Culture

“Gabagool? Over here!“

– Silvio Dante

Comfortable Italian leisurewear and cured meats. Tony Soprano and his crew may not have known it when they debuted on our televisions back in 1999, but they were actually pre-empting the ultimate aesthetic for global pandemic life over 20 years later. Now, almost a decade-and-a-half on from everything fading to black in New Jersey, Tony and the lads are enjoying a nostalgia driven renaissance through food and social media.

And part of said renaissance is happening right here in Manchester, at Bada Bing.

For those of you familiar with the show (for those of you who aren’t, fuck’s tha matter wit’ you?) no, North Jersey’s premiere gentlemen’s lounge hasn’t opened up an offshoot in the North West. Instead, Manchester’s answer to Bada Bing is serving some of the best sandwiches in the city right now.

Born out of furlough binge watching and a borderline obsession with slapping fillings between slices of bread, couple Sam Gormally and Meg Lingenfelter launched their hole-in-the-wall hoagie hut back in February, taking up residence in the kitchen of Piccadilly pub B-Lounge. In just two short months they’ve already had more business on the street than a North Jersey capo, with pre-orders selling out in rapid fashion and ravenous customers flocking to their bolthole on the corner of Piccadilly. Now, they’re set to move into a more spacious setting, suitably in Ancoats, Manchester’s one time Little Italy, as they level up their operation.

“This was just supposed to be a bit of fun while we were furloughed,” explains Sam, as we plonk ourselves on a couple of well worn Chesterfields in the rear of B-Lounge’s bar area. The mahogany coffee table separating us hosting a plate of Gabagool and in-house giardinara that would be enough to generate effusive hand gestures from Silvio and Paulie were they to drop by during their weekly collections.

“Meg and me said ‘ah let’s just do that for a laugh’ and it’s ended up snowballing. There was obviously a gap in the market for these types of sandwiches and people are loving it.

“We developed the menu over about five weeks. We were originally just gonna sell the sandwiches to our friends cos we’re all into The Sopranos, but then it just got bigger and bigger.

“Being such a small operation has been good for us. People have loved coming to that window, telling us that it feels a bit dodgy, they feel like they’re in the know and it’s a little secret spot. Even in Ancoats it’s not gonna be a shop front, it’s going to be a little dark kitchen but then eventually in the summer we’re hoping to have a little courtyard outside.”

But, given that Manchester has long been home to one of the UK’s largest Italian communities, dating back to 1865 when thousands of rural villagers left Italy and settled primarily in Ancoats, in the Roman Catholic parish of St.Michael’s, it’s quite a stark surprise that the city hasn’t been more resplendent with Italian delis or sandwich shops over the years. Such a lack of representation on this front is something that was not lost on the Bing team when they planted their flag in Piccadilly a couple of months ago.

“I’m massively surprised it’s never really been done before. I’ve lived in Manchester for seven years now and I don’t understand why there’s not more Italian delis. There’s a couple, like Salvi’s but there’s not really anything like that and I don’t understand it because there’s such a huge Italian community here.“

“Ya know how hard it is to have a sausage and peppers without a cold one?!“

– Christopher Moltisanti

Of course, when it comes to Italian Americans, especially on the East Coast of the US, delis and sandwich shops are their second homes. Much like the sidewalk and backroom of Satriale’s was always populated with Chrissy, Benny, Patsy and maybe a visiting New York consigliere, playing cards and breaking balls over prosciutto and provolone, countless neighbourhoods across the five boroughs have longstanding hangouts, dating back generations but also proving wildly popular in the modern day. The camaraderie and community spirit, combined with heart stopping sandwiches as big as your head is something that Roman Grandinetti, owner of Regina’s Grocery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, grew up around and has continued with the deli he operates with his mother, of whom the establishment is named after.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Roman was immersed in the deli/social club culture, but as time wore on, saw it slipping away. After successfully launching his own marketing agency and, y’know, casually working with Travis Scott, Bob Dylan and Alexander Wang among pretty much everyone else in the fashion and music industry, he returned to his roots, setting up shop with his mother on Orchard Street in the LES. And for Roman, the sense of community is what drives his passion behind Regina’s.

“We built what the neighbourhood needed. Everyone needs a place to go. The food being good is a bonus. I felt as if we were losing these places in NYC. The guys were getting older and closing up. So we built this to keep it going.

“One hundred percent the place is for family and friends. Get out of the house and have a place to go always.”

A few thousand miles west, in Los Angeles, Noah Holton-Raphael and his two childhood friends Jack Biebel and Max Bahramipour are representing their New Jersey upbringing at Ggiata – a former dark kitchen turned full blown deli sandwich joint launched in June of last year that evokes all the atmosphere of the sandwich shops the trio of best friends grew up around back east. In little under a year, they’ve become local heroes, with their trademark Italian sesame subs earning significant head nods not only from The Infatuation and Eater LA, but also Don fucking Draper himself, Jon Hamm, who even collab’d on his own charitable ‘Hamm Sandwich’ with the boys.

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Much like Roman, they understand the value of the Italian deli as not just a place to pick up a bite to eat, but as the heartbeat of the communities they operate in.

“I think on a very rudimentary level, what makes Italian delis so important is their accessibility. Typically this is food that is made quickly and affordably. Because of this accessibility however, they tend to have a diverse customer base. At our hometown deli, you were just as likely to run into the guy doing construction down the street as you were your friend’s mom or dad grabbing sandwiches for a school function. In our neighbourhood the deli was always a melting pot, which made for hilarious and diverse encounters.

“We made it a point to invest in our neighbourhood. We offer customers who live and work in the neighbourhood a locals discount and even published a guide highlighting some of our favourite restaurants nearby.”

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But what of the difference in attitudes between the Italians that emigrated to the UK and those that settled on the other side of the Atlantic? Why did delis and sandwich shops become the go-to for paisans in the States as opposed to the gelaterias and more straightforward spaghetti and meatballs restaurants that became so synonymous with British based Italians?

“That’s an interesting question. I have to imagine American pop culture has had an outsized impact,” Noah explains, “Shows like The Sopranos and even Spike Lee films like Do The Right Thing glorify the neighbourhood delis and pizza joints of New York and New Jersey. Maybe its a bi-product of the types of Italians who immigrated to those areas. Italians from Southern Italy constitute the majority of Italian Americans in the region. They tend to come from more humble beginnings and so for many of them, a sandwich is what they can afford to buy on a consistent basis.”

Having grown up in Montclair, NJ, the team at Ggiata quickly realised the Italian American culture doesn’t necessarily influence cities and states in the same way as it does on the east coast, however.

“The Italian American community in Los Angeles is relatively small compared to New Jersey. Because of this, their culture has not permeated to the same degree as it has in Jersey. LA is interesting because now you can get great Italian food here. From places like Jon & Vinny’s to Alimento to Osteria Mozza, your options are incredibly robust. But we entered the Italian Deli game because we felt like the options were limited. There are amazing sandwiches in Los Angeles, There just weren’t that many amazing Italian sandwiches.”

“We had sandwiches brought in the other night, four with ham, salami, cappicola, one eggplant, and the other with tomato and mozzarella. That’s six total, there were only five of us. But Tony said he ordered the eggplant, but I did, and I know for certain he ordered the tomato/mozzarella. He let me eat the eggplant and he took the tomato. But there was a moment. A fucking glance.”

Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero

Back on this side of the Atlantic, with no Italian ancestry or New York upbringing to speak of, Sam and Meg still share plenty of similarities with their salami sub slinging counterparts on the opposite side of the ocean. Not only do they resolutely stick to the ‘none of the processed shit’ mentality trumpeted by Regina’s, but one look at their insta feed, between the gratuitous sandwich snaps and dazzling deli meat cross sections – all varying shades of marbled red goodness accentuated by the crisp green of iceberg lettuce and gentle yellow of the sharp provolone – and you’ll notice a similar dedication to content from a certain HBO organised crime drama peppering the timeline.

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But why is it that, 14 years after going off air, The Sopranos is now back in vogue? And so inextricably tied to the instagram content of so many establishments when it perhaps wasn’t before?

“I think it’s people rewatching The Sopranos in lockdown,” theorises Sam, “That’s what happened with me. Up until this lockdown I’d not seen the back half of it. Then I got back into it and thought ‘why did I cut this off?’.

“I always have it on. We were sat there watching it one night and I said ‘shall we call the place Bada Bing?’ And Meg said ‘you can’t call it that’ but I just went ahead and did it, set up the account name and business and that was it.”

Noah, meanwhile, puts the resurgence down to the recent upswing in ’90s nostalgia.

“I think it’s more so the ’90s nostalgia craze that has permeated pop culture today. From fashion to TV to Art, the ’90s are having a big resurgence. The Sopranos being a fixture of that era’s look and feel definitely adds to the allure of Italian delis.

“The nods to Sopranos stems from the fact that we all grew up watching that show. Even when we were too young to really appreciate the nuances of the show, it was on in the background as our parents watched. On the day-to-day we get to revisit our favourite episodes and scenes with customers who come in wanting to reminisce. Most of the staff has never watched unfortunately so that puts a damper on things. Angelenos, man.”

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Despite Regina’s having Sopranos themed merchandise for sale (we desperately need one of these snapbacks, fyi) and a significant portion of their feed and aesthetic influenced by the show, Roman isn’t too familiar with the trials and tribulations of the former DiMeo Crime Family.

