From the archive · page 5
Cuckoo, Prestwich – Possibly The Most Pointless Review Ever?
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…
Norse, Harrogate – Nordic Inspired Fine Dining By A MasterChef Finalist
When planning a trip to Harrogate last year, my first choice for main evening meal was fine-dining restaurant Van Zeller. However, after stumbling upon Norse, a Nordic inspired restaurant with stunning Noma-esque dishes…
Rossio, Albufeira, Portugal – They Say You Should Never Go Back
They say, whoever they are, that you should never go back to somewhere you have fond memories of, in case it’s not as good as you remember. Perhaps I should have listened to them. The highlight of our trip to Portugal’s…
Grub ‘Winter Beer Fest’ 2015, Green Quarter, Manchester
I love food and I love beer, but I hate the cold. So I was torn as to whether a freezing railway arch at the end of January was the ideal time and place for a beer festival in Manchester. But I trusted the people…
The Drunken Butcher ‘One Night Stand’ – 12 Course Tasting Menu With Wine Pairing
There were glimpses of the Drunken Butcher’s fancier, more refined side at his Spanish themed supper club last year. But even that didn’t quite prepare me for the transformation from hearty, comfort food to the fine…
The New Menu (& Some Old Favourites) At Mughli, Rusholme
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…
Christmas Food, Beer & Festive Cheer @ Great Ale Year Round, Bolton Markets
After running a successful food and beer pairing event at the newly opened Wigan Central, I brought my ‘Christmas Food, Beer & Festive Cheer’ to one of my favourite places two days later; Great Ale Year Round in Bolton…
Guerrilla Eats – Xmas Beer Bash 2014, Ancoats, Manchester
‘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…
Drunken Butcher’s Xmas Party
I wasn’t feeling particularly festive when I woke up the morning after the Arepa!Areapa!Arepa! Christmas Supper Club, possibly because I was nursing a slight hangover. But there was no time for pity as I had another…
Arepa!Arepa!Arepa! Christmas Supper Club @ Trove, Levenshulme
Arepa!Arepa!Arepa! (aka GoodGobbleBlog aka Grub aka Jules and Bailey) have gone from strength to strength since I attended their inaugural supper club last January. After outgrowing their dining room they’ve taken over…
The Food Geek Awards – 2014
Are we all bored of Top Ten lists yet? Me too, but that’s not going to stop me doing my own. At least my ‘Awards’ are a little different; most are just a list of three – Bronze, Silver & Gold if you like – although a…
The Very Famous Solita Christmas Burger
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…
Gusto Manchester – Preview
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…
A Great Food & Beer Filled Trip to Harrogate, North Yorkshire
It never ceases to amaze me how many offers I get from PR companies to cover things on this little blog – which I write primarily for my own amusement. These days most get deleted immediately but occasionally something…
The New Menu At Solita, And Which Is Best: NQ or Didsbury?
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…
Game Of Bones – ‘All Pigs Must Die’ By The Drunken Butcher
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the Drunken Butcher and his supper clubs. I’ve eaten his food more times than I can remember over the last year (luckily I wrote about much of it here so I don’t have to). Recently…
Momentum Restaurant & Lounge, Westhoughton, Bolton
It’s ever so slightly awkward being asked to visit somewhere you’ve previously been fairly negative about. It happened recently when I was invited to Momentum Restaurant & Lounge in Westhoughton. I’m assuming they…
Beer Matched Meal with The Hungry Gecko @ Indy Man Beer Con 2014
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…
Malaysia Kitchen Supper Club – Malaysian Banquet @ Ning, Manchester
I’ve been to many supper clubs this year but they’ve always been run by individuals, usually in their own homes. Somewhat different from an event I attended recently; a supper club in an actual restaurant, with food…
Beer & Food Pairing @ Taps, Manchester – It Can’t Be As Bad As Last Time, Can It?
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…
