WHERE are we up to now? Seven? Eight? Nine? Ok we're nine restaurants in with four to go at Manchester's new multi-million pound street food supermarket at the Corn Exchange.
Cabana co-founder Jamie Barber used to be Roger Moore's lawyer. No kidding
Banyan, Byron, The Cosy Club, Pho, Pizza Express, Wahaca and Zizzi are all locked-in and settled, with newcomers Cabana and Mowgli new to the party this week.
Next comes three Italians (always room for more of those); Gino's, Salvi's and Vapiano, as well as a return for one of the Manchester old guard, Tampopo.
What else? Oh yes, Roomzzz aparthotels will be fitting-out 114 new rooms on the top deck, there's whispers of a champagne bar for centre of the plaza, while contracts on the last two remaining restaurant units continue to be thrashed out... fingers crossed for Strada.
So what then of these newbs...
CABANA
Who's Behind It? The story has it that Cabana was founded in 2011 when lawyer-turned-restaurateur, Jamie Barber (also founder of Sake No Hana and CEO of Hush Brasseries) approached his pal, Rio-born David Ponte, and asked "what's this Brasilian restaurant thing with the skewers?" Cabana is now nine strong with restaurants in London, Leeds and now, Manchester.
So What Is It? Cabana is a Rodizio, of sorts, without the all-you-can-eat sausage and chicken hearts schtick. Big Brazilian barbecued meats, skewered, lathered in spices and delivered via churrasqueiro.
Cabana's skewered steakWhat Cabana Say: 'We're a taste of modern Brazil, we want to blow people away with the tastes and flavours of our cocktails, steaks and skewers. We want to make people forget, for just one moment, that they're in the UK. Tudo Bem! - Lizzy Barber, Marketing Manager and co-author of the Cabana Cookbook
What We Say: The major issue for the Corn Exchange is, and was always going to be, footfall. How to stop folk wandering in, doing a lap, gapey-mouthed, then buggering off back to the Arndale for six chicken nuggets. Cabana's solution... BE LOUD. With it's eccentric, kaleidoscopic fit-out and Samba thump, this lot have done everything but station Brian Blessed out on the terrace with a megaphone, "PICK US, PICK US!" The effect is bright, bouncy and fancy-free, it's also green; Cabana features more reclaimed goods than Steptoe's Yard: crates and oil drums are fashioned into chairs and tables, kites into lanterns, old Braziliam fly-posters into wallpaper, used jeans into upholstery and putrefied slum kids into liquor.
What To Order: Meat. Brazil's voracious thirst for flesh is world-renowned, and Cabana don't hold back. Neither should you. Cabana are particularly proud of their spicy Malagueta chicken (£5.95 wings or £11.95 main); a barbecue thigh smothered in a smashing sticky sweet, chilli marinade (a close cousin of piri-piri). We'd also recommend Brazil's take on a one-pot, the Feijoada (£12.95), a thick, smoky, dark, porky, slow-cooked stew with black beans and a bit of moo. They also serve this slopped over sweet potato fries with melted cheese... mercy.
And Booze: Liberal dousings of cachaça (a Brazilian sugercane rum) make Cabana's Caipirinhas a worthy best-seller. Elsewhere, the boozy Batidas smoothies, made with cachaça (what else?), fresh fruit juice and condensed milk are sweet yet funky, much like, we imagine, the drink's sobriquet - Angel's Piss.
Cabana Classic Caipirinha
What Else: Cabana co-founder Jamie Barber used to be Roger Moore's lawyer. No kidding. In fact, it was Roger who introduced Barber to his son, Geoffrey, with whom Barber opened his first restaurant, Hush, in Mayfair in 1999. C'mon fellas, surely Hushy Galores?
Where Is It? The Corn Exchange, Exchange Square, Manchester M4 3TR.
When Is It Open? Seven days a week, 11.30am 'til late.
Find Out More: cabana-brasil.com, or call on 01618193100
How's it look?
The Feijoada: thick, dark, handsome
Cabana's Malagueta wings
MOWGLI
Who's Behind It? Former barrister, self-proclaimed 'curry evangelist' and Pimp My Rice cookbook author, Nisha Katona, recently packed in two decades at the Bar to launch her first Mowgli Indian street food on Liverpool's Bold Street in October 2014. Ballsy. Less than a year later and Katona's chucked everything at a second, much bigger, much pricier, 200-bum restaurant in the Corn Exchange.
What Is It? Indian street food, what else? This is 2015...
What Mowgli Say: 'I've seen what British people eat in Indian restaurants - it's not real Indian food,' says Katona, 'This is a million miles from the curry house experience. People are yelling out for authenticity, not prepackaged authenticity but the type of food you'd find in an Indian family kitchen, or on the street.'
What We Say: Authenticity eh? We're not convinced many folks on the streets of Bombay are knocking back 'Bombay Chip Butties' or 'Mowgli Slaw'. Still, what Mowgli has created - in it's desire to appear both 'sticky wings' street and snuggly-wuggly 'Mother Butter' family kitchen - is a genuinely intriguing menu: Calcutta Tangled Greens? 'Angry Bird' chicken? Bunny Chow? We haven't the foggiest, but we'd certainly like to...
Yoghurt chat bombsWhat To Order? Certainly try the yoghurt chat bombs (£3.95), crispy shells that release a deluge of fresh, cooling, slightly-spicy yoghurt over the tongue. The 'Himalayan Cheese Toast' (£4.25) is an unexpected thing; a mush of cheddar (authentic?), onions, chilli and coriander slobbered over a pillowy bloomer and served with an Indian pickle that'll straighten your Khussas.
Mowgli's gunpowder chicken was less successful; dry, dusty, dull. The Temple dahl though was a delight; soupy, light, golden Indian comfort food - attack with puffy puri breads. Equally interesting are Mowgli's tiffin boxes for one (from £10); '4 tiers of veg, non veg and carb offerings chosen by the Chef' on the day; food roulette, they say.
And Booze? Bottled beers include Estrella, Vedett IPA and Rekorderlig (not a beer, but hey ho); there's a modest six cocktails, including 'the drag queen of Lassis' with tequila, pineapple and chilli; alongside eight entry-level wines split between 'Good' (£17.50, btl), 'Better' (£19.50) and 'Best' (£24.00).
MowgliWhat Else? Mowgli serves almost everything in 'tiffin' boxes; stacked, metal lunchboxes packed with just about anything eaten after breakfast and before dinner. Every lunchtime, in Mumbai, these home-made tiffin lunches are transported by an army of 'Wallahs' from homes across the city to around 250,000 hungry workers via handcarts, bicycle and even train. In homage to the Wallah, Mowgli, with it's ropes, hanging lanterns, wooden rail sleepers and rogue monkeys, has been decked out to look not unlike an Indian rail yard... squint... there you go.
Where Is It? Unit 16, 37 Corn Exchange, Manchester M4 3TR
When Is It Open? Mon-Thurs 11.30am until 11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-11pm and Sunday 11am-10.30pm.
Find Out More: mowglistreetfood.com
How's it look?
Himalayan cheese on toast
