Bread and Butter

Address: Tib Street, Manchester M4 1LG

Carrot Cake Cupcake: £1.50 ish

Guinness Cake: £1.50 ish

Diet Coke: £1 ish

Latte: £1.80

Panini: £4.20 in or £3.20 out

After Teacup had snaffled a good portion of our change, my friend Jess and I went on a hunt for cake that we could afford.  I'd heard of a café on Tib Street, near Rags to Bitches and with low expectations we hunted it down.  Immediately recognisable from its pink frontage, Bread and Butter looks like yet another tweeshop appealing to the middle-class indie set.  If you go inside and ignore the hipster clientèle, you'll be in for a reasonably price but unreasonably delicious treat.

As a Manc, the first thing I noticed was how normal and northern the staff are.  The interior may be artistically shabby, but the cakes and deli counter show you that good honest food is the name of the game here.  A huge slab of Guinness cake (chocolate cake containing Guinness to "bring the flavours out, according to the owner) was quickly plonked in front of me, a dense triangle of moist chocolate with a slight hint of beer and topped with a thick flower of cream.  The carrot cake cupcake was similarly tasty, with a thick layer of cream cheese icing and all the flavours of a normal-sized carrot cake.  Other cakes lined the window - large scones, strawberry cake topped with an inch of creamy icing and giant strawberries, a pear and banana concoction that needs to be tasted.  The drinks, like the cakes, were normal prices - a latte cost £1.80, while the cakes are all around the £1.50 mark for giant slices.  Around us, cool kids munched on chunky soups, mezze plates, and paninis crammed with fillings.  The small room was packed but didn't feel crowded, and the service was attentive but not overbearing.

Bread and Butter should be on every cake-loving Manc's list of places to munch.  Any disappointed Teacup-goers should go round the corner to Bread and Butter instead.  Better food, better drinks, better prices.