A piadina is an Italian flatbread and at Bread and Butter they stuff it with all kinds of delicious fillings, such as chicken, garlic mayo and mozzarella or ham, mozzerella and basil, which are heated up in a sandwich press. If you eat in you get a plate of salad and homemade coleslaw, but even if you take-out they will put the salad in a little dish for you. They also serve sandwiches as well as other meals such as chilli and Moroccan lamb stew.

There is also a tasty looking salad bar, and they have plates of amazing cakes made by the owner, Patsy Garvin. I fell for the chocolate tart (pictured) and think it was about £1.80. They usually have carrot cake and lots of cute cupcakes too. But be warned, get there before me otherwise I’ll just eat them all.

Bread and Butter is a really cute little shop up Tib Street, past Rags to Bitches and The Northern. You really can’t miss it because it’s painted bright pink and has white wrought iron furniture outside. The inside is full of retro furniture and tea sets, and although there isn’t much seating room at the moment, they are renovating the basement.

I also noticed they are open for tapas in on the weekend evenings, AND you can bring your own booze. So watch out for that review as soon as I can find a free weekend.

Bread and Butter, Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LG.

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Nexus cafe is creating a secret garden in the small courtyard at the back of its basement cafe – and it needs your help. I’m actually sitting in Nexus as I type looking out the back at the ladders and trellises, and can’t wait to see it finished. Over the past few weeks it’s been designed by volunteers and will have decking, gravel and lots of planters for flowers. By the looks of it it will be a real sun trap and if we ever see any sun this year, will be very pleasant.

Everything is being done in stages, and on Thursday evening (May 21) from 1-4pm volunteers are spreading the gravel and finishing the floors.They also need people to help make wooden planters so if anyone is handy with a hammer, give them a shout.

Saturday, May 23 is planting day, which will add the splash of colour to the week’s hard work. And then the finale is on Sunday, May 23, which is the grand opening with tea and cake in the garden.

If you able to help email volunteer@nexusartcafe.com or call Steph on 0161 236 0100

W: www.nexusonline.org.uk

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Love Saves The Day, owned by ex-Simply Red drummer Chris Joyce and his wife Beckie, had a chequered past with the original branches in the Northern Quarter and Deansgate going bust after a problem in 2005. The second coming with branches on Thomas Street, Deansgate and Piccadilly Basin all sadly went into administration in October 2008.

The new branch at Piccadilly Basin, which had just opened, was rescued by Martin Stockley Associates, who are also based in Carvers Warehouse – and it has re-emerged as An Outlet. I never even got round to going in when it was LSTD as it wasn’t open that long but recently checked out An Outlet. I even saw Peter Saville walk out as I was going in and I did that involuntary double take you always do when you see someone vaguely famous.

I went in to meet a friend for a cup of tea, and went out with a bag full of goodies. I grabbed a door stop pastrami and gherkin sandwich (£3.50 to take out) which was hugely generous in its portions. A trio of cured sausages (£3.50) also went in the basket, which contained a good quality meaty chorizo, a blood sausage which was too rich for me to eat and a cured bacon which had a little too much fat in it, but otherwise tasty.

They also have the broadband password written on the chalkboard to make it nice and easy for those of us carrying laptops in our handbags, so I managed to do an hour’s work, lingering over a cup of tea, on my second visit. The selection of drinks is vast: different teas with the option of soya milk, lots of coffees like expresso, macchiato, latte and the like. Food includes healthy breakfasts such as granola and fruit compote or croissants, and lunches of sandwiches and a salad bar. The delicatessen section has all manner of tasty good quality foodstuffs, and loads of bottles of wine.

I enjoyed nice homely touches such as a bookshelf of reading material to borrow and really friendly staff. I know I’ll be going there a lot more for meetings or just to work for an hour or two.

An Outlet, Carvers Warehouse, 77 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 2HG.
T: 0161 236 3043
W: www.anoutlet.net (just a holding page at the moment)

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by Carolyn Hughes

Oklahoma is a quirky little place that makes the Northern Quarter exactly what it is. Hiding behind big wooden doors on High Street, this is a colourful treasure trove of kitsch gifts, notebooks, light shades, greetings cards, retro sweets, as well as a cafe.

