Almost Famous, Manchester

Let me just start this review by saying I was massively hung over/Still drunk when I visited place, because I didn’t get to be till about 6:30am after going to the Warehouse project  on Trafford wharf road in Manchester.

With one massive hangover I headed into Manchester city centre and ended up queueing outside a nondescript door in the Northern quarter which houses Almost Famous one of the best burger joints in Northern England. Once the queue had reached about 30 people a bouncer appeared and ushered up the stairs. This place has been around for about 2 years now I think and you can expect to queue most days to get in, but trust me it’s worth it. I’d stand in a line for half an hour to eat here any day.

I’ll be honest I cant remember to much about what the place looked like, I think I was still some way off being declared sober. I do remember it was light airy and pretty simple and that the bar was cool, that’s about it for the venue I’m afraid. I suffered pretty bad tunnel vision once the food arrived.

So the food. It’s not cheap and it’s not expensive, I ordered the DD burger and a flashy imported beer (Cos I’m a lad and drinking is cool) and shared some chili cheese fries with a friend and I don’t think it was much more than £10? (Once again I can’t remember, sorry).

The Food was absolutely bloody amazing. Possibly because every knows deep fried food taste 10x better when your hanging or possibly because it just was bloody amazing!! I think it’s the latter. The burger was great, 2 smallish patties combined to give just the right amount of beef loads of cheese fried onions and a toasted shiny brioche bun Yummmmmmm. The beef must be decent quality because it was beautifully flavoured and let’s not forget the all important burger sauce.

My mate ordered the Triple Nom burger which is 2 patties and pulled pork, I can’t comment on what it tasted like but he seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, he went back again the week after if that says anything.

The chilli cheese fries were the highlight for me though. A mixture of sweet and normal potato fries, topped with chilli, cheese, jalapeños and fresh red onion. They were huge and bloody awesome. The chilli was full of flavour and refreshing red onion helped cut through some of the grease, I say “some” its all pretty greasy. The fries had managed to stay crisp underneath all the stodge which speaks volumes for the speed of the service, Fries would go soggy in about 60 seconds with chilli con carne on top, you do the maths. The fries had been tossed in some type of seasoning so no added salt was required and I love salt. It was all just too much for my little hung over heart to handle I had to have a nap after to recover, before unsuccessfully trying to persuade my friends to come back again on an evening.

I was blown away by this place, I heard it was good and when my friend suggested going to “this awesome burger place” I was quite surprised he’d even heard of it but the cats been let out of the proverbial bag along time ago in Manchester and deservedly so.

MESSY, TASTY, HONEST FOOD. Don’t let people put you off by saying its gimmicky or pretentious to have a bouncer for a restaurant, its just totes amazeballs.
The people behind almost famous have recently opened up there latest business venture “Luck, Lust, Liquor & Burn” serving Mexican dishes. I haven’t been here yet but initial reviews sound good, if Almost Famous is anything to go by it’s probably a knock out.

9/10

100 High St
Northern Quarter
Manchester

http://almostfamousburgers.com/