When it comes to comfort food, there’s nothing like a good soup and sandwich to get you feeling toasty on a wet January day.Even better if the sandwich is grilled, Breville-style, to ensure it’s crimped on the edges and scalding hot in the middle.
Add in a spicy Indian street food twist, and that’s exactly what you’ll find down at Manchester restaurants Bundobust this month as part of its newly released January specials menu.
Serving up their take on the Bombay sandwich, famously known as one the Indian city’s most popular street snacks, this ‘grown up grilled cheese’ is packed with potato and spinach, green chutney, cucumber, red onion, tomato and vegan cheddar.
Seasoned with zingy chaat masala and served with Sambhar – a lentil, aubergine and bottle gourd soup – it makes for a classic lunchtime combo, reports The Hoot.
Elsewhere on the January specials menu, you’ll find full-to-bursting green sweet chillis stuffed with spiced potato in a crispy gram flour batter and served with mango chutney dip: an Indian deli counter staple that draws inspiration from parent restaurant Prashad (and the stuffed chilli from their formative days in mid-90s Bradford).
Add in the lightly sour, satisfyingly spiced and luxuriantly creamy Punjabi Kadi (moong dhal pakoras simmered in a garam massala, yoghurt and gram flour curry), new recipe Paneer Kadai and a new-and-improved Egg Bhurji recipe with cumin and green chilli, green peas and coriander, both served with pillowy bhatura, then try to tell us you’re not feeling hungry.
One of our top picks for vegetarian and vegan dining in the city centre, you’ll also find tried and tested favourites like the vada pav, paneer tikka and bundo chaat on the menu here to enjoy alongside the new specials.
For those attempting Veganuary this year, they’ll be happy to know that 75% of the menu is vegan and there’s no meat on offer at all – so you’re unlikely to be tempted to cheat.
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To book your table and to view the full menu, take a look at the Bundobust website here.
Feature image – The Hoot Leeds
News
How will the Government’s new digital ID alternative for alcohol sales work?
Emily Sergeant
All licensed venues across England and Wales now have the choice to introduce digital proof of age for alcohol sales alongside physical.
Instead of having to hand over physical ID that contains personal information, such as names and home addresses, customers now have the choice to simply provide confirmation that they are 18 or over on their phone – helping to better protect privacy and personal safety in the process.
This means that, no matter whether you’re buying a drink at your favourite pub, heading to a festival, or enjoying a night out at a concert, you won’t need to worry if you’ve left your ID at home.
According to the Government, this new change will benefit businesses greatly too, as certified digital services are able to check that an ID is genuine and belongs to the person presenting it much easier than the alternative can, which therefore helps to reduce the risk of any fake or borrowed IDs going undetected.
Well, according to the Government, it could be as simple as a customer showing a QR code for staff to scan, or tapping their phone against a compatible reader, where staff will then receive a clear confirmation on their device that the customer has passed the age check.
This change follows a 2024 Government consultation where it was reported that 72% of respondents supported the use of digital identities for age verification when buying alcohol.
Digital Government Minister Stephanie Peacock reiterated that ‘it will remain an individual or business’ choice whether to use or adopt [digital ID]’ and that physical ID will ‘still remain a valid way’ for customers to prove their age.
“This groundbreaking change in the law will mean you do not need to carry a physical ID, nor hand over sensitive personal information such as your name or address just to prove your age, allowing everyone to feel safer on a night out,” she concluded.
Featured Image – Robin Worrall (via Unsplash)
News
Manchester to host G20 Summit in 2027 with more than a dozen world leaders descending on the city
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been confirmed as the host city for the G20 Summit next year.
It was already announced back in November last year that the G20 Summit would be coming to the UK in 2027, and plans were apparently already being discussed to host it in Manchester even before Andy Burnham became Prime Minister and Number 10 North was set up.
But now, ahead of this year’s leaders’ summit being held in Miami in December, it has been confirmed that the G20 Summit will arrive in Manchester in November 2027.
Manchester is said to have been picked to host the leaders’ summit because of its ‘cultural heritage’.
Bringing together 19 of the world’s largest economies and two major multilateral bodies – the European Union and the African union – G20 members who will be invited to attend the summit next year make up 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population as a whole.
Manchester has been confirmed to host the G20 Summit in 2027 / Credit: 10 Downing Street | Paul Kagame (Flickr)
G20 members are also some of the UK’s closest economic partners, the Government insists.
17 of the UK’s top 20 global export markets attend the summit, as do 18 of the UK’s top 20 sources of foreign direct investment.
The presidency of the G20 is currently held by the US but will pass to the UK after the leaders’ summit hosted by the president at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in December.
The 2027 summit will be held at Manchester Central, it has been confirmed, and other locations across the UK will also host other G20 events as part of the year-long presidency, but these are yet to be announced.
Georgina Pellant -
10th January 2023 
