Barbakan is an excellent deli, with some astonishingly low prices (a large and sumptuous looking…read morepork pie was less than £3). There's lots to look at and a nice outdoor eating area where on Saturday morning they were cooking up several varieties of sausage, plus lamb burger. I had a delicious bratwurst and was particularly delighted by the wide range of condiments. Excited already for my next visit!

Fresh bagels w cream cheese and gherkins Norlander rye bread…read morewith caraway seeds Margarita olive bread Sunblush tomatoes Creamy Goats cheese Gooey Taleggio Pecorrino Kalamata olives Seranno ham Smoked salmon Potato salad Fresh coffee & Traditional Polish cheesecake In a word: YuMMMMMMMy.

The food here was delicious! From the moment you walk into Katsouris Deli, you know you are in for…read morea treat! The air is heavy with yummy food smells and really gets you excited for what's to come! The restaurant was quite busy when we arrived. The ordering system here is a little chaotic from an American standpoint. You place an order at the register, but at first it seemed hard to tell where that line began. Once we got that all sorted out, we grabbed a table and waited for our food. I got strumpets and my husband had the English Breakfast. I loved my meal and had a few nibbles off my husband's plate and everything was legit good! The sausage is made in house and the food was excellent quality. Katsouris is located in a bustling part of the city and had great people watching too! I would love to return here in my next trip to Manchester to try more of their fare.

Careful this place will make you wonder why you paid so much more elsewhere…read more But let's start with the beginning. And the best advice I can give you is "take your time". There are so many food options and variations. Even when the counter is free to order don't jump on it. Make sure you understand all menu options first. That said I ordered - half a "German" Frikadellen sandwich - half an Eastern chicken sandwich - a small (regular fries) and a coffee latte. It all came down to £14.50 (including the extra tax you pay while eating in) a steal! Let's address the Elefant in the room first: a German guy ordering a German Frikadellen sandwich and he is about to review it. A Frikadelle is a meatball patty The specialty is it is made with egg and onions. Let me tell you it is nothing about this sandwich being German. lol. It's Just a regular meat patty. In general, that is fine, but why would you mark it as a German Frikadelle. so please don't get food. This is not original. It is still a tasty sandwich though. The chicken sandwich has a delicious tzatziki coming with it which is Jo sauce with garlic and dill sometimes onions which in this case has not. Did chicken meat stove was tasty but a little bit on the dry side which is surprising for a deli that is as busy as this one. Overall, both sandwiches were very dry they were missing a sauce taste Wise both of them have been good I ordered Health sent juice so that I can try both but what came was a real sandwich so I got two full sandwiches. Please be aware if you are just a little bit hungry don't order more than one sandwich. They are very generous. The fries have been VERY crispy. I like mine well done but that was even a bit hard for me. They have a very tasty seasoning (like a good crisp/chip with paprika) and I ordered the regular-sized portion I am so happy I did cause I would have not been able to eat it all (even when they would have been perfectly cooked). Would I order again yes I would now know what I know I can easily adjust and ask them to give me more sources or anything to make it a little bit Juicy. Of course, I cannot ask them for chicken not to be dry but it was still tasty. In the end, it was a huge meal and I suggest starting small you can always go a second time. Prices are Hands down surprisingly low. I will have to take down one point for marketing products as "German" and then not even being close to the original. And a second one for the sandwiches being dry and so have been the chicken. Three stars easily can get to four - even five when they make the sandwich differently or make a Frikadelle.

Well, whaddya know? Didsbury pulls it off again. This time with a wonderful little deli on Lawping…read moreLane. If there's one thing that gets me excited, it's a well-stocked deli counter of cheeses, meats, olives, pates and pickles from around the globe. Well, Fusion goes one step further, offering a marvellous array of conserves, condiments, drinks, cakes and last but not least, breads. In fact it's the bakery here that I'm particulary taken by; you can get local organic breads, flavoured ciabatta, Polish rye, cheesecakes, french fruit tarts, fudge cakes, mousse cakes...the list goes on and on! Did I mention the selection of 50 teas and fresh coffee beans? No? Come on! What more convincing do you need!

Fusion Deli may very well be the best delicatessen in the foodie paradise of West Didsbury, which…read moreis really quite an accolade! This is a generously-sized store (owner-managed, I would think) full of lovingly sourced speciality produce, lush sandwiches, mezze boxes, speciality breads and cakes - see Angela B's review for more - a huge display fridge runs the length of the store. As with near neighbours Inman's and West Didsbury in general, the vibe and customer service is super-nice and helpful in an unpressured way, with plenty of space for your average free-range human being to move around. Not tried them, but I take this as a barometer of where Fusion Deli want to be - they sell Garcia's corn chips, which come in blue and white corn varieties. That's a premium organic brand, and probably as good a bag of tortilla chips as you can buy in Manchester if you are trying to raise your Mexican cooking to the next level. I'm not local to the 'burb, and I'm not a big deli shopper as I have other more convenient places to buy my dry goods and get them home, such as the Suma truck. But if you are a foodie living in West Didsbury, I would suggest popping in from time-to-time for some goodies, and especially the senior staff here are bound to have some useful foodie advice on how to pull meals together. West Didsbury is great as there is so much on offer within the crossing roads of Lapwing Lane and Burton Road. For example, you could pick up a magazine at Inman's, deli shop at Fusion, enjoy a soup-sandwich-chips lunch deal at Greens. (See my photos of Greens deal boards under their entry.) All on foot, and still be done within an hour and a half. Or any of a hundred and one other fab permutations.

