The museum itself is a fantastic visit. wonderfully situated in Manchester city centre, near the canal, the staff are extremely friendly, knowledgeable and generous with their time and enthusiastic about their displays. In the run up to the general Election there is a great exhibition which explains how elections work in this country (or, at least, how they are supposed to work!) which is non-party biased and extremely informative. (did you know that we have 650 MPs in the UK but that the House of Commons only has seats for 497?)
Anyway, I wasn't there for the exhibitions, really, I was there because my daughter said they had coffee cake. And they did.
Now, I have to say that I was disappointed. The cake was extremely tasty, with a nice moist sponge and very tasty icing - but the icing didn't go all the way to the edge - almost as if they'd run out. The filling wasd there - but not much of it. I was worried, I was going to have to mark this down as a poor effort and incur the wrath of my flesh and blood. My ratings were:
Price: £2.45
Walnut Garnish: Yes
Walnut in sponge: No
Sponge: 9/10
Icing: 5/10
Filling 6/10
As luck would have it, I had a meeting in Manchester a couple of days later and took the chance to have lunch with my daughter. She had the stew, I had a butty - and another piece of coffee cake. It was markedly different - and better. More icing, all the way to the edge. Same great sponge, WAY more filling. So I decided to cheat and offer new ratings:
Price: £2.45
Walnut Garnish: Yes
Walnut in sponge: No
Sponge: 9/10
Icing: 8/10
Filling 8/10
Okay, you'll probably not go to the PHM just for the cafe/cake - and nor should you. It's a great visit as part of your day in Manchester. But, whilst you're there, if you fancy a bite to eat, just check if the coffee cake has icing all the way to the edge - and have a slice :)
