North Star Piccadilly

One of the best milky hot chocolate’s I have had in the city center for a while, was to busy enjoying it to take a picture, maybe next time. I like the hot pink chairs in this place, it is small in here but friendly and the service is excellent.

A very nice little café — pink chairs! — close to Piccadilly station. It was quiet with lots of table space.
The staff were very friendly and I really really liked the delicious crayfish that topped my jacket potato. Also had a nice lemongrass and peppermint tea, they have a range of very appealing options. I like they have lots of good options beyond sandwiches, next time I will try a salad box — healthy too!
Probably this is just because I am slightly special, but I found the humming of the fridge really noisy when I was reading. Luckily I now have noise cancelling headphones so I can stop making ridiculous comments like this.
WAIT
Right after I posted this I saw Mark D’s comments about the fridge noise IT IS NOT JUST ME. Take your headphones!

I had an afternoon in here meeting a colleague up from work and we also held an interview and it was a nice setting. Great coffee an I also had a soup and sandwich meal for lunch. I really liked the setting and the décor. The only thing I noticed was the noise of the fridge while we were holding the interview, but this wouldn’t have normally bothered me at all.

Northstar have two ventures, this café and a very popular Deli in Chorlton. For me this place wins, which is showing by its growing patronage. All the food is made fresh on the day by the girls who work there, who take considerable time to come up with awesome specials and really cater to their crowd. They have a few truly passionate barristas and some great ideas for your lunch. It’s a quiet vibe usually but around 12 – 2 can be hammered these days! Free WiFi, lots of working lunches, a great place for casual meetings. They cater for a lot of events, doing afternoon tea for large groups, or much bigger food events such as art fares in Spinning Fields! I recommend this place for lunch, but be prepared to pay, it’s definitely not cheap! For me, it’s worth the money. Businesses can do much worse for lunch meetings with a decent quality /​value aspect.

I really like North Star Piccadilly, but unfortunately I’m either one of the few who knows about this great place or I just go at very quiet periods of their operation.
Based next to Tech hub and very close to Piccadilly station, North Star is a nice little oasis in the middle of derelict and recently converted warehouses and probably soon to be luxury apartments or hipster bars.
I found the girl serving us to be very pleasant, the flat whites were excellent and I had a toasted teacake that really hit the spot.
Lots of open space and room to work from or catch up with friends, I’d recommend you visiting North Star if you’re looking for tranquility and a bit of brightness against the Manchester rain.
Free wifi and water too

So I’ve kind of got a thing for matcha lattes.
It started a couple of years back when I was working for a major tea conglomerate, and we got taken for tastings of new teas they were introducing to the high street. Matcha was one of them, and I immediately fell in love with the taste, look, and bizarre method used to prepare it (you use a special whisk to mix the fine matcha powder into water or milk). When it comes to matcha lattes, I’m not sure if it’s the sweet creamy taste, the fact that it is so good for you, or just that they are so hard to come by, but I find myself doing a little dance when I find a place that offers them.
North Star Piccadilly is one such place. Perched just behind Piccadilly train station on the edges of the Northern Quarter, you’d be forgiven for missing this city centre gem.
Similar to the Chortlon branch, North Star Piccadilly offers a delicious selection of pies, sandwiches, salads, cooked breakfasts and cakes, alongside some well selected teas and coffee. They also have a deli/​boutique which stocks all manner of fancy food items like infused oils, chocolate pasta and posh plonk.
I’ve stopped by for a pie with Emma Lou before, and we both left smiling with our tummies full of cheesy deliciousness. They do lovely fresh food to have in or take away, which makes them a perfect place to grab something before jumping on a long train journey. I’d recommend one of their salad boxes if you have cash to splash — these are around £6, but I’d say they’re worth it for a fresh, well balanced meal. So next time you’re on your way to the station, avoid the sandwich crush at Sainsburys (why they put their grab-​and-​go in that pokey corner I will never understand) and pick up your lunch at North Star. They do matcha lattes too…

It’s so close to where I’m marrying the top dude in my life. How can I not love it? I’ve eaten at North Star Piccadilly twice now, and while I’ve yet to sample something from the exciting-​sounding breakfast menu I’ve been mightily impressed. Let me tell you for why. First of all, when you think of the Northern Quarter, you think of A LOT of places that are awesome. When you think of Piccadilly, you might be a bit… ‘meh? Oh there’s that place that does the all-​day breakfasts and kebabs near the station that’s been there for EVAR. Or there’s the place that can’t decide whether it wants to be a jacket potato place or a Central Perk or a Fatso’s.’
Well, you’re wrong. Walk along Dale Street towards the Ancoats part of this end and you’ll not be disappointed. Between this and Fresh Bar, things are really starting to heat up. If they can just fill in the gaps between here and vivID and Islington Wharf, life is going to be sweet on my side of Manchester! Anyways, this is always my go-​to when I’m bringing a lovely friend back from the station now. One, because I get to show off the wedding venue, and two, because its ace. Like its much bigger brother in Chorlton, this little sister (I’m being totes sexist as Chorlton’s North Star décor is blue while this one is pink) offers up some quality nosh. There doesn’t seem to be as much emphasis on the cakes as in the South Manc branch, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Still, I was eyeing up the blondies like some kind of blondie equivalent of your average crack addict. I wanna quit the gym.
I’ve had the caramelised onion and pastrami sandwich on rye, and it’s epic. Yummy, toasted, plentiful side salad, great flavours. I’ve also had the coronation chicken salad served atop couscous and that bad boy defeated me. These portions are pretty huge, and so fresh! Row and I shared the soup when we sandwiched and they very kindly divided a portion into two bowls… but considering these bowls were full-​sized, I think they actually gave us a portion each for the price of one. Lovelies.
The deli prices can be quite steep but to be fair I know what the mark-up’s like on these things, folks have to make their pennies. The smoothies and juices come from a machine, so you’ve only two choices, but they still taste ruddy lovely.
Definitely one for repeat visits, and for when I’m feeling lazy breakfast-​wise!

The city centre branch of the popular Chorlton deli, this place has a reasonable range of interesting coffee beans, etc, and several seats with a hot food menu, making it popular with the lunch-​time crowd.
To me a deli stands or falls, though, by its sandwiches. And here? Well, they’re OK — nothing special particularly, but not bad either. Not too expensive, but not cheap.
I suspect this place would be more interesting at breakfast time, going from the menu.
The staff are friendly and welcoming.