In the grey and gritty railways of Manchester’s Green Quarter lies a polished, refined restaurant made for the gluten lovers of the world. Welcome to The Spärrows, a Swabian and Central European-inspired establishment catering to all-things carbs. Co-owned between sake connoisseur, Polish-born Kasia Hitchcock and her husband and executive chef, Franco Concli, The Spärrows opened in 2019 in a small venue near the railway on Mirabel Street and was an instant success, catching the eyes of popular food critic Jay Rayner who praised the restaurant’s sinfully gluttonous menu. “The Spärrows is where I want to eat; the gym is where I repent,” he said. And while the workout is strongly suggested, I do not repent at all. If anything, I boast. That same year, The Spärrows ‘flew’ to its larger Red Bank location, and in March 2023 it received its first Bib Gourmand.
Finding the restaurant can be tricky. The entrance is nothing but a steel door – as industrial as the city – and an unassuming Spärrows sign that you could easily ignore had you never heard of the place. You don’t just walk in either. You ring the doorbell like you’re going to a friend’s for dinner and wait for the staff to welcome and guide you behind the dark curtain that reveals the dining room. And what a dining room it is. The ceilings are high, the tables are intimate and the ambience is cosy-meets-elegant with no lighting except for tiny table lamps to read the menu: a short but glorious list of pastas like gnocchi and pappardelle soaked in the sauce of your choice like butter and sage, classic tomato sauce, chorizo with spinach, bolognese and guanciale and egg yolk.
If you don’t mistakenly make audible noises of pleasure mid-fork, then I don’t think you know what pleasure is
However, what you really want – what you need – is the spätzle. Sexy, sexy spätzle, an egg-based pasta that got its name for resembling a flock of sparrows once it cooks and flutters to the top of the boiling pot. And while it might seem like you have the perception of choice, the only sauce you order with this is ‘Käse’, a brilliant, creamy mix of braised onion and 10+ month Emmental. It’s rich and cheesy without overpowering the actual pasta, and it’s one of the best dishes I’ve had while exploring the culinary scene of the UK. If you don’t mistakenly make audible noises of pleasure mid-fork, then I don’t think you know what pleasure is.
Order the salted focaccia to mop up the leftover saucy bits. If possible, visit on St. Patrick’s Day and the chef might have tweaked the recipe to bake a Guinness-infused focaccia instead, and it is heaven. If you visit on any of the other 364 days, I suggest removing some of the bread’s extra salt as I found it oversalted.
Want dough in a different format? There are also dumplings. Precious Polish pierogi and Russian-style pelmeni that can be made meaty, vegan or vegetarian. The pierogi with potato and cottage cheese are particularly divine and served with sour cream (as if these plump little pockets aren’t rich enough).
Pierogi with potato and cottage cheese
Spätzle with käse
“Daz’s Wife’s brownie”
On the back of the menu, the wine and spirit list offers an array of reds and whites from across Europe, but I strongly suggest the Austrian and Polish wines that are less commonly found like the 2022 L’Opera Triads or the 2020 Pitnauer Rubin Carnutum Zweigelt Austria, both dark, bold and beautiful. For lighter-feeling spirits, but stronger kicks, try the sake flights.
There are also more common plates like a burrata with wild garlic pesto and speck, smoked fish and cheese boards. But then the menu whiplashes you back to central Europe with goulash tyrolese, a heavy, slow-cooked beef stew with knopfle (spätzle’s smaller, Swiss sister) and pickles, or a hefty smoked sausage with braised onion, pickles and sauerkraut – a risk for a first date that I’d be more than thrilled to take.
For desserts, there’s cream-infused panna cotta, tiramisu and a cinnamon and brown sugar spätzle that was very tempting, but by that point, you might be pasta’d out. I went for the first on the list: Daz’s Wife’s Brownie. Who is this ‘Daz’? He’s Kasia’s postman, and he is a very lucky man to go home to a partner that makes what must be one of the top-selling sweets on the menu, and one of the most perfect brownies ever: a little crisp on the outside, a little gooey on the inside, and decadent all over, served with a side of cream. You don’t really need it, but who cares? The Spärrows is all about excess and indulgence.
Apart from some of the alcohol, nothing on the menu exceeds £25 – something to be thankful for as I’m sure the owners could easily charge double. Lest we forget that pasta – no matter how extravagant – comes from humble roots, and humble are the staff who run this restaurant, from its location to its cost. Hitchcock, Concli and current head chef Tara Sharma Prasad have created magic where it was not expected to be found, whether on the plate or under the railways, but I’d follow The Spärrows wherever they choose to soar.
16 Red Bank
Cheetham Hill
Manchester
M4 4HF
October 2025
