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We asked and you sent us your dodgiest quarantine trims
Emily Sergeant -
3rd April 2020 
Emily Sergeant -
3rd April 2020
Feature
This tiny hole in a wall is home to Greater Manchester’s best smashed burgers
Georgina Pellant
Bob over Salford way, and any burger fan worth their salt will tell you that there’s only one place to go for a smashed burger in this neck of the woods. Yes, we’re talking about Burgerism.
First founded in 2018, Burgerism has been quietly setting the standard for dark kitchens way before the pandemic made them so popular.
For years, it has been delivery only – drawing regular queues outside its Salford site and churning out thousands of its popular smashed patty burgers a day. More recently, the kitchen has gone exclusive on Deliveroo and is slowly expanding its empire across the UK with further sites in Liverpool and Leeds.
This year, the team also opened a second site on the other side of Manchester in Gatley.
As a result, Stockport locals can now enjoy their smashed patties, perfect potato buns and crunchy fried chicken without having to make the drive across town (once a regular occurrence, or so we’re told).
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Serving up a range of stacked burgers, chicken wings and others sides, alongside Burgerism’s award-winning mains takeaway fans will find a whole host of other treats including lemon pepper, BBQ and buffalo wings.
Fries come with the skin on, tossed in a signature house spice mix, whilst burgers are pressed down onto a hot grill using a super-secret smashing tool that the team will not reveal on camera for love nor money.
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As for the main event, smashed burgers can be ordered as singles or doubles with optional extras like cheese and bacon.
There’s also the slawed-up Freebird chicken burger, which is deep fried and then dipped back into spicy oil for an extra kick.
Non-meat eaters are also well catered for, with ‘Veggied’ and ‘Veganed’ options both made using Moving Mountains ‘bleeding’ plant-based patties.
Last but not least, we have to give a shout out to Burgerism’s new dessert offering which sees the team partner with Leeds favourite Get Baked to serve up some of the fudgiest, gooey brownies we’ve had the pleasure of tasting.
Read more: The fried chicken bottomless brunch with an epic ‘carb-fest’ chip butty
With the salted chocolate brownie a solid mainstay, you’ll typically also find a special on offer. This week? A hot cross bun caramel brownie, in a nod to Easter. Don’t mind if we do.
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To see the full menu click here and to find out more about Burgerism head over to their Instagram page here.
Oh, and to save on your next Deliveroo order from Bundobust make sure to use our code 5OFFBURGERISM when you check out.
Featured image – Burgerism
Feature
The award-winning cocktail bar hidden beneath the old Coronation Street cobbles
Georgina Pellant
Unbeknownst to many, there is an award-winning cocktail bar hidden beneath Coronation Street‘s original cobbles serving up some of the best drinks in the city.
Recently named ‘one to watch’ at the UK’s Top 50 Bar awards 2023, Project Halcyon has also just won the Best New Bar award – voted for by a community of some 17,000 hospitality staff at this month’s Manchester Bar Awards (MBAs).
Brought to Manchester by the team behind Zymogorium distillery, it originally opened in early 2020 – launching just weeks before the Covid 19 pandemic hit.
Like many other operators, the secret speakeasy – which is connected to the working distillery for Manchester gin makers Zymogorium – closed its doors during lockdown, then quietly relaunched in late October last year beneath Old Granada Studios.
Since reopening, it’s been flooded with accolades. General Manager Adam has just been named amongst the UK’s top 100 bartenders by World Class UK, whilst house bartender Reah Owen recently won the Rising Star award at the MBAs.
And yet, somehow, it’s still managing to fly under the radar as one of Manchester’s best-kept secrets – although, considering all the awards the team is winning, we expect this won’t remain the case for long.
The bar is something of a labyrinth with numerous corners to explore within its underground warren. As well as housing a large bar at its entrance, it’s also home to a dedicated absinthe parlour, Salon Vert, which has been painted to look like a woodland scene and features vintage crystal absinthe fountains.
Read more: This Manchester restaurant is serving an all-you-can-eat curry buffet throughout Ramadan
Elsewhere, there’s a still room and laboratory where the team uses chemistry equipment to create all the insane ingredients that go into their cocktails.
Add to this a self-playing grand piano and a rare collection of expensive spirits, and it’s safe to say Project Halcyon is very much up there with the city centre’s best cocktail bars.
As for its current drinks menu, open it up and you’ll discover that each signature cocktail is accompanied by a stunning illustration of a rare bird.
Choices include ‘Fourteen Days’, a long, tart drink that nods to the Halcyon days of Ancient Greece, and ‘Phoenix Down’, a smoky combination of smoky, nutty bourbon with bitter back notes that symbolises rebirth and eternal life.
Elsewhere on the list, you’ll find the brilliantly-named cocktails ‘Act of Vanity’, a combination of melon liqueur, blueberry and Veuve Cliquot champagne, and ‘Murder of Crows’, a moody and short mix of spiced spirits that promises to be both dark and funky.
Read more: Inside the Manchester restaurant serving ‘India’s answer to a Wigan kebab’
The bar also serves up a list of six house classics, all of which are prebatched, prediluted and kept at -14 degrees ready to be poured at your table. Interestingly, though, because the drinks are already kept at the right temperature they aren’t diluted with water but rather with a variety of house-made concoctions.
General Manager Adam told The Manc that the most famous of these is the house vodka martini, made with Boatyard vodka, Cocchi Americano vermouth and clarified banana juice as the dilute.
“It makes for this insanely creamy, flavourful martini that’s classic but approachable,” he said, adding: “Our approach to the bar is that the science is for us to worry about, the hospitality is for the guests.
“We don’t put all this crazy techy stuff at the forefront of what we do. We prioritise good, classic, personal hospitality first and foremost.”
Read more: ‘We were treated awfully’ – ex-staffer speaks out as Freight Island gears up for reopening
The bar also boasts a vast collection of rare and expensive spirits – and amongst the usual suspects, such as Louis XIII cognac, sit some interesting pieces like the latest seasonal release from Nc’nean and Elena Wright, the latter a close friend of the bar and an award-winning Manchester bartender.
It also serves up a strong selection of wines and beers, not to mention a cracking gin and tonic. Of course, being run by one of Manchester’s original craft gin distilleries, we’d expect nothing less.
Feature image – Project Halcyon
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