The best food and drink stalls at Manchester Christmas Markets 2021
Think Biscoff cookie pies, giant carvery roast boxes from the Yorkshire wrap legends at Porky Pig, giant truffles disguised as Christmas puddings and more.
Gluhwein, Bavarian beer, and bratwursts of all flavours have returned to Manchester today as the city’s Christmas markets reopened, following a year’s hiatus.
Cheese-filled, spicy, classic, and white German sausages can be seen (and smelt) grilling over hot coals in all corners of the city, and you can’t move for innumerable wooden huts selling all the classic wintry drinks you might expect – from mulled wine and hot, boozy cider, to steaming mugs of Italian Vin Boule, Nordic Glocc and French Vin Chaud.
But alongside the classics, there are also some new and intriguing additions this year we haven’t seen before – like Biscoff cookie pies, giant carvery roast boxes from the Yorkshire wrap legends at Porky Pig, and ‘Manchester’s legendary Hot Blobs’, which we’re told are a mix of sweet white wine, sugar, lemon, and hot water.
Keep reading to discover all of the best food and drink stalls at Manchester’s Christmas markets this year.
Piccadilly Gardens is the home of this year’s Christmas markets
Piccadilly Gardens
This year, it’s finally Piccadilly Gardens’ time to shine. The forever-controversial public space has become the home of the Manchester Christmas Markets for 2021 – and council bosses have gone all out, installing two huge, covered bars alongside a live music stage and numerous street food huts.
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Alongside the usual food and drink suspects, you’ll find not one but two vegan bratwurst stalls – Manchester’s vegan restaurant Vertigo, and newcomer Panc – battling it out for the plant-based crown, plus Korean potato hot dogs rolled in sugar, glasses of shimmering prosecco and steaming mugs of hot Vimto.
Elsewhere, you’ll find a mouthwatering Chrimbo chicken brioche burger loaded with gravy, bacon, and cranberry from The Dirty Chicken Co (£8), S’mores churros sandwiches (£6.50) from Loop Churros, and hot roast pork rolls loaded with stuffing and apple sauce (£6.50).
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Cathedral Gardens
The first Christmas markets to open this year, the offering here is pretty simple with a collection of bars selling mulled wine and cider, and wooden huts selling dutch mini pancakes, sugar waffles and more.
Zara’s Cupcakes stall by the Corn Exchange is selling cupcakes loaded with Jammy Dodgers, golden pretzels, pick and mix sweeties and more.
The Corn Exchange
Jammy Dodger-loaded cupcakes, Nutella-topped confections, and more covered with pick and mix sweeties, chocolate Oreos, and golden pretzels can be found at Zara’s Cupcakes market stall, priced at £3.50 each or £13 for four. There are also cake jars, old-school puds, and cake mix-making kits to be found here.
At the Corn Exchange, there’s also a pie stall from The Crusty Pie Company selling every filling variation you can think of – from pork and black pudding to Hunstmans pies, chicken and leek, wild boar and mushroom, turkey and cranberry, and chicken and chestnut stuffing pies.
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You can find some great gourmet sausage rolls here, too, as well as bags of traditional pork scratchings from £2.
The Crusty Pie Company is selling every filling variation you can think of – plus gourmet sausage rolls and traditional bags of pork scratchings.
Exchange Square
The go-to stall here at Exchange Square has to be Porky Pig, the home of the Yorkshire pudding wrap and battered pigs in blankets. Wraps are served carvery-style, so you can pick your meat from choices like chicken, beef, gammon and pork, then opt for stuffing, gravy, and veg separately.
This year, the Porky Pig team has also introduced some new options too – bringing across its popular giant roast dinner carvery boxes and bangers and mash. Look out for the ‘Yorkshire Rose’, a giant swirly Cumberland sausage-loaded Yorkshire pudding topped with gravy.
Porky Pig is selling giant roast carvery boxes for the very first time at its stall on Exchange Square Porky Pig is also selling its iconic Yorkshire wraps filled with a full Sunday dinner
Elsewhere, you’ll find chargrilled grill wraps, curries, and Indian street food at TKK Food Experience; parmesan and truffle fries at the Dutch Fries Company; Dutch mini pancakes and sugar waffles; and German bratwurst, Christmas punch, and Bavarian cherry beer at the German Windmill Bar.
There are also piles of flavoured Turkish delight, plus caramel cider (£5), classic English mulled wine (£5), and non-alcoholic ginger and honey with orange juice and cranberry (£5) to be discovered here.
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The go-to stall at Exchange Square has to be Porky Pig, the home of the Yorkshire pudding wrap and battered pigs in blankets
Market Street
There’s not much to report food-wise, with the majority of stalls focusing on selling gifts and other trinkets. We did spy a massive stall selling pick and mix, though, for those who haven’t yet got over the closure of Woolworth’s.
