I have no wish to offend Muslim bothers & sisters, but whilst waiting for your Miami order I recommend nipping round the corner to “Sun in September”. This is probably the most beautiful pub building in Manchester. A pair of mid-nineteenth century houses (well regarded by that architectural influencer Nikolaus Pevsner) converted into a fine Sam Smith’s boozer. I hope you made the discovery Jack.
Hey Phil, that sounds like a great rec! Tragically neither me nor Jack stumbled across it on our reporting trips, but know where to go post-burger next time.
Apr 29, 2023Liked by Jack Dulhanty, Sophie Atkinson
Top quality article in Jack’s signature style. For me, it’s these articles that will stick in my mind for a very long time, and I can almost taste a chicken burger. Hope you got to taste rest them - the article would have been worth the wait(s)!
Apr 29, 2023·edited Apr 29, 2023Liked by Jack Dulhanty
A great article but I have an awful pedantic foodie nitpick, sorry:
"The original sauce had a soft curry flavour and a mild spice to it — think Katsu"
This is ambiguous because katsu has no spice. Katsu is a plain, fried cutlet, borrowed from Victorian English cuisine. "Katsu sauce" is a Japanese version of HP Sauce, such as Bulldog Sauce. "Katsu curry" is cutlets with a clone of English curry sauce.
Japan got cutlets from the UK, and then a little later got curry from the UK too, as part of building their navy: as the world's best navy ate curry, Japan's military decided its sailors should also eat curry. Because they were both Western food, cutlets are sometimes combined with a curry sauce, but most katsu are not eaten with curry sauce. British people have started using "katsu" and "katsu sauce" to describe, ironically, old fashioned English chip shop curry - it's cool if people think it's Japanese.
There's even a hashtag on Twitter for nitpicking this - #katsucurrypolice
Chicken heartburn in a bun doesn't inspire me at all. There are many thousands of people with Middle Eastern or North African roots within the city so can we have an article please that truly celebrates diversity of cuisine especially veggie and vegan options as well as of people. Manchester City centre is stuffed with bad chain restaurants leavened only by a few high priced trendy establishments pitched at verydeep pockets so a good food revolution here is long overdue !
Hey, thanks for taking the time to comment. That's a good point about covering a greater diversity of cuisine, will take that into account and try and do better in the future. But to be fair on us, we chose to cover this simply because it's an incredible story - obviously quite important when it comes to deciding which stories to take on and not.
My friend often passes Miami Crispy and was telling me how and she couldn't understand what was going on in there. It was weird to have queues night and day at an ordinary chicken shop. It never occurred to us it could be the quality of its food - nationally acclaimed for it's brilliance!
Great article. Knew nothing about this subject, so now suitably equipped to search out the best spicy chicken burger. And I will take a sleeping bag, just in case!
Wow, I've lived here my entire adult life and had no idea that this was a uniquely Manchester thing. I thought all chicken shops were just knock-off KFCs.
Disappointing - not a single reference to the insane litter problems local residents have to endure from the likes of Miami Crispy with Zero accountability from the owners
Hey John, that's really interesting - obviously we only have a limited amount of time to report each story, so we're not able to cover every single aspect of a story (we also didn't uncover this in reporting - I suppose in an ideal world, we'd have knocked on the doors of houses near the takeaway to check on the impact, but there wasn't time). That does sound frustrating though.
And an interesting contrast to the early days of McDonald’s, when Ray Kroc was an absolute fanatic for cleanliness. He was known to patrol blocks around McDonald’s restaurants, and to give the franchisees a stern dressing down if he found so much as the bag from a portion of fries.
Or the rat problem it has caused People are complaining to the environmental office it’s not the Miami crisp shop itself it’s the people who buy this chicken.
They come from far and. Wide for a piece of chicken then throw their rubbish and leftover food in the streets .All the money they are taken g they could pay someone to do a clean up after each shift I have had 5 rats in my garden .
Tbh I have spoken to people who don’t rate this food anyway but believe what they see on tick tock
I was just thinking about where does everyone eat there burgers!? Lots of takeaway litter is dumped around withington by car drivers who park up and then chuck the remains straight out the window!