“The funny shit is I never watched the Sopranos – but it’s become a big part of the brand – Goodfellas, on the other hand, is a bit too familiar.”

Our Gabagool and giardinara starter well and truly devoured, Sam and Meg lead us into the old B-Lounge kitchen, home of innumerable hoagie roll experiments and relentless salami slicing (not a euphemism. Stop giggling). It’s what you imagine Carmela’s weekly grocery shop for Tony looks like; Mortadella, prosciutto, smoked ham, provolone, burrata, olive salad, pickled peppers. Cold cuts upon cold cuts upon cold cuts. Between mouthfuls of the Bing’s breathtaking muffuletta, Sam explains how this paisan picnic has been meticulously sourced from day one, to ensure authenticity and quality.

“Some of our produce comes from Amato, then we have a salami supplier in London called Gastronomica, they import the Italian cured meats and cheeses, so that’s where I got the gabagool and provolone from. But I’m looking to try and make it a bit more local. We get all our meat from Littlewoods in Stockport, I live just down the road from them. Couple of things come from the Butcher’s Quarter, I know a few of the staff there, so I just try and keep it as local as possible. But there’s just no one curing meat in their garage round here yet or anything like that. Hopefully it’ll happen but until then I’ll have to look a bit further afield.

“One of the main issues I’ve faced is finding the right bread, which is why I’ve ended up baking it myself, even though I’m not a baker at all. I’ve just had to be testing recipes now for seven or eight weeks. I even tweaked it last week, but you just can’t get the correct bread for it. These hoagie rolls just don’t exist anywhere in Manchester. I know Triple B Bagels have just started doing hoagies but they keep their secrets close to their chests.”

Such astute ingredient research is paramount for making a legit product, as Roman and Noah both attest.

“The perfect Italian deli sandwich,” Roman explains, “is the bread, olive oil, cheese and of course your selection of provisions. None of the shitty stuff.”

“It’s the bread and the sauce for us,” shares Noah, “A beautifully seeded semolina baguette, lathered in a skillfully prepared aioli or pesto or spicy vodka sauce is the combination that yields a great italian sandwich. Obviously the meats and cheese and produce is paramount, but they are nothing without a great baguette and a great sauce.“

“Veal parmesan sandwich, fuck you”

Richie Aprile

So how are we marrying these two cultural phenomenas together, then? Well, if you’re Sam and Meg, you’re slowly but surely working your way through the entire Sopranos crew and naming a sandwich after each and every one of them, much like the mushroom shawarma stuffed Paulie Walnuts or recent special Silvio Piccante (‘Nduja-honey glazed chicken, garlicky friarielli, roasted pickled peppers, creamy Italian dressing and rocket).

“We had to go with the Paulie Walnuts because he’s the most hilarious character in the whole show. I couldn’t believe he was a real guy (Tony Sirico, who plays Paulie, was an alleged associate of the Colombo Crime Family in New York, twice spending time in jail for robbery and felony weapons charges).

“I really want to do a sandwich called the Moltisanti at some point. I definitely want to do a Richie Aprile veal parmesan sandwich. Gotta do that. I’m gonna try and do one for every character eventually. You’ve got Hesh, I’d maybe like to do a white fish, Jewish style sandwich for him. Any of the characters I’m open to trying something for. But I also don’t want to just say it’s only Sopranos, so for instance this week we’ve done a Banh Mi called the BadaBanh Mi, so we’re not having a strict Sopranos theme.”

For Mr. Grandinetti, however, his tastes are even simpler.

“Being around sandwiches so much, I slowed down eating them, so if I was to watch Goodfellas again something that feels real is a sauce sandwich. When I was younger and hungry, running around the house my mother used to just throw tomato sauce on a piece of bread. I loved it.” 

Meanwhile, over in Cali, Noah knows that when it comes to settling down for another viewing of ‘Pine Barrens’ or ‘College’, there’s only one san’ on his menu that’s getting a look in.

“Gotta be the Italian. Tony is eating Gabagool virtually every episode and at the moment that’s the only sandwich with Gabagool.”

“What’s it take to get some fuckin’ smoked turkey in this house, huh? I bust my ass all day, I come home, I want a little smoked turkey. Is that too fuckin’ much to ask!?”

Tony Soprano

While the Bing team originally developed a love for all things Italian American from their time in Melbourne, working at an Italian restaurant that leant heavily on such cultural identity, they recognise it may be a little while yet until they can officially go the whole hog and properly set up shop, allowing their inspirations to achieve their final form. And while in the kitchen, Sam and Meg have been able to authentically replicate some of Bensonhurst and Arthur Avenue’s finest heroes, when it comes to Italian delis, aesthetics are everything, meaning there’s plenty of research to be undertaken if the Bing is to become a neighbourhood hangout for those of us who really want to spend six hours a day playing cards in our trackie bottoms while greeting everyone we recognise with a hearty “OH! There he is”.

One look at the feed of any self respecting New York sandwich shop or pizzeria tells you that there is a no frills, no bullshit tradition to the look of not only the establishments themselves, but also the patrons who have been spending their hard earned money there day-after-day for generations. Such an ungentrified quality is a rare thing nowadays and is perhaps a reassuringly comforting trait that is the reason why younger generations are suddenly vibing with chefs and personalities who were once just kids from the old neighbourhood. Brooklyn duo Frank Pinello and Mark Iacono of Best Pizza and Lucali, respectively, have no shortage of television gigs through both the dedication to their craft and an unwavering realness regarding their background.

That the majority of Roman’s insta posts are captioned ‘howyadoin” signifies he is cut from the same cloth as his fellow Brooklynites, whether he’s serving up sans at Regina’s, conducting business in his car, appearing in G-Shock adverts or slicing pizzas down at Manero’s on Mulberry Street. It’s a basic mentality ingrained through over a hundred years of tradition. No nonsense is tolerated.

“I’m pretty basic man – I only wear Jordans, well fit jeans and a Hanes tee. Rolex and necklace I guess is a must.”

Over at Ggiata, with a childhood of Jersey memories serving as inspiration, Noah elaborates on this basic history and how they’ve deviated slightly for their Los Angeles operation, while sticking to their roots at the same time.

“When building the brand behind Ggiata, we actually found that many of the italian delis and pizzerias of New Jersey and New York followed a similar playbook. Italian sounding first names like ‘Stella’s’ or ‘Arturo’s.’ The logo would almost always be some primary color of the Italian flag like red or green or both, written out in elongated script letters. This is something we tried to acknowledge but also avoid when conceptualising Ggiata, in part because we wanted to pay homage to our neighbourhood delis back east but also build a brand that felt more modern.

“What we love about the deli growing up is that you can literally wear whatever. You want to get fly to go to the deli? You get fly. You want to roll out of bed in some sweats and go to the deli? That’s what you do. The aesthetic was always to look like you weren’t trying too hard, regardless of whether or not you actually put some thought into your outfit.”

But outside of the deli, growing up in Montclair, surely the lads from Ggiata were always hoping to catch a glimpse of the town’s most respected psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi?

“Sadly we never saw her. We are all still secretly hoping we’ll run into Jamie-Lynn Sigler in LA. That was our OG childhood crush.”

After a couple of hours in Sam and Meg’s gloriously hospitable company, we depart, armed with a couple of Bings and muffulettas for good measure, meaning we likely won’t be needing to eat anything else until the following week. Seeing firsthand the level of care and attention they have poured into not only their product, but their entire brand, in such a short space of time, is astonishing. And not only have they been rewarded with a bigger space to produce more cured meat magic, but just recently, Christopher Moltisanti himself, the main man Michael Imperioli, dropped a comment asking about vegetarian options on one of their instagram posts.

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An Emmy winning Goodfellas and Sopranos OG taking an interest in your sandwiches? If that’s not the greatest endorsement in the history of Italian food, we don’t know what is. Don’t be a mook, get your pre-order placed with the Bing this weekend and forget about it.

Amongst many other things, 2020 was the year of deliveries. Restaurants adapted their offerings, breweries were bringing kegs direct to customers and lots of new delivery-only food businesses were set up.

While many operators were working out how to pivot their business or launching new concepts in order to reach at-home diners, there was one business in Greater Manchester that had been operating in this way for years.

Burgerism launched in April 2018, a delivery-only burger concept based in a warehouse in Salford, aiming to offer customers “the best off-premises burger in your neighbourhood”. Burgerism is run by three guys from Ireland who came to Manchester to set up the business; Mark and John, two old school-friends, and John’s brother Pete, who joined the team a year later.

Although dark kitchens are pretty commonplace these days, when Burgerism set up, this delivery-only concept was largely unheard of.

Co-founder of Burgerism, Mark, said:

“We were very early on the dark kitchen trend, possibly the first dark kitchen in Manchester. When we started it, a lot of people didn’t really understand, it just didn’t make sense to a lot of people. So, we were up against a lot of doubters, maybe.

“However, we got really good support from Uber Eats and we worked very closely with them throughout the early months and even today. And they saw, obviously, the potential of the dark kitchen and how big delivery was going to become.”

“So for us, we never really doubted ourselves but we had to really talk our story up to people when we were hiring or talking to suppliers. In 2018 in Manchester, delivery was a much smaller thing, you might do 30, 40 orders a night as a big brand. Now big brands are doing a lot more than that.”

