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Last month I was contacted by the lovely people at Teapigs who invited me to try their super strength Japanese tea, Matcha. Being well aware of it’s health benefits I jumped at the opportunity, you can read more about the challenge and matcha in general here. The challenge was supposed to run for 14 days but due to a backlog …

I was one of the first customers at Great Ale, Year Round on the opening day of the new ‘Lifestyle Hall’ at Bolton Market a few weeks ago. I’ve been back several times since, although not as many as i’d like considering how much I love the place.  Owners Dan & Gina were amongst the first to open in the new …

You’ve probably already heard of Friday Food Fight, or #FridayFoodFight. There’s been a big buzz on Twitter for weeks which seemed to increase significantly after the M.E.N described the upcoming events as “food raves”. Launching on Friday 7th March and running for 12 consecutive weeks Friday Food Fight will combine some of the cities best restaurants, street food vendors and …

It’s been barely four months since I bit the bullet and attended my first ever supper club at the Rusholme home of the very talented Jamie and Anna aka ‘Manchester Foodies’. Back then it was a Middle Eastern feast inspired by Ottolenghi’s ‘Jerusalem’ and I loved it. Since then, while they’ve been busy moving house i’ve attended several other supper …

Meat fans of Manchester rejoice, something special is happening. Red’s True Barbecue, much loved across the Pennines in Leeds have arrived and they’ve brought meat, lots of meat. I’d been eagerly anticipating their arrival since hearing they were to take over the old Livebait site on Lloyd Street, Albert Square. The official opening is this Thursday (13th February) but I …

An early highlight of 2013 was a trip to The WineGlass at Etrop Grange last February where chef Ernst Van Zyl created a fantastic bespoke tasting menu for us. We’d been planning to return for months but just as we finally set a date in the summer heard that Ernst had left and then disappeared for a while. Appearing again …

There aren’t many restaurants I return to time and time again; not because I don’t like them, as thanks to good research and a bit of luck I tend to have mostly positive experiences. The problem is I love pretty much everything; from Japanese to Mexican, burgers to sushi or fine-dining to street food. I also enjoy trying new places …

I love Japanese food and I love wine – particularly Italian – so what could be better than an Italian Wine Tasting night at one of my favourite Japanese restaurants? Not much I thought so despite feeling a tad delicate after the Arepa supper club the previous night I decided to go along to Umezushi and check it out. The event …

I like to think i’m pretty cultured when it comes to eating and enjoy a wide range of cuisines but until last year I didn’t know the first thing about Columbian food. That all changed after a visit to Levy Market where I got my first taste of Columbian street food from friends & fellow bloggers Jules & Bailey and their Arepa!Arepa!Arepa! stall. …

As you may have noticed, I eat out rather a lot; whether it’s lunch, dinner, tea, afternoon snack, late night snack or anything in between. One meal I’ve neglected though – at least locally – is breakfast. Not being a morning person i’m usually too lazy to bother getting up and out in time to eat breakfast, I do feel …

One of the unexpected side effects of writing this blog is the amount of freebies I get offered. Whilst it’s tempting to accept everything (who doesn’t like free stuff?) I didn’t start the site to write about biscuits or egg cups so i’m fairly selective about what i’ll accept. Every now and again though I receive an offer I just …

Bolton doesn’t have much to shout about these days; it’s football team are hopeless, Peter Kay seems to have given up trying to be funny and its once excellent town centre now seems to only contain pound shops and banks. Even worse (from my point of view anyway) the latest edition of The Good Food Guide doesn’t feature a single …

Apparently the average person in Britain puts on around 5lb over Christmas. I’d have been happy with that figure to be honest as unfortunately I exceeded it, quite significantly depending on the period of time we’re counting. Thanks to various events, Christmas menus, burgers etc.. I managed to put on over 7lb between Christmas Eve and New Years Day or …

Last year saw the first ever Food Geek Awards. They seemed to go down pretty well and are a bit different from the usual ‘Top 10 Lists’ that are so popular at this time a year so it looks like they might become a regular thing. After eating out around 130 times in 2013 the awards are much bigger and …

As 2013 draws to a close and I begin to reflect on my culinary adventures over the past 12 months one of the undoubted highlights was the discovery of The Parkers Arms in the Ribble Valley. My first visit back in March remains one of the most memorable and enjoyable meals this year and I now consider it a firm …