Reviews

I almost cancelled my reservation to Ziya – a new Indian restaurant in Rusholme – after reading a bizarre interview with their head chef where amongst other ridiculous statements he claimed they were ‘relaunching the Curry Mile’ because there was ‘nowhere good enough to take my family to eat’. Hardly the best way to launch a new business even if it …

Long time readers will know I’m a huge fan of Northern Quarter restaurant Solita, having visited many, many times in the two years since they opened, including around 25 times in 2013 alone! For the good of my health I’ve cut back significantly this year but was still incredibly excited to hear about their plans to open a second restaurant …

Despite the fact that approximately half of my family are from Yorkshire, and in the words of my Mother I am in fact ‘50% Yorkshire’ myself, I don’t spend as much time there as I should. Leeds is obviously a great city but the county has so much more to offer, particularly along the coast. Just a few months ago I …

It’s no secret that I love the Drunken Butcher’s food, but if there’s one thing I love even more it’s beer (as my Untappd profile will testify; 586 distinct beers and counting in under 12 months… eek). The thought of combining these two loves at his recent ‘Over (and under) A Barrel’ event filled me with pure hoppiness (sorry). Not only did …

A few months ago I was invited to attend a ‘Burrito Masterclass’ at Barburrito in Manchester by Amigos who make tequila flavoured beer. I love tequila and I love beer but I can’t say i’m the biggest fan of tequila flavoured beer. I am a huge fan of burritos though and despite being generally against chain restaurants have been to …

I wouldn’t usually write about somewhere after eating just one dish but I’m making an exception here since it was so damn good. The dish in question was a stunning ‘cote de boeuf’ at Côte Brasserie in Manchester. It was very much a spontaneous visit; late on a Monday night after attending a ‘Meet The Brewer’ event at Cane & Grain (review …

Last month I was lucky enough to attend the ‘Judging & Trade Day’ of the International Cheese Awards in Nantwich. Held in a giant tent in Cheshire – the largest cheese marquee in the world apparently! – some 4,443 cheeses from 26 countries were judged by a group of experts. While they got on with the judging I did a little tasting …

Nobody divides the opinion of Manchester’s foodies quite like Living Ventures. They’re an obvious target due to their huge success and I guess it’s easy to hate them as many bloggers seem to, I’ve been guilty of it myself at times. But while many of their places are clearly not for me I can’t help but admire their relentlessness and also the …

As a lover of craft beer I was delighted when micro-bar Great Ale Year Round opened in Bolton Market’s new ‘Lifestyle Hall’ in January. Spending more time (and money) there than I probably should I got to know owners Dan and Gina quite well. When they found out about this blog and my passion for good food as well as beer they …

I realised recently that compared to previous years i’ve hardly eaten in any ‘fine-dining’ restaurants so far in 2014. As much as I still enjoy refined French food and good wine with fancy silver service I often have the feeling of ‘been there, done that’, they just don’t excite me as much as they once did. It’s partly fatigue from over …

Perhaps surprisingly, I’d only been to Almost Famous once until recently. This for various reasons including; being a bit of a SoLita fan boy, not liking to queue and finding their early marketing more than a little tedious. On that single visit in early 2013 the food didn’t blow me away as I’d expected but equally, I wasn’t annoyed by …

I’m usually so excited to visit a town or city for the first time as I generally have a list of places I want to eat at. I’ve been known to squeeze as many as nine restaurants into a little over 48 hours in an attempt to see (and eat) as much as possible. Not necessary when I visited Leicester …

The life of a food blogger isn’t always as glamourous as it may seem. I was reminded of this in June after eating at two new restaurants in the same evening; one incredibly dull and uninspiring, the other mediocre at best. The first part of the underwhelming double bill was Wahu in Spinningfields, where food comes in cardboard boxes that probably taste better than …

The Drunken Butcher clearly has a great imagination and talent for continuing to come up with exciting new concepts for his supper clubs, but even the greatest minds need a little help from time to time. Recently he’s taken to developing custom menu’s for private, invitation only supper clubs based on a theme chosen by the organiser. I was lucky enough to …

I love beer and BrewDog is one of my favourite places to drink it. I’m quite partial to street food too, so when I heard they were to hold regular ‘Kitchen Takeovers’ where they invite independent street food vendors into their kitchen for the day I was naturally excited. Even more so when I found out the first event was …