Reviewing lunch time food and evening dining in Manchester's city centre
Posts tagged cheese
Take Five, 55 Spring Gardens
01 year ago
by Mister Tum
in Cafe
Jacket Potato with cheese and beans £2.75
Been inspired to write about this lovely place after no less than TWO successful visits.
Really helpful, friendly staff. Good prices for quality food and decent portion sizes. Both times my jacket potato has been nice and hot (chilli and cheese last time – tomatoey and tasty) and barely fit in the box they give you.
All the food is given to take away but you can sit in if you want to, so none of that needless faffing you get at fast food joints about ‘tray or bag’ when you don’t even know if there’s room to sit in yet.
Filling, tasty, well-priced, friendly staff, and they’ve got a carvery too – look forward to trying it next time. Strongly recommended.
McDonalds Breakfast Wrap £2.49
22 years ago
by Mister Tum
in Fast Food Chains
I hate how absolutely fricking convenient it is to get a McDonalds. There’s about one every 5 yards in England anyway, so you can’t spit without hitting one. But on the way into work this morning the bloody gigantic ads everywhere for their damned breakfast wrap sucked the willpower from my brain and before I knew it I was in their ‘restaurant’ on Oxford Street, tapping my foot impatiently at having to wait 10 whole minutes to be glumly served my wrap by staff looking like they’re carrying out an endless sentence of community service. Which, in a manner of speaking, they are.
It’s hard to describe the flavour. There’s a weird mix of the usual McD’s sausage patty (what the hell that’s made of it’s best not to discuss), their plastic cheese, I think maybe a hash brown, something that used to be bacon in a distant past life, a choice of generic Brown or Red sauce, and all this on a tortilla wrap.
The undulating journey your taste buds go on whilst eating one of these things actually causes them to occasionally fall asleep, and you suffer taste black-outs. As though your mouth is not willing to process the insipid combination of ‘flavours’, as it were. It’s a bit like someone else is eating it for you and describing it to you whilst you’re wearing ear-muffs, and standing in another room, with your mouth full of cotton wool. It’s kind of filling, and it lasts longer than you’d expect if you can be bothered chewing it. But, as is usual with SmackDee’s you really come out the other end of the experience a) still hungry, 2) markedly poorer, and D) needing the loo within the hour or so.
Clearly I deserved the experience for going into McDonalds in the first place, so I blame no one but myself. Stupid golden stupid arches…
Pizza Express, Peter Street
03 years ago
by Mister Tum
in Restaurants
Garlic bread with mozzarella £3.20, sloppy Giuseppe £8.60, chocolate fudge cake £4.65
Calamari al forno £4.95, Siciliana £8.60, toffee fudge glory gelato £4.80
In a desperate bid to escape eating Mrs Tum’s kipper quiche leftovers for the fourth time this week I surprised her with a romantic dinner for two at Pizza Express (the spontaneity of the gesture having nothing to do with the 2-for-1 voucher burning a hole in my wallet). Despite the best part of the restaurant being completely empty we were hustled into a corner about 8-ft square along with six or so other couples.
I managed to find my old favourite on the new menu of garlic bread with mozzarella which was perfectly tasty although slightly stingy with the mozzarella. Had I wanted so much plain dough I would have ordered the dough-balls. Mrs Tum, revelling in her first night out in a long, long time, plumped for the calamari al forno. She was less than impressed with the offering of three squid rings cut into halves and served in soggy breadcrumbs on a slate plate which looked like a fallen roof tile!
For the main course my Sloppy Giuseppe and Mrs Tum’s Siciliana pizzas were served by a friendly waiter. My dish was spicy and loaded with meat and cheese and Mrs Tum’s was smothered in toppings and steaming hot. I was ambitiously hoping for a moriatum on complaints about Mrs Tum’s first course only to become instantly aghast at the sight of flies buzzing round Mrs Tum’s lacquered hair and finely-pressed Chanel suit. Needless to say Mrs Tum’s fly-swatting, flailing arms suggested severe annoyance and all hopes of an unprecedented, energetic finale to the evening were slowly fading before my eyes. Admitting defeat, I consoled myself with a chocolate fudge cake. Predictably, it was stunningly average . . .
Tesco, Market Street, Manchester
03 years ago
by Mister Tum
in Food Shops
£2 Meal Deal – Ploughmans sandwich, Feet & Bunion Walkers crisps + fresh orange
Desperately opting for economy over excellence I found myself succumbing to the towering, evil, earth-dominating behemoth that is the monster named Testico for my daily bread. Looking merely to subsist for a few hours more until the day was done I beseeched the super-powered-market to deliver unto me worldly goods that could sate my ever-growing yearning for nutrition. Well, barely nutrition to be honest, just something, anything, to beat the hunger from my belly.
So approaching the dubiously priced £2 Tesco meal deal with the appropriate amount of trepidation I opened my horribly familiar plastic triangle packet. You might have already spotted my first error: cheese and onion crisps with cheese sandwiches? Trust me, this is as bad in execution as it is in theory.
The Tesco Mind-Wombles emerged upon my first mouthful to discreetly remove all my memories of palette and taste and replace them with a meaningless sliver of mushy, vague recollections of food ingestion that can only be equated in some distant and weird way to the insipidness of the colour grey.
Apparently every 10 pence you spend in the UK goes into Tesco’s pockets already, so whether you want to submit to the blue and red gigantic fiend because “every little helps <you to lose your soul>”, or whether you desperately rage against the abyssal black hordes by purchasing your nourishment elsewhere, either way you, me, everybody, we’re all still little Tesco bitches.