Due to my own laziness, I hadn't gone food shopping and as I was working from home one day decided…read moreto wander down to Delicia for some lunch as I'd never tried their wares since moving here. Though their deli is pretty small, they do offer a decent range of sandwich fillings, New York-style bagels, jacket potatoes, salads and I'm sure I even saw 'burgers' written on the chalkboard - I'll need to go back and confirm that. Opting for a chicken and bacon Vienna with salad (plus a hearty-looking flapjack) I got to chatting to the owner who said they'd been there about seven years - so I took that as meaning they must be decent, otherwise they wouldn't get the regular custom. Though it looks like an odd location to be based, adjacent to one of the busiest main roads in south Manchester with little parking, there are a fair few workplaces and office workers in the vicinity. Now that I know they're good (the sandwich was really fresh and tasty), I'll be one of their returning customers for sure - it's a great excuse to work from home more often ;)

Cold food and even colder service, complete with a scowl. Upon ordering a 'sunnyside up' egg, the…read morefront desk responded with "the options are fried scrambled or poached"- proceeding to give me a cold, solid and dry fried egg, which was returned, much to the ridicule of the kitchen staff, who then told me "sunny side to us means flipped".... I don't think so. Has potential, but needs a service over-haul with an education on the basics. But decent coffee.

Confession: I love good delis. I absolutely can't get enough of them. Local produce, unique…read morepreserves, unusual store-cupboard stand-bys to peruse, but more than that, the best delis are the ones where you can both browse and munch. And North Star really lives up to its name by being a great spot not only to mooch around the shelves but to have a hunk of cake, a great cup of coffee and hone in on some of the most reliable wifi I've had the joy of experiencing. I popped in here with my mum before a quick trip to Khawaja Brothers and Morrison's, and boy were we glad we did. Slabs of amazing homemade cake, incredible salads of puy lentils, Mediterranean veg, sundried tomatoes, big wedges of vegetarian lasagne, giant salmon fishcakes... the choices here are endless. And all served with a warm smile and with the option of kick-ass coffee and Teapigs tea. Yes, they had me at Teapigs tea. And amazing greetings cards, randomly. The decor is really relaxing, the outside space plentiful, and despite being on one of the busies roads in South Manchester and near a petrol station it manages to maintain an ambience of calm. We indulged in the banana and coconut cake and Victoria sponge, and both were mindblowing. The coconut icing on the banana cake should be sold by the spoonful and the Victoria sandwich had fresh strawberries in the buttercream topping and utterly delicious jam in the middle. Oh and the cake dough didn't even harbour a hint of dryness. The prices are reasonable too, and that wifi I mentioned didn't falter once - even while I was outside on the patio. This is one star worthy of handprints in cement. It can even wear sunglasses indoors if it wishes. Basically in my book, it's so cool that it can do no wrong.

This place really took me by surprise. It's on the main road, attached to a Morrisons store and is…read moresupposed to be an authentic Italian deli...my expectations were not too high but I have got to say that this place is great and the people of Whitefield are lucky to have such a great deli on their doorstep. They have freshly baked bread, Italian meats, cheese, homemade icecream, olive oil, cream cakes and more. We stopped by for a small bite to eat, which turned into a big bite to eat and we will definitely be back. In particular, I would recommend the fresh bread from here and also the icecream (although not together), the quality of the bread and icecream is exceptionally high.

When you think of Italy, a shop unit adjacent to Morrison's on Bury Old Road is probably not what…read moresprings to mind. Don't be misled though - Roma is authentically Italian in every way. It's a triple act here - shop, cafe and takeaway. The shop sells all manner of Italian foods - pasta and Roma's home made pasta sauces, rice, polenta, pannetone, home made ice cream, sausages, charcuterie, antipasti... you name it, it's here. Then there's the take out - home made pizzas etc. (we went for a take out salami calzone which was amazing) and desserts. The desert I went for was something with an Italian name which I could barely pronounce so I'm hardly going to try and spell it now, but suffice it to say it was an amazing blend of meringue, amaretti biscuits and Nutella. We didn't sample the cafe but it was doing brisk business on a Saturday lunchtime and lots of the people were clearly regulars. The standout feature of our visit had to be the staff. Even though we were only getting a very small order, they incredibly attentive - taking time to explain the options, asking how we wanted things packing, offering to tweak the temperature of the calzone better to our suiting.

