More freebies are being handed out in town today to celebrate Manchester United’s final Champions League group game, courtesy of the popular chain, German Doner Kebab, who will be handing free kebabs to those first in line.
However, there’s a catch…
With United playing Bundesliga and European football giants Bayern Munich as they cling on to a sliver of hope that they might somehow make it through to the knockouts, you can only get your hands on a free kebab from the city centre food spot if you order in German.
And no, you can’t just say ‘kebab bitte‘.
Between 11am and 5pm on Tuesday, 12 December, German Doner Kebab’s Oxford Road site will be handing out a total of 100 free kebabs to the first people in line, so long as you say the right phrase when ordering.
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But don’t worry, you don’t have to be a fluent German speaker because they’ve given you the sentence in full: “Kann ich bitte einen OG Kebab bestellen?” (‘Can I please order an OG kebab?’).
We’re already sincerely looking forward to you all butchering Deutschland’s beautiful albeit sometimes aggressive-sounding language.
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There might be plenty at stake for Man United tonight and a history of fierce rivalry between the two clubs (‘late in May in 1999…’), but I’m sure we can all come together in harmony over one universal truth — free food is the best kind of food. Mancunian or German, we can all agree on that, surely?
Once again, this offer will only be available to the first 100 people to say the German phrase to an acceptable level at the Oxford Road location, and you can enjoy it right there in-store or to takeaway.
For those of you who’ve never tried one of their kebabs before, they’re well worth queuing up for regardless; prepared right in front of you, they combine premium, lean meats imported from Germany, fresh, locally sourced salad, served in their world-famous toasted waffle bread and with unique signature sauces.
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The brand has been a big hit with local fans since it opened in late 2021 and now has over 130 restaurants in the UK alone, including four here in Greater Manchester, but only one is handing out free kebabs.
Lastly, while that might be German Doner’s only proviso for getting your hands on a free kebab, our only condition for sharing this information with you is that you don’t show yourself if you bump into an opposition fan in the line: we want well behaved Mancs doing their best to speak the language.
Ancoats neighbourhood bar shames customers who ran off on unpaid rosé bill
Daisy Jackson
A waterside cocktail bar in Ancoats has slammed a group of customers who left the venue without paying their bill this weekend.
Finders Keepers on New Islington Marina has publicly shamed the trio, sharing CCTV images of them making off from the venue.
The local business has labelled the customers ‘Manchester’s newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners’.
They added that the group had enjoyed a few bottles of rosé wine but left before paying their £160 bill.
Finders Keepers also said that the incident occurred on a ‘record-breaking’ day last Saturday, when the city bathed in beautiful spring sunshine.
Since releasing the CCTV images this afternoon, the bar has been flooded with messages of support – including one very notable one from Sacha Lord.
Sacha has offered to pay off the girls’ tab so that the bar isn’t left out of pocket, AND has suggested providing a £500 reward to anyone who can name and shame them.
He commented: “Everyone knows how tough it is in Hospitality right now…how can anyone want to do this to a small independent business. I’ll settle that bill mate…plus give a £500 reward to name and shame them.”
Finders Keepers bar on New Islington MarinaFinders Keepers shared this CCTV of the customers who left the bar without paying
Another person commented: “foul behaviour! Sorry this happened to you guys.”
Someone else wrote: “Love a good photo shame when folk rip off a business… Hope they pay!!”
Posting earlier today, Finders Keepers said: “We’d like to thank Manchesters newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners. Who enjoyed a few bottles of Rosé wine with us on this record breaking Saturday, without paying.
“If you’d like to come back & pay your £160 bill then we’re back open on Wednesday, alternatively get in touch and we can send you a payment link.
“Next time you fancy a free bar tab perhaps join us for our quiz this Sunday from 7pm. £100 tab to be won!
Brilliant Salford Greek restaurant receives glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
A fabulous Greek restaurant in Salford has received a glowing review from a top food critic, who described its food as providing ‘its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Acclaimed restaurant critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise on Kallos in his Financial Times review.
The modest restaurant has been open for just over a year, but has already earned itself a place in the prestigious Michelin guide – and now a rave national review too.
Operated by couple Ioanna and Ivan, Kallos brings a taste of Santorini to their stripped-back, concrete-filled, light-flooded new space in Salford.
And while Jay Rayner admits in his review that Kallos’s interior hasn’t done much to lift this corner of Salford’s ‘badly organised grid of fast-rising apartment blocks’, the food itself ‘provides its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Rayner heaped praise on Kallos’s phenomenal flatbreads, noting how it’s impossible to exercise restraint ‘in the face of bread this good’.
He also raved about their topped flatbreads (like one with ‘knots of sweet roasted lamb shoulder cooked until it has collapsed’), red prawns the length of a hand, and soft dolmades stuffed with rice and minced meat.
Topped flatbread with lambTinned fishPrawn SaganakiThree of the dishes Jay Rayner loved at Kallos. Credit: The Manc Group
Kallos is part-owned by sommelier Ivan, who is striving to have the largest collection of Greek wines in the UK at the restaurant.
Jay Rayner noted both the selection and the affordability of this carefully-curated wine list, saying that it’s nice to find that ‘outside London, drinking well need not require the sale of a spare kidney or child’.
And then he came to the section of the menu that’s dedicated to premium tinned fish.
“It feels like the UK has woken up only relatively recently to the possibilities of impressively fine foods from a can,” he wrote.
Kallos in Cortland at Colliers Yard, SalfordKallos in Salford has been added to the Michelin Guide
“It is genuinely exciting to see Kallos devote a whole section of the menu to these treasures, even if it is basically the same victory of shopping that results in a good cheese board.
“But it takes both serious knowledge and a brave evangelical enthusiasm to offer a list like this.”
Rayner’s review went on to praise the tinned mackerel, served with a ‘balloon of hot bread’, pickled chillies, and an ‘aioli made with so much garlic, consenting adults should make sure to eat it together’.
Signing off his review, Jay Rayner wrote: “As the plate lands on the table, the sun finally comes out over both Salford and Kallos. Finally, the grey is banished. At last, all the beauty is here.”
Danny Jones -
12th December 2023 
