Eating my way around Manchester: New finds in Fallowfield, Withington and Didsbury

Where does one go for a house dinner when Kej’s is closed?

1 month ago | UPDATED 3 weeks ago

It’s 8:30pm on a Friday night and my housemates and I are shivering in in an alleyway in Withington, at the back of the queue for The Vic to see DJ Billy, and the general sentiment is one of woe. It is far too cold to be in what is rather too small of a top and I am bouncing up and down to trick my body into thinking I am already inside and perhaps blaming it on the boogie instead of watching rain fall onto my shoes.

One of my friends spots a group of bedraggled girls “finding” their friends ahead of us in the queue and pushing in. We consider saying something, but are momentarily distracted by the retro Americana pizza hatch beside us, telling us a pizza should be made in the following order: dough, then cheese, then sauce – alarming intel for Italians, reassuring intel for the queue jumpers who have avoided confrontation. A sufficiently intimidating huddle of final years now find themselves distracted, debating the veracity of the pizza hatch’s claim instead.

“We’ve all had our dinner already!” we stomp and grumble, but resolve to return the following day to sample the inventions from this pizza place which, we are certain, did not exist when we were queuing for DJ Billy last year.

Time is cruel, final year can creep up on you and, before you know it, you’re asking freshers at the bus stop if they remember Kej’s. Kej has disappeared, new restaurants have opened, the world keeps moving and I am just trying to keep up.

Doughclub pizza

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The aforementioned Doughclub is only open 4pm-10pm so I twiddled my thumbs for a few hours, headed down for a late lunch and purchased a slice of Pesto Patch. Delectable veggies on top, pesto aioli, and a well-sized slice (shared to justify the price). The cheese is deep, luxurious, and to have another slice would be hedonistic.

Still, who is the target audience? Students in the daytime are averse to paying £13 for a slice of pizza and, with a closing time of 10pm, the only students who would pay the price are forced to find their post-club grease elsewhere. Families don’t want individual slices of pizza. Old people don’t want new things. Does anyone else live in Withington? Unlikely.

Sauce last and a square slice could be off-putting to those who prefer stability, familiarity – a frozen pizza, perhaps – but if your grandmother has given you £14 pocket money and told you not to spend it all at once, well perhaps then you can honour her by spending £13 on a delicious slice of pizza and you’ll still have £1 left over for two whole frozen ones from Sainsbury’s.

Piqniq by La Chouquette

Once a girl told me this bakery did the best croissants outside of France and I believed her because she had, in fact, been to France. I had not and so felt I was poorly positioned to argue. I’d say I’ve had only the most provincial exposure to croissants in my life: I have tried both the café kind and the supermarket kind, which taste best when squashed. Upon sampling, I found the croissants from La Chouquette to be the best I’ve ever eaten, and they didn’t even need to be accidentally sat on.

La Chouquette opened Piqniq last week, just around the corner from their Didsbury bakery, serving sandwiches and pastries. I visited and purchased both a sandwich (caprese pesto) and a pastry (croissant) for scientific purposes – exquisite. I was, however, not a fan of the prices and so will not be returning or affording a flight to France probably ever now.

The Mexican

Tucked between Landcross and Furness Road, The Mexican finds itself in a location which does it precisely zero favours. Only the midnight crowds are drawn to Fallowfield’s corridor of chicken shops, which I suspect explains why, on our Tuesday night visit, we had the place to ourselves.

I settled on a Camote burrito (£12.50) – tasty, if a little sauceless. The Margarita offering (£8), however, was strong. I was feeling quite downhearted about the price of the food but then I spotted Trivial Pursuit amongst the available board games stacked in the corner. This felt redemptory and was an excellent find for a lady like myself who, rejecting the opportunity to attend lectures, is always in the pursuit of trivia.

Carrot Cafe

Sometime over summer Carrot Cafe opened up right next to the Burton Road tram stop and, ever since, I have run past it in the mornings and eyed up the bakes with gluttonous eyes. The atmosphere outside the cafe is charming – I’m not sure who decided the West Didsbury of late was an arondissement of Paris but it’s a vibe I am very much enjoying.

Today I went for a run and, after putting it on Strava, I ambled in for a taste. I settled on a double chocolate brownie, jogged back with it in hand and knocked on the house door, hiding my key behind the cake and panting extra loud. It was a bit squashed (my own doing), it took less than a minute and a half to eat (not sure £4 for such a fleeting indulgence is worth it), but I still trotted off to my 11am with a spring in my step.

Kyotoya

Kyotoya is an anomaly on this list for it was founded many moons ago and my housemates laughed and pointed at me when I said I hadn’t been and thought we ought to try it out. At first I thought this unusually cruel-natured of them but, when I sat down to eat and was presented with a big bowl of yaki udon which proved to be scrumptious, I decided sometimes bullying can be good.

It’s a small, family-run restaurant which feels intimate and Japanese despite the fact the logo of Hollywood Burgers and Shakes is projected in a spinning hologram onto the pavement just outside. It’s cash only, but the meal set me back just £7.50 so it feels silly to complain when I left feeling full, and with the sense my food hunt had come to a financially sound close.