Rustica

Great sandwich value for money n very friendly atmosphere made to feel like we’ve known them for years

I’ve been working in NQ for nearly two months now and lunch has always been harder than you might think.
To start with I was quite extravagant, spending a tenner on burgers, artisan pies and the like — after spending my wages I started to bring in my own rabbit food salad *sad face… But that was until I tried Rustica!
I’d ways walked past and thought hmmm, not for me — what a fool I was. First of all Theres a great atmosphere in the shop; Motown playing, the girls chatty and friendly and a nice selection of pasta and hot/​cold sandwiches.
I plumped for the chicken club, it was warm, tasty and filling — everything you want from lunch, and only £3.35 — stuff your tesco meal deals!
Don’t let the functional layout stop you trying the best place for a cheap, quality bite to eat in the NQ!

A cute little sandwich shop I had the pleasure of visiting after a meeting in NQ recently. Mancunian to its core, I highly recommend you buy one of their fresh handmade sandwiches and take a short walk to Piccadilly gardens for a little picnic this summer. A cheap alternative to sitting in at one of the many other establishments in the same vicinity.

This is confusing. Okay, so there’s a Rustica at the bottom of the Renaissance Hotel near Deansgate. And there’s a Rustica sandwich shop in the Northern Quarter. But which is better? There’s only one way to… no, it’s too painful, I can’t do this again until Harry Hill is back on the box. EVER.
Meanwhile. Another thing that depresses the heck out of me alongside the fact that Harry won’t be gracing our Saturday nights is that my beloved Merv’s cruelly disappeared from Deansgate. Where now do I go to obtain the sandwiches I want to get a room with, huh? Rustica. That’s where. Rustica is the only sandwich shop that could possibly replace Merv’s in my heart and it just happens to have a few benefits too. Rustica is beloved by so many across the Northern Quarter, and it makes proper sandwiches. It gets its bread from Barbakan and it has all kinds of ingredients so you can have your sarnie bespoke, or you can take one from the menu. Everything’s made fresh, and it’s fast become an early morning go-​to for a bacon or sausage bap now that Chris and I live right around the corner. Fact: We grabbed one before we declared our intention to marry opposite the Town Hall. We really did!
The queue snakes outside of Rustica from noon here, proving that lunch here is the finest hour of the day. And not only is it fine, it’s cheap too. Where else could you get a lunch cheaper than a single packet sandwich elsewhere or your own packed lunch, huh? With fresh, juicy, crisp ingredients and great breads, and the option to build your own as well as a range of fabulous combinations, Rustica is a great Northern Quarter find, and one of the few places that’s open before 10−11am!

yumyumyum! Great sandwich — I had the Milano: chicken, bacon, pesto, garlic mayo — heated and very tasty, and they have tea for something like 60p! The girls behind the counter are lovely! And good fun. They knew everyone who came in and judging on my sambo, I can imagine why, you’d just have to come back to try out more of their tasty treats! I’ll have to go at least once more and try another one before I can safely give it 5 stars but they’re kind of at 4.5 as it is in my mind. Also, looking forward to giving their cheap-​as-​chips breakfasts a go. And then there’s the baked potato… c*

One of the best sandwich places to go where you will be served by REAL people who run an independent small business. It holds an array of sandwiches, fillings, pasta’s, baked potatos, salads, soups, everything you could possibly ask for on a lunch break or if you have a late breakfast!

Rustica is perhaps the perfect sandwich shop: Big enough to stock a wide array of fillings, breads and sides but small enough that you can’t stay all day and get fat.
I’d recommend a simple breakfast barm with bacon, the coronation chicken sandwich or a cream cheese and salmon bagel. Aside from sandwiches the place does offer other meals like pasta bakes and baked potatoes, but really the reason Rustica is so popular is that they make great sandwiches.
The only let down that I’ve found are the hot drinks. I had a burnt hot chocolate there which wasn’t especially chocolatey and was far, far too hot. If you’re looking for a sandwich, Rustica is the place. If you fancy a coffee pop into Grindsmith or Teacup on Thomas Street which are just a stone’s throw away.

Rustica. My god. Never have I been so honoured by such a small sandwich maker. I was first introduced to rustica by a friend, now come every lunchtime if I’m within the 3 mile radius of rustica I endeavour to go in. A very small little kitchen with a counter it is on unlucky times brim to overflowing with folk desperate to eat one of them. By them of course I mean the sandwiches. It doesn’t matter what you have its all made with look and affection.
But if you really want something that fell from heaven there is one award winning bad boy the milano. On a granary bap it is filled with… prepare yourself chicken, bacon, pesto, parmesan, mayonnaise and salad (this you can pick from the buckets of iceberg and sweetcorn bits etc). This is the single greatest sandwich I’ve ever eaten.
The only time I don’t have one is when the hour dictates its breakfast then I have a breakfast bin lid (a huge bap stuffed full of a big breakfast).

The thing about Rustica is not just that Jen does an amazing bacon butty (fresh sliced tomatoes, white bread) for me every Saturday morning. Or that they do fab sandwiches at prices cheaper than your packed lunch. No the thing I love about Rustica is the queue. It’s a sign that it’s loved, of course, but, more importantly, it shows that the Northern Quarter is a brilliant community full of people from all walks of life. At lunchtime you’ve got builders, DJs, artists, musicians, office girls, shop owners and designers all shouting out their orders and providing a brilliant update as to what’s going on n the area. Coupled with the huge number of flyers I can think of nowhere better in the city to get good, affordable food whilst finding out exactly who’s doing what and where.
Mr. Rags loves it.