A national critic has heaped praise on an Greater Manchester restaurant in a glowing review published over the festive period.
The Mail on Sunday’s food critic, Tom Parker Bowles, raved about the city centre spot hidden away under railways arches. He paid a visit to The Sparrows, which is known for its hearty European spätzle and dumplings.
Nestled away in the Green Quarter, the much-loved restaurant originally opened on Mirabel Street in early 2019 before expanding to a unit under railway arches in the Red Bank near Victoria station. While the modern, central European restaurant might be a little off the beaten path it has become a popular haunt for both locals and national food critics.
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Offering a variety of European delicacies, the restaurant was launched by Polish-born Kasia Hitchcock, a sake specialist, and her partner, chef Franco Concli from Italy. The restaurant takes its name from one of it’s house specialities, Spätzle, which translates as ‘sparrow’, a type of European dumpling popular in South Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Dishes at The Sparrows in Manchester
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Writing about his recent visit to the restaurant, which serves up everything from Russian pelimeni to Italian gnocchi, Parker Bowls – the son of Queen Camilla – was enamoured with The Sparrows, describing it as ‘serving comfort food of the highest calibre’.
The food critic, who has authored seven cookbooks and, in 2010, won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award, is also known for his appearances as a judge on several television show, alongside his reviews of restaurants, which have appeared in publications including GQ, Esquire, and The Mail on Sunday.
His latest review starts by painting a rather appealing image of stepping into the dining spot on a bitterly cold night and plunging ‘headfirst into the warmest, most hospitable of embraces’. And despite the ‘industrial-steel décor’, the national critic says The Sparrows has an ‘atmosphere so thick and sweet you could slather it on toast’.
The Sparrows in Manchester
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Once acquainted with his surroundings, he prepared to tuck into ‘the sort of food that makes you happy to be alive’. Highlights for Parker Bowles included the spätzle that are made fresh every day. Eaten smothered in Emmental cheese and ‘silken’, slow-braised onions, which he describes as ‘quietly elegant and splendidly hearty’, the Swabian noodles proved a big hit.
“Dear god they’re good, plump and pouting, but light too, with just the right amount of bite,” he wrote of the spätzle.
Other dishes classed as ‘comfort of the highest calibre’ and described as ‘high-altitude, Middle-European paean to stodge, fat and unabashed delight’, include a ‘fragrant’ beef goulash and a smoked sausage, the latter he found to be, ‘all snap, smoke and succulence lolling across a great white mountain of crisp, sharp sauerkraut’.
Fondue featured in his review too, and The Sparrows didn’t disappoint here either. Seriously, who can ever resist a fondue?” he mused.
Dishes at The Sparrows in Manchester
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“This one is made with a classically boozy and oozing mix of Gruyère and Swiss Vacherin. At its side, cubes of focaccia (slightly stale, as is right and proper), small new potatoes and endless rounds of pickle.”
Washed back with pints of 1936 Pilsner and a bottle of crisp Swiss white wine, Parker Bowles also found the service ‘sublime’, while being tucked away in the Manchester restaurant meant ‘the cares of the outside world seem a long way off’.
Posting about being featured in the paper, The Sparrows team also took to social media this morning (January 7) to celebrate the glowing write-up. “What a regal appreciation to crown the end of the last year’s hard work and endless efforts to bring warm embrace of spätzle love by The Spärrows team,” they wrote on Instagram.
“We are very grateful for Tom’s Parker Bowles delicious inspiration to welcome 2025 with even greater energy and ongoing dedication to our guests comforts as well as pride in our European hospitality elevated by almost 6 years in Manchester.”
In good news for hungry Mancunians wanting to enjoy some European spätzle and pasta, the restaurant also informed customers that they’re back open today. This week they’ll also be introducing a Friday lunch sitting.
The Sparrows, 16 Red Bank , Manchester, United Kingdom M4 4HF