For Pancake Day, and beyond.
Pancakes might traditionally be a relatively simple staple, but here in Manchester our restaurants and cafes go large, with dozens of different styles, flavours and toppings to choose from.
There’s a pancake to suit everyone if you know where to look, from sweet to savoury, miniature to fat and thin to fluffy.
We’ve broken down some of our favourites below to help you get your pancake fix all year round. Yes, it may be Shrove Tuesday is looming, but one day is hardly enough to sample them all.
There are some newcomers to check out for 2023 too.
Keep reading to discover the best places for pancakes in Manchester.
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, Cocoa Cabana is the absolute best place to head for pancakes in Manchester.
For Pancake Day, they’re going bottomless – it’s £12.50 for as many as you can eat, the only rule being you have to finish one stack before you order the next.
Flavours include tiramisu, Biscoff and caramel, and Kinder Bueno.
Head to Lazy Sundae ice cream parlour in the Northern Quarter for its famous soufflé pancakes.
This pancake day, you’ll find specials topped with either honeycomb, banana and miso caramel or Nutella and strawberries.
A popular order in Japan and, increasingly, across the globe, opt for personalised toppings like wafers, chocolate sprinkles, fruit and ice cream to make this special, puffed-up pancake your own.
Ice cream flavours are vast, and there’s a good range of sorbets for vegans and the lactose intolerant to enjoy too.
If you think you can manage to eat your body weight in pancakes then this might just be for you.
Ducie Street Warehouse has got unlimited servings of pancakes priced at £13.50 for 30 minutes off non-stop servings.
Their pancakes can come loaded with everything from Nutella and maple syrup to mixed berries, cinnamon sugar and more.
This cute little cafe next to Albert Square is very easy to miss, but well worth seeking out.
Venture inside, and you’ll find great coffee, a counter full of bakes from local suppliers and an excellent year-round pancake menu.
Here, fluffy American-style pancakes are loaded with sauce and sweet treats like Jammy Dodger biscuits, raspberries, caramel sauce and strawberry jam (pictured above).
There’s also a Lotus Biscoff stack, a special apple crumble and custard stack, and a Biscoff and Bueno stack. All come with vanilla ice cream on the side.
This pancake day, the Hampton and Vouis chefs have created a number of specials too. Think crab meat and smashed avocado, poached egg and lemon butter sauce, or pistachio ice cream topped with lemon syrup, white chocolate and pistachio.
There are more fat, fluffy, wobbly pancakes to be found at Fluffy Fluffy, formerly known as Fuwa Fuwa, on Whitworth Street.
These are traditional handcrafted soufflé pancakes topped with flavours like matcha tiramisu, raspberry banana, and blueberry.
Already famous for its hanging kebabs, The Botanist has created a pancake-friendly version to celebrate Shrove Tuesday.
Stacked high, you’ll get six miniature Scotch pancakes dressed with either marshmallows, strawberries and lemon drizzle or hot chocolate sauce and chocolate brownie chunks.
Available from 28 February to 2 March at all Manchester sites, be quick – before they’re all gone.
Canadians are famous for their pancakes and the selection at Moose in Manchester is up there with the best. Made fresh to order, think a stack of three dusted with icing sugar and served with Canadian butter.
Whether you opt for savoury or sweet toppings maple syrup on the side is pretty much a given (yes, even with your eggs and bacon) and we’re absolutely here for it.
The only thing that could make it more authentic is if the staff split the bill for you unrequested.
A greasy spoon cafe, but make it Northern Quarter.
The Koffee Pot has long been a go-to breakfast spot, way before it moved up from Stevenson Square to its new premises on Oldham Street.
It’s known for its fry ups and breakfast tacos, but you can get a solid pancake stack here too. Think all-American buttermilk pancake stacks with added sausage patty, smoked streaky bacon, hash brown, fried egg and maple syrup.
It’s basically a full English in a pancake stack, and who doesn’t want that?
This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spot has become an absolute go-to for naughty pancakes, thanks to its chocolate bar-laden menu.
The Biscoff and Kinder Bueno pancakes are the big draws here at 19 Cafe Bar. Loaded with the likes of Biscoff crumb and spread, banana, ice cream and salted caramel sauce, or homemade Kinder sauce, Bueno, chocolate sauce, roasted hazelnuts and vanilla ice cream, .
There are healthier pancake options too and a strong list of brunch cocktails available from the bar.
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This trendy cafe in the Northern Quarter has a solid brunch menu, including indulgent buttermilk souffle pancakes loaded with honeycomb butter and a spiced berry compote.
There are specials for pancake day 2023 too, like Nutella and strawberry, date caramel and banana, and a spiced apple compote.
Washed down with a coffee or a brunch cocktail, you can’t go wrong.
If you like a bit of fried chicken with your pancakes, it’s got to be Kong’s. Some of the best in the city, chicken here is rolled in a secret spice mix then double dredged for extra crispiness.
This pancake day, head down to Dogbowl for American style buttermilk pancakes served with either chicken, bacon and maple; berry compote, candied pecans, whipped ricotta and mint; or Caramelised banana, pecans and salted caramel ice-cream.
Feature image – Moose Coffee
Great British Menu contestant Caroline Martins is the Brazilian chef in Manchester creating fusion dishes that look like something out of a fairy tale.
From edible candles made from beef fat to desserts disguised as the archetypal poisonous toadstool known as fly agaric, appearance and reality diverge on the plate at her Ancoats’ fusion pop-up The São Paulo Project.
Now, as well as sending foodies flocking to Blossom Street Social and Exhibition MCR, she’s appearing on our TV screens this week in the North West heat of BBC Two’s Great British Menu – representing Manchester as one of four regional contestants.
