The Mancunian Way: Manky or swanky?

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Here is today's Mancunian Way:

Hello

Is Manc food really ‘manky’? Well it is according to the wife of Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan. Sara Arfaoui told her 512k Instagram followers she has struggled to find a ‘good restaurant’ in the city and that all the food is ‘frozen’.

Crikey. Has she been eating at my house without me realising?

As you’d expect, some of the city’s best chefs have a few thoughts about her comments, as does What’s On editor Jenna Campbell, who I’ll be speaking to later in the newsletter.

But first up...trains.

Has Greater Manchester become an island? Anyone who has tried to get in or out via train in recent weeks certainly may have felt marooned.

Since Avanti West Coast reduced its timetable and left passengers with the option of just one train to the capital an hour, things have got heated.

Andy Burnham has made a number of demands of the company and the government in a bid to see rail services improved for Greater Mancunians - who he claims have been ‘disrespected’.

Now the mayor says the new Transport Secretary must demand increased services between Manchester and London or remove its operating contract. He’s written to Anne-Marie Trevelyan explaining that the current situation is having a 'profoundly negative impact on the regional and national economy' - and is frustrating 'thousands of passengers and businesses every day', as Paul Britton reports.

“We’re losing visitors to our city,” Mr Burnham told assembled press in Salford this morning. “Every day that they allow this company to