This week in Manchester, we’ve plenty of new food and drink spots to get you excited about.
From the sausage roll-steak bake pie hybrid that’s got the whole city talking, to a gorgeous new Italian restaurant from one of the city’s longest-standing restauranteurs, there’s lots to look forward to.
Keep reading to discover our top food and drink picks in Manchester for the week.
Potter’s Pies has its first pop-up in Ancoats this weekend selling these absolute beauties / Image: Potter’s Pies
A pie combining sausage rolls and steak bakes
The mum and son pie-making duo behind newcomer Potters Pies has already hit on a winner ahead of their first market pop-up in Ancoats this weekend.
Since sharing the picture of their steak bake-sausage roll hybrid pie to Instagram, Manchester’s interest has certainly been piqued – so we expect there’s going to be quite the queue for these bad boys on Saturday.
ADVERTISEMENT
They do make other pies though, too – including a very special cheese and onion creation by the late Alan Potter, credited with “pretty much starting the whole thing off”. Now made by Grandma Potter to a closely guarded recipe, these will be available alongside the much-talked-about sausage roll hybrid this weekend. Get down early to avoid disappointment.
Find Potter’s Pies at Ancoats pop-up this Saturday 28th September at its new home on Cutting Room Square.
ADVERTISEMENT
Vincenzo Trattoria is a little-known Italian gem right in the centre of Manchester / Image: Vincenzo Trattoria
A gorgeous new Italian restaurant from the Dom’s Taverna team
Vincenzo Trattoria initially opened at the start of 2020, but in a year (and then some) beset with issues for the hospitality industry, it’s spent more of its time closed than open – and battled off a takeover bid from competitor Salvi’s in the process.
Named after the owner’s late father, it comes from the same team behind the popular (and now sadly closed) Dom’s Taverna restaurant on Deansgate – a haven for quality southern Italian cuisine in the city.
On the menu here you’ll find a good selection of classic mains like saltimbocca alongside classic pizza and pasta dishes. Everything is made fresh to order, and we recommend you try the special spicy sausage which Dom makes himself in house.
ADVERTISEMENT
Find Vincenzo at 34 St Ann St, Manchester M2 7LE.
Ancoats favourites the Hip Hop Chip Shop have now got a stand down at the Etihad / Image: Hip Hop Chip Shop
A host of new independent street food traders at the Etihad
Whether you’re red or you’re blue, we hope we can all agree that it’s a joy to see local independents replacing chain brands over at the Etihad.
Man City is now working with seven local street food traders and four independent brewers, meaning you can now enjoy some tasty bevs from the likes of Beatnikz Republic, Seven Brothers, Track and Runaway down at this end of town on matchdays.
Find them serving at the Etihad stadium on Ashton New Rd, Manchester M11 3FF on match days.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kong’s Chicken Shop stopped us all in our tracks with their fried chicken roast, but they do so much more – and the menu’s getting even bigger / Image: Lous.brews
A new home for the creators of Manchester’s favourite fried chicken dinners
Kong’s Chicken Shop has revealed it will be taking over the kitchen at Foundation Coffee House there for at least the next few months, opening its doors from this Thursday 26 August. Of course, they don’t just do roast dinners – they first made their name cooking up chicken burgers, so it seems appropriate they’re launching at their new home on national burger day.
There is lots to look forward to here over the coming weeks, with rumours of a new ice cream menu currently doing the rounds amidst promises of new dishes on the way. Watch this space.
Find Kong’s Chicken Shop at 11 Portland St, Manchester M1 3HU from Thursday 26, then Wednesday to Sunday 5-10 pm every week.
The new bottomless brunch deal at Delhi House Cafe in the Corn Exchange is not to be missed / Image: Delhi House Cafe
A new Indian bottomless brunch with unlimited mango mimosas
Delhi House Cafe in the Corn Exchange is the place to be if you’re planning on brunching bottomless this weekend.
ADVERTISEMENT
Think chicken tikka with fluffy homemade naan and chips, bottomless mimosas, paneer wraps and rose sangrias. Think two courses and as many drinks as you can neck in ninety minutes for just £31.95. This is the new bottomless brunch deal that’s got Manchester by storm this week.
Available Thursday to Sunday, walk ins are welcome but booking is recommended. We expect it’s going to be busy this weekend. Fortunately, they have a lot of seats inside.
Find Delhi House Cafe at Unit 10, The Corn Exchange, Manchester M4 3TR.
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
Georgina Pellant -
24th August 2021 
