NEW OPENING: The Old Trafford spot serving up churros, whipped gelato and charcoal barbecue meat

Old Trafford’s latest opening, Whipp ‘n’ Charcoal & Churros, is offering the eclectic mix of Caribbean-Indian fusion barbecue, Italian gelato and homemade Spanish churros.

Those of you who have frequented the Old Trafford area might be familiar with an establishment called Marsei’s – opening in a makeshift shipping container in late 2019, Marsei’s became a firm favourite among locals for it’s Caribbean-Indian fusion offerings, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was one of the only restaurants still operating as a ‘grab and go’ in the area.

Marsei’s founder and owner Deiago has always been an avid lover of food, a passion that has reflected in his career choices. Over the years, he has worked as a chef in a number of different kitchens across Manchester, such as Almost Famous, Gusto and The Ivy.

However, after finding himself becoming disheartened by the lack of fresh food being cooked and served in larger establishments, Deiago pushed himself to open and run his very own kitchen, vowing to ‘always cook everything we offer from scratch on that day.’

Speaking with Proper Manchester, Deiago explained that it wasn’t until his partner was nearing the end of her pregnancy with their son that the opportunity arose to open his own restaurant.

He said: “People have always mentioned that I need to open my own place up so, when the opportunity presented itself at the end of 2019, I just thought that when my little boy is born, I’d love to be working in my own place so he can grow up watching his dad grafting away.

“I had the money put together at the time so I decided to take a leap of faith and go for it. We decided that our little boy would be called Marsei before his birth, so I decided to name the shop after him because, at the end of the day, he was who I was doing it all for.”

Every day, Deiago and his team would prepare their food from the ground up, with absolutely nothing pre-cooked being served. He added: “A team of three or four of us was just smashing it out every single day, making fresh food for people to come and take away.”

Things couldn’t have been going better for Marsei’s and business was booming – but at the start of this year, a new opportunity presented itself in the form of two suntanned friends returning from a trip to Spain with a craving for churros.

Deiago explained: “At the start of this year, two friends of mine proposed the idea of opening up a dessert shop. They came up with the concept after a trip to Spain and experiencing churros. At the time, they thought, ‘we don’t have this back in Manchester.’

“So we decided to collaborate and one thing led to another… We threw a lot of money into revamping the business, and we eventually renamed the shop Whipp ‘n’ Charcoal and Churros.”

The era of Marsei’s was officially brought to a close, though elements of the original restaurant remain in their new venture; Whipp ‘n’ Charcoal and Churros’ menu includes charcoal cooked punjabi and tandoori chicken, Caribbean jerk, and the East Coast chilli chicken, all made from scratch and in house. Guests will be able to build their own ‘Charcoal meals’, choosing their own sauces, marinades and sides.

And as for the dessert offering?

Well, it says it on the tin: Whipp ‘n’ Charcoal & Churros maintains a strong focus on churros, with Deiago even investing in a churro maker to make his own from scratch. All the sauces to accompany the churros are also made fresh in house.

A menu highlight is definitely the looped churro; vanilla whipped gelato with a churro pressed in the top covered in fresh milk chocolate sauce, topped with nibbed roasted peanuts and sherbert.

The churros can be filled with either a white chocolate sauce or a milk chocolate sauce (Deiago assured me that a fruit coulis is in the works). Traditional churros without a filling are also up for grabs and, instead of being accompanied with a sauce, are simply sprinkled with a little sugar and cinnamon.

There will also be the option to buy a luxury churro box, which comes with four looped churros each flavoured differently such as Lotus Biscoff, chocolate and nut, white chocolate sprinkle, and sherbet.

But it’s their gelato that steals the show – made using ingredients imported directly from Italy, the gelato is put through a whipping machine to be transformed into their signature whipped gelato – a posh Italian Mr. Whippy, if you will.

Whipp ‘n’ Charcoal & Churros & will be operating as a fully plastic-free ‘grab and go,’ but Deiago is hopeful for it to become a sit down restaurant at some point in the near future.

There are also ambitious plans for the food, too. He explained: “We’re hoping to expand to do world barbecue, such as Korean barbecue, so when guests come to choose their flavour, we’ll have a number of world barbecue options for them to choose from.”

Whipp ‘n’ Charcoal & Churros can be found down Kings Road at Old Trafford and will be officially opening next week on Wednesday, September 1st.

To stay posted on menu updates and news, follow their official Instagram page here, and to place an order, give them a call at 0161 641 9042.