Meat and three. It’s an absolute staple when it comes to dining out in the south of America, but most people in Manchester have probably never heard of it.
Simply put, a meat and three restaurant is one where – as the name suggests – you pick one meat and three sides from a selection that typically spans the likes of fried chicken, beef and pork chops, vegetables, potatoes, green beans and macaroni and cheese.
This is southern food at its best, taken straight from the heart of America’s barbecue tradition.
The term is thought to have originated nearly 100 years ago in Nashville in the 1930s, at the employee cafeteria of May Hosiery Mill.
Back then diners were served a choice of meat and vegetables, plus bread, for just 25 cents, and whilst prices have definitely gone up since then, in essence, the food remains the same.
This is hearty, home-cooked food that feels like a warm hug on your lowest day – and now, it’s landed right here on our doorstep in Manchester.
Enter Kong’s Meat and Three, the newest concept from the team who brought us fried chicken burgers with chicken skin crackling, not to mention Manchester’s favourite fried chicken roast dinner.
Founded by fried chicken head honcho Tom Potts, who in a previous (pre-pandemic) life was the bar manager at Oldham street’s fusion ramen spot CBRB, dishes like BBQ ‘pit beans’, mustard seed potato salad and collard greens all feature as regular sides.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Elsewhere, you’ll find a creamy three-cheese macaroni, flatbreads, red cabbage house mayo vegan slaw and hunks of corn on the cob slathered in butter, chilies and more. Boiled broccoli and carrots? Get out of here.
We cannot stress it enough: this is pure comfort food.
A significant upgrade on the British ‘meat and two veg’, the beauty of meat and three, in part, lies within its rules.
Anything that’s not meat counts as veg (yep, really) meaning that gravy, mac and cheese, and even bread must all bow down and submit to reclassification. Some things you just have to accept.
Even better, everything on the menu here, with the exception of the tater tots, is made in-house, from scratch, with a whole lot of love. That includes house sauces like mustard and madras mayo, Korean hot sauce and big jugs of gravy.
Using thigh meat, Kong’s signature buttermilk chicken is brined for three hours, rolled in a secret spice mix, then double-dredged for a crispier texture. Brisket is slow-cooked overnight for a minimum of 12 hours until it’s ultra-tender and falling apart.
Pork belly is steamed, scored then oven roasted for a final hour until it is so crisped up and crunchy you can almost hear it crackling as you pore through pictures of it on Instagram. It’s a meat eater’s heaven – but also sells vegan tendies for those of the plant-based persuasion.
As well as offering up daily meat and three plates (or, rather, should we say trays), Tom has also just added new sandwiches to the menu – taking his three staple meats and folding them into chunky baguettes or brioche, with a fulsome heap of tater tots on the side.
This is not so much in the meat and three tradition – but it’s very on-brand for Kong’s. The original signature chicken sandwich features, only natural as the dish that launched the brand and Tom’s new life as a fried chicken impresario.
There’s also a relatively traditional Vietnamese-style pork belly banh mi, stuffed with pickled carrots, pate, crispy pork and coriander, and a beef brisket french dip that combines everything we love – crusty baguette, slow-cooked brisket and a sweet, homemade onion chutney with a jug of gravy to dip it all in.
All said and done, this is pretty close to sandwich perfection.
Open Wednesday to Sunday at Northern Monk Refectory between 12 and 10pm, get yourself down for a solid scran. Trust us, you won’t regret it.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
Final few tickets remaining for Manchester’s mega-hit comedy festival Laughterama 2025
Emily Sergeant
The final few tickets are still up for grabs as Manchester’s most popular comedy festival returns next month.
After what was a smash-hit success in its inaugural year back in 2022, and after several other successful runs in each of the years following, Laughterama is back in Manchester for more next month time, and will once again be taking over the iconic Castlefield Bowl in the heart of the city centre for five days of fun.
Thousands of comedy lovers attend Laughterama each year to enjoy countless sell-out stand-up sets, and this year will be no different, as festivalgoers are in for an ‘explosive series of shows‘ from some of the hottest names on the comedy circuit.
Multi award-winning comedians Frankie Boyle, Ed Gamble, Rosie Jones, and Phil Wang are just some of the famous names on this year’s jam-packed lineup.
