
Have you ever been curious about the brains behind your favourite Manchester restaurants? Do you wonder how they started out on their foodie journey, or perhaps simply what takeaway they order on Deliveroo when they’re having a night in? In the Manchester leg of our Doorstep Taste Tour with Deliveroo, we met up with some big names in the UK food scene to find out a little bit more about their culinary passion – from their favourite dishes to top cooking tips.
Almost Famous is one of our all-time fave Manchester burger joints, so we thought we’d quiz owner Beau Myers on all things food, from his culinary journey to his fave takeaway.
Keep reading to sink your teeth into our juicy chat with Beau Myers over an even tastier Deliveroo of the best dishes from the Almost Famous menu.
1. Where did the name Almost Famous come from?
Loads of places in America are called “so and so famous” – Dave’s famous ribs – Johnnie’s famous burgers, and they’re not famous at all. But I love the energy and the confidence of it, so this was our subversive poke at it. Almost Famous – burgers that from day one were so amazing they were destined to be famous.
2. What are Almost Famous’ biggest foodie influences?
Inspo comes from my travels – things I see, things I feel. The burgers are whole vibes not just flavours – we try to capture an experience and put that into a burger. It’s never just “let’s do a BBQ one” – it’s like wow remember that day in Austin when we drove from Texas and it was so hot, and we got pulled over by that cop and posed with his car. Then we enjoyed the sweet taste of freedom along with tender falling-apart pork which made it all the sweeter, and it was like wow we gotta build a burger that captures that energy.
That’s how our Blame It On The Whisky Burger was born. So yeah travels and experiences, we don’t jump on trends we try and create them – we keep it real and you can feel that in the food.
3. What should you order from Almost Famous for the best night in?
Phoenix is the go to – it’s like the best damn bacon double cheese you ever had in your life – it was actually named after River Phoenix who was a childhood hero of mine. Sadly I didn’t do my homework and he was a big time vegan and animal activist so his family actually weren’t too happy about his name slapped on a really popular burger. So then just plain Phoenix was born. It’s smoky, juicy and delicious with a little crunch from some frazzles – it’s the best.
4. How often does the menu change?
The menu changes once a year with the new style and energy we’re feeling for that period. We’ll do a whole mapping out session to see where we think everything is at – what has inspired us, where we’ve been, what we need to bring to the people what will wow and amaze. Mughli collab was insane – we sold out on it every damn day.
5. Any funny stories?
One customer dislocated her jaw trying to eat a burger! She’d added an extra patty (they all come with double patties as standard), and that really did it!
6. What’s your personal favourite on the menu?
Hot blasts – super tender chicken breast soaked in buttermilk and a crispy crumb, then drenched in tangy buffalo style hot AF sauce – yeah those all night long.
7. We all have a guilty pleasure dish. What’s yours?
Those shady microwave curries from M&S. Lock the doors, close the curtains, put PJs on and sit on the floor with an M&S microwave curry and watch sh*t TV.
8. How many burgers could you eat in one go?
One, two if it’s really fuckin good or I don’t think I can get back to that place for a while – last time I did that was at Bleecker. It was so f*ckin good, I queued for like 10 minutes, ordered one, ate it then got straight back in the queue and ordered another. That’s how good you want a burger to be.
9. How do you express your creativity when ordering takeaway?
I was feeling pretty naughty one night so completely overindulged and got a Gusto pepperoni pizza, a flat iron steak, fries, peppercorn sauce and combined it all to make one super kick ass gourmet kebab.
10. If you were a food, what would you be?
A really f*ckin great taco.