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i chuffing LOVE manchester! i have a job interview in Sale on weds - oh gosh i'm so nervous! i would love to be back in a city again. newport (wales) is just rubbish *sigh* i miss the eight day cafe, and the night n day, and the hop n grape and oh gosh ALL of it x
go to manchester every month, Anyone know the pop cafe? On oldham street
I was told they did discounts for vegan society members...anyone know if this is true?
Also, is the basement still open ? Everytime I've been past it's been closed.
Is there anywhere else to eat/drink apart from eight day and that other rather expensive buddhist place..name escapes me at the moment...oh ! earth cafe, I think !
oh but the buddhist place is BRILL. i'm not sure about the discounts being true at Pop but yesh it is still open and still ace. In addition to the above, night n day can be accommodating, as can most of China Town, there's a noodle bar at Albert Sq (by the town hall) that has vegan rice pudding among other delights, Oklahoma! apparently do vegan cake but the service is so rubbish after 20mins of waiting for my order to be taken i left, I've been in Blu with carnivarous friends and they managed to make me vegan soup especially, Whithington has a few places if you're round that way x
Earth cafe: not expensive at all. We ate for £9 for 2 massive mains and a salad last time.
Basement: The building next door has had a fire, and the Basement has been affected. Won't be open for at least another 6 months yet.
Eighth day has totally gone downhill. Well, the restaurant has. the takeaway deli bit upstairs is better than ever, but the downstairs food is often verging on inedible.
Agatha: the noddle bar is "Tampopo", and has loads of (marked) vegan items, most of which are pretty damn good.
Oklahoma: last time we went, they only had vegan wraps. Never had vegan cake, asked the guy and he said it depends on the cook who's in, but that they "hardly ever" do.
Tampopo - yes i'd recommend that. now you mention it, i do remember the last time i went in eighth day the eat-in food was a bit sloppy and not very tasty. the takeaway chocolate cake upstairs was absolutely gorgeous though! hmmm shame about oklahoma, i must hvae had a lucky day. or not so lucky as i didn't actually get served before my patience ran out.
Yes. I didn't know about it before but just joined up and said I would go. Look forward to meeting you Kula. I'll be the one who's all shy and doesn't talk much :faint_smilie:Quote:
Kula
I can't wait to go to Manchester in August.
The sainsburys in Manchester sell plain chocolate covered digestives. That's the only reason that I agree to going to meetings there. I stocked up with 7 packs earlier, which almost made up for 3 hours on the M6.
I cant wait to go back to Manc, cos ill be getting married! haha.
Tampopo in the trafford centre is ace, went there for my 21st birthday. Infact trafford centre is good, used to hate it, but it is fairly vegan friendly compared to some places.
Hi Maisiepaisie and Kula
I'm going to go to the meeting on Saturday too, I'll be the quiet on in the corner! I can't wait to meet some "real life" vegans!
yes - I'm manchester - I live in Whitworth - outside Rochdale - but I work in manchester and spend lots of time there!
Yay! Its starting to turn into a VF meetup :bigsmile: Anyone else coming?Quote:
Chika
Lol don't they have them at any other sainsburys?Quote:
Mr Flibble
Not in the Midlands; don't know about elsewhere. Round here they tend to have polish and indian foods in the regional/religious section rather than kosher. Where I used to live in Essex it was Greek products.
i went to earth cafe today. you mancunians have got it good, you're so lucky! all i can say is wow. and thank god for the take away option ;)
earth cafe is well good :D.
Always eat there before I go for my train and get cake to take away.
aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhh i'm so jealous! i want an earth cafe where i live :(
They're doing my wedding catering :D
woooooaaaahhhhh that's such a good idea!!! if i ever get married, i want them to do mine too. although i'd order my cake from blue lotus because their banana, coconut and lime cake is delish :D
maybe it's just me but with the earth cafe, the last time we went, we had to pay for the pie, then if you wanted beans with it they were extra, then the potatoes, they were extra. Just kinda like, if you wanted a 'meal' it y'know 'meat' and two veg, it got expensive ! Maybe it's change since though it was a long time ago.Quote:
bryzee86
Tampopo, ooohh didn't know they had one in the trafford centre !
Thing is though I can't eat wheat, so that's probably buggered that, no yeast, or MSG either ! :(
The vegan society have the pop cafe listed as you getting a discount, but last time I went in a few months ago, asking about it they said they didnt do it, looked like he had no knowledge of what I was talking about either !!lol.
Eight day, I went a few days ago, they've done up the cafe, and seems like they are getting new, bench like, walton style seating in , for some reason !
They always seem a little unfriendly upstairs though, maybe they just didn't like my jumper ! But I regularly buy quite a bit of stuff from them, and we ( my daughter and I ) were stood waiting to pay, behind some bloke paying, when it came to us paying, the 'old' lady serving walked off !lol. Off she went round the shop, totally ignoring us, who were about two feet away from us !!Lol .We stood there for a while. then finally she came back to serve us.
