Wythenshawe in South Manchester isn't really known as a gastronomic destination. The majority of restaurants listed for the area are take-aways and cafes, all of which I'm sure are great in their own regards, but they're all pretty similar.
This is why I like The Met Stop Diner. Someone decided to take a vacant space in Wythenshawe's town centre Civic Centre shopping precinct and build an American themed diner. Something different! A new angle!
When you walk in, it's nice to see that they haven't half-baked it, they've gone for the full classic American diner interior, with red, white and chrome seating, condiment baskets, and a big mural of the New York skyline on one wall.
The menu does try to cater for multiple tastes, with some classic English cafe classics such as the Full English Breakfast, but they have a good selection of American breakfasts too, as well as hot dogs, burgers, deli style sandwiches, and a few house specialities.
My favourite part of England meets America was that on the tables there was one of those little silver ice cream dishes, which we came to realise were specifically for putting your tea bag in after taking it out of your tea! WHY DON'T MORE PLACES DO THIS?! This is such a simple idea, but I've only seen The Met Stop Diner do it so far, and they're American themed!
There were three of us on this day, and we were all ready for breakfast, and so chose the American pancake stack, the Full English Breakfast, and the American Breakfast, as well as three mugs of tea. The tea came out first which was good as we all needed a brew, but as the breakfasts were cooked fresh to order, we'd drunk our tea by the time our food came out. A pot of tea might be a better idea, but it's not very American!
The Full English was a standard cafe breakfast to be honest, but still decent homely stuff. The American breakfast was so substantial that it couldn't be finished, but it was agreed that the pancakes were great, as they were also on the stack of pancakes. Very enjoyable indeed.
We'll definitely pop in again when we're next in the area, as the rest of the menu looks great too! The only thing I would suggest is reprinting the menus (as they were looking a bit dog-eared), and checking the spellings (Chicago, not "Chicargo"!), but if that's really the only thing I can find to suggest as an improvement, you're definitely doing something right, Met Stop! See you again soon!
The Met Stop Diner
Hale Top House
Hale Top
Wythenshawe Civic Centre
Manchester
M22 5RB
(0161) 425 0660
Dogs n' Dough. That's what they serve. Hot dogs and pizza. And to be honest I've been meaning to give them a try for quite a while but only tended to remember about them when I walk past their neon lights directing them down Bow Lane, near St Peter's Square in Manchester City Centre, but it's usually not when I'm looking for food. This time I made a point of finally going to visit.
I like that at night it feels a bit secretive being down a little side street, then down into a basement restaurant. Inside feels reflective of being outside at night too, with theatrical lighting, neon signs, and dark wooden furniture. One thing about the decor I particularly liked was the cartoon drawing all over of various hot dogs. When I asked the staff about these, they apparently originate with a guy who travelled all around the USA trying the speciality hot dogs, then drawing them as posters. What a job! It's a good talking point and unique as a decoration, I'll say that much!
The atmosphere is friendly and cosy, people laughing and chatting whilst trying bits of each others pizzas and hotdogs. The menu has great tongue-in-cheek names for their offered dishes, and in the drinks menu I was happy to see that there was a large selection of soft drinks available for those of us who don't drink, including imported US sodas that aren't easy to come by here. It's so nice to find somewhere doing soft drinks other than the standard Coke/Fanta/Sprite fountain guns. We chose a root beer and a Dr Pepper Cherry Vanilla (although a Pepsi Cherry Vanilla came out, we didn't realise until afterwards because it was still pretty damn tasty). You're also given a bottle of water per table so you can enjoy your drinks rather than feeling you've rushed them due to thirst.
Staff were friendly and enthusiastic, as well as knowledgeable of their product and environment. We were told how things were served, the types of pizza, hot dog sausage types etc, and when we decided to order some fries to share instead of a starter, the guy serving us observed this and told us that if we wanted to share the hot dogs that we'd ordered, they could be cut in half in the kitchen so we could easier share. That's a nice idea for couples and friends, I like it. I was very much considering the mac bites as a starter, but thought it best not to overfill before the main!
We ordered the Kiev Fries, which were cheese, garlic butter, and herb crumb. Very tasty, and genuinely did taste like chicken kiev which gave me a giggle.
We both took ages to decide what to have for our main, and instead of pizza we decided to go for the hot dogs. I ordered Cheesus Christ Superstar (heh) which was three cheese and caramelised red onion chutney. I was a bit surprised that the cheeses in question were melted slices of cheese rather than a sauce or grated cheese, but it worked, although I think a bigger serving of the caramelised red onion chutney would be better to balance out the cheese with the sweet. My partner ordered The Cowboy, which was house chilli, nacho cheese, crispy bacon, jalapeños and sour cream. He tells me that although it was very tasty, and the beef frank was great in flavour, it could perhaps have done with a little extra chilli.
However, we were both impressed, and it certainly didn't come close to breaking the bank. So for good quality hot dogs in a pleasant atmosphere for pretty damn good value, definitely give these guys a visit!
We will definitely be returning to try the other hot dogs, the starters, the pizza menu, maybe some of the drinks and th...in fact... well.. lets just say we'll definitely be going back!
Dogs N' Dough
17 Bow Lane
Manchester
(0161) 834 3996
http://www.dogsndough.com/
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