A huge communal roast dinner has been announced as part of the food line-up for free festival, We Invented the Weekend.
The new event in Salford will be bringing together class acts from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, theatre, dance, workshops, talks, food, charity, wellness, crafts and more over the weekend of 10-11 September.
Eat Well MCR, a collective of chefs and hospitality professionals led by Mary-Ellen McTague, will be throwing together all the best bits of a cosy Sunday.
There’ll be piles of newspapers, a Bloody Mary bar, and a giant communal Sunday roast, served up on ‘Salford’s longest table’.
The huge communal roast dinner will take place at MediaCityUK as part of the We Invented the Weekend festival
Mary-Ellen will cook up a roast rib of beef with all the trimmings – Yorkshire puddings, gravy, roast potatoes, buttered carrots, and cauliflower cheese – with a celeriac nut roast for vegetarians, and sticky toffee pudding to finish.
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Local vinyl reissue record label Be With Records will provide a laidback soundtrack, while Seven Bro7hers will create a special Weekend Beer for the occasion and will invite other breweries – including Shindigger and Manchester Union Lager – to join them.
Mary-Ellen McTague said: “We Invented the Weekend is such a wonderful idea and we’re delighted to get involved.
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“The festival celebrates a hard-won campaign for workers’ right to leisure time. Many of the families Eat Well MCR supports have a working parent – and yet still struggle to feed their families. It’s a subject very close to my heart.
Mary-Ellen McTague will cook up a giant Sunday roast for 200 people at Salford’s We Invented the Weekend festival. Credit: Unsplash
“I’m cooking 200 roast dinners for ticket holders and we’ll also be delivering some to the people in our community for free.”
There’ll be two sittings for Mary-Ellen’s Sunday roast feast, between 12pm and 2pm, and 3pm and 5pm, on Sunday 11 September.
Elsewhere at We Invented the Weekend, there’ll be street food celebrating cuisines from across the globe joining MediaCityUK’s existing Box on the Docks offering.
Traders will include Carnival (home-cooked Brazilian food), Desert Island Dumplings (vegan dishes, in deep-fried dumplings), House of Habesha (traditional Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes), Mama Sue’s (home-spiced frankfurters), Spuds and Bro (poutine), Paradiso (Italian desserts) and Wild Soul (vegan doughnuts).
There’ll also be loaded handmade potato waffles from Thief Street, pizzas from Dagi pizza, and smashed burgers from ex-Emmerdale star Adam Thomas’s Patty and Press.
Christmas Market favourites Panc will have plant-powered takes on burgers, kebabs, hot dogs, wtaps and desserts.
Then the resident businesses of MediaCityUK and Quayside, like Chapati Cafe, General Store, The Botanist and The Alchemist, will have festival specials over the weekend.
Popular outdoor dining event returns to MediaCity waterfront this summer
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester’s popular outdoor dining concept is back again this summer, and there’s a proper tasty lineup of traders.
Kargo on the Docks, which is MediaCity‘s al fresco dining pop-up, has taken over the waterfront and gardens once again with a fresh wave of local food traders and stunning artwork by Salford-based creatives, all as the sun shines down on Salford Quays this summer.
A handful of Greater Manchester‘s most popular independents have set themselves up Quayside inside those signature re-imagined shipping containers.
Foodies can expect a menu packed with bold new flavours including Caribbean, Lebanese, Mexican, Ethiopian, and Pan-Asian dishes.
Loads of local indie food vendors have taken over the Salford Quays waterfront for the summer / Credit: Supplied
Afro Shack – the sister brand to Kargo.MKT favourite House of Habesha – will be serving fusion food combining East African flavours with indulgent American fast food, while new kids on the block Wok Bros will deliver sizzling, wok-tossed Pan-Asian street food and 100% halal dishes inspired by authentic flavours and fresh ingredients.
Iconic Jamaican dishes will also be on offer from Sunrise Caribbean, while Quiero Tacos will bring slow-cooked Birria tacos, cheesy quesadillas, and vibrant rice bowls packed with the spirit of Mexico.