This will be her second appearance on the show, following on from her 2022 debut where she faced off against fellow North West chefs Dave Critchley, Sam Lomas and Stevie Lamb.
Playful as ever, her 2022 Great British Menu dishes will paid homage to her favourite BBC shows, including Monty Python and Red Dwarf.
Series 18 of the professional cheffing competition airs on BBC Two from Tuesday 31 January at 8pm, and will be screened every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night for the following eight weeks.
This year, the North West heat starts on Tuesday 21 February.
Born in Barretos, Brazil, Caroline Martins spent her twenties training and then working as a physicist to fulfill her family’s ambitions, before making the switch to cheffing in a curveball career move.
Originally hailing from the “Brazilian Texas”, she always wanted to cook but in her early years felt this was not an option. Instead, she moved to nearby São Paulo to complete a science degree, a masters, and then a doctorate in Plasma Physics.
After graduating with her Ph.D., she first worked as a theoretical physicist in Cadarache, France, then took a role as a researcher at The University of Texas, Austin, but spent most of her time waiting for the day to finish so that she could go and explore her true passion: cooking.
As she neared thirty, she took the plunge and after some encouragement from friends applied to Brazilian MasterChef – drawn in by the prize, which was to study at European culinary school Le Cordon Bleu.
She didn’t win, but her savings enabled her to travel to study at the London school anyway. Scrimping to get by, she opted to take the intensive six-month course – working six days a week, living in a flat with ten other people, sharing a bedroom and getting up at 5am to shower in order to fulfill her lifelong dream.
Read more: Former MasterChef contestant opens fine dining pop-up inside Ancoats wine bar
Caroline Martins’ first job after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu took her to Italy, where she spent six months at two Michelin star Trenkerstube at Hotel Castel in Tyrol, on the Austrian border.
Working for free in exchange for bed, board and (most importantly) Michelin star kitchen experience, she graduated with her diploma on the Saturday and by 7am on Monday had already started work.
Hoping to practise her Italian, she was surprised to find everyone there spoke German and relied heavily on Google Translate to get her through.
Upon returning to London, she worked in a number of esteemed restaurants including the theatrical two-star Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs in Fitzrovia and one-star dining rooms Galvin La Chapelle and Pied à terre.
Caroline is now focused on bringing haute Brazilian cuisine to the UK with her São Paulo Project, undertaking a three-month residency at Ancoats wine bar Blossom Street Social in 2022 before launching her Sao Paulo Bistro at Exhibition MCR.
Here, she’s fusing Brazilian ingredients like heart of palm and guava with local produce from independent Mancunian suppliers in an exciting fine dining-style menu.
Putting a modern twist on dishes found across the 26 states of Brazil, she’s showing diners that Brazilian gastronomy is more than just steakhouses and feijoada. She has also just announced the return of her Sao Paulo Project at Blossom Street Social, this time with a more casual twist.
Her ultimate ambition is to open the first Brazilian fine dining restaurant in England. Currently, there is only one in the world to be found outside of Brazil, the Parisian restaurant Oka. Navigating between France and Brazil, last year it attained its first Michelin star.
Feature image – Caroline Martins
The UK’s best curry houses have just been named for 2023, and we’re pleased to see that a few of our favourite Manchester restaurants have been included in the cut.
The Nation’s Curry Awards were celebrated at a glitzy ceremony in Manchester last night, with hospitality pros across the region picking up gongs for their excellent cooking skills.
Designed to recognise and celebrate ‘the talents and hard work of individuals and businesses within the UK’s curry industry’, awards categories included Best Chef of the Year, Vegetarian Restaurant of the Year, and Best Customer Service.
Taking home the gong for Best of Manchester was Asha’s on Peter Street. A fine dining Indian restaurant established in 2016, it featured in the Michelin Guide in 2017 and 2018 and takes its name from Bollywood icon and founder Asha Bhosle.
Beating other popular Manchester eateries like Indian Tiffin Room, Delhi House Cafe, Kabana, Arnero, Wah Ji Wah, Dhoom Dhaam, Indique, and Chit ‘N’ Chaat, the team took to social media to celebrate after the ceremony writing: “We won! ‘Best of Manchester!”
“Thank you to all our customers for your continued support at Asha’s. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the #nationalcurryawards.”
Fans were quick to congratulate the restaurant, with one person writing: “Huge Congratulations. Totally deserving. For my favourite restaurant.”
Another said: “You deserve all the best, you r the one and the one only. Love you all so much without knowing you …”
Asha’s reopened after a period of closure and a change of management last August, following a takeover by KRO Hospitality group.
Read more: Asha’s restaurant to reopen with a new bar and glitzy hotel upstairs
At the time, it retained its executive chef Ashwani Rangta but he has since moved over to Cheshire to head up the newly acclaimed eatery GupShup. However, the award win last night suggests that Asha’s is as popular as ever.
Other Greater Manchester restaurants to pick up awards at the ceremony included Ayaan’s in Bolton, which was crowned Pakistani Restaurant of the Year, and The Great Kathmandu, a Burton Road favourite which took home the gong for Best Nepalese Restaurant of the Year.
A Spokesperson for the inaugural Nation’s Curry Awards 2023 said: “It has been an unforgettable night, filled with incredible food, vibrant energy, and passionate conversations.
“We have celebrated the finest in the UK’s curry scene, recognising the creativity, innovation, and exceptional service that have become synonymous with this beloved cuisine.
Read more: The Botanist has a NEW hanging pancake ‘kebab’ with fried chicken and hash browns
“The UK’s curry industry is a vital part of our culture, and these awards recognised the exceptional talents of the individuals and businesses that make it so special. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees, and thank you to everyone who participated and supported this event.”
Feature image – Asha’s Manchester
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