PLUS: Salt and Pepper shaken, ARMR store raising and Adam Reid hefting
Shhh! We're going to whisper this intro very softly in case you were out drinking copious amounts of Guinness last night for St Patrick's Day. Don't worry, you didn't say or do anything any more embarrassing than anyone else did. Get a can of fizzy pop down you and have an early night. It's going to be a lovely, sunny spring weekend and you'll be feeling a bit fresher tomorrow.
The green-tinged festivities may be over for another year but Manchester never stops partying. We have plenty more food and drink goings-on to keep you entertained for another week.
Read on for this week's bite-size, snackable Manchester food and drink news.
Patel's Pies live at Band on The Wall
Music venues and good food rarely go hand in hand but that is changing around Manchester with more interesting food and beer popping up in venues. Think Doner Summer at Yes or This Charming Nan at Deaf, not to mention Blues Kitchen. Live music is popping up at already good places to eat like Ramona/The Firehouse and NAM too. An OG venue with a staggeringly impressive back catalogue of gigs, the recently relaunched Band On The Wall has never been somewhere you’d go for food first and foremost. But that might change now Patel’s Pies is involved. We’ve had our chops around a few of these curry pies and can confirm they are very good. The perfect foundation for beer pre-gig and a support act well worth getting down early for.
A Hefty pop-up for Tickle and Reid
Kevin Tickle and Adam Reid will join forces to create a unique six-course menu at Heft in High Newton this Monday 21 March.
Kevin is the chef-patron at Heft, the 17th century coaching inn he opened last year after an extensive refurbishment, entering straight into the Estrella Damn Top 50 Gastropubs at number 33. Adam Reid is chef-patron at Adam Reid at The French, which was awarded 4 AA rosettes for culinary excellence in 2019.
The chefs are linked by their old boss Simon Rogan. Kevin Tickle was chief forager at L'Enclume and head chef at Rogan and Co, while Adam Reid was head chef at The French (as it was) when it relaunched under Rogan's direction.
Despite their common ancestor, each chef will be cooking in their own distinctive style, utilising the very best seasonal British produce throughout.
Tickets for the dinner are limited and are priced at £130 per person, which includes a six-course menu prepared by both chefs. There is also the option to add matched wines to the meal. To book a place visit: hefthighnewton.co.uk or email: info@hefthighnewton.co.uk
Caribbean kitchen looking for £25,000
Hot on the heels of Sugo, Loaf and the serially crowdfunded Gary Usher, Ardwick heath store and community space ARMR is looking to raise £25,000 to fund a new kitchen at its property.
After surviving countless lockdowns over the past couple of years, the store has decided it doesn’t just want to survive, it wants to thrive.
“We want to provide a better space for independent brands to sell from and customers to enjoy” The store explained in a recent Instagram post. “Over the last three years the demand for our hot food offering has outgrown our current space.”
ARMR store not only provides hot Caribbean-style food to its customers every day, but is a community environment that offered help as a food bank during the pandemic, provides mentoring for young people, and lends its space to mental health groups for free.
There are lots of benefits on offer in return for your pledges, from wellness hampers to event invites - but a pledge of just £60 could bag you an invitation to a special vegan Caribbean supper cooked by Eat Well MCR’s Mary-Ellen McTague and ARMR stores’ Raph Evans.
Salt & Pepper on the move
With a broken heart and some well-seasoned sentiment, the Arndale Market’s Salt & Pepper stand is closing and relocating to Black Dog NQ from Wednesday 6 April. Saying bye-bye to its current base on Saturday 2 April, the team are leaving due to limited facilities in the market and a lack of funding needed for a proper extraction system. The Council stated that the small biz needed to invest £100k minimum to save their spot, which is a lot of sticky chicken boxes.
After spending the past few months figuring out a way to keep the dedicated staff employed and the business dreams alive, Salt and Pepper has proved that it's willing to push it real good and begin a new journey on Church Street in the NQ. All the same staff and S&P foodstuffs will still be intact at Black Dog, so make sure to show the biz some love in the coming months.
Madre heads up the M62 to Kampus
The Kampus indie supergroup continues to enlist as Liverpool’s Madre has been announced as another addition to the swanky neighbourhood opposite the gay village. A joint venture between the heads behind London’s Breddo's tacos and the team behind Liverpool stalwarts Belzan, Madre, which deals in Mexican-inspired food and drink currently has a main site at Liverpool’s Albert Dock and a vendor spot at Escape to Freight Island and will launch at Kampus in Spring 2022. Fancy trying it for free? Head over to the Madre Instagram. They’re giving one lucky person dinner and drinks for six on opening weekend.
Yum Cha Kampus-bound
The Kampus magnet has attracted another Liverpool indie in the form of dumpling kitchen Yum Cha. Open seven days a week from Spring this year, Yum Cha will join the likes of fellow Scousers Madre and other popular indies The Great North Pie Co, Nell’s, General Store and Cloudwater’s upcoming taproom. Diners can expect Chinese small plates, roasted meats and tea as well as the aforementioned dumplings. Adam Wan, Yum Cha Co-founder, said “People can expect honest, authentic Chinese food, packed with flavour and made for sharing with friends and family. More than ever, people are craving spending quality time with loved ones. Yum Cha is the tradition, passed down over centuries, of gathering to swap stories over tea and food.”
Still peckish?
There's been plenty going on to get your chops round this week. Kelly has been off galavanting with Salford babe and her new bff John Cooper Clarke, Lucy wants you to pack your bags and try out some of Manchester's newest and most stylish hotels and Davey has been getting to grips with the details about the infamous Soho House that is due to take over the old Granada Studios spot by the end of 2022.
Elsewhere, we have news of a new opening in Ramsbottom, some cheese chat from Chorlton and an insider's guide to Urmston.
Kelly went brekkie hunting in Rusholme and found joy at Cedar Bakery and Davey has written a lovely piece about Bridge Beers, a micropub we stumbled upon when we had a day out in Stalybridge a few weeks back.
The weather has been looking up this week, so we thought we'd put all of the North West's best festivals together in one place for you, and if three-star Michelin dining is more your thing, Gordo's review of Simon Rogan's L'Enclume might be worth checking out too.
Read next: Choosing cheese with Chorlton Cheesemongers
Read again: First look: Another Hand restaurant on Deansgate Mews
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