CONGRATULATIONS to Didsbury’s BIsous Bisous for being named best UK producer in the 2017 Observer Food Monthly Awards. Three years of hard graft introducing South Manchester to the delights of top-notch French patisserie have paid off for Alex Moreau and Kirsty McAlpine.
It was a gamble to quit the comparative security of the Moreau family restaurant , 63 Degrees, in the city centre (and latterly NQ) and juggling the demands of young family with getting the offering just right (macarons took a while). Getting customers to recognise the value of their products was tricky, too, Alex told OFM. “In Paris, it’s different, but here people were like, ‘I can get four eclairs for £1 in Tesco’.”
Proof of their hard-won success is their branching out into a stall at the acclaimed Altrincham Market Hall and supplying cafes and restaurants across the city. They work with nearby bistro Hispi, whose owner GaryUsher told OFM that “finding a traditional French patisserie in Didsbury was like finding a pot of gold”.
And Hispi and Bisous Bisous are just part of the revitalised Village scene. Check out our Taste Top 10 Didsbury Village.
Bisous Bisous, 663 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, M20 6RA. 0161 222 4480.