Burgerism has developed a pretty serious cult following over the past couple of years. Since they launched, they haven’t shouted about what they do or done lots of marketing. Instead, they have taken their time, developing the brand, perfecting the menu and making sure everything is bang on.

In early 2020, things were already starting to ramp up for the brand, but when lockdown was introduced, Burgerism was perfectly placed to start feeding the increased appetite for quality at-home delivery options.

Since the start of the first lockdown, the operation has more than doubled in size in terms of staff and the number of orders being taken. So much so, that Burgerism has been delivering more than 1000 burgers a day on a weekend during lockdown.

When they started out, they wanted to raise the quality of delivery food in Manchester. At that point, they said, there wasn’t a great number of good options for diners. Despite the volumes, Mark says the focus for them has always been quality, using local ingredients where possible.

From the beginning, they wanted to keep the menu simple, with a selection of well-considered burger options including ‘smashed patty’ beef burgers, Nashville fried chicken and a veggie burger.

Everything – burgers, fries, sauces, wings – is made fresh in the Salford warehouse, which is operated 24 hours a day by a rotating team of 70 members of staff, with around 35-40 shifts per day. It’s a very impressive operation.

Unlike many burger restaurants in Manchester, where you can get burgers topped with mac and cheese and all sorts, the toppings for these burgers are relatively simple with American style cheese, lettuce, tomato, turkey bacon and pickles. The buttermilk chicken burger is topped with fresh slaw and pickles.

A lot of thought has been put into each element of the menu. The smashed patties mean that the burger is pressed down while cooking to get as much contact between the burger and the grill for maximum flavour and a delicious crispy edges. The fries are made with hand-chipped potatoes and they have spent time developing their packaging so that they arrive as fresh and crispy as possible. I’ve had many a soggy chip delivered to me, so I imagine this is a pretty challenging thing to achieve.

Burgerism’s Salford warehouse offers orders for delivery and collection and they have also opened a second site near Piccadilly which fulfils delivery orders only.

Mark tells us that there’s a real buzz in the converted kitchen warehouse, and that the unique working environment has created . The team has been steadily growing over the past three years and they are regularly looking to hire more people, but they have also managed to retain many of their staff, some of whom have worked at Burgerism since the early days.

There are other benefits to working from a warehouse too. They have a much larger space to work from which means that they can really focus on the food and they don’t need to compromise on the quality of their ingredients.

In the wake of a year of constant change and a rapid evolution of the way we understand food, dining and takeaways, as things start to open back up, it will be interesting to see how the landscape of hospitality might change once again and how this will impact the current delivery concepts and also the high street.

Mark said:

“My view absolutely is that restaurants are core to hospitality and always will be and that experience of eating out is something that people appreciate even more now that they can’t. So I’m really looking forward to restaurants being back open. For me, the high street isn’t dead, it’s just going to evolve. The best brands will always do well, whether it’s for delivery or on the high street.

“Dark kitchens and delivery kitchens can be great opportunities for people, whether it’s trying out new cities or if you’re a first-time food entrepreneur trying something a little less risky. Increasingly, I’m seeing a lot of restaurant brands looking at dark kitchens, seeing them a just another string to their bow and I think the two will definitely co-exist.”

The Burgerism team are keen to keep growing, both within their current sites and potentially more sites.

Although deliveries have been their bread and butter since the beginning, Burgerism isn’t ruling out the possibility of opening a high street store or a drive-thru operation and, as Mark tells us, they have already had landlords reaching out to them about that.

Burgerism is available to order for delivery via Uber Eats and Deliveroo and pre-orders can also be collected from their Salford store. For more information and to view the full menu, visit: burgerism.co.uk.

At the beginning of 2020, Manchester’s emerging pizza scene had become robust yet notoriously Neapolitan. Barely a crust in town was torn that didn’t originally hail from the Amalfi Coast and it was difficult to see how this obsession with San Marzano’s and fior di latte would ever cease.

But, as with all things 2020, something totally unexpected reared its head and completely changed the game.

In February, Nell’s began to swerve everyone’s attention towards their paper plate drooping (and very substantial) New York slices, converting a corner of the Northern Quarter into deepest Brooklyn. However, come September, a much more Mid Western style of pizza motored into Manchester, catching us all off guard, in a manner typically befitting of its hometown.

Between Ford, General Motors, Motown and Iggy Pop, Detroit has made a habit of flipping pop culture on it’s head, both on the roads and the airwaves, as an automotive and musical colossus of a city. But food isn’t ordinarily something that people outside of the Motor City associate with it. Yet as the autumn of 2020 approached, some cheese crowned focaccias from Failsworth were catching fire in a big way, thanks to Frank Brashaw and Danny Broadbent and their pandemic pizzeria, Corner Slice.

“I could have tried to make Neapolitan pizza, but would it have been as good as Rudy’s? No. Would it have been as good as Ciaooo? No. But can we be the best to make Detroit style pizza? Well, yeah. Although we’re the only place in Manchester doing it (laughs), but we’re setting a standard of our own.”

This was how Danny revealed his approach to the pair’s rectangular panned plans, when we first visited them in September, only a week after they launched Corner Slice.

“It was risky, because people could have just gone ‘that’s not pizza, it’s not round. The sauce is on the top of my cheese? Take it back and start again,’” Danny stated at the time, hot on the heels of a sellout first week. It would be the first of many weeks where stocks were depleted long before closing time every day. Fast forward six months and, despite multiple lockdowns and about a thousand different tiers, the masses are still flocking to the Failsworth suburbs for their Detroit deep pan fix.

“It’s been an incredible journey,” adds Frank when we caught up last week, reminiscing over a whirlwind half year and looking ahead to what is going to be an equally chaotic 2021. “We started by taking a big risk selling our cars and putting every penny we had into this little shell of a space, scraping together enough to get open and we’re humbled by how well received its been. For other people to see what we’ve done and believe in the product and idea the same way as we do shows we were right to take the risk.

“Quite honestly, we weren’t prepared for how busy we were when we opened. When full lockdown came into force, we took a big hit on the drinks side but the regulars and beyond have kept us going and the support has far surpassed what we could have ever expected.”

But what is it about this Michigan delicacy that has so enraptured the Mancunian public over the last few months? How have the caramelised crusts of Detroit begun to dominate the pizza landscape in our city so rapidly? Perhaps it should come as no surprise, given how ‘red tops’ have surged in popularity across the United States over the past few years, as chronicled by the likes of Gloria Dawson last April , and Esquire’s Omar Mamoon, who published a pretty definitive guide of where to find the best Detroit style pies just under a year ago.

“For us it’s how free you can be creatively with the toppings as you don’t have the tradition of Neapolitans to abide by,” explains Frank. “It gives you an amazing opportunity to have fun with the menu and keep people interested.

“You can step away from the salami and the San Marzano and smash some Kimchi on a pizza without judgement.

“The most recent special the Giovanni has been flying out, it’s basically a Meatball Marinara. But the King has to be The Beast from the Middle East, which was based on a Turkish pizza called Lahmacun.”

Such diverse topping experimentation is certainly a far cry from the Detroit pie’s humble origins at Buddy’s Rendezvous, a Motor City speakeasy, which developed the dish just after the Second World War for returning soldiers who had experienced something similar during their time in Sicily.

To replicate the Sicilian sfincione, Buddy’s owner August ‘Gus’ Guerra picked up a drip tray from a local automative suppliers, ordinarily used to collect nuts and bolts, and got to work. Seventy five years later and the simple pepperoni pie at Buddy’s has now metamorphosised into all manner of wild and wonderful toppings, as attested by the lads at Corner Slice and also proudly on display from the team at Four Side Vegan Pizza, who made a huge meat and dairy free leap into the rectangular pizza game in January 2021.

“There are world-class Neapolitan and New York style pizza places in Manchester who really nail what they do,” begins Four Side founder Dan Hope, who also helms luxury doughnut haunt Krum and the sensational Firebird Hope in his burgeoning vegan empire.  “The natural progression is to look at other styles – to keep moving things forward. Detroit style had started to trend hard in cool places in the States and it was inevitable that it would start to make inroads over here. Detroit is such a visual style too – perfect for instagram – we think that this has a lot to do with its growing appeal. Most importantly though, it’s damn delicious.”

Similarly to Corner Slice, when it comes to toppings, the shackles are well and truly off at Four Side, with everything from black sesame to pomegranates to pickled carrots to ‘Char Siu’ tofu decorating their dough.

“We look everywhere for inspiration. Nothing is off limits, other than meat and dairy. We’re all very interested in food and we love spending development time together in the kitchen. Its a team effort – if were not all in agreement, it doesn’t go on the menu.

“Being a vegan business has definitely opened up the creative process. We’re not strict adherents to the Detroit style and we’re enjoying having fun with it.”

Homed in what was formerly the iconic Earth Cafe, a stalwart of the Northern Quarter for over 25 years, in the basement of the Manchester Buddhist Centre, Four Side have hit the ground running and are quickly proving to be a true lockdown success story.

“Three of us, Jess, Tristan and myself, used to work together in the kitchen at YES, where we made a lot of pizza. Tristan had been banging the drum for a Detroit style pie for as long as we’d known him – he was always experimenting and trying out different techniques in the kitchen. We talked about him starting a business and how well it would take off in Manchester. We decided to take the idea seriously during the first lockdown and here we are.

