Plus antipasti, dream salads, cocktail machines

Summer is finally here and there’s a buzz around the city. We’ve almost forgotten what it feels like to be pummelled by rain for weeks on end whilst freezing our digits off and we’re getting stuck into eating out like it’s going out of fashion. We’ve even got our unsuspecting sunburn day out of the way and joined team SPF50. 

This week there’s been celebrity openings, cocktail machines we’d like in our office and the realisation that apparently nobody on the Daily Mail staff has ever set foot in Didsbury. Although we knew that anyway, didn’t we. Let’s just file that one under the London-centric media tab and move on, eh?

Scroll on for our weekly round-up of filthy, funny, and full-fat social media content from Manchester's food and drink scene.

Antipasti for all

When it comes to antipasti we’re extremely pro. But stop for a second, there’s a tremble in your voice, as you softly whisper: what about my vegetarian and vegan friends? Don’t worry, Double Zero in Chorlton have them covered too. Fine cheese for the veggies and artisan pickles and brines from the motherland for the vegans. Antipasti doesn’t discriminate, friend.

A few harmless scoops

The animal consumer in you might scoff (or might not) but we saw how well vegan ice cream went down in this year’s Great British Menu and we’ve been intrigued ever since. Of course, you can count on vegan kebab revolutionaries What The Pitta to have a connect in the vegan soft serve world. Swerve the flake and stick a Love Raw wafer bar in for a vegan take on the classic 99.

Raising the salad bar

This post almost feels like it should come with a challenge: find a better salad bar for £2 a pop in Manchester, we’ll wait. Seriously, we will. Look at the colour bursting from the organic selection of salads and flowers all fresh from the Platt Fields Market Garden. Local produce at its best.

Guess who’s back, back again?

Erst is back, track and trace. Unfortunately, due to COVID precautions, Erst had to close last week but they’re back open this week and raring to go. It’s a tough time out there for a lot restaurants and bars who’re experiencing the same post-pandemic operating hurdles. Want to do your part? Book in and turn up. No shows are part of the problem.

Juan day like this

Throw those curtains wide and cut the red ribbon, Elbow frontman Guy Garvey officially opened the Birria Brothers beer garden this weekend. With a stance that suggested he was stood for some time anticipating a picture but was fooled into an unsuspecting boomerang, look at his cheeky smile. Build a taco boys!

Machines that we want in our office #75

They’ve got a new gizmo over at Cottonopolis Food & Liquor and it’s a sight to behold. A Grey Goose Espresso Martini Nitro Machine is now on hand to pour refreshingly cold and smooth espresso martinis at will. Perfect pour after perfect pour. We need one in our office immediately. Grey Goose, hit us up!

Better wine for the planet

There’s awareness days for everything these days. Last week alone saw British Tomato fortnight, World Milk Day, National Egg Day and National Fish and Chips Day. It was also World Environment Day last week and Salut wines did a subtle but nonetheless impressive toot of their sustainability horn. Keep on fighting the good fight.

They’re gr-r-r-eat

The humble cornflake (and its sugary varietals) has come a long way from the days of just being a cereal. They’re on stuff now in a big way, from coating chicken to popping up on inventive pastries. Northern Quarter’s DGHNT magicked up this sugary delight last week, a handmade brioche doughnut with a malted milk cereal topping. It’s certainly one way to upgrade breakfast. 

The Frenchie Riviera

Nothing to see here, just our spirit animal salivating (salviating?) over lunch at Salvi’s in the Northern Quarter. Peak French Bulldog content with enough food involved to get it on the list. Look at that tongue and those eyes firmly set on those cured meats. A human couldn't have been a better advert. We hope Willow the Frenchie got to taste the goods.

The Daily Fail

In case you missed it, this week a national newspaper that rhymes with the wailey snail ran a story about apparently no-go areas for white people in the UK. Funnily enough, Didsbury was one of them. Yes, that Didsbury. The same Didsbury that topped said newspaper's ‘top ten areas for hunting home buyers’ a few weeks before. Unsurprisingly Twitter had its fun with what was inciteful nonsense. We wouldn't eat our fish and chips off it.

Follow Davey Brett on twitter and instagram: @dbretteats

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