‘I didn’t get the pizza dough sausage roll I was looking for – but I did find a sandwich fit for a king’

Sometimes, the universe has other plans when it comes to lunch

When it comes to food, there are a fair few things Mancunians are bound to immediately love. Especially when it’s two favourites combined. Case in point – pizza sandwiches.

Ferma Pizza Bakery is a new name to the city centre, but it’s not a new venture. Led by the same team behind Brewski, the quaint little spot on Mosley Street has served under a few identities in recent years, namely American Pies and the ‘world’s greatest’ sandwich shop Foldies.

I had a very good hot honey pork shoulder sandwich from there last year. It was an absolute mess.

But it’s 2026 now and Foldies is no longer a thing – replaced unceremoniously by Ferma earlier this year. It’s pretty much the same as its previous inception, but revamped.

As before, their stonebaked sandwiches are made with double caputo 00 dough which is the best for making pizza with. But, new for Ferma, is that pretty much all of its menu is made using its signature pizza dough – including sausage rolls, focaccia breads and cakes. In fact, their desserts have already been described as ‘obscene in the best possible way’, with a caramel Biscoff foccacia earning recent headlines for its sheer foody filth.

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Having been impressed with Foldies in the past and seeing photos of their pizza dough sausage rolls and ‘pizza bombs’ across my Instagram, I headed in to try them for myself – only to find they had pretty much already sold out of everything viral.

While there was a huge crowd of people waiting inside, I was greeted by a sign listing its sold out items alongside a sad face and a message saying ‘sorry we didn’t expect to go viral overnight’. Well, there we go.

With no bread bombs, sausage rolls, Detroit pizzas, or Neapolitan pizzas available to order, it was pretty much slim pickings of what was not-so-well-considered by their viral crowd of devotees. There in, my choice was either a vegetarian calzone (their Duck, Brie and Chorizo calzone was also sold out), and a couple of NYC deli sandwich options. In fact, as I inch closer to the till, more and more options are added to the list of unavailable delights.

Tempted to leave out of frustration for a lack of sausage rolls, I decide instead to join the queue and go forth with an order of the butternut squash, goat’s cheese and pesto calzone (£4.85) and a pastrami sandwich – featuring rocket, pickled mustard mayo, gherkins, crispy onions, sauerkraut and, of course, pastrami (£8).

The smell of the ovens churning out baked creations one after another is enough to make everyone in line salivate, and it’s not too long before my order is ready to collect – and I head to St Peter’s Square to enjoy it all whilst being surrounded by hunger-stricken pigeons with no boundaries when it comes to personal space.

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Tucking into the calzone, it’s warm-ish, and has a comforting smell of freshly-baked pizza. Whilst it could have done with being a bit warmer for my liking, there’s huge chunks of sweet potato inside layered up with a nice mix of fresh herbs, pesto and goat’s cheese. It’s delicious and flavoursome, and takes me my surprise considering it was not ever going to be one of my first (or even second) choices.

Next up, the Pastrami sandwich is loaded up with all good things ready to be spawn out across the street following one over-excited bite. Cautiously tucking into it, there is a richness of tastes – sweet, sour, fresh, earthy, and salty all at once – that makes this a sandwich worthy of kings. It’s so good that one bite isn’t satisfying enough, already longing for that second explosion of flavours.

Whilst it’s certainly a decadent sandwich, it’s far from dignified to eat. It’s not the choice for a busy lunchtime at St Peter’s Square, and rather one best reserved for a corner in a dark room, equipped with a packet of napkins ready to clean up at any moment. I’m also impressed with how fulfilling it is at just £8. Sure, a meal deal costs about half of that from the supermarket just yards away but I can guarantee it’s nowhere near as good or fresh.

When it comes to Ferma, the queues don’t lie. There’s something special being concocted here – whether it’s pizza, whether it’s sandwich, I don’t care. And I’m not even fussed if half the menu is sold out again, because I can’t see there being a wrong option here – although I am determined to try those sausage rolls at some point in my life.

Layer up the napkins, drop the pretences and dig in. But maybe come prepared to give something different a go as they are probably going to be out of stock of a lot of things for quite a while to come.

Ferma is on 39 Booth St, Manchester M2 4AA. Open 10am to 4pm, or until sold out.