“We’re super grateful for the welcome we’ve received. We were terrified by the uncertainty of opening a new business during a lockdown and it’s such a relief that the response to Four Side has been positive so far. The support from all angles has been phenomenal – the Manchester Buddhist Centre, the press, our customers, the vegan community and our friends and mentors in the Manchester pizza world.

“It’s a huge honour stepping into the Earth Cafe space and something we take very seriously. We were regulars at Earth Cafe and always felt a little bit better about the world after having lunch down there – we hope we can recreate that feeling for our guests when we are able to open the doors in May.”

And for every miso-buttered BANGER slung from Four Side or beef short rib topped creation curated by Corner Slice, there has to be those who keep it old school. Those bastions of tradition who do things simply but also do them very, very fucking well. And for those of you who have managed to snag one of their ‘blink and you’ll miss ’em’ collection slots over the past few weeks, you will know just how fucking well the team at Ramona are doing Detroit pizzas.

Being situated in an old garage doesn’t get more authentically Detroit, maintaining the Motor City vibe opposite Mackie Mayor while still under construction for a site that will eventually include a beer garden, campfire, margarita bar and firehouse. Ramona is without doubt one of the most exciting new venues to bless Manchester in a long time. The festoon lights illuminating an expansive outdoor area, beckoning in passers by as the queues begin to snake onto Swan Street.

The menu is short and sweet, with a couple of pepperoni offerings (one drizzled in hypnotic homemade hot honey), a Margherita, marinara, Hawaiian, veggie and mushroom supplemented by signature effort ‘The Jabba’, coated in Finocchiona salami, ‘nduja, jalapeños and sweet peppers. As founder Adelaide Winter explains, Ramona are just getting started.

“There’s a lot more to come and there were so many ideas that didn’t make it. We’re just starting out. We want to make our pizza the best it can be and do things properly. We get a bit better everyday and will keep trying new things.

“We first saw Detroit style in the states. We loved everything about it. Especially because it’s so good with a beer. Then we got onto making sauces and learning about focaccia. Then there’s the dipping sauces. All proper pizzerias have their own house sauces. We make ours fresh everyday and have seven now and counting. Detroit pizza is for dipping and dunking. “

It’s hard to disagree when that first hit of hot honey passes your lips, numbing them like a hundred tiny bee stings, but in a good way. Does that make sense? Probably not. All common sense and rational thought abandons you when you’re slathering lashings of Ramona’s house honeys over your ‘za, accentuating the deep porcine notes of the perfectly crispy, chewy ‘roni cups with a delicate, sugary blanket. Yes I’m drooling like a hungry Homer Simpson as I type this.

The surroundings at Ramona perhaps further exemplify why Detroit style pizza has found such a natural home in Manchester. The cities are inextricably linked through their shared, rich musical and industrial histories, populated by a multicultural mix of grafters and artists, finding beauty in the bricks and mortar. An old mechanic’s garage being gutted and fitted to house a pizzeria where people can throw back slices, bevvies and dance until past midnight couldn’t sum up the shared attitudes of the two cities any better.

Detroit pizza is here to stay. Long may it last.

Introduced as being ‘born out of boredom with an urge to feed you. Stuffed pittas with a focus on flavour as always’, The Pitta Shop was Philip Cardy’s brainchild, spawned from his time in Israel and his memories of the shawarma stands he would so often frequent.

“Me and Sax (Evelyn’s owner Sax Arshad) were talking about a few things to do during lockdown and we’ve all been so bored, all of us, so we needed to do something. We had this idea in the background and thought ‘let’s just do it’. It took us about a month and a bit to get it all together to make sure it was all right” explains Phil, rolling out his latest addition to the Pitta Shop menu – a white chocolate and Biscoff babka that will serve as the menu’s sweet option to supplement the mountains of mouthwatering grilled meat and flatbread.

As chickpeas are blended behind us, ahead of being turned into some of the city’s finest falafel, Phil delivers one final, satisfying fold to his newest creation before trays of inka grilled, Persian spiced lamb and Middle Eastern inspired chicken are ferried to and from prep benches, with service set to start in a little under an hour’s time. With opening hours currently limited to just Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, there’s barely a moment to rest with demand proving to be astronomical since The Pitta Shop flung open it’s delivery doors last month.

While a transition towards Middle Eastern street food has certainly streamlined operations for the time being, the level of care and attention to detail dedicated to preparation and flavour is arguably more impassioned than ever, as Phil seeks to replicate his culinary experiences in Israel for the Mancunian masses.

“We’ve had pittas on the menu before. We had a Lebanese mushroom flatbread that we made in house and a Turkish kebab as well as a few other bits, so it’s continuing similar things that we’ve done before” chronicles Phil, who’s background has helped curate several menu choices over the years (can still taste the hangover curing heat of his Shakshuka. An absolute life saver on so many Saturday lunch times). As he continues, you get the sense this latest project is a real labour of love.

“We come in the day before to get all the meat done because deliveries are a bit restricted due to lockdown. We get the meat and veg prepped, letting it marinade for 24 hours. The chicken’s got some yoghurt in to tenderise it and the lamb’s got some vinegar and lemon juice to break it down a bit easier, on top of loads of different flavours and spices. We have Persian spice for the lamb and a Middle Eastern shawarma spice in the chicken.

“Because we don’t have the proper shawarma stand gear here, we’re using the Inka grill and then tenderising it in the oven and thinly slicing it.

“When we get an order, we’re mixing it with what we’re calling a gentleman’s relish, which has plenty of umami flavour. It just adds that moisture that you’ve lost from cooking it previously. For the falafel, I’ve always wondered why people in England use tinned chickpeas for falafel. You should be using raw chickpeas, soaking them and then blending them down.”

And it’s not just what to do with the ingredients once they hit his kitchen counters that dominates Phil’s thoughts, but also where to source everything from in the first place. Namely, where could he find the perfect pitta?

“I just compare it to what I used to have in Israel, to be honest. The first place I went was Prestwich, I just started talking to people who live there to see where they get their pittas from. The pittas you get from supermarkets and a lot of suppliers in England are dog shit. We use a guy called Pittanoor, which is the guy everyone told me to use. He brought us a couple of samples in and as soon as I opened the packet, I knew they’d be great. We had the option of spelt flour, wholemeal or plain ones and, because the background of Evelyn’s is healthy eating, we chose the wholemeal ones.”

The more you talk to Phil, the more you understand just how important his background and Israeli upbringing are to the way he runs his kitchen and develops his menus. An intense work ethic was instilled from his formative years, working in hotel kitchens in Israel when most youngsters in England are beginning their first paper rounds.

“I was born in England, but around the age of 11 I emigrated to Israel with my father. I grew up there and had a lot of my childhood there, so I’m a bit of a mixture. My mentality’s more Israeli but I sound like a scumbag Essex boy!

“I worked in lots of different kitchens in Israel. Hotels mainly, from a very young age. I’ve been working since I was 13. I was working more than I was in school, I didn’t go to school very much. I was renting out a flat with another mate of mine when I was 15, 16.

But hotel kitchens were not the only source of education and discipline for Phil, who also served in the Israeli military after being conscripted for National Service. It was an experience he credits with moulding him into the chef he would go onto become upon returning to England.

“I did national service for just under a year, because I decided to come back to England. I really enjoyed it, I think it’s what helped build me up to understand the structure of kitchens. I was always a bit of a shit when I was younger so as soon as I got into the army I understood it was a military operation and you had to listen to your superior officers. That’s how a kitchen is built. Kitchens are built around what is essentially an army regiment and in Israel the army gives you so many opportunities and it taught me so much that I’ve brought into the kitchen. I wanted to be a chef in the army and I ended up being a tank mechanic!”

Upon returning to England, Phil bounced around a few kitchens in Essex and London, even spending time under the tutelage of Gordon Ramsay, with whom he had a very interesting introduction.

“I didn’t work with him too much one-on-one. But he was pretty down to earth. If he saw something wrong, he’d tell you. The first time I met him, actually, he walked into the walk-in fridge and I was just eating some cream cheese out of the tub with a bagel and I didn’t know what to do. He just looked at me, laughed and walked out.

“I never got the full treatment from him, but the only time I did get sort of told off by him was when I picked up the phone mid-service, the phone was next to my section. I was like ‘hello?’ And it was so busy I couldn’t really hear anything. He’s there going ‘it’s Gordon, can I have Simon, please?’ Who was my exec chef. I was like ‘who? Hang on a second, mate’ and he hates that word ‘mate’. So I gave the phone to my exec chef Simon and said ‘Some guy’s on the phone for you’ and then he got bollocked down the phone ‘who’s this fucking idiot answering the phone?'”

The tastes of Tel Aviv have remained with Phil after leaving Israel, evidenced by many of his contributions to the Evelyn’s menu and, of course, his newfound Pitta Shop. It’s a passion that proves the latest venture is no mere flash in the pan.

“As soon as I get to the train station in Tel Aviv, I don’t know if it’s still there but when I get there I know straight where to go, there’s this one guy selling all different types of shawarma, different types of meat. He has chicken, lamb, beef, veal. I normally go for a lamb cos I love the fat and I have that served on a laffa bread, which is like a naan but a bit flatter.

“I think what will probably happen is we’ll look at opening up another site, but you never know how things will turn out. It depends what sites are available for us to use, really. If we go with the big proper skewers then we can explore different options but I think we’ll keep it pretty simple.

And what of other introductions to the menu? Is there any other staples of Israeli menus that we should be expecting to see pop up any time in the near future?

