Food & Drink

Popular Manchester street food traders to take up monthly residency at city centre neighbourhood

Tasty news.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 24th September 2024

Some of Manchester’s best street food traders will soon be taking up monthly residencies at a popular city centre neighbourhood.

After a series of successful trial events throughout the summer over, Food.Fest has now announced that it’ll be bringing a tasty lineup of traders to city centre neighbourhood, Circle Square, on the last Thursday of each month, and it’s all ready to “add some flavour to lunchtimes”.

Food.Fest initially launched back in June, and since then, has seen some of Manchester’s best food traders descend on Circle Square to take lunchtimes to the next level.

The likes of Triple B, Marley’s Tacos, and Tommy’s Bar and Pizza have already taken the reins.

Food.Fest will be taking up a monthly residency at Circle Square in Manchester city centre / Credit: Supplied

When Food.Fest’s residency kicks off for “a payday lunch like no other” this Thursday (26 September) between 12pm and 3pm, it’ll be the Malaka Brothers bringing their authentic Greek street food using only the freshest local ingredients to Manchester for the month.

There’ll be unbeatable classics like gyros, souvlaki, and halloumi fries on the menu.

Venturing out of their home at Tap House, Fat Frank’s will also be serving up New York-style pizza by the slice, with fan-favourites like Buffalo Chicken, Smokey Pepperoni, and more.

Malaka Brothers, Little Bao Boy, and more will be taking up the reins / Credit: Supplied

Triple B by Eat New York has been making waves over in Prestwich for quite a while now, and it’ll soon be back in the city centre with its classic New York-style Reuben bagels and pastrami burgers that sound set to be winner for any lunchtime.

Finally, Little Bao Boy will be bringing its signature mouthwatering bao buns to Circle Square, with char sui pulled pork, and pulled teriyaki mushroom being just a couple of the tasty options on offer.

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Food.Fest officially kicks off at Circle Square this Thursday 26 September from midday through to 3pm, so if you’re feeling hungry, you know where to head.

Featured Image – Supplied

Food & Drink

Lupo Caffe Italiano – a taste of sunny Rome on a Prestwich industrial estate

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

The sun is beating down on you, there’s a couple of luminous orange Aperol Spritzes on the checked tablecloth, Italian pop music is trickling out over the speakers and you’ve got two heaping bowls of pasta on the way.

The setting could easily be a cobbled street in front of the Colosseum in Rome. But it’s not. It’s an industrial estate in Prestwich.

Lupo must be one of Greater Manchester’s most hidden gems in a very literal sense.

To get here, you have to drive or walk a strange looping circuit around industrial warehouses peddling everything from splashbacks to burglar alarms to grow tents.

One of these warehouses, located in the very furthest yard, looks a little different to the others, festooned with bunches of garlic and dried herbs strung up from the ceiling.

There are shelves full of pasta, sauces and even crisps, a fridge packed with delicious Italian wines and beers, and retro football shirt-inspired merch hanging from the walls.

Its awkward location does nothing to hold back its loyal customers, who repeatedly return for the authentic taste of Rome on offer here.

Lupo is operated by Nico Pasquali, who first ran it as a tiny Italian cafe on Chapel Street in Salford (before all the high-rises appeared), then shifted it over to the odd shiny-commercial-office-land that is Exchange Quay, then took it almost entirely remote to trudge through the pandemic.

Lupo's charming interiors
Lupo’s charming interiors
Nico has added outside seating to Lupo
Nico has added outside seating to Lupo
The pasticceria selection at Lupo
The pasticceria selection at Lupo

At one point, Caffè Lupo existed mostly on WhatsApp, with customers texting in their orders ready for a doorstep drop on a Friday night.

But now the large-ish commercial unit is its main business, and it’s a special one.

You are greeted, always, with a friendly wave, then given the sort of service where you’re very gently guided to order all the best things on the menu that day, feeling like you’ll personally offend Nico if you order differently and stray from his recommendations. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to trust this man.  

It’s extremely hard for me to see amatriciana on a menu and not order it – so I don’t try. One bowl of rigatoni amatriciana for me, and make it cheesy. 

This is a textbook example of the deceptively simple pasta dish. Fatty guanciale cooked right down so that all that delicious pork fat melts into the tomatoes, then it’s seasoned with, I presume, several generations of secrets and love from Italian nonnas. 

Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchiette
Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchiette
A spread of Lupo's Italian food
A spread of Lupo’s Italian food
Pepernata - Nico's mum's recipe
Pepernata – Nico’s mum’s recipe
The Pizza Lupo
The Pizza Lupo

The sweet, salty, meaty sauce is available on a pizza too, which will be top of my list next time I visit.

Across the table it’s a special (but it’s been on the menu for a while now) of orecchiette with fennel sausage and romanesco broccoli.

Nico tells us a customer once refused to pay for this dish because it wasn’t ‘saucy’ enough. Heathen.

That’s the running theme with Lupo – don’t come here expecting Neapolitan pizzas, or flat whites, or hot honey dips for your pizza crusts. It isn’t the Roman way, and Nico isn’t about to veer away from his proud roots to mould into any passing fads or trends.

If you’re after authenticity and tradition though, this is comfortably the top Italian in Greater Manchester.

If you can come to Lupo and walk away without ordering something sweet from the counter, you’re a stronger person than me.

Pasticceria
Pasticceria
Owner Nico
Owner Nico
Lupo's famous millefoglie
Lupo’s famous millefoglie

They’re famed for their doughnuts (rightly), with bouncy dough filled with flavours including pistachio cream, lemon, and homemade jams.

Also displayed in neat rows are fruit tarts with a glossy glaze, towering cream cakes in neat layers, and puff pastry cannoncini.

But Nico is adamant, absolutely adamant, that we order a slice of his millefoglie. It’s a sell-out, he says. We’re lucky he even has some in stock, he tells us. Who are we to argue?

And if you’ve made it this far, just stop reading right now, get in the damn car and go get yourself a slice before it sells out again.

Layers of lighter-than-air homemade pastry are sandwiched together with delicately sweet cream, hints of almond throughout, and it’s good enough to bring a tear to your eye.

We leave with a doughnut in a box too, so that we at least have a snack if we get completely lost finding our way back out of the industrial estate.

You can find out more about Lupo here.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Food & Drink

Aldi is back looking for another taste tester to send FREE crisps to

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Aldi is looking for a special someone to become its official crisp taster, and will send the lucky winner a bunch of bags to try for free.

Calling all self-confessed crisp connoisseurs, this one’s for you.

That’s right, Aldi is ready to make savoury snack food lovers’ dreams come true, as the supermarket retailer is back on the look-out for another official ‘Crisp Taster’ to join the team, especially after the inaugural search last year proved to be so popular with shoppers, amassing hundreds of applications.

The highly-anticipated return also follows interest from local celebrities last year too, with Manc actress Michelle Keegan declaring to her 7.5 million Instagram: “IS THIS TRUE @aldiuk? Because I am READY and available with lots of experience.”

Last summer, it was 39-year-old NHS worker George Critchley from Sheffield who became Aldi’s first-ever Official Crisp Taster… but now it’s your turn.

Pub group launches 'bottomless crunch' menu where you can eat unlimited crisps
Aldi is back looking for another taste tester to send FREE crisps to / Credit: Aldi UK | Esperanza Doronila (via Unsplash)

The successful applicant will receive a selection of Aldi’s most popular crisps to sample at home for free, including Aldi’s Specially Selected Lightly Sea Salted Hand Cooked Crisps, Specially Selected Mature Cheddar & Red Onion Hand Cooked Crisps, the Snackrite Delta Strips, and Snackrite Cheese Flavour Cheezios.  

All that’s required in return is a set of exclusive reviews rating the crisps’ taste, crunch, texture and appearance to help guide the supermarket’s Buying Team on potential future flavours. 

“After the success of last year with hundreds of entries, we welcome our shoppers feedback once again to make sure our latest products provide the quality, taste and price they deserve,” explained Julie Ashfield, who is the Chief Commerical Officer at Aldi UK.

“Our range of crisps are going down a treat this year, so launching the role for a new Crisp Taster is the perfect way to encourage innovative ideas and delicious products onto shelves.”

Fancy it then? To apply, you’ll just need to be aged 16 or over, a legal UK resident, and create a short application video, that’s no more than a minute long, explaining why you should be Aldi’s next ‘Crisp Taster’.

Applications are now open, with a closing deadline of Thursday 21 August.

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You’ll need to share your application video via the email address [email protected], and you can find out more information on the official ‘Crisp Taster’ webpage here.

Featured Image – Aldi UK

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