Last but not least, Mediterranean food lovers can expect juicy lamb koftas, golden halloumi, and richly spiced chicken shawarma from Habibs.
Foodies can expect a menu packed with bold new flavours / Credit: Mark Waugh (via Supplied)
As well as the tasty food on offer, as mentioned, Kargo on the Docks also features a range of artwork and installations from local independent talent – with each container adorned with murals from creatives including Fernandes Makes, Kelly Ma, and Caroline Daly, bringing a feel-good summer vibe to the MediaCity Gardens.
Visitors can also enjoy an art trail display through the gardens, featuring structures designed by, A Studio Called Jane, Luke Passey, and Tasha Whittle.
There will also be a range of pop-up events hosted at the venue throughout the summer, with more announcements to be made very soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
Kargo on the Docks is now back at MediaCity from today (9 May) and will be open Tuesday to Sunday from 12pm-9pm throughout the summer.
Featured Image – Mark Waugh (via Supplied)
Eats
I went all the way to Paris to test out Big Mamma ahead of Manchester’s most exciting new restaurant opening
Daisy Jackson
Hospitality heavyweights Big Mamma Group are finally heading to Manchester, opening a Circolo Popolare Italian restaurant in the city centre – so we nipped over to Paris to see exactly what’s in store for us.
In the 10 years since launching their very first restaurant, East Mamma in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, the group have spread their wings wide.
There are Big Mamma Group restaurants, under several different names, all over Europe – and although they all belong to the same family, each one is treated like a total individual.
Some have maximalist, kitsch interiors with animal print furniture, gilded ceilings and retro prints of men in Y-fronts; others are more traditional trattorias with exposed brick, terracotta floors and crisp white tablecloths.
These interiors are fun, which is so refreshing in an industry which sometimes takes itself a bit too seriously.
On our tour of Big Mamma restaurants in Paris I came across delightful details like a loo wallpapered in pictures of Rod Stewart, a cocktail menu designed like a retro football sticker book, and an ice cream parlour built into an old train station carriage.
Every corner is packed with whimsy and wonder and there’s a whole team dedicated to sourcing these little touches from antiques fairs, second-hand shops and independent makers, stashing them all in an Aladdin’s Cave of a warehouse. Each restaurant even has its own crockery pattern.
East Mamma, one of Big Mamma’s Paris restaurantsNo Entry cocktail barA Big Mamma speakeasyPink MammaLa Felicita food hallLa Felicita food hall
So yes, the interiors in Manchester will be similarly interesting and lavish.
Big Mamma Group has already confirmed that the huge two-storey Circolo Popolare trattoria will be inspired by a Sardinian Festa, meaning cosy alcoves, more than 8000 bottles of vintage booze, and a vast room inspired by an overgrown Mediterranean courtyard.
As it takes shape in Gary Neville’s £400m St Michael’s development, they’ll be moving in big sharing tables, antique trinkets, reels of twinkling lights and even an Italian wishing well ahead of the big launch next month.
But not enough of us are talking about the food yet – this is a restaurant group that sources its produce from 160 different Italian artisans to ensure that everything you’re eating as authentic and delicious as possible.
Food at Big Mamma
While the menus shift between restaurants you can expect hearty bowls of handmade pasta laced with truffle or tomato or cheese, crispy-soft pizzas layered in creative sauce bases (like zucchini cream or black truffle cream, along with their classic San Marzano DOP tomato sauce), and per iniziare starters like giant burrata balls, melt-in-the-mouth croquettes, and slivers of cured meats – all prepared in an open kitchen run by Campanian-born Alfonso Esposito.
And a show-stopper for Manchester will be an outrageous six-inch lemon meringue pie, with a wibbly wobbly tower of Italian meringue on top.
Circolo Popolare will officially open its doors on 6 June – and before then, there’ll be a very limited soft launch where you can snag yourself 50% off your bill. Sign up HERE, with bookings live on Monday 12 May.
Daisy Jackson -
15th August 2022 
