Tag Archives: NQ

I wasn’t planning on eating out in January. I know, I know, bear with me. I’m not really one of those types. I mean, I don’t do full on detox or ‘Dryanuary’ or anything. But after a very indulgent Christmas December I definitely needed to take it easy for a few weeks. I assumed that meant not eating out for a while. …

I’m a bit of a sucker for tradition, especially at Christmas. Only good ones though, usually involving food, not rubbish stuff like the John Lewis ad. After having the Solita Christmas burger for the past four years I definitely consider it one of them. After deciding to eat at Solita the next job is picking which one. With four to choose from it’s not …

The Solita Christmas burger is now a firmly established Food Geek Christmas tradition. I left it late this year but made it to the original Northern Quarter restaurant on Christmas Eve Eve Eve to get my festive fix for the fourth consecutive year. The newly refurbished basement is looking great, modelled on the impressive designs of the newer Didsbury & …

There are some places that epitomise their location; Common in the Northern Quarter used to be a prime example. The NQ institution was one of my favourite places in Manchester to drink. Its quirky and artistic – if a little scruffy – decor was all part of the charm. To celebrate their 10-year anniversary they closed their doors for several …

Slightly stale Cinnamon Swirl aside; I really enjoyed my visit to Wood. Wine & Deli in Manchester’s Northern Quarter last year. Back then it felt very much like a wine bar and deli that served food rather than a restaurant. But head chef Gary contacted me recently to see if I’d be interested in sampling some of their new small plates after shifting …

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 …

If you’ve been to any new restaurant, event or craft beer shop in Manchester this year you can’t have missed the influx of beers from Hawaiian brewery Kona. Although I must admit to getting a little bored of seeing them absolutely everywhere, I do enjoy most of them. So when I was invited to Northern Quarter rib joint Cane & …

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 …

There seems to be a new restaurant opening every week in Manchester at the moment. Some are more exciting than others of course but one that caught my attention recently was ‘Cane & Grain’. They promised to bring ‘Rum, Ribs, Bourbon & Beer’ to the Northern Quarter, as a fan of all four I was naturally excited. Last week I was …

When I asked for breakfast recommendations in Manchester late last year one of the popular suggestions was Fyg Deli in the Northern Quarter. Before I’d had chance to visit I heard they’d been taken over and reopened as ‘Wood. Wine & Deli’ an independent wine bar. They promised bar stools made from tree trunks and food served on platters of …

Waking up in a Macclesfield hotel with a slight hangover after a fantastic night – but perhaps one too many glasses of wine – at ‘The Lord Clyde‘, there was only one thing on my mind; A breakfast burrito. Specifically a Luck Lust Liquor & Burn breakfast burrito. So you can imagine my horror when I learned that they no longer serve …

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 …

I’ve always liked The Blue Pig pub in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, as a pub anyway. Having enjoyed many drinks there from the impressive cocktail menu to the small but excellent selection of local cask ales. For some reason i’d never eaten there though until last week when I was invited to try the new menu. Other than the plastic plants …

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 …

You’ve probably noticed that I don’t need much of an excuse to visit SoLita. I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time there recently so after my last visit self-imposed a ban in the hope of maybe fitting into my holiday clothes in a couple of weeks. I lasted 13 days. Actually impressive by recent standards and the ban wasn’t broken …