Go, Arndale Centre, Manchester
03 years ago
by The Hobbit
in Food Shops
Meal: Large Beef Baguette, with Cheese and Salad.
Having become fed up with the so called “quality baguette’s” from other unnamed establishments (you know who you are), I decided to give “Go” a go (wake me up before you go go). They offer a large option for their baguette’s which is right up my street; combined with the “build your own” ethos I was anticipating a high standard of sandwich.
I decided to give the beef a try. In my opinion choosing a beef based meal at these types of places sorts the men out from the boys (or cow’s from the calves). It was surprisingly tender and easy to chew for a cold piece of beef, but lacked a bit of taste for my palette, a pinch of salt could have worked wonders. The baguette itself was excellent, crusty but not too much to give you jaw ache and tasted like proper bread (instead of drying wall paper paste like other places), the salad was also nice and fresh.
The decor was quite funky and the place seemed to be kept very clean and tidy, it could have been a cool little place to eat lunch. Sadly it is situated on one of the main walk ways of the Arndale Centre, with some of the tables very exposed. With all the troglodytes that amble through dragging their knuckles, this could certainly put you off the quality food on offer; I recommend the take out option.
I would definitely recommend Go for the quality and cost compared to other places, sadly the location isn’t ideal, I will be going back to try one of their pizza’s.
Bagel Nash, Arndale Centre, Manchester city centre
33 years ago
by Mister Tum
in Food Shops
Chicken bacon cheese tomato club Panini £3.50
Overcoming my predilection for shunning fooderies with pretentious and/or irksome monikers I staggered into Bagel bloody Nash for a baked buggering potato, only to discover that they were off the menu. Settling on the Chicken bacon cheese tomato club Panini thing I sat and waited the thirty or so seconds to be served and was pleased to see they grilled it right there and then. Essentially comfort food with ingredients you wouldn’t turn away on a windy Manchester day this Panini ticked a bunch of hot food boxes and provided much-needed sustenance to a more than acceptable level. Sliced in twain twixt centre line, this cocksure little bagel-usurper proved doubly reassuring as one half alone would simply be criminally unfulfilling. Two halves made whole however equals wholesome and hearty fare which sates that unappeasable monster called hunger for at least another hour or two. Pricey but nicey.
Bagel Nosh Panini – way tastier than the sticker albums.
Prêt a Manger, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester
03 years ago
by Mister Tum
in Food Shops
Meatball wrap £3.50
I always avoided Prêt a Manger, not just because of the poncy name or the umlaut . . . Well, yeah, actually it’s probably because of the poncy name and umlaut that I always avoided Prêt a Manger. Anyway, not one to conform to stereotypical ideas about places before trying them I decided . . . Well, actually, I often conform to stereotypical ideas about places before trying them. And Prêt a Manger is no exception. Actually, you know, Prêt a Manger IS the exception because at least this time I overcame my suspicions about the dubious price to quantity ratio of said eatery and forked out my hard-earned moolah for the hot meatball wrap. Rapt by the paltry mass of the diminutive wrap I gingerly unwrapped the paper wrap around the bread wrap (the bread and paper wraps being surprisingly hard to distinguish).
Finally gorging on the succulent meatballs I was happily taken aback by the fresh, herb-filled, tasty treat. Great for cold weather, but too trivial to count for an entire meal in itself, two of these bad boys would go some way towards filling a grown man. One alone would only be sufficient if you were undergoing the strenuous torture of one of these ‘diet’ things that people keep talking about. But if you’re ‘dieting’ you might as well kill yourself anyway, right?
Prêt a Manger? Prêt a Muncher morelike . . .
Subway, Mosley Street
83 years ago
by Gavlar
in Fast Food Chains
Meal: Foot-long Steak and Cheese, w/ lettuce, tomato and mayo (no drink or snack)
I was actually a little disappointed with my lunch today, its been a while since I last visited Subway and I think its going to be another while before I do again. The steak was chewy and tasted a little bland and the bun was over toasted to the point it started to disintegrate when I picked it up. At over £5 for just the sandwich, I actually feel a little robbed! The only upside to this disaster of a lunch was that the lettuce and tomato was fresh and very enjoyable, but if I wanted a tasty salad, I would have ordered one.
I could probably put this down to the lunchtime rush as it was a little busy in there and had to queue for 5 mins or so before I made my order but that’s not an excuse for rushing and spoiling a customers meal.
Giovannis Deli, New York Street, Manchester
03 years ago
Meal: Hot Big Beef Panini (Beef, mushrooms and cheese)
I expectted a lot from this meal and ordered with anticipation and excitement, oh how wrong I was. Although the panini was hot and of a substantial size to quench your appetite for the afternoon, the beef was over cooked and had become rubbery making it hard to chew. The cheese and mushrooms were a nice touch which gave the meal added taste if a little greasy.
The service was good and the staff were pleasant enough. You can see the food being prepared which is always a thumbs up in my book and the surrounding are nice if you would like to eat in.
I would recommeded a hot panini from Giovannis, due to the size and variety, but stay clear of the beef!
Giovannis Deli, New York Street
13 years ago
Meal: Baked Potato with Tuna Mix and Cheese
Having only ever had a breakfast barm from Giovannis I looked forward to sampling their main menu.
I opted for a baked potato with tuna mix and cheese, the mix involved chopped pepper and onion.
The meal was very nice indeed, the potato was cooked just how I liked with a slight crisp to the skin while still soft and fluffy in the middle. The tuna mix was equally nice and the grated cheddar cheese topped it off nicely, although there was quite a lot of it.
A thoroughly enjoyable meal and I would definitely recommend it and have it again.
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