Very impressed with this little Deli and hat tip to JQ for suggesting it!…read more As I was wondering through Heaton Moor I liked the place more and more and it was epitomised by my afternoon spent at Pokusevski's! While there I had a couple of coffees, nice tasting and good value and also a delicious chicken club with a side of chips. The club was made and chips tasty to boot - though I think that was the most unhealthy thing on the menu as lots of wholesome and healthy dishes were coming out of the kitchen! Pokusevski's provided the perfect spot to spend a few hours working away on our laptops (free wifi) and enjoying some great food & drink! Another lovely spot in Heaton Moor and a nice escape from the city!

A really great little cafe/deli situated on the station end of Heaton Moor and somewhere I'd walked…read morepast several times before eventually stepping through the door. I stopped in for lunch with a few friends and was really impressed by the Mediterranean heavy menu which included several interesting salads, paninis, sandwiches, daily changing quiches and several types of platters. I went for the halloumi salad with olives and roasted peppers which was delicious and very generous with the amount of cheese. In fact everyone's lunches looked very impressive, particularly my friend's platter which I was massively jealous of when it arrived, being full of several of my favourite things including prosciutto, olives, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella and what looked to be an entire ciabatta loaf - I definitely know what I'm ordering next time! Unbeknown to me prior to my visit is that in addition to the main cafe area there is a good sized courtyard at the rear which is perfect for a warm summer's day as it's a real sun trap. We sat out here and it almost felt like we could have been on holiday - almost! As well as the café they also do a large takeaway menu and have a deli counter of meats, cheeses, olives etc as well as freshly baked bread (delicious bagels) and posh cupboard items.

Oh, ever-optimistic Manchester. I love how you'll boldly hold a picnic in the middle of August…read moredespite the clouds looking increasingly angry and the breeze getting somewhat nippier these past few weeks. But this isn't just any picnic. This is The Manchester Picnic. Let the rain wash over us, for we are Mancs, we always carry a cagoule. It's actually been illegal not to do so since the Gallagher brothers first came to power. Imagine my surprise when I turned towards The Triangle and saw our very own Manchester Wheel and the surrounding Wellington and Sinclair's pubs bustling with multicoloured bunting, noise, rides and... *backs away suspiciously* CHILDREN?!? Then I actually walked INTO the shopping centre itself and was greeted with the ambient, if a little lounge/bar-esque sounds of a jazz pianist doing a few pleasant cover songs while people sat at makeshift wooden benches and on picnic rugs indoors. Marvellous, really. There was action all over the city from Castlefield to Cathedral Gardens (and even a Twitnic organised via Twitter on the Sunday in Spinningfields), but perhaps the most impressive spot was Piccadilly Gardens. It was like a festival without the bands. Stall upon stall of food, the air thick with Bratwurst (which I was paranoid about having cling to my hair as I was off out later that evening, then again I was en route to meet the film buff, he loves a good sausage), and so many cuisines to choose from. Healthy soups, burgers, wraps... I wandered through, eyes gorging on the visual deliciousness, and stopped upon the Hey Little Cupcake stall. I'm such a girl. To be fair, I've been stalking these guys fervently since their ad for their pop-up shop in Spinningfields right next to Pure Gym (talk about location location location, that's GENIUS) and I have it on good authority that the selection of cupcakes I chose to take to the film buff's Blog Birthday went down a treat the following day. I'll be over to their new shop later this week to check out the treats for myself. In the meantime, long live this fab new Mancunian piece of local flavour. Ensure you're in town for the next Manchester Picnic, and hey, it certainly bridges the gap between those wintery Food and Drink festivals!

The Manchester Picnic is back!…read more So, a few times in the year, Piccadilly Gardens becomes a nice place to be. The huge bonus is that it's currently sunny - extra points for Manchester! The Manchester Picnic is an array of food stalls and local vendors, some of which will change over the 3 days, and a range of entertainment. Today, the vendors included Castro, El Kantina, Martins Bakery, and Nandos (what?) - others that I don't remember the name of were a Tibetan van, Thai food and very popular sushi offerings. Everything smelt amazing, the smoke was flying, and it was busy busy busy. I went for El Kantina today; the service was slower than I could personally bear, with only one woman actually serving and the other just standing and smiling, but we got there eventually. And what did we get to? Pig Candy. And yes, this was my lunch. Pig Candy consisted of 2 small pancakes, topped with candied bacon and cinnamon dust, with a side of cheese sauce. I'm all for mixing salty and sweet, and this combination bought my American days flooding back. It's not for the faint hearted - I have a sweet tooth, but I'm desperately craving something salty now! Treats for the office consisted of a brownie and two smartie & choc chip cookies from Martins, who seem to trade frequently at The Lowry food market, and who I would buy again from in a heartbeat. The brownie was an instant hit, squidgy and sticky to the roof of your mouth, and the cookies have a real depth of flavour. At 3 for £3, it's not to be sniffed at! I'm planning on visiting again this weekend in order to soak up the atmosphere while Manchester is on form!