The cafe intermingles with the shop section with tables overflowing, and there is even a DVD section on the far wall. An art gallery promises to be downstairs but I’ve never been down because you have to ask someone to unlock it for you, which is a bit of a turn off.

I’ve been here to shop before but never to eat. I actually went out with a vegetarian friend to review Earth cafe opposite, but it’s not open on Mondays. However, luckily, Oklahoma is a vegetarian cafe, with loads of vegan meals and options. They have soya milk for drinks and even do soya milkshakes.

Food includes ready made sandwiches, freshly prepared toasted sandwiches, as well as hot food. There is a massive selection of unusual baked potato toppings, such as hot puy lentils with marmalade dressing and red onions, as well as the option of sweet baked potato.

I had the chickpea curry with mango chutney on a baked potato (£4.90) which was wholesome and homemade tasting. It wasn’t too spicy and the dollop of mango chutney gave it a nice tart twist. My friend tried the vegetarian lasagne (£4.10 or £5.90 with salad), which was tasty but a bit rubbery round the edges – always a hazard with lasagne.

I’d heard the service can be a bit hit and miss here but I got served really quickly and the food came out even quicker. The only confusing thing when we arrived was figuring out whether to order at the counter and where to find a menu. The higgledy piggedly aspect of the wonky tables and the chipped enamel plates all added to the quirky charm of this little gem. The music could have been a little more chilled as loud rock music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

The selection of  vegetarian breakfasts with organic eggs looks tasty, as did the carrot cake at the front counter. Drinks include fair trade coffee, selection of herbal teas, Green and Black hot chocolate, fresh fruit smoothies and milk shakes.

There was a great vibe in this place with people working on laptops, some people with kids and others just out on a lunch break.

INFO
Oklahoma 74-76 High Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1ES.
T: 0161 834 1136.
E: oklahoma.manchester@virgin.net

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Whatever anyone says about British cuisine, you really can’t beat a
large creamy chicken pie or tender steak pie with thick gravy  on a
wintery day. It’s comfort food at its best, and if made from scratch it
isn’t as unhealthy as a store-bought second rate effort.

Nexus on Dale Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter serves Pieminister’s
offering, as does Cup round the corner, which is not a bad thing but if
more places in the Northern Quarter hop aboard this pie train there
won’t be much variation. There is a really good article from the Telegraph
from January 2008, charting the success of this small company from
touting their wares at Glastonbury to supplying pubs and cafes all over
the UK. Like any forward-thinking food company, they use only quality
ingredients such as free-range meat and no hydrogenated fats.

Their combination of a caring approach to their food, good marketing and branding and gastro pub-style fillings have made a great company. The thick flaky pastry tastes homemade (mainly because it is) and goes hand in hand with unique fillings such as Thai chook pie, Wild mushroom and asparagus pie, Matador pie and Mr Porky pie.

The Thai chook pie (£4) I scoffed at Nexus was a lovely creamy blend of free range British chicken, green Thai curry, sweet potato and lime and a perfect filling for a good stout pastry receptacle. All the unusual fillings just bring the good solid pie up to date with our modern eating tastes. A side order of mash is £1, and gravy 50p in Nexus. Shame it brings it up to £5.50 for all three, I’d chuck the gravy in for free, I think.

Nexus is a basement cafe is on Dale Street right next to a shop called Junk. It is funded by the Methodist Church and works with Sanctus1 which is a city centre church funded by the Church of England – but do not let that put you off, non-religious people. The art cafe is a not-for-profit organisation serving fair trade goods and says it works towards “building community and celebrating creativity in the Northern Quarter’ which should, of course, be applauded.

The whole menu looks great, and is enough to induce changing of mind several times. My friend ordered the sausage sandwich, which came with feta cheese, sunny dried tomatoes, wholegrain mustard, served on granary for £3.60. This is a seriously pimped-up sausage buttie.

On another visit, I tried the Tuna mix up (£3.40), which was another genuis sandwich combination where the tuna was mixed up with feta cheese, chunky olives, onion and mayo, and served on warm granary bread.

They also offer free wi-fi, a selection of newspapers as well as home baked cakes and TeaPigs tea, so pay them a visit. Oh and last time I popped in there was an art event called 40 days of Public Solitude where a bloke was sitting in the window bit when you walk down the stairs. Quite odd, but interesting all the same.