But yes, downstairs isnt that bad, dont buy food there, just tea.
Childofthetrees I agree about some of the eighth day staff, one member in particular has been rude and unhelpful to me on more than one occasion and most of the food is quite bland. I much prefer Cafe Pop. The food and the atmosphere is better.
I havnt tried eighth day or cafe pop but the earth cafe is excellent.
Manchester folks are cool a well,Brum seems like a small provincial town compared to manchester, must be the population that makes us the 2nd city cos manchester seems bigger and feels like a proper city.
I think they've ruined on the Eighth Day. First started going there in the 90's when they just had the one building and the food was great, really wholesome and cheap! When we moved back a couple of years' ago they'd tarted the place up and lost the character. One of the staff started lecturing my husband about something he was buying which really put him off going in.
Fortunately we've now seen the light and moved to Greece :D
I went to The Greenhouse on Wednesday evening, as I was staying over in Manchester on a 2 day course. Being the only vegan in the village, I ended up going there alone so I was interested to find out if it was the kind of place I could do that without feeling like a lemon!
Short answer: yes. It's such a relaxed, friendly place and the owners are lovely. I took some stuff with me to read while I ate, but I would have been fine without it.
The menu is huge, page after page after page - and a specials menu! - and about half of it (if not more) is vegan. In fact most of the desserts are vegan. There's also some g-f and wheet free food.
I had:
Starters - Ganmodoki (deep fried tofu balls stuffed with veg) with an exotic side salad (okra, olives etc) and tamari.
Main: "Bangers and mash" - 3 Braai sausages (Frys), homemade mashed potatoes, onion gravy with sherry, masses of veg, some side bits with sauces and another exotic salad cos I liked it so much! The plate was so full I had to be careful getting things off it in case the rest avalanched!
Dessert: Hot profiteroles with hot choc sauce, on a bed of cold choc Swedish Glace and topped with whipped soya cream.
The food was awesome, very generous portions and so tasty. And very reasonably priced. Recommended!
Mark's quick and pointless review of vegan availabilities in Manchester because he's bored
Eighth Day: On Man Met campus on Oxford Road - Your personal haven of specialist goodies! Almost every 'specialist' plant-based diet food can be found here! Redwoods and Frys faux meat, Cheezly and Scheese, plus your organic basics - flours, rice, pasta etc. A wonderful organic and Fairtrade twist, if you need something unusual, it's probably here! (Except wheat gluten powder, grrr). Plus household products and cosmetics! Take care though, things here don't come cheap and will easily lighten your wallet.
Eighth Day Cafe: Downstairs from the Eighth Day shop, very good grub with a not-so cheap price tag. Place feels a bit soulless, but still worth a bite once in a while. Earth cafe do it better and faster.
Unicorn: Chorlton - Your entirely vegan and (almost) entirely comprehensive supermarket! That's right folks, A VEGAN BLOODY SUPERMARKET. All organic fruit and veg (and loads of it!), none of it air-freighted. Organic, Fairtrade staples of every variety. You barely need to shop anywhere else at all. The only drawback is their silly ethical policy which dictates that they won't sell anything with sugar in it (molasses, maple syrup and date syrup are all fine apparently...) because it's unhealthy. I implore you to boycott Nestle, but please don't tell me what to put in my own body if it can be sourced in an ethical and sustainable manner. (Not to knock them too much, they're pretty bloody wonderful really). Also household goods and a deli. The best thing is they're genuinely very competitive. Most fruit and veg is cheaper than the organic varieties you'll find in the big supermarkets!
Mod Pop Cafe: Oldham Street, city centre - A veggie greasy spoon, without the grease. Cheap and cheerful food and lovely, lovely people. They'll happily tell you what's vegan and most of it's very good, though I don't recommend the breakfast, too stodgy and their other options are simply nicer.
Earth Cafe: City centre - Currently still all vegan, bar optional dairy milk in hot drinks (although it may be becoming vegetarian in the near future due to financial issues), selling almost all organic food in season. Not too cheap but very, very good and in the basement of the Buddhist Centre also suitably tranquil. The buffet service also means service is instantaneous! Well, unless there's a queue...
Oklahoma: opposite Earth Cafe, city centre - Hands down the best cafe in Manchester for atmosphere. Very, very quirky, arthouse DVDs to rent, a random tat gift shop, tables made of melted mobile phones, they used to have bean bags but sadly that glory has gone. I don't think it's all veggie (couple of omni things on the menu I think) but very vegan friendly (they serve Swedish Glace!) Prices comparable to Mod Pop but the food leaves a bit to be desired. Still, Fairtrade tea and coffee and a real buzz to the place. Worth it for a a thirty minute chillout with a smoothie and a book!
