Food & Drink
A new Blues, Bourbon and BBQ joint called The Blues Kitchen is opening near Deansgate
My kind of place
The Blues Kitchen will be bringing a flavour of the Deep South to the city with live music, bourbon and BBQ!
A new two-storey venue comprising of a restaurant and bar, as well as a stunning concert hall, is set to open on May 20th.
Taking over 13 Quay Street, an old Victorian Eye Hospital, The Blues Kitchen will transform the site with new additions as well as restoring some of the original features.
The concert hall is set to open for seated performances on May 20th subject to further guidelines, before fully opening for standing gigs and club nights on June 21st.
Guests will be transported to the Deep South with flavours, sounds and smells of Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi & Texas all on offer.
The venue will be filled with décor that emulates the roots of Blues, with a gospel roof constructed with reclaimed 19th century tin plates from a derelict church in Manhattan.
Plus there will be a stained-glass ceiling, fashioned with the original stained-glass windows from Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey, where one of the true blues greats, Woody Guthrie, once resided.
There will also be an original 1920s Air Stream Caravan that has been revamped to provide the ultimate retro private party space.
Located on the ground floor is a restaurant and bar specialising in American Soul food and rare and vintage bourbon.
There will be everything from brunch, lunch, supper and dessert covered with proper classic comfort food.
Expect the likes of stacked-up burgers, creamy mac n cheese, finger lickin’ buffalo hot wings and succulent smoky ribs.
Behind the bar, guests will have the choice of 80 bourbons as well as a dedicated menu of cocktails, beers, wines and other spirits.
The whiskey menu covers everything from Single Barrel (aged 12 years), Rye, Corn & Wheated, Small Batch, Tennessee, Rare & Vintage as well as whiskeys from around the world.
Guests can also expect a curated live music programme every single day of the week on the ground floor while you sip on whisky and tuck into a burger.
Heading upstairs to the concert hall, the space will host concerts with international headliners to 500 guests. There will also be in-house gigs and club nights with a variety of genres.
Steve Ball, CEO of The Columbo Group, which owns The Blues Kitchen, said: “We’ve been looking for the perfect site in Manchester for years and have finally found it.
“We’ve taken a great deal of pleasure in restoring the building over the past year, and we’ve managed to get hold of some incredible vintage features from The States so it’s really going to be quite something. We’re really excited to reveal it all soon along with our entertainment programme once restrictions have lifted.”
Keep up to date on their Instagram.
Food & Drink
Wetherspoons selling cheap pints from as little as £2.15 starting this week
Calling all beer lovers!
Pub chain Wetherspoons has announced it is hosting a 12-day celebration of all things ale — with pints costing as little as £2.15, starting this week.
The chain’s Real Ale Festival runs from Wednesday March 22nd to Sunday April 2nd, just in time for beer garden season. Exact prices will depend on where you live but the average cost is still expected to be below £3.
A range of 30 ales will be included in the deal, which is part of the pub chain’s real ale festival, from citrusy IPAs to deep dark rubies, available at extremely tempting prices across all of its pubs.
Some of those beers – 24 in total – will also have been brewed especially for the Wetherspoons event. Vegan and gluten free beers will also be on sale as part of the festival collection. Included in the selection of tipples will be offerings from leading British breweries as well as brewers in countries such as Switzerland, USA and Belgium.
Wetherspoon operations director, Martin Geoghegan said: “The festival is a great celebration of real ale. It will allow our pubs to showcase a selection of superb beers over a 12-day period, at great value for money prices.
“It will also give our customers the opportunity to enjoy a number of beers which have not previously been served in the pub, including those from overseas.”
The annual festival arrives as Spoons prices have risen by around 7.5 percent and a number of its venues have been put up for sale. Despite this, boss Tim Martin said that he remains ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the brand’s future.
The full list of ales is:
- Robinsons Brewery, Citra Pale Ale 3.4% ABV
- Rooster’s Brewery, Blind Jack 3.7% ABV
- Wainwright, Amber 4.0% ABV
- Butcombe Brewery, Vincent 4.0% ABV
- JW Lees Brewery, Vanilla Cream Pale 4.0% ABV
- Vale Brewery, Brass Monkey 4.0% ABV
- Exmoor Ales, Upside Brown 4.2% ABV
- Hook Norton Brewery, Merula Stout 4.2% ABV
- Theakston Brewery, Double Cross IPA 4.2% ABV
- Adnams Brewery, Extra 4.3% ABV
- Daleside Brewery, Seafever 4.3% ABV
- Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery, 1822 4.3% ABV
- Greene King Brewery, Spring Break 4.4% ABV
- Sudwerk Brewery, Reeds Ale 4.4% ABV
- Glamorgan Brewery, Fresh 4.5% ABV
- Redemption Brewery, Steam 4.5% ABV
- Brombeer Compagnie, Freddy Export 4.6% ABV
- Titanic Brewery, EBA 4.6% ABV
- Cairngorm Brewery, White Lady 4.7% ABV
- Orkney Brewery, Cliff Edge 4.7% ABV
- Liberation Brewery, Defiant ESB 4.8% ABV
- Moorhouse’s Brewery, Totemic 4.8% ABV
- Saltaire Brewery, Triple Choc 4.8% ABV
- Batemans Brewery, Spring Breeze 5.0% ABV
- Hawkshead Brewery, Five Hop 5.0% ABV
- Nethergate Brewery, Umbel Magna 5.0% ABV
- Sambrook’s Brewery, Valhalla 5.0% ABV
- Oakham Ales, Buckle Up! 5.2% ABV
- Otter Brewery, Head 5.8% ABV
- Cambridge Brewing, Flower Child IPA 6.0% ABV
Food & Drink
Zouk’s bottomless curry buffet is back for Ramadan with an entire stuffed lamb
It will be available for everyone throughout the entirety of Ramadan — Zouk have it covered!