“Israeli food is so vast because it’s influenced by so many different countries and cultures. I could mention a certain food and someone would say ‘ah that’s not Israeli it’s from here or there or whatever.’ I’ve always wanted to bring in my mum’s good old chicken noodle soup with the matzoh ball. I love doing that at home, I cook it more than anything at home. I always change it, throwing extra bits in there like lemongrass or whatever. In Israel you go to any house and every single mum and grandmother does it differently, so I’m always looking at what they’re doing, but there’s nothing in particular I’d bring back. It’s just whatever seems to work, really.”

Homemade chicken noodle soup followed by a pitta rammed full of freshly grilled shawarma and a white chocolate and Biscoff babka to finish? As far as three course meals go, that’s pretty hard to top.

Oh, and by the time you read this, a lamb Merguez sausage and whipped feta option will have found it’s way into the regular rotation alongside a mushroom and onion pitta. Yes, we intend to throw several of them into our faces for as long as they’re available.

 

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah starts tonight; eight days of celebration, presents, lighting candles and delicious, deep fried food.

Hanukkah (or Chanukah) takes places around the same time of year as Christmas. The actual dates vary from year to year as the Hebrew calendar is on the lunar cycle. This year, the festival starts from this evening (10 December) and runs for eight days.

The way the dates have fallen this year mean that, while a five day window has been organised for families who want to celebrate Christmas together, (as with Eid, Diwali and other major festivals for non-Christian religions) Jewish families in Manchester will have to spend another festival apart.

For those who’s knowledge of Hanukkah is limited to Ross’ holiday armadillo from Friends, we’ve pulled together a little run down on the Jewish festival of light.

Plus, we chat to a few kosher food businesses about how they are preparing for Hanukkah and what delicious specials they have planned for this celebration.

What is Hanukkah?

The festival is not simply a ‘Jewish Christmas’ as it’s often referred. Yes there’s lots of food and there are presents (eight whole days of them) but the stories behind the two celebrations are quite different.

Hanukkah commemorates a historical event which took place in the 2nd century BCE when the Jews were ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) ruled by King Antiochus III who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture. The story goes that a small band of poorly-armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee managed, against all odds, to defeat this powerful army and reclaim the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

When they tried to light the Temple’s menorah (a holy candelabra), they only found enough oil for one day, but it would have taken seven days more for them to get more oil. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the oil lasted for the eight days it needed until they could get more oil.

To celebrate this miracle, Jews practice certain rituals and customs over Hanukkah such as lighting the menorah. Games are also played such as the dreidel (a spinning top) and giving gifts or gelt (money) over the eight days.

You thought Christmas was indulgent, like many Jewish festivals, Hanukkah is all about the food. And, because of the miracle of the oil, it’s deep fried foods that are traditionally eaten, such as doughnuts and latkes (a fried potato and onion pancake, a bit like a rosti).

What do you eat?

In places like New York and London, there is a culture around enjoying food from Jewish delis which isn’t limited to the community itself. And here in Manchester too, we have some great places to take advantage of.

Our city has a large Jewish community, predominantly centred around Prestwich and North Manchester.

Michael from JS on the Corner is busy gearing up for their first Hanukkah in their new location. The oldest Jewish restaurant in Manchester, JS had occupied a building on King’s Road, just off Bury New Road in Prestwich, since 1956.

At the end of July, due to the pandemic, the brand has adapted to more of a takeaway offering, renaming themselves as JS On The Corner and moving to a different unit on Bury New Road itself.

Owner Michael Isler is really looking forward to Hanukkah this year. He says:

“Hanukkah is a great family time celebrating the miracle of lights that happened many years ago. It’s a time to spend time with family, to eat plenty of doughnuts. You put on about a stone in a week.

“But in all seriousness, I love Hannukah because it’s a festival when you come home, you light the menorah, you spend time with the kids and you have fun, you have games, you give presents. And it’s not like passover where you have to prep for three weeks beforehand, it’s just a very chilled time.”

Especially for Hanukkah, JS is getting a doughnut machine and will be serving hot doughnuts throughout the eight days, as well as plenty of fresh latkes.

Other dishes on the kosher menu include burgers, sandwiches, pies and hummus plates with shawarma and falafel.

We also spotted an alternative Hanukkah dish on their menu, a deep fried number called the ‘frap’. The frap consists of smoked beef pastrami, garlic mayo, mustard, onion rings, crispy onions, salty pickles, coleslaw, all inside a wrap which is then breaded and deep fried.

JS is open as normal throughout Hanukkah for takeaway food and deliveries. Orders can be made over the phone on 0161 798 7776, online at jsotc.co.uk or by going into the store.

The old JS site on King’s Road has been taken over by another Jewish food operator, Celia’s Kitchen.

The new deli has been set up by long time kosher caterer, Celia Clyne Banqueting, which has been providing banqueting services across the UK for almost 40 years, since 1983. Previously a home economics teacher, Celia was asked to cater a wedding for a friend and it went so well that all kicked off from there.

Celia’s Kitchen launched just three weeks ago during the second national lockdown and it’s been a baptism (or shall we say a bris) of fire for the new venue which has been very busy since it opened.

Managing director, Mark Clyne said:

“It’s been really busy. What I felt was that Manchester and the Jewish community needed an outlet where they could buy fresh food, rather than packet food. And, because of the production kitchen we have, we thought we were the people to do it.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years but the right location never came around, and then it did, and so we jumped at it.”

As well as Jewish favourites, like salt beef and bagels, they also have kosher versions of a wide range of cuisines including Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern food.

Celia’s Kitchen also prides itself on creating huge stacked burgers such as their Once in a Lifetime burger which includes two chargrilled burgers, a chicken schnitzel and then topped with pulled beef and red slaw.

They have created a new huge burger for Hanukkah too called the Mighty Maccabee (remember our friend Judah the Maccabee?).

This has a prime steak burger, topped with a fried latke, salt beef AND pulled beef. There’s also a smaller version (not that small) called the Chanukah burger which is topped with just salt beef and a latke.

Because of the laws of kashrut which mean that meat and milk cannot be eaten together, Jewish food normally has lots of great veggie and fish options so, vegetarians, don’t be scared off by these meaty feasts. There is also a cauliflower schnitzel burger and a Jerusalem falafel burger.

“Being kosher isn’t just a matter of your usual traditional staple dishes, we can do a lot more than that,” says Mark.

Celia’s Kitchen are also making fresh doughnuts for Hanukkah, but not just any doughnuts, (and this is becoming a bit of a theme) these are giant doughnuts, topped with things like Oreos and Lotus Biscoff biscuits. Plus, there are selling Chanukah hampers which include wine, smoked salmon, doughnuts and other sweet treats.

Currently Celia’s Kitchen is delivering across North Manchester and soon they plan to launch their own app and are looking to expand delivery services to South Manchester. Then, Mark tells us, they want to extend their offering to Leeds and other places in the UK.

They also have an event space in the Prestwich deli which can’t be used under current restrictions but will have space to dine in when they can.

Orders can be made over the phone on 0161 820 4441 or on Uber Eats, and they can be collected from the deli too.

Another new Jewish food business which is putting a fresh twist on kosher cooking is Feast by Ed Shearf which has set up a pop up kitchen called Social Square at the Maccabi community centre in Prestwich, near to Heaton Park.

Previously a catering business, Feast would normally be catering for events like weddings, barmitzvahs, and so on. As none of these events are going ahead this year, the business had to pivot the business to offer a takeaway and delivery food service.

There are three different concepts in the pop up; Street Deli, serving New York style deli sandwiches piled high with pastrami and salt beef; Cabana, serving Latin American dishes like tacos, burritos and churros; Fire Pit which serves BBQ meats like steak, jerk chicken and wings. This Sunday, they are also launching a new brunch menu called Huevo, with dishes like smoked salmon bagels and huevos rancheros. When they can, they will also be opening a bar serving cocktails and craft beers.

For Hanukkah, Feast will be doing half price churros on Thursday as well as £1 latkes with any main course on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. They have released gift vouchers for Hanukkah too.

The pop up launched officially on 15 November and has been incredibly popular since opening.

Rude Kabeya, operations manager for Feast by Ed Shearf, said:

“The whole idea really is just to change the landscape of kosher catering, which has had a bit of a bad rep and we just try to be not boring, not give people the usual, to give the kosher market food that they would not normally try anywhere else.”

“The response has been amazing. The first day was challenging because we didn’t anticipate the amount of response that we would have to be perfectly honest.

“We just absolutely got inundated from the moment we opened, in the first half an hour we had like over 150 orders and we couldn’t cope! But since then we’ve learned from that and we’ve obviously opened the preordering system where people can order throughout the day. We’re getting repeat customers now who literally have dinner with us every night, and you have people who just keep coming back and the feedback has been really positive.”

Social Square by Feast is open from 5pm to 10pm, Sunday to Thursday (closed for the Sabbath). Food can be ordered via their website with pre orders open from 10:30am with last orders around 9:30pm.

They are delivering within a 3 mile radius or orders can be collected from the Maccabi Centre on Bury New Road.

Hanukkah starts on the evening of Thursday 10 December and ends the evening of Friday 18 December (or 25 Kislev to 3 Tevet in the Hebrew calendar).

Jewish or not, there really is so much to enjoy about Hanukkah. And, beyond the festival itself, it’s really worth paying a visit to the traditional Jewish delis and some of the places putting a new spin on kosher food.

