Four Manchester-born eateries have been named as some of the best in the world right nowby the Observer in its esteemed Top 50 list.
Bundobust, Trove, Yakumama and The Landing all feature in the prestigious foodie guide, which lays out the national paper’s favourite food highlights for 2022.
In the list of 50 things we love in the world of food right now, a group of ten critics for the paper pick out the fifty things they love most in the world of food right now – and Manchester has done pretty well.
Image: Bundobust
Newly reborn from the ashes of the pandemic as a family-friendly pizza parlour, former bar-restaurant Common gets an honourable mention in the list for its changing attitude to dining-in.
And Manchester Art Gallery is also given a nod, as the Observer praises ex-Masterchef contestant Adam Leavy for his ” quality sandwiches”.
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Keep reading to discover what the critics had to say about the rest.
Trove Bakery
Tony Naylor highlights Trove bakery’s chorizo sausage roll, calling the search for the definitive roll “a life’s work.” We completely agree.
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Trove baker Ruth Gwillim, Naylor writes, is no stranger to “moments of revelation” but her latest creation might just be the most revelatory yet.
Image: Trove
She has created a “sausage roll for the ages” – combining chorizo and sausage meat with French butter pastry, its filling peppered with fennel seeds.
“Where most sausage rolls cool and congeal into a stodgy lump, this sings even at room temperature,” he writes ebulliently.
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Bundobust Brewery
Vegetarian and vegan street food favourites Bundobust also feature prominently, except this time the focus is on its new Manchester brewery restaurant.
Read more:Bundobust has been secretly brewing its own beer in Manchester for eight months
Housed in a 100-year-old Grade II-listed building on Oxford Road, it boasts a custom-built 10-hectolitre facility capable of producing 20,000 pints a month – not to mention a talented head brewer in Dan Hocking, formerly of Uiltje.
Image: Bundobust
Naylor writes: “Good beer is essential to Bundobust: Bradford-born owners Marko Husak and Mayur Patel first bonded over the emerging craft beer scene of the early 2010s.
“Its IPAs and sours became the ideal foil for Patel’s food – meat-free Gujarati family recipes updated for the street-food generation”.
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Yakumama
Billed as “offering respite from the restaurant industry’s frothiest excesses”, this Manchester food truck turned restaurant in West Yorkshire is showered in praise.
Operated by Hannah Lovett and Marcelo Sandova, the Latin American-inspired cantina serves a short menu of colourful, meat-free small plates – all designed to share.
Image: Yakumama
Naylor is just as enthusiastic about the space (a 19th-century former Co-Op building in Todmorden, situatedon the border of West Yorkshire and Manchester) as he is the menu, writing:
“Beyond its ornate 19th-century frontage the airy dining room is fairly plain. There are plants. Art. Nothing showy.”
He continues: “The Andean-style crisp potatoes with kalamata olive sauce, smoked paprika oil and pickled peppers, topped with a boiled egg, embodies Yakumama’s imaginative use of vibrant sauces and pickles to create astonishing food.
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“An example of what is possible without meat or lots of money.”
The Landing
Not technically an eatery, more of a kitchen garden, this rooftop allotment opposite Stockport’s Merseyway shopping centre nonetheless still feeds Mancunians – albeit indirectly.
The latest kitchen garden for Where The Light Gets, according to Naylor it was inspired by a 2011 lecture on urban farming held at Manchester international festival and brought to realisation with the help of Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD).
In the summer, the WTLGI team is at the garden daily, uprooting and picking a veritable wealth of produce to create the constantly changing “Landing Plate” as well as coming up with specials, such as a “Stockport saag” made with Landing-grown shisho, spinach and curry leaves.
Image: Where The Light Gets In
Naylor writes: “Here, grower Nick Harlow cultivates, for example, numerous chillies, Andean tubers oca and mashua and “the sweetest” poona kheera cucumbers. “It’s 100% exposed, so it’s red hot up there,” says Buckley. “The greenhouse was 20C [in December].”