They come from Birmingham , Burnley and from what a taxi driver told me far and wide .what they do they sit in the cars after the long drive or journey
They then stuff their faces because they are that hungry then just chuck out of the car windows same as those on foot.
Hey Brenda, sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this piece. But as Josh suggests below, I don't think the main focus of the article is curry sauce - we were trying to capture the excitement of an industry which is being exported beyond Manchester, and to tell that story through the people involved.
Oh I know, but I couldn’t see beyond the greed, and the silliness of people to follow a fad - the food cannot be good quality at such a low price. But you can’t please everyone.
not sure if you will see this, but there might be an interesting follow up story to this one. Miami Crispy have opened a place in Chorlton, without getting approval from the council who have stepped in and shut them down for 56 days. Apparently there’s been a lot of parking trouble with customers blocking people in, parking across corners, bike lanes, double yellow lines etc. parking wardens are loving it! Definitely a bit of a culture clash thing going down. Might be worth looking into!
I used to live five minutes walk from here - exciting to see it is such a destination these days. I'll have to re-visit sometime soon, haven't been back for over 25 years :). I remember the Kansas Fried Chicken shops well - they were a frequent part of my teenage/youth years ... cheaper than KFC or a full kebab but equally satisfying. They also spent years getting incredibly close to looking like an actual KFC but I guess just managed to dodge the trademark police. Amazing to think they spawned all of this. I had no idea it was a Manchester-only phenomenon!
I have no wish to offend Muslim bothers & sisters, but whilst waiting for your Miami order I recommend nipping round the corner to “Sun in September”. This is probably the most beautiful pub building in Manchester. A pair of mid-nineteenth century houses (well regarded by that architectural influencer Nikolaus Pevsner) converted into a fine Sam Smith’s boozer. I hope you made the discovery Jack.
Hey Phil, that sounds like a great rec! Tragically neither me nor Jack stumbled across it on our reporting trips, but know where to go post-burger next time.
I used to live in a flat over the shops next to the Sun, so was a regular haunt. Good memories
Top quality article in Jack’s signature style. For me, it’s these articles that will stick in my mind for a very long time, and I can almost taste a chicken burger. Hope you got to taste rest them - the article would have been worth the wait(s)!
Thanks so much for reading! Glad you enjoyed.
A great article but I have an awful pedantic foodie nitpick, sorry:
"The original sauce had a soft curry flavour and a mild spice to it — think Katsu"
This is ambiguous because katsu has no spice. Katsu is a plain, fried cutlet, borrowed from Victorian English cuisine. "Katsu sauce" is a Japanese version of HP Sauce, such as Bulldog Sauce. "Katsu curry" is cutlets with a clone of English curry sauce.
Japan got cutlets from the UK, and then a little later got curry from the UK too, as part of building their navy: as the world's best navy ate curry, Japan's military decided its sailors should also eat curry. Because they were both Western food, cutlets are sometimes combined with a curry sauce, but most katsu are not eaten with curry sauce. British people have started using "katsu" and "katsu sauce" to describe, ironically, old fashioned English chip shop curry - it's cool if people think it's Japanese.
There's even a hashtag on Twitter for nitpicking this - #katsucurrypolice
I welcome all food pedantry Pete, so thanks for this!
Chicken heartburn in a bun doesn't inspire me at all. There are many thousands of people with Middle Eastern or North African roots within the city so can we have an article please that truly celebrates diversity of cuisine especially veggie and vegan options as well as of people. Manchester City centre is stuffed with bad chain restaurants leavened only by a few high priced trendy establishments pitched at verydeep pockets so a good food revolution here is long overdue !
Hey, thanks for taking the time to comment. That's a good point about covering a greater diversity of cuisine, will take that into account and try and do better in the future. But to be fair on us, we chose to cover this simply because it's an incredible story - obviously quite important when it comes to deciding which stories to take on and not.
My friend often passes Miami Crispy and was telling me how and she couldn't understand what was going on in there. It was weird to have queues night and day at an ordinary chicken shop. It never occurred to us it could be the quality of its food - nationally acclaimed for it's brilliance!
Loved this story what a great Saturday read. I know where I'm heading off to today now lol
Thanks Jack! I hope it lived up to expectations ha.
Great article. Knew nothing about this subject, so now suitably equipped to search out the best spicy chicken burger. And I will take a sleeping bag, just in case!
