manc

8. Gelato Creamery® – Sale and Ardwick

Heading out to Trafford now and the ever-growing foodie scene in Sale, their increasingly well-known Gelato Creamery® store has been making waves for some time now, and by waves, we mean perfectly swirled scoops of ice cream’s somewhat healthier but still just as tasty Italian cousin.

They have a more central pod at Jacuna Kitchen over in Ardwick on the outskirts of the city centre, but really do recommend visiting their shop on School Road for a lesson on what proper good gelato should taste like.

9. Get Baked – NQ

The penultimate blood sugar pincher is the famous Get Baked, who barely even turned the key to unlock the doors before they had a crowd waiting outside the shop window of their first Manchester location.

Whether you’re three for big cookies, the famous Matilda-inspired ‘Bertha’ cake’ or their free-flowing soft-serve that is easier to drink than water – we know we have a problem, we’re working on it – you won’t be disappointed by no matter how long you wait.

Credit: The Manc

10. Baby Mayhem – Ancoats

Last but certainly not least of the latest newcomers to the Manc dessert scene and while it may not be strictly just an ice cream parlour, it is one of the best places for anyone who is powerless to resist their cravings for things fresh, cold, filled, fried and covered in sugar.

Baby Mayhem is where ice cream and doughnuts collide in one superior pudding. How does a ‘donut ice cream sandwich’ sound? Incredible? We thought so. It’s popped in the old Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria site and is already following in its footsteps of filling locals’ bellies to the max.

That should just about do you for now, and if this list wasn’t sickly enough, don’t you worry…

You best believe we’ll be going around all around Greater Manchester in search of more ice cream and the best places that do it whenever the sun is out.

So, just keep your eyes peeled for when we inevitably update this one, because there’s always room for one more scoop.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — The Manc Group

Eats

Ancoats bar Sammy’s closes after ‘online smear campaign’

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Ancoats bar Sammy's closes after 'online smear campaign'

A popular late-night bar in Ancoats has announced its official closure after several months of silence.

Sammy’s Bar, which was styled as a retro 70’s diner and stayed open into the early hours, has said the bar ‘is officially no longer’.

In a statement shared on the bar’s Instagram stories, founder Sammy Shonn said that there was been an ‘online smear campaign’ and has decided to sell the bar ‘for my own mental wellbeing’.

All posts on the Sammy’s Instagram feed have now been deleted.

The account, and the bar itself, will now be transferred to new owners.

Sammy’s opened in 2019 and was a popular, hidden-bar-style spot for late-night cocktails and DJs.

Their full statement reads: “It’s with regret that I inform you Sammy’s is officially no longer.

“Whilst I vehemently maintain my total innocence against all of the hurtful allegations made against me and my character in a recent online smear campaign, for my own mental wellbeing, I’ve made the difficult decision to sell the bar, along with all its associated assets, including this social media account.

“Thank you to everyone for your custom, your love and your support since 2019.

“Together we created something special. I am now transferring this account to the new owners, who I am sure will post something shortly regarding their plans.”

Read more

Featured image: Supplied

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