Southern American dishes are having a moment – from your crispy fried chicken to Louisiana-style seafood boils, it seems Manchester cannot get enough. However, one spot bringing plenty of Southern charm to Manchester is Cardinal Rule, which specialises in fried chicken sandwiched between authentic American style biscuits.
When we say biscuits, we’re not talking about your typical tea-dunking biscuits like digestives, custard creams, ginger nuts and bourbons. And they are not scones, either – their Instagram bio even reads “not a f#*king scone”.
These Southern biscuits from Cardinal Rule are savoury, crunchy topped but fluffy on the inside and a perfect match with rich gravy. These biscuits predate the American Civil War and were a staple for Virginian miners for a good, rib-stickin’ breakfast back in the day to keep them going.
Cardinal Rule owners visited Manchester back in 2018 from Virginia, and noticed it had everything, but American style biscuits. And now they have made magic happen since they are adamant us Manchester folk need to try it out. However, Cardinal Rule have taken the baked goods up a notch by filling them to the brim with some proper Southern comfort food.
Currently running a pop-up kitchen from Northern Monk Refectory in the Northern Quarter, Cardinal Rule serves the likes of crispy coated fried chicken between their thick, freshly baked biscuits. A sandwich but not how we know it – some might say, even better.
The chicken (which is also halal) is brined overnight in buttermilk, and then coated in flour and spices, plus some extra buttermilk to create those crunchy shards once it lands in the fryer. Their best-seller is The Hot Take which consists of chicken, ranch sauce and homemade pickles – crispy, succulent, saucy and slightly tangy, once you try it you’ll understand why it is the top order.
Other fried chicken favourites include The Cowboy (fried chicken breast, bacon, Texas-style barbecue sauce and cowboy candied jalapeños), Miss Honey (fried chicken breast, chipotle mayo, and spiced honey) and The Hometown (fried chicken breast, pimento cheese, bread and butter pickles). For the vegans, you can swap the chicken for fried cauliflower.
Since, the classic American biscuit is a feature at the breakfast table, it went without saying that the owners of Cardinal Rule had to give an ode to the first meal of the day on their menu. The Nice One is a biscuit filled with streaky bacon, egg, cheese, and chipotle mayo so delicious that it’s enough to rival your traditional breakfast bap/barm.
But one thing us Northerners and Southern Americans can agree on is not to skimp on the gravy. Cardinal Rule serves a creamy black pepper breakfast gravy perfect for pouring over that biscuit of theirs.
For the sweet-toothed customers, you can also enjoy a biscuit with housemade blueberry jam (perfect without clotted cream) or biscuit donut holes tossed in cinnamon sugar which are unbelievably moreish.
📍Cardinal Rule, Northern Monk Refectory, 10 Tariff St, Manchester, M1 2FF.
🕒 Wednesdays to Saturdays, 12pm-3pm and 5pm-9pm, Sundays 12pm-7pm.