With the festive season fast approaching, people up and down the country are getting into the yuletide spirit in preparation for the big day.
The UK government has sadly already conceded that “Christmas cannot be normal this year” amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and while it has been announced this week that up to three families can form a Christmas bubble between 23rd – 27th December, for a lot of people, this still means there will be friends and family members they are unable to spend time with.
This is presumably why many are seeing the greater value in gift giving this year, and if there’s one thing we’re all certain of, it’s that hampers are a classic Christmas present.
There’s just something extra special about about a hamper, right?
And whether it be food, beer, gin, or even Christmas trimmings, there’s plenty of independent businesses across Greater Manchester that are embracing the popularity of the hamper this year and offering their own unique spin on them.
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There’s so many places that are #StillServingMCR in our local area this Christmas, and there’s never been a more vital time to support independent hospitality.
We’ve rounded up some of the best Christmas hamper gifts we’ve seen.
Don Giovanni’s Christmas Hampers are really quite special this year.
Stuffed with premium Italian goodies – like parmigiano, truffle oil, homemade bottles of limoncello, truffles salami, tricolore fusilli, olives and balsamic vinegar from Modena – these are not the sort of products you can pick up in your local supermarket.
All sourced directly the restaurant from luxury Italian artisan suppliers, each hamper is designed to give your Christmas that extra bit of sparkle.
You can pre-order your Don’s at Home – Christmas Hampers via the Don Giovanni website here.
If you’re looking for a unique Christmas present this year, you need look no further than everything you’d need for a top-quality tapas night all wrapped up in a hamper.
The Abeja Tapas Bar Christmas Board-in-a-Box is packed with all the gourmet goodness you expect from Manchester’s smallest tapas bar, including – your choice of wine, Vermouth from Cordoba (250ml), meat and/or cheese board, your choice of artisan chutney, olives, extra-virgin olive oil (50ml), flatbreads, and a stocking filled with Spanish Christmas sweets.
All hampers are beautifully-prepared by hand, and are wrapped up in eco-friendly packaging.
Get your orders in for the Christmas Board-in-a-Box by by Friday 18th December for UK-wide Christmas delivery (via UPS) here.
If it’s premium gin you’re looking for this Christmas, you won’t find a much better option than the wide array of gift sets and hampers that Atlas Bar has put together, as the Castlefield favourite hangout currently has an impressive 270+ tipples stocked on its online gin shop.
The real standout is by far the This Christmas Home Gin Experience Pack at just £25.
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This contains four double gins – Tarquin’s Figgy Pudding, Four Pillars Christmas Edition, Bols Genever and Ferdinand Saar Quince Gin – and alongside these, you’ll also receive four premium Double Dutch Tonics, a Ginger Beer, and botanicals to complement your gins too.
You’ll even receive a link to an online virtual gin tasting experience, and information about your gins.
Herd’s Christmas Trimmings Hamper could be a real lifesaver this year.
Designed to “take the stress out of Christmas day cooking” with everything prepared as much as possible so you can “enjoy more time out of the kitchen and more time getting merry after this dreadful year”, each hamper comes loaded with everything you need to accompany the perfect Christmas dinner.
You can take your pick from a hamper for two (£35), four (£55), or six people (£75).
The Christmas Trimmings Hampers are available to purchase now for collection from the 22nd – 24th December and will come with full reheating and cooking instructions, plus a little Christmas treat.
Salford Roasters’ Xmas Boutique is your one-stop-shop for Christmas gift boxes this year.
Described as “a place to shop with simplicity for all your coffee gift set needs” and presented perfectly in recyclable kraft boxes and ribbon, you can choose your coffee, hot chocolate and coffee kit combinations, and it has also teamed up with local Salford Businesses – Seven Bro7hers and Sis4ers Distillery – to provide you with an awesome Festive Bonanza Bundle too.
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There’s six gift boxes to choose from, ranging in price from £21 – £60.
You can grab your Xmas Boutique gift set boxes directly via the Salford Roasters website here.
Life may still be on pause for the time being, but Salvi’s is “bursting at the seems” with the very best, hand-selected, imported produce from Italy and is inviting Mancunians to “grab a small slice of Neapolitan life during lockdown” in the lead up to Christmas.
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You can now even get your hands on a bespoke Christmas hamper too, filled with all the best deli goods.
Head on down to Salvi’s Deli in the Corn Exchange to grab yours.