With a big focus on beer and wine, Exchange street is dominated by bars selling all the usual suspects – sausages included
Exchange Street
With a big focus on beer and wine, Exchange street is dominated by bars selling all the usual suspects – plus Baileys, boozy coffees, gin and tonics, and other spirit mixers.
Prestwich restaurant Triple B also has a stall down here selling bagels stuffed with fried camembert or hot salt beef, plus turkey Reuben bagels and French dip sandwiches – a must if you’ve never tried them before.
You’ll also find some cute little preserves from the Cherry Tree, The Cocktail Co. selling bottled hot and cold cocktail gift sets (bottles from £5, gift sets from £15), a burrito stall called Wrap Up, flavoured rums made in Bath by Beckford’s, and German bratwursts down by Zara
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St Ann’s Square has a big bar, pizza, 1/2 meter long bratwurst and more The biggest bratwurst at the Manchester Christmas markets
St Ann’s Square
Head to St Ann’s Square for square pizzas, 1/2 meter long bratwurst rolls (£6), and a stall from Manchester fried chicken legends Yard and Coop selling festive trays of fried chicken and chips (£10) alongside some brand new chicken tender and buffalo sauce po boys (£7).
Think Christmas dinner in a tray, combining buttermilk fried chicken tenders, fries, cranberry ketchup, and chicken gravy (£10), or. there’s a salt and pepper twist that comes garnished with seaweed (£10).
Square pizzas in St Ann’s Square can be ordered with a choice of different toppings
Elsewhere, you’ll find square pizza, reams of German bratwurst and salami pre-packaged to take home; a Spanish kitchen selling tapas and nibbles like serrano ham, manchego, Catalan fuet, and Spanish chorizo; and sweet treats like apple strudel and kaiserschmarrn (scrambled pancakes) down by the church.
Oh, and don’t forget the Lotus Biscoff cookie pies and giant truffles disguised as Christmas puddings over at Gingerbread House Confections – they look incredible and can easily be heated up at home in the microwave.
An Italian stall selling meats and cheeses at the bottom of King street
King Street
The wonderful Italian cheese and meat stall that sits on the border of King street and Deansgate has returned for 2021, we’re happy to confirm, selling everything from taleggio and coor da Sardegna, to salame chighiale, casereccia piccante, and more.
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You can also get your go-to bratwurst here, with a choice of cheese sausage (£5) or white sausage (£5) available.
The Grumpy Mule gin bar is on hand selling a selection of juniper-laced spirits from the likes of Malfy, Thomas Dakin, Tanqueray, and Gin Mare, as well as boozy hot chocolates, mulled wines, and everything else you might expect.
There’s also a provencal stall selling French favourites like garlic mushrooms (£6), garlic chicken(£6.50), and mustard chicken (£6.50) alongside garlic potatoes or rice; and a Sicilian street food stall flogging sourdough pizza slices, various stuffed balls of arancini, and a coppo misto (a selection of fried specialities like arancine, panzerotto, panelle and crostini).
Featured Image – The Manc Group
Manchester
‘New wave’ pizzeria where every pizza is served with scissors is heading to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Always a hot topic of conversation around a pizza is how to eat the damn thing – knife and fork, slice and hold, fold it up?
And now a new pizza concept is heading to Manchester, where authentic Neapolitan pizzas are always served with a pair of scissors for cutting up your dinner.
We here at The Manc are firm believers that scissors are a far superior tool for getting your pizza into slices, so news that Forbici (which literally translates as ‘Scissors’ from Italian) is opening in the city centre is music to our ears.
Forbici is taking over a corner unit on Cross Street, not far from the former site of much-loved family-focused Italian Croma.
Claiming to be arriving in town with ‘the world’s most powerful pizza dough’, the restaurant hails a ‘new wave’ of pizzeria.
Its roots will be firmly in Naples, with puffy biga dough handmade fresh daily and proofed for 12 hours. It’ll be made so fresh every day that pizzas will only be available while the dough lasts.
Forbici will serve its pizza the Neapolitan way too – quartered (it’s ‘four ways always’, with scissors, which protects that signature airy crust.
The pizzas are going to be topped with tomatoes from Solania, the only producer of true San Manzarno DOP tomatoes, and Fior di Latte Mozzerella from Vico Equese, a small coastal town where tradition runs deep.
They’ve even imported a pizza oven direct from Sorrento.
And drinks will come from Italian craft beer brand Amarcord, one of the nation’s first independent breweries.
Forbici says it will blend ‘born in Naples’ flavours with ‘rising in Manchester’ influences.
Andrew Garton, CEO of Forbici, said: “Forbici isn’t just another pizza restaurant—it’s a new way of experiencing pizza.
“We are pioneering a new wave of pizza in the UK, with the simple belief that pizza should be better.
