David Adamson reports back from recent goingson in the city and beyond
In our regular writeup, Editor David Adamson and the Confidentials team report back on life from across the city and beyond.
This edition of Confidential Safari is much lighter on cultural goingson and much heavier on the calories, such is the way when it comes to the runup to Christmas.
Our minds tend towards the comforting, so with that in mind here’s a look at some spots to consider for some festive feasting.
The Firehouse starts to crackle for Christmas
Firstly to The Firehouse, the Swan Street venue that seems to move with the seasons like the leaves. In the summer it’s a much more open-air affair, but come wintertime it’s well set up to create a festive atmosphere, despite being an old MOT garage.
But now’s not the time for yearly checkups - that comes in January, when the hair shirts are donned and gyms across the city rub their chalky hands together.
While sister venue Ramona keeps to pizza, Firehouse takes the opportunity to add plenty of trimmings to its base menu of roasted chickens and well-chosen side dishes.
I was in a few weeks ago for their Wednesday supper club and the standout was comfortably the half chicken. It’s not easy to keep them moist, especially with so many roasting at once, so I’d say you’re onto a good thing popping down for their festive feasting menu (£30pp) to see how the chicken gets on with wood smoked pigs in blanket and roast potatoes. But then you can probably take a guess on that one.
Maya’s new dawn starts with new menu
As you may have read, Maya has a new head chef in Shaun Moffat, formerly of Edinburgh Castle.
To see in this new dawn the Gay Village restaurant, bar and bistro has a new menu headed up by Shaun, bringing plenty of classy charm to match the beautiful building.
I was invited down with Hayden (our man in Social Media) and we sat in the downstairs restaurant, all dark glamour and even darker lighting. I started with the duck liver parfait with blackberry jam and croissant loaf (£10) before moving onto the steamed Shetland halibut in warm tartare sauce (£24). Both were just the types of dishes I’d hoped would be on the menu, all slightly understated classics in their fanciest evening wear.
Outside of the bistro seating on street level, the building struggles for natural light, so while that might prove tricky come summertime it makes the place perfect for winter. Throw your big faux-fur coat in the cloak room and enjoy the wintertime for what it is, a time to hunker down indoors.
Side Street
Once something of a hodgepodge of a venue when it was Side Street Studios, this Quay Street spot has tidied up considerably. It’s now a homely, any time type affair, catering to “day, evening and late night”, which just about covers it I reckon.
The late evening licence will on weekends run to 3.30am, which is fantastic news to someone who’s been dragged to more than a few choice spots to queue and linger about when in reality I’d have happily done more of the same up til the early hours.
It’s a calming and cool space - all on-trend 70s swingers pad decor courtesy of carpenter and shopfitter Beech Oak Construction - but it’s just the sort of place I’d have hankered for in the days when the only option post-midnight was a rogues gallery of rote indie nights that smelled strongly of Red Bull.
The food comes from Tartuffe, who are also now in the business of chicken, and you can expect a review of it in these pages any day now.
Mowgli’s festive feast
Not everyone’s into turkey with all the trimmings, and I get it. A feast can take on many forms, and one of the most pleasurable is sitting as a group around an array of Indian dishes.
On Sunday, after a family trip to see Gladiator II, I took the clan to Mowgli in Knutsford to do battle with their Christmas Feasting menu (£35 pp). It’s a very shrewdly put together set menu, taking in all the hits that’ve made Mowgli such a roaring success, and giving you a bit of extra just in case.
Most satisfying is the pot luck element of the tiffin boxes that act as a main course, because with enough of you in tow you will have covered a pretty wide variety of what’s on offer, from butter chicken to lamb keema to a selection of warming and spicy dahls.
It almost goes without saying that the decor of the Mowgli restaurants are a softly-lit delight, but it really does make a nice change to be eating that most comforting and satisfying of foods in a more modern-leaning atmosphere.
There will be time for a hundred visions and revisions of the roast dinner this Christmas, and at some point you’ll be dying for a curry. I’d recommend Mowgli’s Christmas Feasting menu for something different but with all the bells and whistles of this time of year.
With the unending eating and expanding waistlines from so many wrapped sausages, sometimes a change is as good as a rest.
The Grosvenor
For some of us the festive season also means Premier League football being on the telly almost constantly - Carol of the Bells soundtracking highlights of a Man City collapse against ooh, I don’t know, let’s say Aston Villa (21 December if you’re interested).
While The Grosvenor, an enthusiastically decorated refurb that was once The Footage, is not at all just for watching the game, it does have an enormous 5m screen that’s unfurled above the bar.
Here’s something from our socials team to give you a little tour of what else is going on at The Grosvenor.
The Black Friar gets festive
Few places pull out all the stops come Christmastime quite like The Black Friar. It very much makes a thing of getting you ‘all Christmassy’ so where better than the Winter Tavern, a sort of tongue-in-cheek Germanic cosplay of a room that will take you away from the world outside.
Here’s our social team with what to expect at The Winter Tavern.