And, if you can’t make it to North Manchester, find your nearest doughnut or deep fried food and eat it immediately. The holiday armadillo said so.

Happy Chanukah to those celebrating!

Where to enjoy Jewish food in Greater Manchester

Delis and food shops

Let’s Fress Deli, Whitefield

0161 798 0343 / 70 Bury Old Rd, Whitefield, Prestwich, Manchester M45 6TL

Celia’s Kitchen, Prestwich

0161 820 4441 / 7 Kings Road, Prestwich M25 0LE

Shefa Mehadrin, Prestwich

49-53 Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 9JY

Haber’s World shop, Prestwich

0161 798 7370 / King’s Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0FY

Kosher City, Prestwich

0161 740 3428 / 81-83 Windsor Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0DB

Halperns, Prestwich

0161 792 1752 / 57-59 Leicester Rd, Salford M7 4DA

Kosher Deli, Prestwich

0161 697 4775 / 1-3, Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 9JZ

Dovid’s Deli, Salford

0161 708 8596 / 31 Leicester Rd, Salford M7 4AS

Kosher Savers, Higher Broughton

0161 792 8860 / Knoll St, Higher Broughton, Salford M7 2EQ

Kolbo, Salford

0161 792 4954 / Wellington St E, Salford M7 2AX

Bakeries

Brackmans, Salford

0161 792 1652 / 43-45 Leicester Rd, Salford M7 4AS

State Fayre, Crumpsall

0161 740 3435 / 77 Middleton Rd, Crumpsall, Manchester M8 4JY

Three Bakers, Prestwich

0161 773 3434 / 5 Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 9JZ

M H Bakery, Salford

0161 792 4841 / 35 Leicester Rd, Salford M7 4AS

Restaurants and cafes

Social Square by Feast, Prestwich

Manchester Maccabi Community & Sports Club, Bury Old Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0EG

Lulu’s Kitchen, Cheadle

0161 491 1100 / 41 Wilmslow Rd, Cheadle SK8 1DR

JS on the Corner, Prestwich

0161 798 7776 / 27 Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 9JY

Ta’am, Prestwich

0161 773 1645 / 5 Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 9JZ

Noshers cafe, Prestwich

0161 470 0680 / 84 King’s Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0LQ

Pagoda Chinese, Prestwich

0161 798 4149 / 1, Park Hill, Bury Old Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0FX

State Fayre Bakery & Coffee Shop, Whitefield

0161 766 6216 / 83 Park Ln, Whitefield, Manchester M45 7HL

Tasti Pizza, Salford

0161 792 9721 / 23 Leicester Rd, Salford M7 4AS

“Why wouldn’t you just have salt and vinegar? Is this a southern thing, putting pepper on your chips?”

It’s January, 2007, and I’m having a very confused conversation with a cockney university housemate about his upcoming takeaway order. We’re very swiftly making our way through the piercingly cold Mancunian air from Castle Irwell student village to Little China on Salford’s Lower Broughton Road, as he extols the virtues of their salt and pepper chips. In his brief four months up north, he’s seemingly become obsessed with them, while I have no idea what he’s on about.

Fast forward 13 years and some form of salt and pepper dish will regularly make it’s way onto any order I make at a Chinese restaurant. Chips, chicken wings, ribs, tofu, I want that ferocious concoction of green peppers, onions, chillies, salt and spices on absolutely fucking everything. That fateful January evening in 2007 brought me up to speed with a cuisine that has been thriving in the North West for almost 30 years.

It’s painfully ironic that a Londoner was the one to introduce me to this staple of Chinese chippy menus as, primarily, salt and pepper dishes are a North Western stronghold. Venture much further than Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire or Yorkshire and this sweet, savoury, salty sensation becomes a woefully rare sight on chippy menus.

This is perhaps to do with the fact that the dish originated in Liverpool, the city with the oldest Chinese community in Europe and home to ‘the golden triangle of Chinese chippies’.

Scouse native Gabrielle de la Puente passionately extolled in a recent Vittles newsletter that, “Around my Nan’s in L8 alone has Kevins, the Lucky Star, Chius, KKs, Lee’s, Leung Sang, Ringo’s, Hang Fung; and more and more for days”, signifying the sheer density of Chinese chip shops that have cornered the fish and chip market in Merseyside since an influx of Chinese immigration to the city in the 1960’s.

According to a 2017 Liverpool Echo article, the addition of salt and pepper to chips was, much like all seismic cultural happenings – Joe Pesci’s year of Goodfellas and Home Alone, the birth of G-Funk, debut of the Premier League, Kappa popper trackie bottoms and, of course, the early Hollywood works of Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler – a ’90s phenomenon.

Speaking to the Echo three years ago, Chinese restauranteur Kin Liu, owner of pan-Asian establishment Chamber 36 lifted the lid on his own family’s history with the dish, revealing to the local paper, “There were always demands for salt and pepper chicken wings and ribs, and due to picky customers the salt and pepper chips were created.”

As with all inventions, the history of inception can be murky and contested, with Mossley Hill stalwart Chris’ Chippy, in operation since 1967, claiming they began selling salt and pepper dishes when ‘a master chef brought his recipe along in the 1960s’.

Whatever the exact date and location, there’s no denying that the salt and pepper mix making it’s way from chicken and ribs to chips is one of the most seminal culinary moments in British food history. Might actually be tied for first place with the first time crisps were put on a sandwich. Either way, it wasn’t long before salt and pepper made it’s way down the m62 and quickly began to take over Mancunian chippy culture.

Suddenly, ambling out of the rain on a freezing Friday night to await your usual assortment of battered goods lashed in salt and vinegar with a tin or two of Dandelion and Burdock became a spicier adventure. The glow of the flecks of chilli dotted across the sumptuous golden grease of freshly fried potato, patterned between translucent wedges of onion and deep green pepper, packing just the right amount of crunch in contrast to the pillowy innards of the chips. It became too much to resist even for the most ardent traditionalists.

It was an added element of adventure, transforming the chippy tea into a more dynamic, exotic experience. The 3am beer soaker had an upgrade on the gut busting sledgehammer doner while hangovers were simply burned away. An all purpose, multi faceted marvel had landed in our city and it was embraced wholeheartedly.

Manchester’s chippies weren’t exclusive to the phenomena, either. China Town sit down restaurants were awash with salt and pepper dishes on their menus, with the evolution snowballing through to the modern day with the arrival of the Arndale Market’s very own Salt & Pepper Manchester, opened by Chloe Tao and her brother Cash 18 months ago.

The ‘merging of the East and the West’ was, unsurprisingly, a smash hit upon opening, with instagram immediately awash with satisfied customers eager to show off their portions of sesame seed smattered sticky chicken, beef and prawns, sitting atop piles of fragrant Asian slaw and paired with extra crispy crinkle cut chips (the best type of chip, by the way. Disagree and we will throw hands. Name the time and place). Every brown box that dropped on the timeline was another verse in the siren song drawing city centre dwellers helplessly towards the south side of the Arndale for their fusion fix.

“We grew up totally encompassed in the Chinese takeaway food industry, with our parents owning a takeaway as well as my grandparents before them,” explains Chloe, reminiscing over three generations of history and tradition. “We noticed that a lot of British Chinese kids were branching out of the industry and although we tried our hands at other professions, we kept coming back to food.

“We wanted to keep the family legacy alive, but also use our western upbringing to elevate and modernise the Chinese fast food experience. Thus, Salt & Pepper was born.

It was during Chloe’s formative years in the takeaway industry that she came to know and love salt and pepper dishes, churning out a procession every weekend while working for her parents.

“The first time I really came to notice salt and pepper was in the later years of my parents’ takeaway. I used to work there on the weekends and all of a sudden, there seemed to be a huge influx in orders of salt and pepper dishes – my parents’ salt and pepper wings were a favourite and I just remember having to wrap up seemingly never-ending portions on busy weekends.”

But what of Chinese home cooking? Given that salt and pepper was thrust upon the North West as a chip shop hybrid, has the style of cuisine translated to family meals over the years?

“We eat salt and pepper dishes at home, and we order them in traditional Chinese restaurants too. The flavours and ingredients are simple and classic Chinese staples, so it’s a really easy and tasty dish to whip up for the family.”

Of course, as with any rampantly popular cuisine, the next step is for customers to turn cooks and try their own hands at recreating the classics within the confines of their own kitchens. But mastering salt and pepper is no easy feat, as Chloe explains, balance is crucial

“Well without giving too much away, you should focus on balance with the salt and pepper blend. You don’t want any spice to be too overpowering and you want to keep it true to the umami flavour.

“I would say one of the main mistakes people make is retaining too much moisture in the vegetables they use. Salt and pepper dishes are typically deep fried and crispy, so big chunks of vegetables can make the dish soggy – not really what you want.

It was said sogginess which was one of the culprits behind Chloe’s most miserable salt and pepper experience, and perhaps goes some way to explaining why the North West is so synonymous with the cuisine, as further North in Scotland, everything was awry.

“I had this really bad salt and pepper dish at a food market in Glasgow a few months ago. It was salt and pepper breaded prawns, but the prawns were really mushy and not fresh. And, like I was saying before about moisture, they had these huge chunks of onions and veg that were really soggy and just overall unpleasant. Plus, the seasoning was sweet for some reason.”

Luckily, closer to home, as Chloe continues, we’re better served for our salt and pepper options, with one spot in particular being reserved for special praise, “Our friends at Pho Cue are cranking out some good salt and pepper dishes along with their classic Vietnamese food.”

