Mule

On the edge of Ancoats’ buzzing Cutting Room Square, Mule’s vibe is distinctly smart European, with its enviable teak chairs and tiny open kitchen. The bar groans with pastries displayed like pinchos in Barcelona or San Sebastian, while the brunch menu echoes such sentiments with chorizo hash and home fries, poached eggs with n’duja and huevos rancheros with slow-fried eggs. Make things grown up with their house mimosa; extra-dry prosecco topped off with pineapple nectar, or a zingy pink grapefruit mojito.

Address: Mule, 13 Blosson Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5AF
Telephone: None
Website: mulecoffee.co.uk

Trove

Trove has a decade of delivering first-rate sourdough and patisserie to the city via its bakery arm, and in more recent years through its cafes in Ancoats, Levenshulme and Marble Street, where it is setting stone-cold standards for brunch. For the carnivores, the unctuous sausage ragu with poached eggs and courgette and cultured cream is the stuff of dreams. For a Scandic vibe, the mackerel, cucumber and preserved lemon is fabulously light and refreshing, while the French toast takes on eastern flavours with dukkah and labneh. And it’s all delivered in effortlessly handsome surroundings. It’s a wrench not to stay all day.

Addresses: Trove, 5 Murray Street, Ancoats, Manchester, M4 6HS; 1032-1034 Stockport Rd, Levenshulme, Manchester, M19 3WX; 17 Marble Street, Manchester M2 3AW
Telephone: +44161 432 7184
Website: trovefoods.co.uk

Idle Hands

Idle Hands takes its coffee extraordinarily seriously, priding itself on a rotating coterie of like-minded roasters supplying the caffeine, from Cardiff’s small batch outfit Hard Lines to Deptford’s Elsewhere. The food’s not to shabby either. Situated in a handsome slab of a former Victorian textile warehouse, there’s Turkish eggs, ubiquitous ‘cowboy beans’ (slow-stewed beans which are available with almost everything on the menu), a solid fry up, and a hash brown stack. There’s also never a shortage of handmade desert pies, and the excellent Beatnikz Republic craft brewery is quite literally next door too. Bonus.

Address: Idle Hands, Dale House, 35 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 2HF
Telephone: None
Website: idlehandscoffee.com