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
Michelin-recommended Greater Manchester restaurant announces imminent closure
Daisy Jackson
A neighbourhood restaurant in Greater Manchester has announced its imminent closure, in a real blow for the local food scene
Restaurant Orme, a restaurant in Urmston that had made its way into the prestigious Michelin Guide, notified followers that with ‘great sadness’ they are intending to sell the business.
In their statements the team acknowledged the ‘significant economic pressures’ facing the restaurant industry, writing: “We find an increasing disparity between perceived value and the true cost of operations, rendering long-term sustainability unfeasible.”
But they also detailed that a break in their lease has allowed them to ‘thoughtfully consider’ their circumstances and make the ‘right choice for our growing families’.
The business was founded and operated by a trio of friends, Jack Fields, Tom Wilson, and Rachel Roberts.
Restaurant Orme has said that it can’t yet confirm its final date of service but has encouraged diners holding restaurant vouchers to make use of them in the coming months.
They also wrote: “It has been a pleasure serving this wonderful community and beyond. We have had so much to celebrate over the last three years and will cherish the memories and experiences we have shared.”
Restaurant Orme has been the subject of rave reviews and critical acclaim since launching in 2023, with the Good Food Guide writing that the team were delivering ‘ambitious food while staying true to its local roots’.
Michelin-recommended Greater Manchester restaurant announces imminent closure. Credit: Instagram, @littlemcrhouse
It described Restaurant Orme as a ‘youthful and breezily energetic’ restaurant with ‘lively but serious’ cooking.
And the Michelin Guide hailed it as a ‘pleasantly welcoming’ space with ‘appealing menus’.
Restaurant Orme wrote: “It is with great sadness that we announce our intention to sell the restaurant.
“It is well published that our industry is facing significant economic pressures. Addressing the real impact on trade, we find an increasing disparity between perceived value and the true cost of operations, rendering long-term sustainability unfeasible
“This has impacted our decision, however as we approach a break in our lease, we have been presented with an opportunity to thoughtfully consider our circumstances and reflect on what lies ahead. We need to make the right choice for our growing families, right now that means stability.
“As we navigate through this process, we can’t yet declare an official date of closure, therefore if you have exsiting vouchers with a valid expiry date, we urge you to book in within the next six months. New voucher sales have been suspended.
“It has been a pleasure serving this wonderful community and beyond. We have had so much to celebrate over the last three years and will cherish the memories and experiences we have shared.
“Thank you for everything. We will keep you posted when we have clarity on our final farewell.
“Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened!”
And that’s further proof that even the best-loved, most critically-acclaimed neighbourhood restaurants just can’t make the figures stack up in the current climate.
First look at Eggslut as cult breakfast brand finally opens in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Cult breakfast brand Eggslut has finally arrived in Manchester, serving up egg sandwiches, coffees, and its viral French toast sticks.
Founded in LA way back in 2011, Eggslut has gone on to become a global sensation, first opening in the UK down in London in 2019.
But now Eggslut has decided to branch out beyond the capital and take a crack at The North, opening a sunny yellow takeaway on Deansgate.
On the menu you’ll find all kinds of sandwiches where egg is the star of the show, including the Fairfax with soft scrambled eggs, and a classic bacon egg and cheese with runny yolks.
There are also all-day sandwiches like a spicy chicken sando, and cheeseburgers, plus fresh orange juice and quality coffees.
Or you can order a ‘Slut’ (which is a weird experience) for the ultimate posh dippy egg, baked in a jar with potato puree and served with slices of toasted baguette.
Pair that with some truffle hash browns, and don’t skip the French toast sticks with maple custard for dipping.
Eggslut officially opens on Valentine’s Day, with 100 free sandwiches for the first customers through the door from 8am.
A spread of food at Eggslut in ManchesterThe Fairfax and a fresh orange juiceThe French toast sticks with maple custard
And until the end of February, Eggslut with offer a Manchester-exclusive opening bundle: two sandwiches and two hash browns for £25, available in-store only.
Pedro Ribeiro, Eggslut’s Head of Ops, says of the opening: “Manchester has been crying out for an Eggslut for too long, and we were only too happy to make that dream a reality.
“The city is the perfect place to bring our kind of breakfast to a brand new area of the UK and we cannot wait to join such a fast-paced and buzzing food scene.”
Matt Pazos, Bruntwood SciTech Retail Commercial Manager says: “We’re delighted to be welcoming the first Eggslut outside of London to Manchester and can’t wait for the team to crack open their doors on Deansgate.
“The brand has built a cult following thanks to their delicious chef driven comfort food and we know that it will fast become a go-to spot for businesses based in Centurion House as well as locals and visitors to the city”
Eggslut Manchester is located in Centurion House on Deansgate and opens on Saturday 14 February 2026.
Georgina Pellant -
22nd February 2022 
