Something that tastes like a warm hug feels, the meal we dream of at the end of the day, or the perfect way to close out a busy week.
But it stands to reason that we all have different tastes, which means the comfort meal to hit the spot likely switches up depending on who you ask – and this is why online cake shop Jack and Beyond has enlisted the help of 3,280 food lovers from up and down the country to devise the ultimate top 20 list.
Cheesy pasta, roast dinner, and full English rank in Brits’ top 20 best comfort foods / Credit: The Manc Eats | Zouk
Putting the question to the public to create the final ranking and allowing respondents to pick multiple answers, the company asked: ‘Which savoury comfort foods are the best of all-time?‘ – and the answers came in thick and fast.
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Taking the top spot as the UK’s favourite comfort food is cheesy pasta, with a whopping 71% of Brits describing the dish among the best meals of all time.
Does this sound about right to you?
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Thousands of Brits had their say in the ultimate top 20 list / Credit: Unsplash
In second place is pizza, receiving the title of best comfort food from 68% of the country, while taking the crown of the UK’s third favourite comfort food is the British classic, a roast dinner – which is a dish voted as a favourite by 67% of Brits and let’s face it, it’s not hard to see why.
A hot meal that’s easy to make (and even easier to order from the local takeaway) is the humble curry, which takes the fourth spot with 65% of the British public voting it among the best comfort foods ever.
A simple cheese toastie rounds out the top five, receiving 62% of the vote.
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The UK’s Top 20 Comfort Foods
Comfort Foods
Percentage describing it as the “best comfort food of all-time”
1
Cheesy Pasta
71%
2
Pizza
68%
3
Roast Dinner
67%
4
Curry
65%
5
Cheese Toastie
62%
6
Sweet and Sour Chicken
59%
7
Lasagne
54%
8
Macaroni cheese
51%
9
Poutine
46%
10
Carbonara
45%
11
Chips
45%
12
Crumpets
41%
13
Pesto pasta
40%
14
Bacon Sandwich
39%
15
Biryani
39%
16
Fried Chicken
37%
17
Full English
36%
18
Jacket Potato
33%
19
Sausage Roll
32%
20
Bangers and Mash
30%
Following in sixth place is sweet and sour chicken – an authentic Chinese dish that appears to be the way to a Brit’s heart as voted by 59% of people – and placing in seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth position is lasagne (54%), macaroni cheese (51%), poutine (46%), and carbonara (45%).
A bacon butty, bangers and mash, sausage roll, and of course, a Full English breakfast also feature in the top 20.
Have your favourite comforts foods made the cut? What you you add to this list?
Featured Image – Unsplash
Eats
Deansgate bar Simmons closes just over a year after opening
Danny Jones
London-born bar brand Simmons has closed their Manchester site just over a year after opening their first Northern location.
They’ve lasted roughly 15 months on one of our busiest nightlife strips.
Opening on Deansgate back in October 2024, Simmons Manchester wasn’t just their first foray here up in this half of the country but their only other venue outside of the capital.
An otherwise well-established and popular chain down south, they have a total of 15 different bars in central London, but things clearly haven’t quite taken off as planned here in Manchester.
Placing a poster in the unit’s shopfront besides the likes of Be At One, Yours, The Moon Under The Water Spoons and the Deansgate branch of Slug and Lettuce, as you can see, the fellow franchise founded over a decade ago said: “After much consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our doors.
“It’s never easy to say goodbye”, they add, “We’re incredibly proud of what the team built here and so grateful to them, as well as everyone who joined us over the past year.
“We’ve had some unforgettable nights. We love Manchester, and we hope to be back under the right conditions.”
They go on to thank everyone for being “part of the journey”, but for now, it looks like the room has closed effective immediately.
Simmons started back in 2012 when founder Nick Campbell opened the first bar below his flat in Kings Cross, and their presence has grown hugely since then. The closing sign was spotted and shared on social media earlier this week.
Offering everything from stylish cocktails to New York-style pizza, live music and even private karaoke booths, the place had plenty going on.
With rising business rates, energy bills and more dovetailing with the continuing cost of living crisis that is still hampering both hospitality and the nightime economy, they are just one of many to unfortunately close their doors of late.
For instance, it was only earlier this month that we saw multiple well-known names shut up shop here in the city centre or elsewhere in Greater Manchester, including another long-standing late-night favourite, Revolution.
It’s a shame for any business to close, and we certainly hope they’ll return someday with a model that can be sustained in the current climate.
Inside Butter Bird – Ancoats’ hottest new neighbourhood rotisserie with a menu dedicated to butter
Clementine Hall
A new restaurant has opened its doors in Ancoats serving up two of life’s greatest pleasures.
Those two things being chicken and butter. And coincidentally, they go very well together.
Introducing Butter Bird, a new neighbourhood rotisserie restaurant that has taken over the old Counter House site on Blossom Street.
If you’ve been living under a rock or you have a healthy relationship with social media, then you won’t know that rotisserie chicken is very much ‘in’ for 2026.
Images: The Manc Eats
So of course, just like anything, Ancoats is first to hop on that trendy bandwagon.
When simple things are done properly then they’re very satisfying indeed, and that’s exactly what Butter Bird have achieved.
Built around classic spit cooking and time honoured technique, with an impressive Rotisol Millenium rotisserie oven at the heart of the space, the chickens are seasoned and brined in house, then slowly rotated over open heat so the meat self bastes as it cooks.
Images: The Manc Eats
The result? Moreish, crisp, golden skin, succulent meat and deep flavour.
If that doesn’t sound enticing enough, they’ve also got a section of their menu dedicated entirely to their house butters.
Flavoured, complex butters designed to compliment your bird in however you desire.
My personal favourite was the moroccan-spiced Chermoula, but the tarragon with wildflower and mustard was also stellar.
Images: The Manc Eats
Drinks wise they’ve got a great selection of Crémant, chosen to cut through the chicken fat, as well as fun cocktails and decent wines.
Obviously you’ll need some sides to go with your bird which you can order as a quarter or half, and they’ve got everything from rotisserie potatoes which you can douse in chicken gravy to a Caesar salad stuffed with enough croutons it’s probably not classed as a salad anymore.
Butter Bird opens to the public on Thursday 29 January, with a launch offer offering 50% off rotisserie chicken when booked in advance for the first two weeks.
Emily Sergeant -
18th August 2023 
