Eats

A Polish vodka and dumpling festival is coming to Manchester

Find five different styles of vodka and innumerable pierogi at Platzki this week

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 3rd October 2022

Independent Polish restaurant Platzki is bringing back its famous vodka and pierogi festival to Manchester this week, and we couldn’t be more excited for some hearty dumpling fare.

Notorious for its top-tier filled pierogi, which are made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savoury or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water, Platzki is already something of a go-to for fine Polish food in Manchester.

But now, traditional European dumpling fans have another reason to get themselves down as the restaurant will be focusing almost entirely on pierogi for two days this week.

Platzki’s famous pierogi. / Image: The Manc Eats
Image: Platzki

Taking place across Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 October from 3pm until sell-out (or at 9pm, whichever comes first), diners will have the chance to try Platzki’s perfect homemade pierogi in a range of mouth-watering flavours.

There will be plenty of different fillings to try, including some brand new vegetarian pierogi for non-meat eaters.

ADVERTISEMENT

That’s not all, either. There’ll also be a midweek vodka tipple on standby as Platzki shows off its huge range of favourite Polish vodkas.

Think salted caramel vodka, strawberry vodka, golden black cherry vodka, hazelnut vodka and delicious cherry-chocolate vodka, all of which are (as we know too well from experience) dangerously drinkable.

ADVERTISEMENT

Each day, the team will be making hundreds of pierogi for local dumpling lovers to sample.

Karkówka roasted pork neck with spinach egg noodles. / Image: The Manc Eats
Karkówka roasted pork neck with spinach egg noodles. / Image: The Manc Eats

Elsewhere, they will also be serving up some of their favourite dishes from the menu including a hearty sausage stew with freshly-baked bread, and melt-in-the-mouth karkówka roasted pork neck with spinach egg noodles.

Read more: Inside Platzki, the city-centre Polish restaurant with an ever-evolving menu

ADVERTISEMENT

A fixture in the city since 2018, Platzki has built up a reputation for serving an interesting list of Polish vodka and wine alongside traditional dishes like dumplings, pork neck and meatballs.

It has a gorgeous plant-filled restaurant and a bright terrace that backs onto the Great Northern Warehouse, giving diners views over the Great Northern Square as they dig into some of the best Polish food in the city.

To find out more about this week’s dumpling festival, follow Platzki on Instagram here.

Feature image – The Manc Eats

Eats

Popular London bakery Gail’s to open string of North West cafes next year

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

Popular craft bakery Gail’s has hinted at plans to open a string of new cafes in the North West next year.

The group, which already has a large number of bakery-cafes in the south of England, has announced it will open its first North West site in Wilmslow in early 2023.

Bosses have also said that ‘further locations in the North West’ will be announced in the new year, adding that all the new bakeries will serve GAIL’s artisan sourdough breads, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes alongside its specialty House Blend coffee.

The news also seems to potentially confirm speculation that the brand is planning a move into Manchester after The Manc shared news of potential plans for a Gail”s opening in the city centre in October.

Having already seen planning documents that suggest the chain is planning to take over the former White Stuff unit on King Street, it now appears that more news on that opening will be coming in 2023 – although it’s hard to say if it will be the first Manchester site to be announced.

Read more: Famous London bakery Gail’s tipped to open in Manchester

The bakery group already has strong ties with Manchester, having run its sister wholesale bakery The Bread Factory in Openshaw since 2017.

Formed in the early 1990s by namesake Gail Mejia, Gail’s began when its eponymous founder decided to bring together the best bakers in London to create bakes for the capitals top chefs and restaurants.

Today, is known more as a customer-facing cafe and bakery whilst The Bread Factory continues the original wholesale legacy – supplying high quality, artisan breads to some of the region’s top local restaurants.

Gail’s first cafe opened on Hampstead High Street in 2005, and now the brand has 79 in neighbourhoods in and around London, Oxford, Brighton and more.

Turning back the clock on industrialised baking practices and moving to bake bread as it used to be baked: by hand, using quality ingredients and time-worn artisanal methods, Gail’s soon established a name for itself and has come a long way since those early days.

Still, the stuff that matters – the ethos, the suppliers, the skill and a handful of tried-and-tested sourdough starter cultures – hasn’t changed.

Read more: A traditional cafe serving retro favouties has opened on the third floor of Affleck’s

A champion for sustainability, the bakery also prides itself on minimising food waste by carefully setting aside any leftover food and donating it to a selection of local charities in each eatery’s neighbourhood

To find out more about Gail’s, head over to its website here and follow the bakery on Instagram here.

Feature image – Gail’s

Eats

A stylish new art deco restaurant is opening in Manchester

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

A stylish new art deco restaurant and waterside brasserie are coming to Manchester, it has been revealed.

Brought to the city by operators behind brands like Soho House, Isabel Mayfair and Michelin-starred Petersham Nurseries, new opening Maya will be situated within an iconic location of Manchester’s nightlife history: 40 Chorlton Street.

It will take part of the ground and lower floors of the early 20th-century warehouse building, which is also home to the newly opened neighbourhood hotel LEVEN.

Split across three floors, Maya will house numerous areas: from a canal-side brasserie space serving modern-European classics to a lower ground-floor, elegantly designed dining room that will centre around an ingredient-led, locally sourced and seasonal menu. 

Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied

The kitchen team will be led by Mancunian chef Gabe Lea, who cut his teeth at Michelin-starred establishments like Le Manoir.

The interior backdrop, meanwhile, will merge the original industrial nature of the space with inspired details of art deco grandeur references in beautiful and surprising ways. 

Menu development for the new opening is currently underway with Lea commenting: “There is a lot of creativity going into the design and overall concept of the restaurant, and the menu development is no different.

Read more: Herd of Santas descend on Manchester healthcare clinic for pre-Christmas ‘elf check’

“Our approach will be to champion the beauty and simplicity of exceptional produce and, where we can, we will focus on sourcing seasonal ingredients locally. 

“By having more than one dining space, we can run separate menus. The brasserie menu will be about long-standing favourites that we know people will love, alongside more creative and ingredient-led dishes in the dining room that will change regularly and react to what’s seasonal and available.” 

Read more: This Manchester bar is serving up £2.50 drinks every Friday

Maya is scheduled to open in the spring of 2023, with more details set to be released in the new year. For more information and to be the first to hear about Maya’s launch, visit MayaManchester.com, or follow Maya’s Instagram @maya_mcr.

Feature image – Google Maps

More Eats

Eats

Deliveroo is knocking 25% off takeaways for parts of Greater Manchester this month

City Centre

This Manchester bar is serving up £2.50 drinks every Friday

City Centre

A traditional cafe serving retro favouties has opened on the third floor of Affleck’s

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches