Already loved in Liverpool for its inventive Middle Eastern-meets-Parisian small plates, the award-winning restaurant Maray is set to open its own restaurant in Manchester this summer.
Ahead of the restaurant’s launch on Lincoln Square, its owners are teaming up with other independents across the city on a series of collaborations.
First, they teamed up with Bundobust on a mash-up menu that saw chefs fuse each site’s most popular dishes. Now, Maray has been working behind the scenes with Track Brewery to create a special new pale ale – described as ‘Sunshine caught in a can’.
The Maray PA will be available on draft in the restaurant when they open this summer. Ahead of that, eager fans can also get a first taste at the Track taproom this weekend, alongside some of Maray’s staple plates.
Maray’s chefs will take over the taproom kitchen at Track on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June serving up their famous disco cauliflower, hummus, chermoula and flatbread, and original recipe falafel.
ADVERTISEMENT
Open from 5pm – 10pm on the Friday and 1pm – 10pm on the Saturday, you can find Track Brewery’s taproom at Unit 18 on Piccadilly Trading Estate ahead of its Manchester opening.
First founded in 2014 by James Bates, Tom White and Dom Jones, the Liverpool-born concept was originally inspired by the owners’ experiences in the Le Marais district of Paris – a vibrant area of the city famed as a culinary melting pot of Middle Eastern flavours and stand out cocktail bars.
In a nod to this, the menu at Maray features a selection of mezze, and small plates like falafel, lamb shawarma and baked halloumi .
ADVERTISEMENT
It also boasts an extensive vegan and vegetarian offering – think wild mushrooms with cannellini beans, sweet potato with tahini and date molasses, and spiced lentil and rice mejadara.
Opening in the Bruntwood Works’ Union building on Brazennose Street next to ‘The Hidden Gem’ church, Maray’s new restaurant is due to open its doors in Manchester.
Feature image – Track
News
Police appeal to find next of kin after man found outside Palace Theatre
Daisy Jackson
Police are trying to track down the family of a man who died after being found unresponsive outside the Palace Theatre in Manchester.
The man, who has now been named as Jonathan Bernard Carroll, was seen outside the city centre theatre at around 6.30am on Tuesday 12 November.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and Mr Carroll was taken to hospital.
Tragically, the 47-year-old passed away a short time later.
A large cordon was in place on Whitworth Street and Oxford Road while police and security attended the incident.
Greater Manchester Police are now appealing to find his next of kin.
It’s believed that he resided in the Salford area of Greater Manchester.
Anyone with any information should contact the Coroner’s Office on 0161 856 1376.
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.