Marrying the familiarity of the traditional with the explosiveness of Chinese ingredients is what has cemented salt and pepper chips as the heavyweight champion in their field. In the advent of ‘dirty’ and ‘loaded’ fries, where once proud chips are reduced to limp, starchy vessels for dousings of various flavoured mayos, tepid chilli con carnes and coagulated cheese sauce, salt and pepper offers vibrancy and, perhaps most importantly, the need for a solid tin of fizzy pop as accompaniment. If it’s pissing it down on a Friday night or it’s cracking the flags on a Saturday afternoon, that’s a meal you’re not turning down. It’s a lunch hour treat that will perk you up, leaving you gasping for more rather than leave you gasping for air at your desk. It’s a morning after the night before pick-me-up that somehow still does the job while cold and dotted with condensation from it’s polystyrene packaging.

“The best salt and pepper experience I’ve had would be back when I was working at my parents’ takeaway. During the shift, when orders came in, my dad would throw some extra wings or ribs in for me and I’d end up having a little salt and pepper box that I would snack on whilst working.

So, while there are a few establishments dotted around the UK that list salt and pepper dishes on their menus, it’s comforting to know that our own backyard, and just down the road, is where it was done first and where it’s being done best. Better still, we’re blessed with countless Chinese chippies and restaurants from which to enjoy them from. Which actually gives me an idea for another article * sends request to curate ‘The Top 100 Salt and Pepper dishes in Greater Manchester’ article to editor *.

See you in the queue on the South Side of the Arndale in the first week of December.

 

“This is the authentic kind of peasant food and these places are where you find all the best shit. Without cheap rent and immigration you’re not going to get that melting pot where loads of new food comes through. This is where all the real shit happens.”

The real shit is, without question, the best shit. And it’s happening on an unassuming terraced side street just off Wilmslow Road. Huddled over a tightly packed table, brimming with glorious, sumac dusted, wood grilled lamb and eye wateringly fluffy, crisp naan fresh from the tandoor, Luke Cowdrey aka Luke Unabomber – one half of DJ duo The Unabombers, WorldWideFM DJ, Homoelectric & Homobloc promoter, instagram lunatic, restauranteur, raconteur and kebab connoisseur is passionately delivering a history lesson on the evolution of Rusholme’s unsurpassed grilled meat in naan scene, from the watershed opening of Rusholme Chippy in ’77 to the Kurdish alchemy of the present day, with nods to ‘70s New York, ‘80s Sheffield and The Ottoman Empire along the way.

As naan is effortlessly torn then enveloped around the delicate outer crunch of Kurdish lamb kebab and decorated with fresh parsley and chopped onions, Luke’s enthusiasm, despite now being on our third meal in little over two hours, is refusing to wane. And when the taste of Kurdistan Cafe’s offerings passes your lips, it’s not hard to see why. This is next level gear.

“With the Kurdish food, you have such an incredible combination of flavours,” begins Luke, constructing another hand sized pocket of perfection from the various plates in front of us. “The acidity of the sumac, the pickles, the parsley, hummus, tomatoes and the most amazing kebabs. I don’t think anyone touches these. Nico here is an absolute alchemist in all of this and when this place is on form, no one touches them.”

But how did we get here? How did the bright lights and baltis of the Curry Mile evolve into a haven for mind bending Middle Eastern peasant food?

What we’re gonna do right here is go back, way back…

We begin by meeting Luke outside the iconic red and yellow awning of Rusholme Chippy. A million memories of shot soaking 4am meals forever nestled within its walls, the place so many of us have promised to make good on that 9am lecture only to safely miss it by a solid five hours. Established in 1977, the self proclaimed ‘Kings of Kobeda’ were smouldering skewers of Persian lamb over charcoal and slapping homemade naan against the walls of their clay tandoor when The Curry Mile was still dominated by sit down Indian and Pakistani restaurants. 

The same recipes and techniques have been passed down from chef-to-chef over the intervening four decades, solidifying the misleadingly christened Chippy as an irreplaceable Manchester icon. It is not only a stalwart of the scene but, as Luke relays to us, a trendsetter more than 40 years ahead of it’s time.

“Rusholme Chippy was a really early beginning of the clay oven and the tandoor. Two Persian brothers, in 1977, set it up. It’s name is deceptive. You can get chips, but they were the early adopters of what is now ubiquitous in Rusholme and a lot of Northern towns, where you have this Persian, Kurdish alchemy of kobeda and tandoor bread.

“In 1977 they had the first clay oven outside of London in the whole of the UK. They were so ahead of their time, no one really realised what we had because there weren’t any others. It didn’t really develop into anything.

“Alongside (fellow Wilmslow Rd veterans) Camel One and Abdul’s, this was where I discovered the Persian version of what became what you see now. The breads were bigger, they were more of an oval shape. Then you’ve got kobeda, which are the long lamb skewers.

“Don’t ask me how I know this, but kobeda are actually derived from the Persian swords from medieval times which they put into fires on their many escapades with the Ottoman Empire and they created a kebab in the fire. That was then taken off the skewer and put onto the bread which had been cooked in tandoor ovens.”

Seriously, fuck learning lopsided revisionist retellings of dusty old monarchs in GCSE history, get the creation of different kebab cultures on the national syllabus and get it on there now.

Pit Stop #1: Street Corner Shawarma

Our first food stop comes just over the road at Al Zain, a Kurdish owned shawarma joint serving up what Luke assures us, alongside the fellow Kurd operated Manchester Fresh Shawarma, is the best vertical Lebanese lamb in town

He’s not wrong.

The two shawarma spits (one lamb, one chicken) twirl mesmerically like ballerinas in front of you upon entrance, the much fuller chicken version a clear second best to the ludicrously popular lamb variety, crowned with tomatoes and onion, which permeate through knee tremblingly tender meat. We leave Luke to do the honours when it comes to ordering up a plethora of kebabs, all wrapped in a traditional flatbread that delivers the perfect amount of chew as we proceed to tear through our street corner starters to a cacophony of ‘fucking hell’s. The meat just glides apart, mixing effortlessly well with the bread and accompanying pickles and salad, all luminous oranges, purples and greens. The mule kick of chilli providing a welcome wake-me-up on a typically drizzly Mancunian Thursday lunchtime.

Sauce ridden smiles confirm that Luke’s almost 40 years of experience in the kebab devouring game have generated peerless instincts when it comes to identifying world class shawarma. Shout out to Lebanon too, because between this magic and their settlers in Mexico helping introduce the world to Tacos Al Pastor in the 1930’s, they have given us all two wonderful culinary gifts.

From Eighties Elephant Legs To Post-Acid House Hangouts

“Between 1985 and 2000, Pakistani and Indian versions of a kebab, which was naan bread, generally and chicken tikka arguably overtook the doner as the Holy Grail,” explains Luke.

“For me most people’s understanding of a kebab goes back to a really bad doner, an elephant leg on a skewer with pita bread and in a way it was. It’s what people had when they were pissed. Most Northern towns had doner kebabs that weren’t very good.

“A mixture of immigration and different cultures coming here opened up the whole kebab scene to more influences, so for me the defining moment was definitely Abdul’s, the Tandoori Kitchen and Camel One, which was the first wave of the Pakistani/Indian naan bread and chicken tikka and that became the standard.

“Tandoori Kitchen were actually Iranian and doing their oddball alchemy with it where they had this amazing Persian bread with incredible chicken tikka, which was the holy grail for me. But Camel One and Abdul’s were the defining places in the mid ‘80s and ‘90s. Post acid house that’s where everyone went. Camel One was the coolest hangout. All the young Asian lads and Moss Side lads came up, students came down.”

Camel One, with it’s unmistakable red and white candystriped shopfront catching the eye of anyone within at least 100 yards has, like the aforementioned Rusholme Chippy, stood the test of time, even if The Curry Mile didn’t.

The ‘Curry Mile’ moniker for Wilmslow Road was established in the 1980’s, although textile mill workers from the Indian subcontinent had been frequenting cafes in this corridor a couple of miles south of the city centre since the ‘50s. Gradually, over the next 20 years or so, the largely Pakistani community began to expand the number of restaurants along the stretch until, in the late ‘70s it was synonymous with South Asian curries.

It is no longer a name Luke feels is suitable for the area, though, given the closures of many of the original establishments and the evolution of immigration into the neighbourhood. It also could have been the blessing in disguise that saw Rusholme level up into the most exciting culinary enclave in Greater Manchester.

“The Curry Mile died on it’s arse because it changed. With the exception of Mughli, which is wonderful, a lot of the curry houses shut down and the white middle classes stopped coming to Rusholme, but that’s when the magic happened, because the next wave of immigration was Kurdish, Turkish, Afghani, Syrian, all the various elements of the Middle East. 

“So the food in Rusholme, almost by osmosis slowly began to change and on the side streets you got places like Kurdistan Cafe, because of cheap rent and empty properties, which meant that new school immigrants, new arrivals, came in and could rent places for fuck all. The food was for them, it wasn’t for us, it wasn’t for tourists. It’s why this is still so cheap, it was like a return to the 60s, 70s and 80s when the Indians, Pakistanis and Bengalis on the Curry Mile would cook home curries for their people because they were working in mills, in textiles and the rag trade and those places were where they ate.

