The modern-day food scene is no stranger to what you might call fads. Sushi tacos, Dubai chocolate, cronuts, cruffins, brookies: all manner of novelties that would make a time traveller from the 2000s scratch their head and shrug.

The same can perhaps be said of Manchester’s food scene. With the likes of Fat Pats (huge sandwiches weighing approximately the same as a small mammal), Get Baked (Matilda-inspired chocolate cake by the £20 slice) and Gooey (Hong Kong French toast), there’s no shortage of places turning new twists on old favourites into internet virality – and then real-life queues out the door.

Every year it seems like there’s a new trend you have to try – the tiramisu drawer, the £15 sub, hot chocolate served inside a biscuit cup…

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. And don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

So when a tantalising clip of a concept known as ‘sweet focaccia’ hit my Tiktok page this week, I can’t say I was surprised – but I knew I had to try it.

This newest Frankenstein creation comes from the team at Ferma pizza bakery. This Brewski off-shoot began life as Foldies, on Booth Street in the city centre and a stone’s throw from St Peter’s Square.

They’ve expanded from their folded pizza-style sandwiches to a whole range of pasties, muffins and sausage rolls, plus the full gamut of coffees, juices, crisps and snacks.

There’s also something interesting called a pizza bomb, a bready pocket stuffed with pizza toppings – and all made from pizza dough. That’s not what drew me there, though, but rather their focaccia offering.

Not just dotted with garlic and rosemary to be used as a sandwich, it’s now a vehicle for all kinds of customisable sweet toppings, from caramel/biscoff to Jammie Dodger, tiramisu and, inevitably, Dubai chocolate.

A quick Google tells me this idea isn’t exactly new, but it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of it. “Sweet focaccia?” I said to my boyfriend doubtfully on the phone on the way to the shop one Tuesday afternoon. “Will that really work?” But I would soon be eating my words.

Extremely hungry by 3pm, I looked over Ferma’s offering, which by then was some-what picked over by the crowd that had their lunch at a reasonable time. There wasn’t loads left, though the margherita pizza bomb sounded tempting – but then my eye fell on the shelf below, on a caprese focaccia sandwich approximately the size of a small book.

With just a few simple ingredients – mozzarella, tomatoes, pesto and rocket – this classic sandwich wasn’t about to set TikTok on fire. But I’m a believer that one of the best ways of judging a pizza place is to order a margherita; in other words, see if a place can get the essentials right.

And boy did Ferma get this one right. For £6.75, I’m served an absolute door-stop of a sandwich, two thick slices of focaccia whose crisp, flakey top gives way to a fluffy, airy interior which perfectly soaks up sweet balsamic vinegar and peppery olive oil.

Inside, there’s more peppery rocket, fresh tomato slices and creamy slabs of mozzarella topped with garlicky pesto. For the heft of the bread and the fresh, delicious simplicity of the filling, I’d be hard pressed to think of a better workday lunch.

Its sweet counterpart might have you falling asleep at your desk though. At £5.50, I opted for the caramel and biscoff version, and again my eyes widened at the size of the behemoth that awaited me in the box.

Another enormous slab of bread, this one looked positively obscene, positively swimming in biscoff and caramel sauce, topped with snowy mounds of cream and yet more biscoff drizzle and crumbs.

Advertisement

As to whether focaccia dough works in a dessert? I needn’t have worried – rather ask myself why no-one had thought of this sooner.

The soft, chewy dough – made every morning with a touch of cinnamon and caramel that gave it a warming, buttery note – was the perfect vehicle for absorbing all that addictively sweet Biscoff sauce.

Imagine a more cake-y cinnamon roll that actually soaks up the icing and toppings, rather than letting it meekly slide off.

Advertisement

After polishing off about half the portion, I was defeated, and took the other half home. But I’ll definitely be back to Ferma to try more, the next time I’m in town and need a fresh, tasty bite to keep me going.

Or I also might be paying another visit when I need a ridiculously indulgent but delicious treat to drown my sorrows in.