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I have to confess I’m not the biggest fan of ten pin bowling, this is probably because I’m not particularly good at it. So when I was invited to eat & bowl at Black Dog Ballroom’s new venture, a bowling alley named ‘Dog Bowl’ I really wasn’t sure. Not only would I be breaking my personal rule of avoiding activities …

I was recently asked by Sainsbury’s as part of their ‘Kitchen Heroes’ competition for my signature dish and kitchen cupboard hero ingredient. At first I struggled to come up with a signature dish as I love variety and cook so many different dishes across many cuisines, it’s often months before I repeat a dish. The store cupboard ingredient is easy …

As you may have read in my review of the Northern Quarter Takeover 2013, I was brave (or stupid?) enough to enter the SoLita In The Street Hot Wing Challenge yesterday. Now I do love spicy food and I’m always complaining when things that are supposed to be hot turn out not to be (I’m looking at you Almost Famous ‘Suicide’ Sauce’) …

Yesterday saw the third annual Northern Quarter Takeover, a huge street party on the streets of Manchesters cool Northern Quarter district. Most of the roads within the NQ were closed and though entry was free it was limited and once full a strict one in one out policy was in operation. There were fun fairs, DJs, outdoor bars and of course …

They say “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” (i’ve no idea who ‘they’ are, but they do) but when you have a food blog and it starts attracting more attention that’s not strictly true. Over the last couple of years I’ve received many offers of ‘free’ meals but until recently always turned them down. Often because they’re from places …

That’s the question I found myself asking a few weeks ago when Parmo talk first infiltrated my Twitter feed. Initially from @LoveParmo, whom I’ve no idea how or why I was following (though I’m glad I do!) and then from my friends SoLita who went on to create their own version. I thought I must’ve been living on another planet as …

Although I have always been fond of individual vegetarian dishes, until just a few years ago the thought of an entire vegetarian restaurant really wouldn’t have appealed to me. I’ve since been convinced that a meal doesn’t need any meat or fish to be great, as long as the food is exciting and full of flavour it’s not missed at …

I love burgers but thanks to the Hard Rock Cafe, Almost Famous and especially SoLita i’ve eaten rather a lot of them lately. As I made my way to Gorilla Bar & Kitchen, a place I know is renowned for serving decent burgers but also has a much more varied menu I repeated “must not order burger, must not order …

Believe it or not I don’t write about all of my trips to SoLita, as they’ve featured in so many posts over the past few months I genuinely arrive most times intending not to blog about what I eat but it usually ends up being so good I just can’t resist. I have restrained myself from blogging on a few …

I was recently invited to the Hard Rock Cafe in Manchester to sample their relaunched ‘Legendary Burger’ menu. I generally turn down similar offers for a variety of reasons but mainly because they’re often not places i’m interested in visiting. However, as a bit of a burger connoisseur and a fan of rock music I thought it would be an interesting opportunity …

Last month, The French restaurant in Manchester’s Midland Hotel reopened with superchef Simon Rogan in the kitchen. I had the pleasure of being the first customer on the very first lunch service which went amazingly well as you can read here (I won’t go into detail about dishes that were exactly the same as this visit). I’ve been desperate to return ever …

I grew up in Horwich, a small town, part of Bolton in Greater Manchester which has a disproportionate amount of restaurants in the town centre for some reason. Most of them are situated on either Lea Lane or Winter Hey Lane just a few streets away from my childhood home. I have fond memories of early Italian & Cantonese dining experiences there …

I have a long and ever-growing list of places I want to visit, one that’s been hovering around the top for a while is The Parkers Arms in the Ribble Valley near Clitheroe. I know the area well having visited Nigel Haworth’s country pub ‘The Three Fishes’ in the nearby village of Mitton many times. The Parkers Arms reputation has been …

Recently I visited Mughli in Rusholme, Manchesters ‘curry mile’. It was late and a last minute decision following an event at the Manchester Academy as we felt like a change from our usual post gig Indian restaurant, Zouk. I’ve always loved the vibe around Rusholme but never found a restaurant where the standard of food quite lives up to it. …

I don’t claim to be an expert in Japanese food, in fact, i’ll probably never be an expert in any cuisine since my tastes are so wide and varied. I have been fond of Japanese food though since visiting an amazing restaurant in Barcelona almost 10 years ago. It’s a cuisine I have neglected in recent years until a very …