Sugar Junction

The other weekend, my wonderful friends Fi and Hannah were in Manchester for a limited time only - the afternoon to be precise. They were keen to go for a spot of ladies' lunch and I knew I had to think of somewhere cute.

Having heard excellent things from many sources about Sugar Junction, I had been looking for an excuse to go to this place for ages, and here it was.

We rocked up at lunchtime on a Saturday and I was surprised to see the place was chockablock after having thought to myself moments earlier how quiet Manchester city centre seemed that afternoon. Obviously everyone was indoors enjoying delicious tea and cakes.

So of course the first thing you notice about Sugar Junction is that it isn't only vintage it is actually achingly vintage - with every corner adorned with lovely little old fashioned details. Right up my street of course but would probably annoy the hell out of someone like my friend Steven Doyle.

We pulled up a pew in the corner which actually had the same sofa and armchairs that we used to have in our uni rental house in second year which was a nice trip down memory lane for us. Actually at the time we hated that darned furniture but it looked dead sweet in cosy Sugar Junction.

For drinks, Fi and I both had teas and Han had a mocha. I went for the Chai Tea which I had never tried before and I absolutely loved it and have since bought myself a box. Fi had her usual Earl Grey which she said was really strong even when she asked for some more hot water and didn't actually like it. It was all presented to us in pretty china anyway which of course made us feel even more ladylike than we already are.

For food I knew I had to go for the Macaroni Cheese as I had heard everyone on Twitter banging on about it and it lived up to expectations. I loved the presentation in a gorgeous heart-shaped dish and it tasted lovely - perfectly cooked pasta, super cheesy, amazing crunchy texture of the topping and a great call to have the option of a tomato on top which I of course went for.

Fiona ordered from the specials board - Baked Fennel and Mackerel Salad and she said she loved it. The bit I tried was really delicious.

Hannah went for the Warm Roasted Root Vegetable Salad which Hannah said was nice but I thought it didn't look as good as ours. I did try one of her sweet potatoes and thought it was nicely cooked. Everything was very filling which meant we didn't have space for a slice of cake unfortunately!

We were very happy with our Sugar Junction experience and thought the atmosphere of the place was fabulous. The waitresses were very lovely and seemed like they hadn't a care in the world and weren't rushing around like waitresses normally were and they stopped to have a nice chat with us.

I will definitely be taking Bailey to Sugar Junction so he can try it out for himself, in fact I reckon we should try an afternoon tea sometime. Nice food, lovely place and friendly staff - a great place to spend a relaxed Saturday afternoon.