Credit: Sofia Guerrero @ The Mancunion
Entrepreneur Georgia Copp-Barton and Chef Daniel Mullen (of Diecast and Ramona fame) introduce Flakey — a new Manchester café situated in Ancoats General Store. A new café in Manchester is probably not a thought that excites the majority of people. With a seemingly endless array of upmarket coffee shops with mediocre coffees and even more mediocre pastries already here and growing in numbers, why should you care? Flakey, however, is genuinely trying, and succeeding, at something completely new.
When you walk up to the coffee stand, which is comprised of two counters in a general store, nothing that really jumps out at you. That is until you see the food.
Flakey’s unique selling point is in its unique croissants, and with one look at the Sticky BC, with its creamy vanilla Basque cheesecake filling and generous coverage of Biscoff sauce and crumbs, you can tell that this idea is far from half-baked.
A key test of this new coffee stand was, unsurprisingly, the coffee: the flat white exceeded my expectations, and it was clear that despite this focus on food they haven’t let the quality of the coffee drop. I also sampled the strawberry shortcake iced latte, which I had the option of trying with espresso or matcha. I tasted the latter and found it to be very solid, not having the bitter taste or lumpy texture which can be found in lesser Manchester matchas.
Credit: Sofia Guerrero @ The Mancunion
Speaking to the barista, I learnt he had been working at various cafes for 15 years, and it showed that he was selected for this new opening because of his passion for making coffee. In fact, the thing I appreciated most about Flakey was the sense of genuine enthusiasm and excitement everyone seemed to have about the project. Speaking to Georgia, she was adamant that this was ‘not a gimmick’ and that they have faith in the concept. With genuine ingredients that work well together put before whatever will grab the most attention from customers – the food really does the talking.
The croissants were superb, the eponymous flaky texture was fantastic, avoiding the all too often encountered pitfall of being too doughy and dry. The flavour struck a great balance between savoury and sweet with a clearly large amount of butter doing the heavy lifting. It did err more on the side of savoury, which worked to its strengths, making it perfectly sweet for the savoury options, and yet not too sweet to carry some of the richer ingredients on the menu, such as in the aforementioned Sticky BC. The selection of croissants was also quite diverse, with both vegetarian and halal options – and the savoury croissants were particularly impressive.
I first sampled the New Yorker, composed of a sauerkraut and Russian dressing base, topped with tender pastrami, Emmental, and sharp gruyere; whilst the Russian dressing was a little rich and overpowering for me, the meat and other components made it a relatively satisfying option. However, it was definitely the weakest of the three that I tried, and at £10 was probably not a recommendation I would give if you were unsure about the sound of it.
The next option I sampled was ‘The Hot Comfort Hero’, similarly containing Emmental and Gruyere topped with smoky strips of crispy bacon. This was an improvement on the first, with better balanced flavours and more believable as something I would want to eat on the way to work – which seems to be the particular angle of this business. The croissant worked particularly well with the bacon which was high quality and cooked for not a second too long. The gruyere and Emmental also worked better this time, eliminating any hints of dryness.
The real hero of the menu, however, was ‘The Italian’, adorned with caponata, burrata, and rocket. The caponata, which made up the main flavour profile of the croissant, had been rested overnight, allowing all the tangy, sweet flavours to meet and mix with each other. The burrata helped to moderate the sharpness from the caponata and the sweetness from the croissant, creating one of the most succulent options on the menu.
Credit: Sofia Guerrero @ The Mancunion
Flakey has promise, and what they offer is unique, with some of the finest croissants I’ve ever tried. However, the elephant in the room cannot be ignored is the price.
A croissant and a coffee will set you back almost £20. For something that is designed to be eaten on the go (and which can only be eaten on the go considering the lack of seating in the café), the price seems unreasonable – and the same amount of money can get you much further around Manchester.
For croissant and bakery fanatic this is absolutely a must visit, but for everyone else it is perhaps better as a once in a while treat.
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