Albert Street Bakery in Eccles – a truly independent and family-run bakery that proudly claims to produce “the only Eccles Cakes actually made in Eccles” – is currently taking orders for Christmas Hampers ahead of the festive season.
Each hamper comes packed with a selection of artisan breads, local cheeses and chutneys, festive filled tarts, homemade mince pies, triple chocolate brownie Christmas puds, and of course, Eccles cakes.
All of this baked goodness delivered to your door for only £45 too.
You can place your orders for the Albert Street Bakery Christmas Hampers before 14th December for delivery on 19th or 23rd here.
The Hampton & Vouis H&V Gift Bundle is the perfect way to “treat yourself or someone special”.
For just £25, you get a H&V Tote Bag (choice of colours Pale Grey or Pastel Pink), a H&V Re-Usable Cup (12oz Gray Goo or Pink, or 8oz Molto Grizio), a box of Brew Tea Co Tea Bags, and an Independent Coffee Guide No 5, and all items when bought separately would usually come out at an RRP of £43.98, so you’re making a cracking saving too.
You can grab your H&V Gift Bundle via the Hampton & Vouis website here.
Hip Flask Craft Beer’s Manchester Box is designed to “highlight the unique identity of Manchester”.
Inside this ‘Best of Manchester’ box of craft beer is a diverse range of lagers, pale ales and IPAs created in breweries across the region, and each box contains 12 beers (5x 440ml cans and 7x 330ml cans), making it an ideal gift for any beer lover, or someone with a special place in their heart for Manchester.
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There’s brews from beloved Greater Manchester breweries – Alphabet, Beatnikz Republic, Brightside, First Chop, Seven Bro7hers, and Shindigger – inside each hamper, all for £35.
You can find more information about each brew and grab your Manchester Boxhere.
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The Manc Group has partnered with Deliveroo to help local restaurants deliver during lockdown as part of our #StillServingMCR campaign.
Working alongside Deliveroo, The Manc will ensure all restaurants on the service will get the amplification they need across our social platforms. We’ll update our one million-strong audience on your latest updates and deals and we’ll create conversations with the masses about our favourite scran from your menus.
Basically, we will champion you, and we will go above and beyond to do it.
Top-rated Manchester chippy Hip Hop Chip Shop confirms it will soon be closing
Danny Jones
Not the news we wanted to go into the weekend writing but, sadly, we have word of yet another loss to Manchester hospitality as The Hip Hop Chip Shop have announced they will soon be closing.
Rated not just one of the top-rated chippies in Greater Manchester but having been named the second beast in the UK back in 2023, Hip Hop Chip Shop‘s success story is one we’ve loved watching.
First opened back in 2014 (how time flies), the chippy started out as nothing more than another street food stall serving out of a converted trailer designed to look like a boombox; it was cool, great value for money and absolutely delicious.
However, now over a decade later and having opened their brick-and-mortar site in Ancoats, the present financial pressures of the sector have taken their toll just like they have so many others and Hip Hop Chip Shop confirmed they will be early closing next month.
Bidding an emotional goodbye on social media, they wrote: “After 11 years, we’re unfortunately joining the chorus of independent businesses in Manchester and beyond, calling it a day.
Although Ancoats was an amazing area for us to embark on our bricks-and-mortar dream, the cost increases from Brexit, Covid, energy, VAT (halving it would save a lot in the industry), BB Loans etc. has meant it’s unviable in its current form – we would’ve had to increase prices much more than we’d be comfortable with to get the margins we need to keep going.
“It’s an extremely tough decision given it’s 15 years since the idea was born in my early 20s – then three mates whilst working other jobs began building it from scratch every weekend, to then quitting our jobs and taking a leap of full-time faith. Ultimately, we need to listen to the head, not the heart.”
Founder Jonathan ‘Ozzie’ Oswald goes on to add, “We wanted to give enough notice to support our amazing team in finding new jobs, making sure all our suppliers are paid up and provide our supportive customers with the last chance to eat/drink/party with us.”
Although they started they are exploring the possibility of keeping their trailer (which made its Christmas Markets debut just this past year) going at regular locations like the Etihad Stadium, the rest of the business as we know will be shutting down in a matter of weeks.
How it all started.The food’s been unbelievable since the start.Credit: The Manc Eats
Sharing a lengthy farewell message in honour of their fellow contemporaries and competitors, equally lauded Chips @ No.8 in Prestwich said: “We honour those who dared to do it differently. The Hip Hop Chip Shop in Manchester city centre were inspirational to us when we were setting out.
