A bumper issue of our weekly food & drink round-up features gluten-free beers, junk food, a new name for the Corn Exchange, World Gin Day celebrations and a much-loved Liverpool deli heading down the East Lancs Road…
First Chop launch gluten free beers
It’s all about a nice, thirst-quenching beer when the sun comes out in Manchester… unless you’re gluten intolerant, that is. But Manchester’s very own First Chop Brewing Arm has launched a range of gluten-free ales for the coeliacs out there. Five of First Chop’s signature brews are available in gluten-free options – and, importantly, in taste tests with 100 drinkers, nobody could tell the difference between their regular beers and the gluten-free ones. Hurrah! Look out for them in Chorlton’s The Beagle, Port Street Beer House, The Knott and online at Eebria and Best of British Beer.
Real Junk Food Project’s waste festival
The Real Junk Food Project uses food that would otherwise go to waste (from supermarkets and restaurants) to create delicious dishes for those on a tight budget. To mark its expansion from Leeds to Manchester, the team behind the initiative has partnered up with GRUB to host Disco Soup, a mini festival at The Wonder Inn, featuring art, activities, games, live music and a massive, scrumptious feast made entirely from food destined for the bin – for which guests can make a pay-as-you-feel donation.
Sat 20 Jun, Disco Soup, The Wonder Inn, 29 Shudehill, M4 2AF, tickets from £5 and available on Eventbrite, more info at realjunkfoodmanchester.co.uk
Meat & Shake for Corn Exchange
Adding to the long list of burger restaurants already in the city centre, London’s Meat & Shake is opening up a Manchester branch in the Corn Exchange. The Truffle Shuffle (truffle mayo, cheese and honey), Luchador (salsa, jalapenos and Monterey Jack cheese) and Ruby Murray (essentially a chicken tikka masala in a burger) will be available from the start of next year, as well as other delightfully titled meaty baps. Meat & Shake is in fine company for the newly refurbished Corn Exchange, with Mexican Wahaca, Italian Vapiano and Vietnamese spot Pho all taking up residence there too when it opens later this summer.
Follow news of the opening at meatandshake.com
Celebrate World Gin Day at Copper Face Jacks
Did you know gin has no flavour? It’s the infusions and additions that make it so tasty – and Copper Face Jacks will have more than 450 varieties for you to try on Saturday 13 June – aka World Gin Day. There’ll be tasting sessions so you can learn all about the science behind the booze, or for those who just want to knock it back, specially created cocktails, gin-inspired confectionery and more will be on offer.
Sat 13 Jun, Gintastic Festival, Copper Face Jacks, The Palace Hotel, Oxford Street, M60 7HA, tickets from £7, available via www.gintasticfestival.com
Lunya for Manchester
In more great news for Manchester’s Spanish dining scene, Liverpool’s Lunya is coming to the city. Voted the Good Food Guide’s Readers’ Restaurant of the Year for the North West 2015, the Catalonian deli, bar and eatery is pencilled in for an October opening in the pretty Barton Arcade.
Follow news of the opening at lunya.co.uk
- Words:
- Rakhi Sinha
- Published on:
- Mon 8 Jun 2015
