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
Traders to move out of Manchester food hall as it pivots to ‘new chapter’
Daisy Jackson
Manchester food hall New Century will be closing its kitchens, it has announced, making way for a ‘new chapter’.
The New Century Kitchens are home to some top local food traders, including Parmogeddon’s Fricken concept, Wholesome Junkies, and Ply Pizza.
The food hall opened in 2022 as part of the iconic music venue’s rebirth, creating a modern mid-century space with six kitchens.
In the years since, it’s welcomed a rotation of amazing food offerings, including Hip Hop Chip Shop, Banh Vi, and Zumuku Sushi.
Now, New Century Kitchens has announced it will be ‘evolving’ to make live events part of the offering across the venue – not just upstairs in the main gig space.
That means that the traders currently based here will be moving out, though the venue has assured people that they have been supported as they take their next steps.
New Century said that music is in the building’s ‘DNA’ and this chapter will reflect that.
New Century Kitchens will close, with traders moving outNew Century is entering a ‘new chapter’
In a statement shared with The Manc, they said: “The ground floor at New Century is evolving. We are currently finalising plans for live events to become an even bigger part of our offering across the whole of the venue.
“As part of this evolution the current community of independent traders are moving onto exciting new chapters, and we have been working very closely with them to support all of these brilliant businesses in their next steps.
“Music is in the DNA of our iconic building and this new chapter will reflect that.
“New Century is a place for people to come together through entertainment and good hospitality and we’re looking forward to sharing more details soon.”
11 Greater Manchester spots have been named among the UK’s Top 100 Curry Restaurants
Danny Jones
In another feather for Greater Manchester’s culinary cap, a total of 11 different Greater Manchester businesses have been named in this year’s list of the Top 100 Curry Restaurants in the UK.
Everyone knows how good the Asian food scene is here, so this comes as little surprise, really.
Nevertheless, we will absolutely be toasting these wins on behalf of all those by booking into at least one of the excellent foodie venues before the month is out – if they have any reservations left, that is.
Some of these names may not shock you, but we’re glad to see some really good up-and-coming independents or long-overlooked veterans finally getting their recognition. Here’s who made the cut across our ten boroughs, in no particular order (at least not ours, anyway).
The best places for a curry in Britain – Greater Manchester
1. Tyga – Manchester city centre
Formerly the site of Asha’s, which was already a much-loved Manc spot, the new chapter for the modern Indian restaurant on Peter St is a nice balance of authentic Rajasthani cuisine and more contemporary, elevated takes on Indo-Chinese dishes.
Another central spot located near the lively university area in and around Oxford Road Corridor, Peace Garden opened up back in 2022 and has gone on to become a hit with much more than just the students living nearby. Give it a try sometime soon.
The very grand spin-off of the original location in Levenshulme – now renamed as MyNawaab – the Royal Nawaab that has now been open for over a year inside the old Co-op pyramid next to the M60. They have also received a notable review from a highly renowned food journalist…
The third and final spot shouted out from within the city might make you double-take, aside from the seafood also do an incredible Japanese curry beef dish. Find out more about what they offer HERE.
Heading out into the borough of Bolton now, and arguably historic Lancashire depending on who you ask, Ayaan’s on Old Road has thousands of fantastic reviews ranging from four to five stars, and remains a renowned regional curry house. Here they are winning the best of the bunch last year:
A beautiful banquet hall and restaurant just on the outskirts of Cheetham and the Green Quarter, Al Maidah is a regular spot for big weddings or pretty much any special occasion, and it goes without saying that they do some incredible curries. They’ve come a long way over the past decade.
Finally heading over towards the direction of Curry Mile, we were expecting more places from the famous district to be named, to be honest, but we’ll definitely take Bardez, which also has a Didsbury restaurant. They do all-you-can-eat buffets, but from memory, chicken chettinad is the one…
Jadugar over in Alty hasn’t even been open for a year yet, but it’s already become the place to go out for a curry in the Trafford market town, with footballers and various other famous faces now making it one of their regular haunts. You can check out their menu online.
9. Purple Olive Ashton – Ashton-under-Lyne
Tameside natives will know this one well, but for those who may not be aware, the Purple Olive branch in Ashton is much more than part of a larger charger chain: this is the best of the bunch, quite literally – that’s why it made its way onto the list. So if you’re over Ashton way any time soon, why not pop in?
10. Spice Mafia – Urmston
Winging our way back to Trafford once again, this next bunch are no strangers to winning awards or picking up this accolade in particular, as cult favourite Spice Mafia has also been named once again. In fact, they earn their place on the list pretty much every year at this point:
Last but not least, ‘The Plaza‘; we confess we’ve only been there for one very messy night, but before it all went a bit fuzzy, we do remember we had some incredible scran, and you can see why so many people swear by it as increasingly not-so-quietly one of the best curry houses in Greater Manchester.
Before we wrap this up to takeaway, special shout-outs go to Ruchi Restaurant in the neighbouring Derbyshire town of Glossop, as well as another relatively nearby village venue, Sigiriya Grill in Knutsford.
Once again, these places have been hailed as not just some of the best curry houses in the region or even the North West, but in the ENTIRE country, according to the Asian Catering Federation (ACF) – a big honour, indeed.
Spotlighting venues that not only deliver top-notch food and drink with great service, but also serve as important community hubs, support the wider hospitality industry and maintain high standards, it’s no mean feat making your way into this round-up.
Georgina Pellant -
22nd February 2022 
