AFTER months of secretly beavering away, from Sunday 1 June the original Northern Quarter Almost Famous is back in business.
And it's had a haircut.
So it is that the new old Almost Famous opens on a whim, with new trousers, a spanking new menu and a fistful of FREE opening day grub and booze
On 28 June 2013, many in the city shed a tear.
The Manchester bastion of trashy food and trailblazer of the city’s newfound dirty burger infatuation burnt-out. Felled by a kitchen fire in its prime. The place was scorched. Knackered.
The King was dead.
So the Almost Famous don't-give-a-toss steam-rolling burger party bus could have easily spit and spattered to a halt. Wept into the ashes. Called it a day.
Famous patty
However, much like the now ubiquitous patty, Almost Famous stood fast.
They instantly threw a cutback Famous burger selection downstairs onto the menu of sister restaurant Luck Lust Liquor and Burn. The Almost Famous Beach Club popped up in the Great Northern’s mass outdoor divot for the remainder of summer 2013, while Liverpool got a Famous of its own at the end of July 2013, only a month after the Manchester headquarters was laid low.
Almost Famous operators, Beautiful Drinks (Home Sweet Home, Lust Luck Liquor Burn and Keko Moku) didn’t stop there. In November 2013 they opened a new ‘big and shiny’ Famous in Great Northern, fanning the flames of the newly invigorated Deansgate complex.
But the roots were never forgotten.
As people continued to bung Famous burgers down their necks in the new units, workmen secretly beavered away in the original restaurant on Northern Quarter’s High Street. Months spent scratching out the char, paint licking, face-lifting, buying furniture.
And so it is that the new old Almost Famous opened with new trousers, a spanking new menu and a fistful of FREE opening day grub and booze… No really, Sunday 1 June was FREE food and drink. To say hello, again.
Unfortunately, when the Famous Accountant heard 'free all day' and saw the queue around the bend, he hit the roof, then the deck, and was finally rushed to A&E. Get well soon Gary.
Almost Famous, 100 High Street, Northern Quarter, M4 1HP.
Liam from The Courteeners has a scratch in the new NQ unit
Burgers on fire (June 2013)