They’ll be joined by other household names like Russell Kane, Fern Brady, Rob Delaney, Lou Sanders, and Tim Key when they all take to the Castlefield Bowl stage over the five-day festival from Wednesday 3 – Sunday 7 September.
Some of the other names you can expect are Taskmaster treasures Sam Campbell and Bridget Christie, BAFTA nominee Lucy Beaumont, stand-up phenomenon Sarah Keyworth, King Gary star Tom Davis, Viceland’s Jamali Maddix, and viral sensation Jen Brister.
Manchester’s very own comedy heroes Rachel Fairburn and Stephen Bailey are also on the lineup.
Manchester’s mega-hit comedy festival Laughterama is making a 2025 return later this year / Credit: Supplied
It wouldn’t be Laughterama without some newcomers either, and some of the breakthrough stars not-to-be-missed this year include Edinburgh Fringe Award nominee Jin Hao Li, fast-rising talents Sharon Wanjohi and Dane Buckley, the razor-sharp Lara Ricote, and so many more to discover.
And aside from the comedy, as always, you can expect the very-best eats from Manchester’s street food scene will also be on site to tuck into, as well as an exciting selection of bars serving signature beers, cocktails, and more.
Laughterama 2025 is landing at Castlefield Bowl from Wednesday 3 – Sunday 7 September, with the final few tickets still on sale at £27.50 per person.
You can grab yours on the Laughterama website before they sell out here.
Featured Image – Matt Eachus (via Supplied)
Manchester
Manchester Christmas Markets 2025 opening date announced – including Albert Square return
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Christmas Markets are merely months away, and the opening date and important details for 2025’s return have been announced.
It’s official… holidays are coming, and the countdown is on.
Just as we do every year, the Greater Manchester public has been eagerly awaiting news of when the city’s iconic Christmas Markets would be making a comeback for the 2025 festive season.
But now, Manchester City Council has announced that the famous wooden huts will be lining Manchester‘s streets once again from the first week in November, and for the first time in six years, Markets will also be returning to Albert Square.
The Manchester Christmas Markets 2025 return date has officially been confirmed / Credit: The Manc Group | Flickr
Now in their 27th year, Manchester Christmas Markets are known and loved for bring thousands of people into the city centre each year to fill up on the fantastic festive treats and to soak up all the Christmas atmosphere.
While restoration work has been carried out on the city’s Grade I-listed Town Hall building, markets have been spread all across the city centre in recent years, instead of the central hub being in Albert Square – but this year, some of the festivities will return to where they belong.
More than 200 stalls will also be spread across nine other sites throughout the city centre.
Markets will take over 10 major locations across the city centre / Credit: Manchester City Council
Promising to be plenty on offer for seasonal shoppers of all ages, 2025 will see the iconic wooden ski chalet market stalls take over King Street, St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, New Cathedral Street, Exchange Square, Corn Exchange, and Cathedral Gardens, as well as Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens as usual.
Dominating a twinkling seasonal skyline on Albert Square will be an enormous 50-metre-high ferris wheel, as well as an enchanting vintage carousel for children, and other Christmas fairground-style attractions.
The new ‘A Taste of Christmas’ event will be open on Albert Square until Sunday 4 January 2026, bringing the space back into the heart of the city’s countdown to Christmas festivities and staying open throughout the festive season for families to enjoy into the new year.
Councillors are going all out to make Manchester the world’s number one Christmas city / Credit: Manchester City Council
“We’re going all out this year to make sure that Manchester is the number one city for Christmas – not just in the UK, but in the world,” commented Councillor Pat Karney, who is the Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council.
Cllr Karney also teased that there are a few other ‘Santa surprises’ to come that we can expect to be announced in the coming weeks.
He concluded: “In the meantime, dust off your baubles, un-twirl your tinsel, and get ready – Albert’s back.”
Manchester Christmas Markets 2025 will officially open across the city on Friday 7 November and close on Monday 22 December.
That is except for A Taste of Christmas on Albert Square, and the stalls at Cathedral Gardens – which will remain open throughout the Christmas period until 4 January 2026.
Georgina Pellant -
18th February 2022 