MORE INFO

See also the Mancubist blog for more information on Nexus.

Nexus Art Cafe, Dale Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1JW.
Open 10am to 7pm every day of the week.
E: info@nexusartcafe.com

W: www.nexusonline.org.uk

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Manchester’s finest Twitterati met up to test out the Bay Horses’s pie and a pint deal this week. Except I didn’t have a pint, and there
was a discussion about whether the pie actually constituted a pie. But let’s start from the beginning.

Taste of Manchester is a new website run by Manchester Food and Drink Festival, which is absolutely full of news and reviews about eating, and you guessed it, drinking, in the rainy city.

They’ve also pulled together some of the best offers out there, and will even email them to you if you sign up to the mailing list. I spotted an offer for a pie and a pint at The Bay Horse in the Northern Quarter for £5.50, which seems like a tempting lunch time offer. You can buy the pie on its own for £3.95 if you don’t fancy a pint, and for £4.95 you can get a pie, peas and gravy.

The only pie on offer was the bacon, bubble and squeak so it was five of those all round. Arriving in a small dish with mash on top, a discussion ensued as to whether the lack of pastry meant it wasn’t a pie. Feel free to discuss among yourselves as I don’t think we came to any conclusion.

This was real home cooked hearty food, but maybe just had too many flavours going on for it to gel. The bacon was tasty, if a little salty, and there was also rosemary and a big spoonful of grainy mustard thrown in there for some extra tang. The mash on top was beautifully creamy and plenty of cheese was slathered on and melted. It was enjoyable but I’m still not sure if it worked – but it wouldn’t stop me from going back to try other flavours.

Next week is also British Pie Week so we were doing our bit for the national celebrations. How honourable. There’s also another pie review coming up very shortly, which will also coincide with this  national event. But it’s also an excuse for me to eat more pies, one might say.

I’ve only ever been to the Bay Horse in the evening before, when it gets really busy and plays very loud music, so it was good to find it’s a rather chilled lunchtime venue. Run by Yvonne Goldsmith-Rybka, this is a real boozer, but with a cool NQ twist with big comfy sofas and chic arty stuff on the walls. Yvonne and business partner, Nicky Rybka-Goldsmith, also run the very successful Soup Kitchen and more recently Cord. Their unusual surname situation is because they are best friends who took each other’s name by deed poll at university and kept it.

A quick look at the drinks menu shows good prices and a wide selection of wine and draught and bottled beers. And they also do a bottle of wine for £6, Monday to Friday from 5-7pm. The food menu has a nice simple selection of toasted sandwiches, salads and light bites – all really good prices.

INFO
The Bay Horse, 35-37 Thomas Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 1NA.
T: 0161 661 1041
E: info@thebayhorsepub.co.uk
W: www.thebayhorsepub.co.uk

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Manchester’s Northern Quarter welcomes a new bar this year, and there is indeed room for such a newcomer. Noho is situated on Stevenson Square, just opposite Soup Kitchen.

The name is a twist on New York’s Soho district, and the owners are trying to bring a touch of the Big Apple to their little corner of Manchester. The building used to be one of the many large wholesale clothing places that are round here, so is ideal for transforming into a bar.

The huge floor-to-ceiling were all steamed up when I was there on Saturday evening, and from when we arrived it quickly filled up with the usual cool NQ crowd. There was a good atmosphere, no ponciness, no idiots – just loads of people enjoying a drink. We quickly slumped on the big leather Chesterfield to enjoy the grooves.

If you go, check out the huge murals on the wall, which are absolutely amazing. There’s a really good post on Munklefish’s blog about Noho, and he says they were done by the Upperspace and Sketch City collective.

I was only at Noho for two drinks, but I’ll definitely add it to my rounds of drinking dens in the NQ.  One of the problems I’ve just found though is they have no website and when you google Noho Manchester, you only get a few entries and then the rest are for Moho, which is just around the corner on Tib Street. Hope they get a website sorted soon!

ADDITION TO POST, March 14, 2009
Noho now has a swanky new website, so check it out.
www.noho-bar.com

Here are a couple of other blogs and websites that have given Noho a mention.
Life Through Food with Sarah Hartley
Northern Nights blog
Manchester Confidential
Munklefish

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