'Once they try it, they're converted': The hidden gem Filipino café tucked away in a Greater Manchester market

It’s a quiet afternoon inside Ashton Market Hall. A handful of shoppers meander around the network of stalls, picking up provisions and stopping for a chat with traders.

Briggs Family Butchers sell off the last of the day’s stock, Williams Deli is taking orders for its artisan pies and oven bottom muffins and a clutch of independent food stalls are dishing out their last lunch orders.

In the far corner of the inside market it feels like something akin to a village square has emerged. Flanked by Persian Meals on one side and Nat’s Bombay Kitchen sits Tarp’s Filipino Fusion Food, a family run restaurant that’s won Ashton’s Independent Food Award two years running.

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Beneath a canopy of colourful planters, hanging baskets and fairy lights, a simple spread of tables and chairs leads onto a small kitchen, where Tarp’s owner Carl can be seen busy preparing orders. He’s run the concession with his parents Mel and Ronnie for around five years now.

While it might be quiet in the market, there’s a gentle hum from the kitchens, including Tarp’s, as pots and pans jostle for position on the small hobs, ingredients are finely chopped and boxes brimming with piping hot food are handed over the counter.

It’s a familiar sound for Carl and his family, for whom cooking has always played a starring role in their lives.

“When I was young I would wake up to the sound of woks banging, plates and cutlery clattering, people shouting or chattering away in the kitchen,” says Carl, who has stepped away from the stall for five minutes, leaving his parents to hold down the fort.

“Food has always been present, and as I grew up I knew I wanted to do