Food Geek | Food Blog restaurant reviews, recipes & other foodie stuff..

There are few places I like less than Blackpool so I generally try to avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately last Sunday the gorgeous Autumn weather meant a visit for the final day of the Illuminations was unavoidable (kids!). To make the day more bearable we spent most of it in the much nicer nearby town of Fleetwood, only venturing …

Fraiche is one of those restaurants i’ve been intending to visit for several years but for various reasons it just didn’t happen. One reason is that despite being one of my closest Michelin starred restaurants it’s difficult to reach by public transport so i’d need to either drive home, which I don’t like to do after eating in fine dining …

I like to think i’m pretty clued up on restaurants in Manchester but must confess I hadn’t heard of Ocean Treasure before I was invited to review it. Possibly because Chinese is a cuisine i’ve neglected for the last few years but more likely because it’s tucked away on the ground floor of the Manchester235 casino in the Great Northern …

People who know me now will find this hard to believe but until a couple of years ago I really wasn’t much of a gin drinker. In fact, I only got my first bottle at home last year. Since then though I can’t stop drinking the stuff, I’ve made some fabulous gin based cocktails and it’s now one of my favourite …

I do enjoy a good market, particularly those that sell food. I’d heard a lot of good things about Levenshulme Market, or ‘Levy Market’ as it’s commonly known as. Held on the last Saturday of each month on the train station car park it’s a community market of local traders selling everything from vintage clothes and gifts to music and …

When I visited Dog Bowl for the first time in May I loved the bowling and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food being served too. I was invited to check out their new Sunday lunch menu which I happily accepted. Located under one of the arches on Whitworth Street West if you approach from behind as we did …

I’ve returned to Umezushi a few times since my first visit back in March, each occasion was enjoyable but I chose not to write them up since the food was very similar. I couldn’t resist writing about my latest visit last Wednesday though. It was a typically cold and miserable Manchester evening as we rushed the short distance from Victoria …

The last time I visited The Beagle in Chorlton was for the launch of their collaboration with street food collective Guerrilla Eats. In a bold move the pub stopped serving food from their own kitchen and instead relied on various street food vendors to serve their hungry drinkers. That arrangement ended recently but one of those street food vendors, ‘Margo …

Three weeks ago I’d never been to a supper club, having loved my first experience I couldn’t wait for the second last Saturday. This time run by DineInOut, a dining club who organise events in restaurants and private homes. I’d been tempted by several of their previous events but was finally hooked by the cheekily titled ‘On The Game’ with The Drunken Butcher. I’d been following …

It’s no secret that i’m a huge fan of SoLita in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. As somebody who loves to try new places there aren’t many restaurants I revisit regularly but thanks to Foursquare I know I’ve been to SoLita at least 21 times so far this year. Possibly bordering on obsessive? For fear of boring you all to death and …

When I started this blog I intended the posts to be roughly 50/50 restaurant reviews and my own recipes. A couple of years later and i’ve passed 150 reviews but shamefully only posted 6 recipes! So when I was contacted by Sainsbury’s and asked if i’d like to cook and review a recipe created by the winner of ‘Yorkshire’s Best …

Despite having eaten 12+ courses at Manchester House on Friday night and rather a lot at a fabulous supper club on Saturday I woke up on Sunday thinking about food. Specifically about The Farmers Arms. Since visiting 3 times in the first couple of weeks after opening it had been a while since I’d last been and i’d seen and …

After spending the seven months since my previous visit to Mughli raving about how good it is and telling everybody to go, I figured it was about time I went back myself to make sure I was right. Last time was a quick, unplanned, late night trip after a gig at nearby Manchester Academy and having already eaten out just …

Caffeine and Co is a tiny, independent coffee shop in Manchester City centre run by husband and wife team Phil and Claire Howells. Over the past 18 months they’ve steadily been building a loyal fan base and were nominated for ‘Best Coffee Or Tea Shop’ at the recent Manchester Food & Drink Festival awards. July saw the opening of their …

The Trafford Centre really isn’t one of my favourite places, especially when i’m hungry as it’s filled with crappy chain restaurants that almost always end in disappointment. The only exception is Yo! Sushi which is where I headed, only to find it closed for renovations ‘until October’. I was furious as it had been October for over 12 hours! Eventually …