Thanks for reading Bill! Much appreciated.
As usual Jack, a joy to read, interesting, informative and well written. I’m off to get a spicy chicken burger now!
Cheers Chris!
Wow, I've lived here my entire adult life and had no idea that this was a uniquely Manchester thing. I thought all chicken shops were just knock-off KFCs.
Yeah it's crazy. Had an email over the weekend of a place in Ilford that's just cropped up selling "Manchester's most famous burger". Mental.
Disappointing - not a single reference to the insane litter problems local residents have to endure from the likes of Miami Crispy with Zero accountability from the owners
Hey John, that's really interesting - obviously we only have a limited amount of time to report each story, so we're not able to cover every single aspect of a story (we also didn't uncover this in reporting - I suppose in an ideal world, we'd have knocked on the doors of houses near the takeaway to check on the impact, but there wasn't time). That does sound frustrating though.
And an interesting contrast to the early days of McDonald’s, when Ray Kroc was an absolute fanatic for cleanliness. He was known to patrol blocks around McDonald’s restaurants, and to give the franchisees a stern dressing down if he found so much as the bag from a portion of fries.
Fascinating, never heard about this. It's like Rudy Giuliani's broken window policy...but for fast food!
You will find the litter from Miami Crisp as far as fog lane park on Parr’s Wood Rd
Burnage lane .Even the seagulls come for a feast at 3.45 in the morning.
There is an elderly gentleman who goes out early hours picking litter up with a stick
They don’t care get the money and now they are supposed to be extending on lane end road
Or the rat problem it has caused People are complaining to the environmental office it’s not the Miami crisp shop itself it’s the people who buy this chicken.
They come from far and. Wide for a piece of chicken then throw their rubbish and leftover food in the streets .All the money they are taken g they could pay someone to do a clean up after each shift I have had 5 rats in my garden .
Tbh I have spoken to people who don’t rate this food anyway but believe what they see on tick tock
I was just thinking about where does everyone eat there burgers!? Lots of takeaway litter is dumped around withington by car drivers who park up and then chuck the remains straight out the window!
Local Councillors are well aware of the issue but appear either unwilling or powerless to do anything about it
They come from Birmingham , Burnley and from what a taxi driver told me far and wide .what they do they sit in the cars after the long drive or journey
They then stuff their faces because they are that hungry then just chuck out of the car windows same as those on foot.
A meal for under £5 - the animal welfare must be horrendous. An article about curry sauce? Bizarre.
I thought that too Brenda.
Thanks for commenting Anne, it's always useful to get feedback even when it's negative. I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this one.
It was the animal welfare aspect Sophie, re cheap chicken, rather than the 'bizarre' comment that I was referring to.
Like most good articles, surely it’s about people and the way they behave - not just the sauce…
Obviously biased here, but I'd second this. Feel like decent journalism is always told through people, not topics.
Hey Brenda, sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this piece. But as Josh suggests below, I don't think the main focus of the article is curry sauce - we were trying to capture the excitement of an industry which is being exported beyond Manchester, and to tell that story through the people involved.
Oh I know, but I couldn’t see beyond the greed, and the silliness of people to follow a fad - the food cannot be good quality at such a low price. But you can’t please everyone.
A meal for under a fiver? I could make a dinner for 4 for a fiver!
#facepalm
Hi Jack,
not sure if you will see this, but there might be an interesting follow up story to this one. Miami Crispy have opened a place in Chorlton, without getting approval from the council who have stepped in and shut them down for 56 days. Apparently there’s been a lot of parking trouble with customers blocking people in, parking across corners, bike lanes, double yellow lines etc. parking wardens are loving it! Definitely a bit of a culture clash thing going down. Might be worth looking into!
Mark
I used to live five minutes walk from here - exciting to see it is such a destination these days. I'll have to re-visit sometime soon, haven't been back for over 25 years :). I remember the Kansas Fried Chicken shops well - they were a frequent part of my teenage/youth years ... cheaper than KFC or a full kebab but equally satisfying. They also spent years getting incredibly close to looking like an actual KFC but I guess just managed to dodge the trademark police. Amazing to think they spawned all of this. I had no idea it was a Manchester-only phenomenon!