IN THE era of the hashtag, trends have a way of burrowing into your consciousness until they’re difficult to shake off.
As the dust begins to settle on the burger, Bosu has hit the clean-eating trend while it's still hot.
(Currently trending: Pizza Hut has unveiled new pizza boxes that turn into projector screens for home cinema screenings. I WANT IT.)
In recent years, #Dirtyfood, #filthyfood, #streetfood and all its other messy variants became major Insta-grammable points of interest. It became a Manchester urban legend that if you say burger three times a burger joint will appear right on your doorstep. And as the trend caught fire, restauranteurs began to compete on who could be filthiest, most vulgar, most in-yer-face, most likely to cause a heart attack.
But trends are fleeting of course. The meat-in-two-bun dish that dare not speak its name is oh so 2014.
Virtuous eating is now the only rightful response to the ‘dirty food’ phenomenon.
And in marches the ‘smashing-the-gym’ types, sipping on liquidised vegetables and counting their umpteenth rep while bellowing 'are you beach body ready?' until we change our eating habits.
Hashtag: eat clean.
Restaurants may be taking note of a new food fad and turning over a new (kale) leaf.
Bosu Body Bar has leapt forward as a clean-eating machine on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton.
Bosu Body BarIt’s a tiny ‘protein bar’, tucked within a converted house and a brand new venture by three young entrepreneurs and self-confessed health nuts. They aim to rejuvenate Chorlton’s lunch-time options (although Dixy chicken will always reign supreme) by providing fast, fresh health conscious meals and smoothies for those who want to eat better and those who already do.
The popularity of the place has been unprecedented; well, if you take social media likes, retweets and follows as confirmation.
On a Tuesday afternoon Bosu is spilling out with buff guys and gals with more pull-up reps under their belt than body fat. It seems they’ve turned against Nandos for this new protein packed offering.
Owner Josef Ramzi- Faddoul paces through Bosu welcoming each and every person that sits down. Without prompt, he enthusiastically begins to hard-sell:
“You’re going to love the apple coleslaw. It comes with no mayonnaise, and look how green the broccoli is, we preserve it in a special way to retain its colour. You’ll really appreciate this food, we’re really passionate,” he grins, before making a dash to the next customer.
BosuBosu takes the ‘build-your-own’ frame that we’ve come to know with fast-food joints but is instead designed for post-workout sustenance. You pick your protein to repair muscles, a base of clean-carbs for energy and a choice of any sides – a colourful cacophony of greens, yellow and purples veggies. All for £6.50. £8.50 if you want to king size it.
I chose steak, with spicy sweet potato mash and all the sides: houmous, root vegetables, apple coleslaw, the greenest of green broccoli and sesame topped pea pods. The colours are quite dazzling; beautifully pigmented and wonderfully fresh. The steak was not the chewy rubber band we’ve come to expect in a fast-food joint, instead it was hot from the grill, lightly seasoned and perfectly complemented with ranch dressing.
This is good, solid, speedy clean food.
Steak, sweet potato mash and sides (£6.50) - the Wahu comparisons are expectedI washed it down with a 'Muscle Up' protein smoothie (peanut butter, vanilla, flak seed, banana - £4) which could do well to solve the world's hunger crisis. True to its name this smoothie has a lot of body. My stomach was round with food.
Still, Bosu makes me want to become super fit.
“Fitness and health has become a trend in itself. We knew opening up wouldn't be that much of risk," said Ramzi-Faddoul.
Without intention, in his excitement Ramzi-Faddoul manages to come across a tad braggadocios, revealing (and then quickly concealing) the company has had an extremely successful eight weeks in business. Without spilling the details, profits are looking great for this small company. They’re also looking at huge investment and expansion across Manchester City Centre and MediaCityUK is in the pipeline.
Muscle Up protein smoothie (£4)It’s easy to make comparisons to Wahu in Spinningfields, which Bosu's owners have shrewdly looked at and examined. On first taste, Bosu are in another league by the freshness of the product alone. But don’t ask Ramzi if he thinks the large branch is competition – he hopes that this won’t be a question in the long-run.
“I’m just passionate. Just a few years ago we were travelling around on buses, we saved and here we are. But I knew it wouldn’t be such a risk to open and in eight weeks we’ve already proved that. We haven’t paid for any marketing and have just relied on word of mouth and social media.”
Bosu is trendy, sure. Yet the owners are set on this not becoming a fad. As the dust begins to settle on the burger, Bosu has hit the clean-eating trend while it's still hot.
You get the feeling you will hear more from this young establishment. Healthy or not, this food has muscle.
Rating: 14/20 (remember venues are rated against the best examples of their type - see below)
Food: 7/10 (steak box 7, smoothie 6)
Service: 3.5/5 (Hands-on owners, but lacking the staff for speedy lunch service)
Ambience: 3.5/5 (Relaxed)