“We have brought together the finest master bakers who have spent decades honing their craft in Naples to create the perfect formula for fermenting the world’s most powerful pizza dough.
“Born from centuries of Neapolitan expertise and heritage, Forbici will be rising in Manchester this year.”
Forbici will open its first Manchester pizza restaurant on Cross Street this spring – you can follow them on Instagram HERE for the latest.
New Lancashire Cricket investors aiming to make Manchester Originals as big as United and City
Danny Jones
Lancashire County Cricket’s new investors and Manchester Originals’ majority owners have stated their desire to make the local Hundred team as big as Man United and City.
The Originals were courted by the RPSG (Rising Pune Supergiant) Group this month, with the Goenka family agreeing to buy up a 70% share of the club after LCCC sold part of their stake in the franchise.
Famously in charge of the Lucknow Super Giants over in the Indian Premier League and their Durban equivalents in South Africa, the possibility of not just a shiny new kit but the Originals being renamed the ‘Manchester Super Giants’ isn’t out of the question, though it would be much further down the line.
Although the conglomerate was initially interested in one of The Hundred’s Southern teams, London Spirit – and they were quizzed on this in a press conference on Friday, 14 February – Vice Chairman Shaswat Goenka’s answer was simple: “Lords is Lords but Manchester is Manchester.”
Expressing a huge amount of respect and admiration for the city’s competitive history, even dubbing it a “sporting powerhouse”, Goenka began by insisting that the opportunity presented is one to build a perfect marriage of culture and a love for cricket.
Going on to identify sport as “one of the single biggest things that unites people across the world, regardless of race, colour” and so forth, he believes that while this is categorically not football, this new chapter could rival its prominence here in the UK and especially Manchester.
From there, he went so far as to argue that the stopping power is there and that RPSG “want the Manchester franchise in the Hundred to become the third biggest sports team in Manchester and challenge those two sports teams [Man City and Man United] in Manchester.”
Quite the statement indeed – but one that was echoed by his two new key collaborators in Lancashire’s CEO, Dan Gidney, and Manchester Originals Chair, James Sheridan.
Gidney in particular was visibly energised by the prospect, reflecting on the moment he realised a great potential after seeing the fanaticism shown by the crowd during India vs Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Even with new leadership, Lancashire Cricket will remain 30% owners of the Manchester Originals. (Credit: The Manc Group/Matt Eachus)
Waxing lyrical about seeing “just how much supporters celebrate a single game of cricket”, he said the goal is to “inject some of that passion into Manchester and LCC“.
Doubling down on Goenka’s statement, he continued: “We’re a bit conservative in the UK, we need to embrace the power of this sport; the fandom is off the scale – [it could be] stronger than the Premier League, in my opinion.”
All three executive speakers were also keen to reiterate that is by no means a complete takeover but rather a “joint venture” aiming to achieve a “true partnership” which could pose even more exciting cross-pollination in the future.
The consensus seems to be that further collaboration with the Super Giants is pretty inevitable and not just in regards to the men’s game but that this merging of brands presents a huge opportunity for young players and the women’s team too, the idea of players spending more time over in India and even some games perhaps being held still sounding very plausible.
Manchester Originals’ Chair, James Sheridan, did caveat the discussion by noting that “contracting isn’t straightforward in franchise cricket” but that conversations have at least started to take place” and, like Goenka, they don’t see this as a gamble but what is bound to be a “formidable partnership.”
He also reiterated the belief that Manchester is “probably the UK’s No 1 sporting city, adding “There you go, I said it”, and that the vision is to build the best team, the biggest fan base and the best culture – with this particular region being the perfect staging ground to do so.
The Manchester Originals Chair and LCCC Chief Exec welcome the incoming co-owners. (Credit: Supplied)
Two players were present for the press conference as well, with Originals Women’s star Beth Mooney saying she had “admired The Hundred for afar” since it started and quickly knew she “100% wanted to be a part of it”, aiming to “help create a legacy with the Originals as the tournament.”
Men’s player Phil Salt welcomed the new ownership as the start of an “extremely exciting new era” that should help them “bring the best product to the UK”, reiterating that “being part of the right organisation is key.”
Although the investment is yet to be fully ratified by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and Lancashire made no bones about the arrears they still have on the books, Gidney was keen to label a lot of as ‘good debt’ and an investment in facilities and infrastructure, something which RPSG will only further aid.
One of the biggest outlays even prior to the new co-owners is the ongoing Farrington project but since the wider county region may have struggled to cheer on a Manchester team, the Originals and Lancashire, more importantly, will no doubt benefit from its completion.
The new sister stadium will be based over in Preston, offering a second home for what is crucially a Lancashire club. (Credit: Supplied)
Georgina Pellant -
12th November 2021 
