Great quality, independent suburban cafes, bars and restaurants seem to be popping up every month at the moment. Local people are showing a lot of support for smaller hospitality businesses who really care about their customers, their suppliers and their food and drink offering.
If you need the works, try their full breakfast with excellent Lancashire smoked bacon…
Take Gray’s Larder in Chorlton, who will celebrate their first birthday this month. This local, modern British bistro is co-owned by three female friends and colleagues: Sam Fraser (mainly front of house), Anna Fysh (mainly in the kitchen) and Jo Bayes (mainly involved in a spreadsheet.) When they opened originally, they assumed that the demand would be 50/50 for a neighbourhood bar which served nice food. One year later, they’re thrilled that bookings for their delicious seasonal menu have increased so much, they’ve now decided to open for brunch on weekends.
From 10am-2pm on Saturdays and Sundays, diners can now pop in to enjoy a hearty late breakfast (or early lunch) to set them up for the day. The team have been busy trialling and sampling many dishes and ingredients. Gray’s Larder proudly supports local businesses, farms and suppliers, so you can be certain that uses only the best of what they’ve found. Their bacon and sausages come from Grass Roots, a family butcher and farm shop (known as Roaming Rooster) based in Lancashire, who came out top in the Gray’s Larder taste test, thanks to their grass fed and free range meat. Bread is supplied by Ludo, based nearby on Beech road.
No-one wants a difficult decision on a weekend morning – especially if they’re feeling a little fragile, so Gray’s has kept their brunch menu simple. If you need the works, try their full breakfast with excellent Lancashire smoked bacon, sausage, a giant mushroom, grilled tomatoes, toast and fried eggs (£8.) If your body is craving a good dose of Omega 3, we recommend you go for smoked salmon with runny golden scrambled egg and buttered seeded toast (£7.50).
Vegetarians are guaranteed an excellent morning feed with poached eggs served on a homemade Cheddar scone, with Tabasco-spiked tomatoes and sliced avocado (£7). The freshly made cheese scones are also gluten free, and can be found in another hearty brunch dish, topped with smoked crispy bacon, flat mushrooms and scrambled eggs (£7.25)
That’s pretty much it for the brunch menu, but what more could you need? Well apart from lots of tea and coffee obviously and Gray’s Larder have chosen Manchester’s Heart and Graft roaster as their excellent coffee supplier. There is also a range of fresh juices on offer and if you ask nicely, they’ll even mix you a nice and spicy Bloody Mary to blow any cobwebs away.