Courts Club
Courts Club has been given the Christmas treatment and transformed into Winter Assembly. Thankfully there’s no sitting cross-legged in a draughty sports hall. Instead the St Johns spot has been kitted out with karaoke huts, open fires for toasting marshmallows, outdoor film screenings and food vendors, and most importantly its own ice rink.
Down the road: St Peter’s Tavern, The Ivy Brasserie and a return to Queens Bistro
Should you find yourself on the other end of the East Lancs road over the festive period, Liverpool has added some new faces to its ever-bustling food and drink scene.
Conveniently close to Liverpool ONE, should you be crying out for sanctuary from shopping, is the stunning St Peter’s Tavern.
From the 1936 Pub Company - them of The Vines, The Monro and many other old school-leaning boozers - St Peter’s Tavern is a marvel of refurbishment and, much like I said when The Monro opened, puts us in Manchester to shame when it comes to keeping The Pub thriving.
Here’s some pictures from my visit last week.
Following a very sensible two pints of Guinness at St Peter’s Tavern I then headed over to Castle Street for the launch of The Ivy Brasserie for a bit of maximalist glamour and spectacle.
Here’s some pictures from the launch, along with my brief writeup here.
Finally, after a few canapes and glasses of champagne it’s fair to say I was feeling peckish, so walked all of 30 seconds down Castle Street and into the side street where Queens Bistro and Bar sits.
I’ve already waxed lyrical about the place, but vowed to return for something from the evening menu. I only had about an hour to play with before my train so went for something from the starters, the ham hock fritter with gribiche (a sort of French egg and mustard sauce) and leek, along with a lager. The fritter was the size of one of King Charles’ fingers but thankfully its ingredients are much more wholesome.
As expected, the place is pretty much set up to satisfy cravings for bistro fare big, small and medium. I’ll be back.
Here’s Harley Young with her report from Uhaus and Archie’s Atomic
Vita Group launches ‘uhaus’ to evolve thinking around build-to-rent apartments
Having opened the doors to ‘Vita Living’ at Circle Square East - its first BTR (build-to-rent) scheme - back in 2021, Vita Group has evolved its thinking around what residents really want from their homes in a post-Covid landscape.
I was given a tour of the newly rebranded uhaus’ luxury living space and its amenities, providing residents with functional spaces that can be used for working from home effectively - quiet spaces for private calls and certainly no fighting over plug sockets with the addition of office-grade desks and equipment.
The uhaus service proposition is completely different to other build-to-rent brands offering an ‘Everything Included’ approach, meaning utility bills, amenities, a busy events programme and even housekeeping is within the price of rent.
On the 35th floor of the North Tower, residents have their very own bar, Lounge 35, which is open three nights a week (Thursday to Saturday) serving cocktails and poured pints with incredible views of the city. On Friday and Saturday nights, resident DJs and live singers set the ambience. The price is in-line with what you’d expect from luxury city centre living (one beds start at £2,300 per month), but with almost everything you could need included, the convenience factor is one that will certainly sway most.
Is this the future of build-to-rent properties?
Archie’s Atomic glides into Trafford Palazzo with celebrity rappers in tow
Described as ‘the ultimate roller-skating and arcade venue in the North-West’, the Manchester-born, bright-pink, popular burgers and shake joint Archie’s has opened a roller rink at Trafford Palazzo.
Archie’s Atomic rolled its way into the shopping centre with a no-expense-spared launch party featuring appearances from Central Cee and Mancunian rapper Aitch, as well as performances from Krept & Konan.
Guests were invited to skate the night away on the retro-style roller rink, complete with arcade games, soft drinks and tasters from the menu. Archie’s is also debuting its very first milkshake bar here to fit with the 80s-style American diner-turned-roller-rink theme.
And here’s Georgina Harrington Hague with her report back from the This is Manchester Awards
The This is Manchester Awards, held at the AO Arena on Thursday (14 November) was a spectacular celebration of the city’s achievements and talent. Hosted by Scott Thomas and Jenny Powell, the event highlighted what Manchester does best and was a real celebration of the city. It has to be said that Gemma Vaughn, Ellice Eadie and the AO team ran a spectacular evening, and the Arena was a great venue to run an event like this.
The awards honored exceptional contributions across various industries. Some of the awards that need to be highlighted was the Leading Bar/Club of the Year Award was won by the Mean Eyed Cat, The Leading Arts & Culture Venue of the Year Award went to 53two and The Bolton Food and Drink Festival once again proved how good it is, taking home the ‘Leading Live Event’ award.
See the full winner's list here.
Entertainment was a standout feature of the evening, with Corella delivering a laid back acoustic set that engaged the room. The highlight of the night was an unforgettable performance by Tim Burgess, who was accompanied by the orchestra from the Royal Northern College of Music. Burgess also received the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Music Award.
Get the latest news to your inbox
Get the latest food & drink news and exclusive offers by email by signing up to our mailing list. This is one of the ways that Confidentials remains free to our readers and by signing up you help support our high quality, impartial and knowledgable writers. Thank you!
Join our WhatsApp group
You can also get regular updates on news, exclusives and offers by joining the Manchester Confidential WhatsApp group.
