Tag Archives: Manchester

Despite being a lover of Spanish food it’s not a cuisine I often eat outside of Spain. Mainly because most of our restaurants are usually full of the same old clichéd dishes that are inevitably never as good as the real thing. Also, so much traditional Spanish cooking is fairly simple but relies on the quality of ingredients and I don’t think …

What you’re about to read may just be the most pointless restaurant ‘review’ ever written. As no more than a week after my visit to Cuckoo in Prestwich it was announced that top chef Mary-Ellen McTague would be taking over the kitchen for a three-month residency. Just as well really as I wasn’t overly impressed with the food at the time. …

Despite being one of my favourite places to eat in Manchester and the restaurant I ate at the most in 2014, I haven’t written about Mughli for ages. Not because they weren’t great experiences, far from it, I just didn’t feel there was much more to say that I’d not already said here. However, I couldn’t resist sharing my last two visits, …

‘Twas the (last Friday) night before Christmas and Manchester street food pioneers Guerrilla Eats were throwing a party at their semi-permanent home on Blossom Street. Combining two of the things I love most, street food and craft beer. The beer list was impressive; with twenty lines – of both keg and cask beers – from great local breweries such as Quantum and …

It’s beginning to look a lot like.. okay, it already looks a LOT like Christmas because apparently it’s happening in two days time. Whether I’m ready or not. At the start of December I hatched grand plans to visit the restaurants of Manchester sampling the very best festive food on offer. As it happened, I had no time for such fun. Just …

There are countless Italian restaurants in Manchester but unless you like dining with footballers wives there aren’t that many good ones. In fact, I haven’t eaten at one since Italia early last year and that’s sadly no longer with us. I’d never visited a ‘Gusto’ before – a chain of Italian restaurants by Living Ventures with branches in cities including Liverpool and …

It’s well known that Solita is one of my favourite restaurants; besides the great food it’s the fact that they never stop changing and improving that I love most. Blink and you might miss an amazing special, don’t return for a few months and you’re likely to find a completely refreshed menu next time. It wasn’t even six months ago …

These days I get just as excited about good beer as I do food. I bought my tickets for not one but three sessions of Indy Man Beer Con (Independent Manchester Beer Convention) as soon as they went on sale in Spring and spent the next six months counting down the days. I’d booked onto Jackie Kearney’s (aka The Hungry Gecko) beer …

There was nothing romantic about Valentine’s Day 2012 for me. The date of my worst ever experience as a food blogger at Taps in Manchester’s Great Northern. I swore I’d never return; something I stuck to for two and a half years, even when asked directly by the restaurant. When I did go back last month it wasn’t because I was asked …

If you’d told me in the late 90’s that I’d be making regular trips to bowling alleys in 15 years time, I wouldn’t have believed you for a second. I wasn’t very good at bowling admittedly but mainly because of the types of places we had available back then. You know those bright, garish mainstream chains – usually on retail parks – full …

I’ve always loved BrewDog; their beer and their bars. I used to love their food too; the BBQ menu was fantastic, featuring: tender ribs, brilliant burnt beans and a simply stunning smoked mac ‘n’ cheese. And I’m not ashamed to say I’ve made several visits purely to get my fix of their awesome fried pickles. So you can imagine my disappointment …

Last November I was incredibly excited when Lucha Libre brought their exciting Mexican food over from Liverpool to a large, plush new second site in Manchester’s Great Northern Tower. Sadly it didn’t quite live up to the standards of it’s older sibling when I visited, though to be fair it was in the restaurants first week of opening. I always …

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 …

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 …