Greens: Great Western Street, Rusholme - Been so long since I've been here, the lingering memory is of the manager telling me and my ex innocuous stories in a distinctly creepy manner, but still, good nosh! Reasonable restaurant prices.
Dough: Northern Quarter, city centre - Not veggie but they do vegan pizzas with dairy-free cheese. No shit! Yet to check this bad boy out but it will be visited soon! Reasonable restaurant prices by the look of the website.
Ning: Oldham Street, city centre - Also not veggie but vegan options labelled. This is a Thai restaurant and is hands down the best eating out I've done in Manchester. Lovely atmosphere, wonderful service, two courses for 13 squids, everyone's a friggin' winner. Did I mention it's tasty times? It's bloody delicious is what it is.
Greens: Withington/Didsbury area - Pain in the arse to get to unless you live close. Nice atmosphere, but very overprices and portion sizes rubbish. Plus for a veggie restaurant the vegan selection is very nice but by no means extensive. Best avoided unless you live nearby/are wealthy/are desperate to get in someone's pants (not really sure how this last one works but seeing as I said it I assume it to be irrefutable truth).
Veggie cafe next to the University of Manchester library: Very cheap and cheerful, and good enough for what it is. Would never go out of my way to eat there, but did several times as a student, when it wasn't out of my way.
Wing Yip Chinese supermarket: One on Upper Brook Street in Victoria Park, another in Ancoats just out of the city centre - You know the score with Chinese supermarkets, cheap tofu and faux meat you can't find anywhere else, some of which is good. The north-west vegan festival get their fish for the fish and chips they do from these.
Chinatown, city centre: Again you know the score, plenty of vegan options, just make sure they understand what the hell you're on about when you explain for the umpteenth time about no eggs and fish in your food. Oh, and avoid roaming gangs of drunken wankers talking loudly about who they'd like to fuck and generally ruining your meal.
Curry mile, Rusholme: I lived next to this for two years, oh yes! Glorious Indian food. That said, my favourite restaurant got bollocked by health and safety recently, so erm, maybe not.
Manchestaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr! :D
(one of those who used to live in the manchester/ bolton area and then moved to London)
Found Earth Café good, had occasional decent bite from rice too.
Wish I'd known about Mod Pop Café though last time I was there. Ah well, next time I get dragged back that way for whatever reason I'm sure I'll have a nosey.
:lol: Rings a bell!Quote:
MarkAnthony
I am hoping to head to Manchester in a few weeks! :D
My little bro lives in the city, so would love to take him out to dinner... He would probably like to eat food which doesn't taste too healthy (this is a guy who struggles to eat his five a day).
Any ideas?
Tampopo I guess, they have some stuff that doesn't look massively healthy.
The Greenhouse is my favourite. I was there a couple of weeks ago, and will probably be there next week.
We went to Unicorn when we were in Manchester last too. It was pretty fab, though you're right MarkAnthony, it would be EVEN BETTER with organica chocolate. They do sell those lovely waffley things though. And avocado hummous, and those really nice tofu sausages. Mmmm.
Greenhouse gets my vote too - really good food.Quote:
Stu
Mod Pop Cafe is good!
http://www.europealacarte.co.uk/blog...omment-page-1/
Thanks! The Northern Quarter (in fact, Oldham Street specifically) is my bit of Manchester, so that's really good to know, Lizzie.
Best post I've read in ages! Had me in stitches. Also very helpful, as I'm in Manc this weekend.
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MarkAnthony
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puca
Ditto! My wee bro is there, and I'll take him out somewhere. I shall report back...
I've just been to Manchester and discovered my brother's new flat is right opposite Unicorn. :thumbsup: It was so great to be somewhere where there was no need to read labels and to know everything in there was vegan!
I really wanted to go to the Laughing Buddha again (although it's omni they have some fab tofu dishes) but it was too far to go to by the time we left the flat.
eta Cafe Pop had some of those delicious viennese whirls in their vegan cake selection (which I was especially pleased about when I heard there were none at the Vegan Festival in London). :D
In which case, your brother lives literally around the corner from my brother!Quote:
Marrers
Spooky! :eek:
I visited Manchester over the weekend and went to a couple of places. I had a great unhealthy hangover breakfast in Mod Pop Cafe. Someone above said that the breakfast is rubbish, but it isn't. It was superb, probably even better than a devil breakfast from Pogo in London. It's a real greasy spoon place though, with the staff shouting and swearing at each other (in a fun way) etc. Recommended.
We also went to Dough on High Street for vegan pizza with dairy-free cheese. Very very good, and only about £6 or so! Excellent stuff.
But don't bother trying to get booze at the City of Manchester Stadium because none of it is veganish.
Sacrilege!!!!!! :eek: :DQuote:
Stu