THE Asiatics have taken over the Manchester International Festival hub this week (until Thursday 18 July), bounding in to the Square astride flashy tuktuks and bolshy elephants.
There’s no elephants, unfortunately. Couldn’t fit in the wigwam.
And it was delicious, the noodles were noticeably fresh and the peanut and chilli sprinkles gave the whole dish a certain bounce out of the polystyrene tray.
Bringing authentic Thai ‘street’ (sigh) food is BangWok, with their tuktuk and a frantic Thai chef expertly flitting around with his two giant woks in the background like a chef possessed.
The Wokinator
Continuing the Asiatic takeover is Manjit’s Kitchen next door to BangWok, dishing out Indian ‘street’ (sigh) food and vegetarian Punjabi cooking.
Over by the tuktuk, Bangwok are serving up three choices of Pad Thai noodles, vegetarian (£5), chicken (£5.50) and king prawn (£6), all served with rice noodles, egg, thai radish, peanuts, garlic, bean sprouts, tofu and BangWok’s secret tamarind sauce with a sprinkle of chilli flakes or squeeze of lime to taste.
And it was mostly delicious. The noodles were noticeably fresh and the peanut and chilli sprinkles gave the whole dish a certain bounce out of the polystyrene tray.
Chicken Pad Tahi (£5.50)
The chicken was a tad overcooked and for £5.50 it was a bit paltry in poultry department. Some of what I thought was chicken was actually tofu. I hold a strict opinion on tofu. To fu or not to fu? Always not to fu (awful soggy stuff).
One niggle, aside from the clandestine tofu, is knowing that over in Indochina you pay around 50p for a portion that could fill a welly. Too much chicken if anything – I suppose that ultimately boils down to national wealth and GDPs and whatnot.
Mustn’t grumble.
There’s no place for that mumbo-jumbo in Festival Square.
Festival Square: A joy
On another note it’ll be a sad day when the festival leaves Albert Square, it’ll seem a little desolate (although I believe some of it is staying on for the Manchester Jazz Festival from 26 July to 4 August. Hoorah).
There’s a buzz over there, a constant cultural hive of activity. Comings and goings from locals and tourists alike. Tottering on over for some international ‘street’ (sigh) bites has been a real feather in the cap of Manchester’s summer calendar – the festival ale helps somewhat.
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge/ Cry ‘God for the Square, the Food, and the King Ale!’
