The team behind indie Manchester bakehouse Batard has opened a permanent new cafe in the centre of Manchester.
Housed inside 86 Princess Street, it already feels like a bit of a secret due to the fact the entrance is hidden down a cobbled Manchester side street – but we don’t expect it’ll stay that way for long.
The cafe itself is all exposed brick and big sash windows, overlooking the back of Manchester’s iconic Klimpton hotel, with cool interiors that celebrate the areas industrial aesthetic.
In the morning, it’s flooded with sunlight and there are some lovely high perches where you can sit, sip and take in Manchester in all its glory. A perfect breakfast spot.
Batard founders Lewis Loughman and Dorothy Jaffa inside their new cafe at 86 Princess Street
With a selection of Batard’s signature blackened bakes already sitting on the counter, we ogle over the likes of blackered basque cheesecake, fruity kolace, cookies and brownies before turning our eyes to the new breakfast and lunch menu they’ll be serving this week.
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Featuring the return of their much-lauded steak bakes (now served with a side of house ferment) and a host of new dishes including an ethical take on the McDonald’s McMuffin, there’s a lot to get excited about.
Think porchetta and celeriac sandos, stout rarebit, babka french toast and grilled cheese, plus breakfast buttys done to perfection. The genius of this menu is that it’s full of proper northern favourites and doesn’t feel elitist, but it’s all been created to exacting standards.
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Case and point, as Lewis brings out their Manc McMuffin (as I keep calling it during our visit) Dorothy asks if Lewis made it with the red sauce.
“Kasundi,” he corrects her.
Turning with a smile, she explains: “We were going to do a house red and brown sauce but the kasundi came out more of an orange colour and Mr Perfectionist can’t call something that is orange red, so, just kasundi is fine.”
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Kasundi, they explain, is an Indian tomato relish – and this one is made in house, using tomatoes from Cinderwood market garden cooked down “for frickin ages,” then blended with spices and herbs and a bit of chilli to give it a kick.
It’s the poshest McMuffin we’ve ever had, and it’s brilliant.
We also try their red wine poached pear babka, which smells like Christmas and is loaded with tahini honey mascarpone, burnt white chocolate and hazelnuts. Swimming in the poached pear liquor, it’s a thing of beauty – even more so on their retro 70’s plates.
“My heritage, on a plate,” says Dorothy of the babka before launching into an explanation of how they make it.
She detailis how its dipped in egg before being put on the griddle to “get it nice and hot and let it caramelise,” and as she does we stare at it in wonder. It’s quite the looker, this dish – and having tried it we can say it certainly holds up on that end too.
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There’s a lot of talk in Manchester hospitality about seasonality and local suppliers, but not everyone puts their money where their mouth is. It might sound cynical but sometimes it just feels like a marketing ploy. That’s not the case here, though – far from it.
Having just come from being small batch suppliers themselves working with the likes of Osma and Edinburgh Castle to supply bread and bakes for other restaurants around Manchester, Dorothy and Lewis are working almost exclusively with small-scale local producers.
Proudly displayed on the back of Batard’s menu is a list of some of the people they are working with, including Littlewoods Butchers, The Crafty Cheeseman and Cinderwood Market Garden.
Whilst chatting, though, we also hear about plenty more, such as their Altrincham-based mushroom supplier Polyspore and Salford-based coffee supplier Swansong – who even sits down with us for a minute to tell us about his coffee, having just popped in on chance.
The passion behind the project is clear, with every minute detail having been given a lot of thought here.
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Dorothy tells us they eventually want to get a mock mill and mill their own grains on site, explaining how in their brownie, for example, they use rye kernels and rye flour, so you can really taste it.
“It provides a little crunch in the mixture that is really nice. We also use horlicks in there which brings out the malty taste of the rye flour.”
“Being able to do that with all different kinds of flours and make our own nut flours and stuf like that to offer something not gluten free because our kitchen’s too small but low gluten would be quite interesting as well – but that’s a little bit down the line.”
For now, they’re just focusing on getting open and enjoying settling into the new space on Princess Street. Just ten minutes walk from Piccadilly, it’s a central location but enough off the beaten path to make it feel like a destination.
Whether you consider yourself a bit of a foodie or you’re just after a good Northern scran done well, we’d definitely recommend putting them on your list.
Batard is open from Wednesday 29 September at 86 Princess Street. Opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 9 am to 3 pm. To find out more, follow them on social media here.
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The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…
Georgina Pellant -
28th September 2021 