“They turned fish and chips on its head and did it how no one else thought possible. Centred on community with a high-quality product that championed sustainability and the alternative, we deemed them Gods of the fish and chip world and untouchable…
“Yet another independent food-based business to succumb to the economic crisis that has enveloped us and to date, the one that has hit us hardest. This latest closure most certainly won’t be the last. The government need to wake up fast and support small independent businesses before there are no more…
“If you haven’t been before then you really should, before it’s too late.”
You can find their remaining opening hours in the full Instagram post and the staff have assured all they’ll be open as normal in Manchester and at the Carlton Club in Whalley Range until their closing party on Saturday, 2 March, where guests can come along and have one last bite – and more than a few beers.
Responding underneath the post, one person commented: “The doors might be closing, but what you’ve done for us will never ever be forgotten. It’s impossible to talk about Manchester Hip Hop without talking about the Chippy.
“From Manchester to Vegas, tales of a Chippy that supported a culture, community and served dam good food will be told with smiles on our faces and heavy hearts.”
As for the Hip Hop gang, they signed off simply by saying: “It’s been a privilege to be able to feed you all whether it’s been at a music festival, kitchen takeover, wedding, corporate party and also put on some top events in a chippy! HUGE thanks for your support!
RIP to HOP, you were the modern Manchester chippy OGs and we sincerely hope it’s not forever.
Nothing short of a perfect plate – you will be missed x
Manchester’s reigning Chef of the Year unveils new restaurant
Danny Jones
A brand new restaurant from Manchester Chef of the Year, Shaun Moffat, and a small team of hospitality heavyweights is opening in the city centre.
The former Manteca, Hix and St. Leonards chef, who has gone on to earn even plenty of local acclaim thanks to his work at the Edinburgh Castle in Ancoats and most recently Maya in the Gay Village, is now set to embark on his own venture and will soon become the Chef Patron of a brand new concept.
Although there aren’t too many details just yet, Moffat and co. are promising to focus on two core principles: ‘Northern hospitality and thoughtful British cooking’.
Set to take the lead on Winsome Restaurant sooner than you think, should everything stay on schedule, Moffat and the new restaurant will be housed on Princess Street, adjoining the Whitworth Locke Hotel, as they cook to the masses from this historic corner of Manchester.
Winsome will be opening in the old Peru Perdu site, which sadly closed back in May 2024 after being given notice by the landlords next door.
The South American spot had proved a popular one for half a decade but has sadly been vacant ever since, but neighbours Foundation Coffee and the aforementioned Whitworth remain frequented city centre destinations.
With that in mind, the man voted ‘Chef of the Year’ at the most recent Manchester Food and Drink Awards and who notched a spot in the UK’s Top 50 Gastro Pubs during his time at the Castle, will be hoping to welcome diners back into the building and continue his success at Winsome.
The aim, more specifically, will be to bring local and seasonal produce and deliver a regularly changing menu that showcases the very best of ingredients, all with a comforting familiarity and a touch of Moffat’s own modern flair. But there are plenty more brains and pedigree behind this new opening too…
The drinks programme at Winsome will be led by none other than Tom Fastiggi, who previously worked at the industry-leading and equally award-winning Schofields. There will be a selection of hotel classics and familiar drinks alongside a strong no and low selection and some of Fastiggi’s own creations.
Wine will also be a focus with a sommelier served and curated list focusing primarily on old-world wines delivered again with Winsome’s laidback personality and flair.
Fastiggi and the Winsome team will also take over Whitworth’s stunning Atrium hotel bar (pictured above), providing a space for diners, hotel guests and passers-by to enjoy memorable bar food paired with delicious cocktails in the quaint setting of the Locke’s iconic glass structure.
“The Atrium space truly gives a unique feel to this bar. The drinks will be familiar and a warm welcome will await all guests. It’s a great new addition to Manchester’s hospitality scene”, says Tom Fastiggi.
Completing the team will be Owain Williams, founder not only of the renowned Belzan in Liverpool but, more importantly for us Mancs, Kampus’ Madre and Medlock Canteen over on Deansgate, among a number of other notable hospitality venues across the Northwest.
Quite the trio of talent with a wealth of expertise behind them.
Speaking on launching his own restaurant, Shaun Moffat added, “Opening the doors will be a big moment in my career, I am truly excited to share Winsome with the people of Manchester.”