Monday lunchtime might be one of the least inspiring time periods of the working week. Many people’s go-to - a fridge-cold meal deal - isn’t exactly going to set the world alight.
It ticks a box, fills you up until teatime, but is essentially just a means to an end. Apologies to all major supermarkets, but it’s the truth.
The task then is to find somewhere that brings a little joy to the start of your week, but without breaking the bank.
There’s plenty of sandwich shops and bakeries doing the standard fare but if you want something that will really wake up the taste buds, then let me suggest somewhere that perfected the grab-and-go lunch many years ago.
On the edge of Chinatown you’ll find Wong Wong Bakery, a family run shop that has been turning out some of the best baked goods in Manchester for over 20 years.
Established in 2003 by the family who previously ran The Great Wall restaurant on Faulkner Street, their bakery is a Princess Street staple.
Through its stone archway you’ll see a steady stream of customers coming and going throughout the day, filling up tiny gold shopping baskets with a dizzying array of traditional buns, moon cakes and perfectly assembled occasion bakes.
It’s a slick operation that’s clearly been honed over the years, and the choice is frankly overwhelming - but in a good way.
You could easily visit every day for a week and still have something totally different to the day before - and at the price of the aforementioned meal deal.
It is their range of glistening buns in a variety of sweet and savoury options that has become their calling card though.
A gateway into the world of Wong Wong Bakery, it’s the first thing you see as you navigate your way around the shop.
Row after row of caramel-coloured buns, some busting at the seams with brightly coloured cream in shades ranging from lavender to lime green can be picked up and boast flavours of coconut and pandan to red bean and matcha.
There’s the super sweet pineapple bun that boasts a golden cracked outer shell, the black sesame bun which folds in on itself and the plump cake sandwich with lashing of cream.
As you head to the till you’ll see where the magic happens. Behind a glass partition, which boasts a small hatch for passing through cakes and bakes, you’ll see bakers creating their famous buns, carefully decorating tiered cakes and putting the finishing touches on their best-loved creations.
If the selection of traditional buns wasn’t enough, by the till there’s red bean balls. Sweet winter melon pasties, walnut cookies, and my personal favourite, mini egg tarts (£1.20 each) boasting a fluorescent yellow custard.
It was one of three things I picked out during a visit earlier this week, along with its legendary char sui bun, and bubble tea.
Slightly frazzled I took my goods to the till and forgot that they only take cash or bank transfers. This place is used to it though, and quickly pointed me towards a laminated card with the businesses bank details.
You can tell this is a regular occurrence here as two other women and I craned our necks over the sheet, jabbing our fingers into our online banking apps as our food was withheld until the server checked the payment had gone through.
Handily, there’s a microwave next to the till where you can heat up your buns and instructions on how to operate it, but I was so hungry on this occasion that I just ripped into the plastic bag between myself and the pillowy soft roasted pork bun and immediately devoured it.
The brioche-style roll (£2.40) is one of the most affordable on-the-go lunches that I can recommend, and if you’re in a rush like I often am, it can be deftly crammed into one hand as you walk along the street while using your other hand to send emails or, as I did sip on a brown sugar bubble tea (£4.50).
Manchester’s appetite for bubble tea has boomed in the last few years, and over the road there’s two shops dedicated to the popular Taiwanese export - but Wong Wong have been selling it for years.
It’s made by blending tea with milk, fruit, and fruit juices, then adding tapioca pearls and shaking vigorously.
My kryptonite. I really don’t want to know about how bad it is for me, how much sugar is in it, or whether it's appropriate to consume such a large amount of liquid in one sitting without a public toilet in close proximity.
All I know is that I wish I had tried Wong Wong’s bubble tea earlier. They have more than 20 on the menu including one called Eight Treasures Milk, which looks like different shades of plasticine mushed together, which I will definitely be trying next time.
So intoxicating was the trio of treats that I found myself back at the bakery a few days later. This time I wanted to linger a little longer and plonked myself down at an empty table.
I promised myself I would actually digest my food this time and get off my phone (bar taking images), to watch the ebb and flow of the shop in real time.
Over the course of twenty minutes as I tucked into a different savoury bun, this time a ham and cheese bun (£2.40) with a thick layer of melted cheese atop, I watched as people from every walk of life came by the shop.
Office workers loaded up their basket with a range of buns, school kids perused the list of bubble teas and couples debated a slice of cake or splashing out for the whole thing.
For me, it was just the slice, a delicately cut wedge of matcha cream cake (£3.30) and cup of Chinese Tea (£1.50). Light as a feather, the sponge was moist and featured a slightly bitter matcha taste offset by the sweetness of cream filing.
A macaroon fixed on top was a nice touch and speaks to the extra effort they go to here to make a dreary lunchbreak a lot more memorable.
They don't shout about what they do here at Wong Wong Bakery, and their digital footprint is minimal. Rather they let their food do the talking.
It's all glistening buns, decadent celebration cakes and every bubble tea concoction you could possibly dream up.
If you're like me and the thought of another meal deal fills your with dread, take out a tenner from the cash machine and make your thirty-minute lunch break count.
