Yahoo News 'I tried the viral £14 cheesy chips at Manchester Christmas Markets'
It’s not even midday in the middle of the week and a crowd has already formed outside one of the Christmas Markets stalls on New Cathedral Street.
Just a week ago, the festive event returned to the city centre - taking over nine spots with hundreds of traders selling everything from food and drinks to homewares and jewellery, and even Shepherd’s Pie Yorkshire Puddings.
But there’s one stall in particular that has already gone viral in the few days since setting up their stall - and it involves meat and chips. Or, if you’re fancy, steak frites.
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The La Bavette stall certainly keeps things simple - with just two main choices on offer. You can have a steak sandwich, served on ciabatta with mustard mayo, rocket and crispy onions for £10 or, for the same price, you can go for the steak frites. Both are served with a medium rare, unless requested otherwise, 6 oz Bavette steak.
To go with your choice, you can also add to it any of the following three extras - peppercorn sauce (£2.50), wild garlic butter (£2) or the show-stopping melted Raclette cheese for £4. And that’s exactly what I went for with my steak frites.
To be honest, the £10 price point was a little eye-watering for me to begin with - especially when it comes to a midweek lunch option. But then I stopped to consider how much a similar meal would cost at any of the city’s many steakhouses. At one of my favourite spots Flat Iron, you can get a standard piece of steak for a reasonable £14, so, actually, £10 might be a decent price - as long as it’s good.
As I make my order, I ask a member of staff what exactly Raclette cheese is and what it tastes like - I’m by no means a cheese connoisseur. She tells me the melted cheese, which she explains has a rich and nutty taste to it, is scrapped from the wheel onto the steak and fries. Sounds good enough to me, and it certainly looks impressive from the sidelines.
With the comforting smell of grilled steak wafting through the air around me and the many others waiting patiently for their orders, one person passes and, noting the queues, says in a distinct Manchester accent: “To be fair, it does smell good, you know.” Another, as they give an impressive ‘ooh’ of approval at the melting half-wheel on display, says: “That cheese looks mega.” So far, so good.
On the La Bavette menu, it states that the steak will come medium rare unless asked otherwise. Now, usually, I’d be the one at the table ordering the medium to well-done steak, but I’ve never really been one to want to argue with a chef, so I’m willing to give their recommendations a try here.
With my order ready in just a couple of minutes, the melted cheese has made its way on top of nearly all of my steak whilst is neatly nestled on top of the pile of fries. It looks nice, but, and there is no way around it, it is still essentially a polystyrene tray of cheesy chips with some meat on top.
Pulling a piece of steak from the tray, a layer of the oozy cheese comes with it and leaves a satisfying string of melted goodness in its tracks. Tucking in, it’s delightful with a very pleasant grilled taste to it. The richness of the cheese just adds to proceedings.
Whilst I’m no expert when it comes to steak, I am pretty sure my meat is far from medium rare. Expecting it to have lots of red in the pieces, it was mostly brown and quite well cooked. But, no complaints with this from me here as that’s exactly how I like it and it’s a good quality bit of steak.
The fries are also very good - with a nice crunch to them and no sogginess to be found. The salty taste of the Raclette also makes for a good companion to them too. But, as I continue to savour every bite (and I certainly do), that price point still lingers in my mind.
I can’t see how, realistically, the traders could make it any cheaper without cutting down on quality or portions, but spending £14 on cheesy chips and steak to then have to walk through town carrying it around in a plastic tray doesn’t exactly leave me feeling like I've had a good meal out.
Of course, like I’ve already mentioned, you can - and will - pay much more for a good piece of steak in pretty much any of Manchester’s restaurants - but you do get a different kind of ambience and service that I feel the markets can’t really provide.
And I am also fully aware that the cost of a sausage at the markets is steering closer to £10 nowadays too so my thoughts on value for money aren’t exclusive to this one trader. In fact, it is relevant to the whole experience of the Christmas markets and something which is also impacting the wider hospitality industry too.
I guess I am just perhaps no longer someone who thinks it is a treat having a meal outside in the freezing cold while standing next to a wooden hut.