Zouk is bringing back its epic bottomless buffet, available throughout the whole of Ramadan, consisting of their best-loved dishes — including a whole stuffed lamb.
Every evening starting from Thursday March 23rd, the colossal all-you-can-eat buffet will be open for everyone to feast on — the perfect way for families to celebrate Iftar and break their fast.
Guests will be greeted with a gift of stuffed dates on arrival plus fruit chaat, dates and water on the table. Once seated, customers can go up to the buffet and enjoy the daily selection of food which will include salads, starters, curries, lamb raan and a selection of accompaniments.
Zouk have created two sittings this year, so the Ramadan buffet is available for a longer period of time each evening — with a rotating menu in case you want to come back for more.
There will be one sitting at Iftar with a second sitting an hour earlier or later, depending on BST. All you have to do is simply select the time that best suits you and your fellow diners when booking.
The Ramadan buffet is £25 per person for adults, £12.50 per child (under 12s) and free for children under five. Throughout the month, Zouk will also be supporting a number of local charities by donating both meals and money to help with the homelessness crisis across Manchester.
While walk-ins are welcome, it is advised to make a reservation to avoid disappointment. Get booked in here.
The rotating menu is as follows:
Salads (a choice of three every day including)
Mango
Kachumber
Tabbouleh
Mint & Cucumber
Starters (a choice of five every day)
Vegetable Samosas
Mixed Vegetable Pakora
Dhai Balahi (yoghurt based dish served chilled)
Chicken Tikka
Seekh Kebab
Chicken 65
Live Carvey
Whole Stuffed Lamb Raan (weekends)
Leg Lamb Raan (weekdays)
Curry (a choice of four every day)
Chicken Sindhi Biryani
Chicken & Spinach
Lamb & Potatoes
Dall Makhani
Tarka Dall
Accompaniments
Assorted Naan breads
Roti
Basmati Rice
Desserts
Mango Mumbai Mess
Raspberry Mumbai Mess
Gulab Jamon
Chocolate Brownies
Fresh Fruit
Food & Drink
This Manchester food hall has been named best in entire UK
Three Manchester food halls made it into the top 10 list
A food hall in Manchester has been named as the best in the UK for its ‘exceptional’ food.
Mackie Mayor, based in the Northern Quarter, beat competition from London, Liverpool and Sheffield as it was voted best in the whole of the UK. Two other Greater Manchester food halls also made it to the top 10; Altrincham Market House and Society food hall, coming in fourth and eighth respectively.
Mackie Mayor scooped the top spot and was praised for the ‘exceptional’ food from its many food and drink operators, while second place went to Italian-inspired concept Eataly in London.
The news was announced by global travel site Big 7 Travel and hospitality specialists Enjoy Travel, who teamed up to find the best food halls in the UK. Venues were ranked on several factors including range of cuisines, selection of vendors, unique and special events and overall atmosphere.
Mackie Mayor food hall is located inside an 1858 Grade II-listed market building that was once Smithfield Market Hall. The site reopened as Mackie Mayor following a huge refurbishment in 2017.
The Swan Street plot was given a total revamp by the same team behind Altrincham Market — led by Nick Johnson — after lying empty for years. The team behind both food halls also run the Picturedrome food hall in Macclesfield.
Featuring a range of food and drink operators, all under its huge glass roof, Mackie Mayor holds the capacity for almost 500 people. The current line-up of vendors includes Tender Cow, Eagle Street Coffee, Honest Crust, Pico’s, New Wave Ramen, Mumma’s, Chilli B and BlackJack Brewtap.
Taking top position above Eataly in London and Cutlery Works in Sheffield, the description for Mackie Mayor said it was ‘crammed full of top-notch food and drink vendors’ and one of Manchester’s ‘most popular spots’.
It added: “Honest Crust serves exceptional seasonal sourdough pizzas, FIN Fish Bar is beloved for its sustainable day-boat fish cooked whole over a chargrill and Baohouse serves up the steamiest little Taiwanese buns. At Tender Cow, punters can tuck into lesser-known cuts of beef from some of the best producers and farms in Britain. Groups of 10 or more people can book a table too.”
The other Manchester food hall making the top ten was Society, located in the long-vacated bar site next to Bridgewater Hall on Barbirolli Square, serving up a range of street food, craft beers and cocktails.
Current traders at the food hall include Chaat Cart, Yoki Social Table and Vocation brewery.
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