Eat

Can’t get enough of their tom yum noodle soup… with extra chili. Well done, chain eatery.
And I agree, this location is lovely looking and located in the higher end area of town. Well better than eating in the Arndale (where there are TWO Eats).

I like their food so much. On my way to work, if I had enough prêt, I usually stop to these guys to buy something. Their soup is really nice so I recommend it to you all. The place is clean, all the time, no exception, the staff is really friendly and chatty which of course if a bonus. I love being treated nice just before I’m about to eat. Well, I like to be treated nice in general, but especially in those moments.
Anyway, they don’t have amazing salads I must say. Probably some people like them, but I don’t. I am not a fan of salads anyway, I need something to keep me going for the day. But yeah, good food, nice environment. Everybody is chilled, and around 2 pm, all the office people from deansgate are usually there, easting something. If not, you always see at least someone carrying a bag from Eat.

I’ve reviwed Eat before and this one is no less! It is as Emma puts it, ‘a lunch time perfection!’
This place is bursting with its busy queues with all the people trying to get a bite out of this delicious place! This one at Spinningfields could be classified as comparatively quieter, but still busy.
Reasonable pricing and great spot to sit and chat away and bite away, if you are lucky enough, that is!

I’ve got to say I disagree. For me Eat is right in the middle of the pre-​packed sandwich market. One can do worse, but one can certainly do better.
Its closest counterpart in the pre-​packed sandwich shop world is Prêt a Manger. They’re going for the same market; yummy mums, young professionals, and people who work in the city with too much money to spend on lunch.
The sandwiches are posh, with prawns called ‘crayfish’ and ‘rocket’ prefixed with ‘wild’. They are pretty tasty but too small for a growing lad like myself. If I only ate sandwiches this size, I’d probably stop growing.
SO… what you’ve all been waiting for. The pre-​packaged (chain only, as one can certainly find better than all these) sandwich shop top 5…
1. Marks & Spencer’s
2. Sainsbury’s
3. Eat
4. Pret a Manger
5. Tesco
The best pre-​packaged sandwiches in Manchester though, for the record, are without a shadow of a doubt those of Katsouris Deli on Deansgate.

Now why on earth would I review Eat? Everyone knows Eat is lunchtime perfection, with soups to go crazy over and remarkably tasty sandwiches. But the Spinningfields location feels a lot more rustic and homely than other Eats I’ve visited, odd for one that’s located in the shiny metallic rat race of the business district.
You must remember, this Eat is bursting at lunchtimes. The queues snake out of the place, and it’s definitely the eatery of choice for the office crowd… I haven’t seen the same queues at Pret or any of the restaurants for example. What’s lovely about this branch is the board on the wall that tells you, clearly enough to see from the outside, exactly which pies and soups are available for the day. Often seasonally themed and different every day, it’s testament to the fact that this is a chain that does fresh and interesting as opposed to homogenised and flaccid.
Reasonably priced and in a great spot, get there before the lunchtime rush if you have the chance as everything will go in the blink of an eye, and definitely get in for breakfast at some point for the hot bacon butties and porridge which are just splendid, especially on a chilly morning.