This week in food news we are looking ahead to February with the chance to wine and dine amongst the artworks at the spectacular Manchester Art Gallery, and the imminent opening of Aiden Byrne’s much-anticipated 20 Stories. We have some traditional Jamaican cuisine now serving up Oxford Road’s Hatch development and rumors of an informal Izakaya sushi bar for the Northern Quarter.
Book now: The Gallery Café’s Valentine’s Day special
For an elegant Valentine’s dinner a cut above, The Gallery Café are hosting an exclusive three-course meal devised by chefs Mary-Ellen McTague and Isobel Jenkins. Sounds like a great way to spend Valentine’s Day to us – an evening perusing Manchester Art Gallery’s Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces, before heading downstairs for a cocktail and an indulgent dinner, created by two of Manchester’s most celebrated chefs. After receiving accolades for her work at fine-dining restaurant Aubrey, MacTague was enlisted to overhaul The Gallery Café where she set about creating a menu that reflected her enthusiasm for seasonal local produce. For this one-off event she is joined by Isobel Jenkins, of Seasons Eating Supper Club, so expect dishes that celebrate the produce of early spring, letting ingredients shine, and showing off the skills of local producers. The menu includes cured mackerel with celeriac, apple and lovage on rye, and a game pie main with smoked chestnuts, truffle mash and kale. With just 20 pairs of tickets available, this one is sure to sell out quickly and we suggest hot-footing it to the booking page soon. Click here for more Valentine’s food picks.
Thu 15 Feb. Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JL, 7-9pm, tickets £40 (£60 with wine pairings). www.eventbrite.co.uk
Evelyn’s Cafe to open Japanese restaurant Brothers Izakaya in NQ
The team behind popular Northern Quarter hangout Evelyn’s Cafe and the Mughli restaurants are adding another bar to their ever-expanding portfolio. Brothers Izakaya will open in 2018 at an as-yet-undisclosed NQ location and promises to be ‘a casual Japanese restaurant and bar’. An Izakaya is an informal bar, a local late night hangout not dissimilar to a tapas bar where you can drink a glass of Saki whilst sharing sushi with friends (so says wiki, anyway). If that’s the vibe they’re going for, it sounds lovely and we are in. Watch this space for more updates.
Opening soon. www.brothersnq.com
Cask and Pollen to make the move to Ancoats
Two new openings have been announced for the Cotton Field Wharf development with Cask and Pollen both making plans to move to new premises in Ancoats. Pollen will be closing the shop at the railway arch that saw them launch their successful start-up bakery, and firing up the ovens to begin production from their new Ancoats base. Their new site will also have a cafe space, so you can sit and enjoy their award-winning bakes with a cup of (decent) coffee. Castlefield bar Cask are also readying themselves for a move North with the opening of second bar, stocked full of world-class international beers. Read more about it here.
Both opening spring 2018. Cotton Field Wharf, New Union Street, Manchester, M4. www.mcrlife.co.uk
Opening soon at Hatch
Caribbean street food vendor Eat & Sweet will soon be coming to one of the shipping container style spaces at the new Hatch development, joining Takk, nano-brewery Ol, El Marchador Tacos and the Quebec poutine kings, Blue Caribou Canteen. The unlikely spot beneath the bypass has quickly become one of the best places for student lunching (or post-lecture drinking).
Opening soon. Eat & Sweet at Hatch, Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 7ED. www.eatandsweet.co.uk
Award winning Dim Sum at Ancoats Coffee Co.
Ancoats Coffee Company host a supper club with British Street Food Award winner Dim Sum Su. The six course set menu features a selection of popular Cantonese and Chinese dishes including Korean fried chicken steamed bao, leek and choi sum dumplings and mango and tapioca trifle. Keep an eye on the Ancoats Coffee Co.’s twitter feed for more upcoming supper clubs.
Fri 26 Dec, Ancoats Coffee Co., Unit 9 Royal Mills, 17 Redhill Street, Manchester, M4 5BA. £5 deposit, with £25 to be paid on arrival. BYOB www.ancoats-coffee.co.uk @DimSumSU
Deal of the week
It might be a bit out of town but Levanter fine foods in Ramsbottom have made a name for themselves as one of the best tapas places in the north, raved about in The Guardian, and winners of numerous awards. It’s also useful to know that Levanter have a January deal that lets you order three tapas dishes for £15, available from Wednesday evening through to Friday lunchtime. The offer includes deep fried artichokes, salt cod scotch egg, mussells in manzanilla and many more besides. Check out our list of great January offers here.
Levanter Fine Foods,10 Square Street, Ramsbottom, Bury, BL0 9AT. www.levanterfinefoods.co.uk
IN SHORT
Opening soon: An end of February date has been set for the much-anticipated opening of Aiden Byrne’s sky-high restaurant, 20 Stories. Featuring a bar, roof terrace and a restaurant space with room for up to 300 covers, the ambitious venture looks set to have some pretty ambitious scran too. Read more about what’s on the menu here.
From Feb 2018, 20 Stories, No. 1 Spinningfields, Quay Street, Manchester, www.danddlondon.com
Tap Takeovers: As part of Tryanuary, a nationwide campaign to support small brewers in January by forgoing the abstinence of dry January, there are some pretty decent tap takovers happening this month. Keep an eye on the Chorlton Brewing Company National tap takeover which will see special brews (not that kind) pop up at the likes of Bundobust and Öl. Track brewery will also be hosting a tap takeover at Font on Thursday, and South Bermondsy Micro-brewery Partizan will be on the bar at The Pilcrow.
Fri 26 Feb – Sat 28 Feb, various locations.
- Words:
- Olivia Rye
- Published on:
- Tue 23 Jan 2018