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Throwing in Gaggs from Buckley about growing lemongrass above Ann Summers, he also touches on the more serious point of utilising empty spaces for food production as well as flagging plans to host craft workshops and gardening days to “illustrate what is possible in urban environments.”
Feature image – Trove
Eats
Beloved Manc butty shop Bada Bing set for a sensational return to the city centre
Danny Jones
Sandwich lovers rejoice because one of the finest butty shops to ever grace Manchester is returning: that’s right, Bada Bing is bada-back!
The Sopranos-inspired deli and sandwich shop that took its name from one of the central locations featured in the iconic US drama (yes, the strip club), was a huge success when it first opened in Manchester a few short years ago, so it was a huge blow when it closed in February 2022.
Starting out by serving sandwiches out of a window at The B Lounge pub on Paton Street near Piccadilly, before moving to a small kitchen on Radium Street and eventually setting up their stall inside Ancoats General Store, they would regularly have lines around the block every lunchtime.
These Italian-American sarnies were so popular you’d often struggle to get your claws on one – and believe us, they really are a two-handed task – as they’d sell out on what felt like most days. But now, whether you were a regular or someone who missed out, there is hope once again:
Announcing their sensational return to a new site over in the Northern Quarter, which will now mark the fourth premises they’ve popped up at, Bada Bing is back with a bang and, as you can, they dropped the news with one of the best reveal videos we’ve ever seen.
If you know, you know…
Set to take over 125 Oldham Street, owners Sam Gormally and Meg Lingenfelter haven’t yet graced us with an opening date but the new unit should hopefully be open sooner rather than later.
The duo, who previously worked at fellow NQ favourite Another Heart to Feed, came up with the concept during lockdown and it didn’t take long for the idea to take off, nor for them to earn their spot amongst the very best sandwich places in Manchester.
Seriously, these things were so big and unwieldy (in the best way possible) that they even used to come with eating instructions: both hands and the trademark Tony Soprano hunch recommended, though the slightly stained wife-beater, boxer shorts and open dressing gown look is optional.
From slices of provolone cheese, all the thinly sliced Italian meats you could think of and the closest thing to actual ‘gabagool‘ as you’ll find in Greater Manchester, the menu was fitting of being served up to the iconic characters that once sat outside Satriale’s and a big approving grin from the man himself.
Simply put, we cannot wait and we will certainly keep you posted when we find out exactly when Bada Bing confirms their official reopening date.
Burger King is giving away free burgers to new drivers today
Emily Sergeant
Burger King will be giving away burgers to drivers who have recently passed their tests for free of charge today.
In case it wasn’t on your radar, tomorrow (Thursday 24 July) is actually National Drive-Thru Day, and in a bid to properly celebrate this unofficial holiday, Burger King has decided to hand out a bunch of freebies to newbies today.
The fast food chain is asking all new drivers to “buckle up”, head on down to their nearest Burger King drive-thru, and help themselves to a free burger.
All newly-qualified drivers will be able to take their pick from either the Whopper or Chicken Royale without parting ways with a penny, and all they’ll need to do the claim their freebie is simply show off their learner’s ‘L Plates’ to the staff at their local Burger King restaurant.
/ Credit: Burger King UK (via Instagram) | Supplied
Hundreds of Burger King drive-thrus across the UK are taking part in the one-day promotion – including several across in Greater Manchester.
Although it might seem a little too good to be true, there’s a reason Burger King has chosen to dish out the freebies, and that’s because the company says it knows that one of the first activities newly-qualified drivers like do once they’ve passed their test is make a pit stop at a drive-thru with their mates to show off their new wheels and skills.
Sometimes though, navigating a drive-thru for the first time can be tricky, and this leaves new drivers feeling a bit like a rabbit in the headlights.
Luckily with this one-day Burger King offer, new drivers’ first drive-thru trip couldn’t be any easier.
The offer is available nationwide today (Wednesday 24 July) at Burger King drive-thru lanes only, while stock lasts, and newly qualified drivers must verbally mention “BK Plates” at the drive-thru lane to unlock their free burger.