“When I arrived in Manchester it was still quite underground, places like Shazan and a few others didn’t serve alcohol, didn’t have cutlery, so it’s almost returned to that period where now instead of Indian, Pakistani and Bengali it’s Kurdish, Afghani and Syrian. So this is the next wave and this all happened under the nose of everyone. No one noticed it.”

This modern influence from the Middle East is undeniable. Wherever you look on Wilmslow Road and it’s numerous offshoots, there are menus displaying prices for kobeda, fatayer and qabuli pulao. Backstreet Kurdish bakers are slinging flatbreads four-for-a-pound while Iraqi shawarma houses sandwich their fillings on fresh Samoon bread. The aforementioned white middle classes no longer being prominent in the area has leant itself to an underground vibrancy being developed that is completely alien to anything you could ever wish to experience in the centre of town. It feels vital and enriching. Affordable, authentic street food at every turn without the merest hint of the words ‘artisan’ or ‘market’? Yes fucking please.

Pit Stop #2: Double Kobeda With a Side of Rubicon and Noughties Spanish Football

Our second stop sees us venture inside Al Jazeera, back across the road from Al Zain. Luke doubles down on the kobeda, while advising us to try the qabuli pulao, the national dish of Afghanistan. 

From about four seconds after the food hits the table, it’s not difficult to figure out why the Afghanis flocked to this dish of  delicate lamb (or beef) blanketed in a bed of steamed basmati rice, carrots and raisins cooked in a mouth watering broth. It disappears from sight in a matter of minutes, even with a Leviathan sized double kobeda sitting alongside it, crying out to be devoured.

As seems to be the norm for the area, the lamb is once again, in both dishes, expertly prepared, with the qabuli pulao’s shoulder cuts pulling away from the bone with the merest glance of contact from any cutlery, before melting magically in your mouth. The kobedas meanwhile pull apart just as easily along with the delightfully soft naan, which Luke declares is the best it’s ever been of all his visits to this establishment. The grins that were beaming stupidly from our respective faces across the road after our first few bites of Al Zain’s shawarma return almost instantly as we glug down the only acceptable drink in a venue such as this – An ice cold tin of Rubicon.

Magnificently, and rather inexplicably, the TV attached to the wall above our heads is screening a Madrid derby from what I guess is around 2004, given the kits and players on display. It’s a most welcome sense of nostalgia to distract from the chaos of the present day world outside.

The Best Art Happens With Cheap Rent

Back at Kurdistan Cafe, our appetites are slowing, as the effects of an afternoon full of shawarma, kobeda, naan and pulao begin to deliciously take their toll. The citrus notes of the sumac speckled lamb still encouraging us to gamely graze onwards as Luke regales us with the story of Rusholme’s recent Kurdish revolution.

“In the mid-2000’s Kurdish and Afghani places very slowly began to open and Kurdistan Cafe was really the beginning of that next moment in time in the journey of kebabs, post-Rusholme Chippy and Camel One. Kurdish people just revolutionised it all again. And it was cheap, all fresh and the big difference was they were using a wood grill where you had such a wonderful intensity of heat that was so hot, when the lamb kobeda go on there, you get this almost gnarly, crispy edge while in the middle it’s very, very soft.

“So Kurdistan Cafe really started this whole revolution, then opposite Jaffa there’s a place called Atlas, which is also run by Kurdish people and it’s a fusion of different cultures, so they have the Kurdish bread done in the tandoor, very light and they mix that with a shawarma, so it’s almost like a kebab wrap or whatever you want to call it. That ended up being a completely different hybrid of kebab, so on the one hand you had a classic kobeda, which are the Afghani style with the long breads, with the Kurdish kebabs which came with the traditional bread and the Kurdish-Lebanese fusion shawarma kebab.”

“The white middle classes completely missed this moment, because they didn’t want to come to areas like Rusholme, which they perceived to be a bit rougher. They didn’t realise that, although they weren’t aesthetically perhaps the most pleasing places to look at from the outside, there had been a quiet revolution and suddenly the most authentic and incredible kebabs had been created.”

This perceived rougher aesthetic is a large part of what makes Rusholme’s restaurant scene so invigorating. In a manner similar to the Bronx in New York, it’s an area that feels gentrification proof in a city almost universally adorned by it. No amount of modern renewal projects and regeneration are touching Wilmslow Road. The cheap rents allowing immigrant communities to thrive as business owners without constantly looking over their shoulders, worrying that an opportunistic landlord will hike them out the minute they notice queues outside the doors or a deluge of positive Tripadvisor reviews.

You cannot help but be charmed by Kurdistan Cafe, with it’s ‘60s wood panelled walls, chipped paint and fading framed photographs. The small assemblies of plastic flowers, tissue boxes and greasy spoon-esque bottles of HP sauce and sugar dispensers are impossible not to derive joy from. That’s before the food, which feeds the stomach and soul with equal levels of homely, heartwarming euphoria. It is here that Luke claims the ultimate Kurdish Kebab and Tandoor bread are to be found.

As Luke continues, while the ‘Curry Mile’ may be dead, what has replaced it is Manchester’s best kept secret.

“Out of the darkness of the defeat of the Curry Mile came the growth of something else, so the closing of one door led to the opening of another.

“The funny thing is it still feels like a bit of a secret, it’s so underground because everything’s been happening on the side streets of Rusholme, the main drag has become hookah bars and things of that nature while the white middle classes are going to places like Dishoom and Akbar’s. It’s become this sort of posh pastiche, but still very good food.

“It’s like music, you don’t get good music without cheap rent and that’s where the magic happens. The best art happens with cheap rent, it comes out of the darkness. Look at someone like Keith Haring, he came out of a period where New York was bust, there were fires everywhere, the city was riddled and bankrupt. Times Square was a no go after seven o’ clock, there was prostitution and destitution but out of that came the magic and I think, funnily enough, in Rusholme, while not as extreme as that, obviously, what came out of the lack of Curry Mile was cheap rent on the side roads so people could open up here and afford to sell food at a reasonable amount rather than going to Ancoats which, while I love all of that, these places are a different animal.

“Rusholme became a victim of it’s own success. It all became so top end, it lost it’s originality and authenticity and it became what I like to call a ‘baltiplex’. You’d go into places and they’d have four fucking sauces and that was it.

“This food is democratic, it’s soul food. The cost of a kebab here is five quid with breads and you get soup with it and it’s done right. In the city centre that’s costing you at least a tenner more. In Rusholme it’s never been as good and I think in Manchester things are always the best when there’s less hype. The moment it becomes a thing it kinda loses it’s way.”

Recalibrating After Armageddon

Of course, the all encompassing Covid-19 pandemic cannot be ignored while soaking in Rusholme’s Middle Eastern magic. Given the volume of restaurants and takeaways on Wilmslow Road that generate a resounding amount of their income in the small hours from the adjacent student population, the government’s stifling 10pm curfew, in addition to the impending second national lockdown, have surely done a significant number on trade, potentially leaving several businesses hanging in the balance over the next month or so.

And while none of us know for certain what terrors or triumphs are awaiting us, Luke has a positive outlook on how a post-Covid Rusholme will fare.

“Whatever happens and no matter how bad it gets, and it will get bad, it’ll be an almost Armageddon situation, I think what will come out of it will be food, art, literature and music surviving in ways people couldn’t even think of.

“I think after all this, people will turn off from influencers and EDM and focus more on the real deal and it’s the same with food. They’ll focus on quality, authenticity and value for money. They won’t want cheesy chips in a fuckin naan bread. It’ll go back to basics. This will recalibrate everything. I’m an optimist, I think there’ll be light out of the darkness.

“Naturally, a mixture of immigration and cheap rent will see things beyond the inner city walls going more this way. I don’t think you can stop it. Post covid there’ll be more of this, much more of this.”

A Far Cry From 3am Doner

This improvement in the authenticity and quality of kebabs is an evolution Luke has chronicled since falling head over heels with a kebab van doner in Sheffield in 1982 and it’s an evolution he believes holds a very promising future.

“The first kebab I ever had was 1982 in Sheffield, ‘Chubby’s & Popeye’s’. They were doners. Probably looking back it wasn’t very good but I absolutely loved it and fell in love with it. 

“I actually sold my dad’s record collection for about four quid and bought two kebabs with it…I’ve got over it. 

“But from having such a bad reputation in the ‘80s as being this awful drunken food at two in the morning, kebabs are now the healthiest, freshest peasant food you can eat in this country.

“My top five kebab places in Rusholme would be Kurdistan Cafe, Al Zain, Al Jazeera, Rusholme Chippy, Shireen Grill House on Rusholme Grove and Manchester Fresh Shawarma. So six, then, actually. If it was a desert island deal and it’s the last thing you’re ever gonna eat, though, I’d go Kurdistan Cafe.

“The whole Curry Mile is over and now you’ve got amazing Lebanese bakeries, Syrian places, great coffee, it’s a completely different place. Keep an eye out because there’s new places developing all the time. There’s one on the main street that looks amazing. It may be Syrian and it looks like they have a hog roast but it’s lamb going round. I’ve not had it yet but I will.”

We’ll be sure to join him when he does finally make his way there. In the meantime, with takeaway and deliveries our only option between 5th November and 2nd December, you couldn’t do much better than sending some of your custom Rusholme way and eating your way round the Middle East during lockdown two. Don’t forget the Rubicon, either.

Luke, and his rather brilliant daily updates, can be followed on Instagram HERE