Eats

The best places to eat in Manchester as Food & Drink Festival confirms 2020 award winners

The winners of the 23rd Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards have been announced at a virtual award ceremony at MODA Living Apartments in Manchester.

The Manc The Manc - 6th October 2020
Escape To Freight Island

The best food, drink and takeaway services in Manchester were confirmed this week – as Manchester Food & Drink Festival (MFDF) announced the official winners of their prestigious awards ceremony.

The 23rd MFDF Awards was hosted online as a virtual ceremony at MODA Living Apartments on Monday (October 5) – with the ordinary format and categories changed to reflect the sterling efforts of the hospitality sector during a deeply challenging year.

Presented in partnership with headline sponsors Just Eat, the festival awards “celebrated the innovation, resilience, altruism and successes that have taken place within the industry”, with new awards designed to recognise the industry’s innovations since lockdown.

Categories for 2020 included Best DIY Delivery Food Offering, Best Food and Drink Box Delivery, Best Innovation and Lockdown Heroes. 

Wholesome Junkies

Votes were cast by the public in the days leading up to the ceremony – which saw the camera cut to winners once they had been revealed by star presenters Noddy Holder, Rhian Sugden, Clint Boon, John Thomson, Victoria Ekanoye, and Sair Khan.

There were wins on the night for Rudy’s, Shindigger, Wholesome Junkies, Cork of the North and Escape to Freight Island – as well as a special award for Mary-Ellen McTague who recruited an army of fellow hospitality workers to feed heroes on the frontline.

The full list of winners for Manchester Food & Drink Festival Awards 2020 were as follows:

BEST ONLINE ‘AT HOME’ FOOD AND DRINK CONTENT SPONSORED BY MODA ANGEL GARDENS 

Recognising the best online food and drink content shared during lockdown by Manchester’s chefs, producers and industry experts. 

  • Cork of the North – For their live wine tasting masterclasses broadcast via social media.

THE BEST RESTAURANT TAKEAWAY ADAPTATION SPONSORED BY JUST EAT 

Recognising restaurants who have adapted their business model, menus and offering to provide a takeaway/delivery service during lockdown. 

BEST DIY DELIVERY FOOD OFFERING SPONSORED BY ROOMZZZ APARTHOTELS 

Recognising the restaurants, chefs and businesses who have created ‘do it yourself’ recipe delivery meal kits for people to create their own restaurant quality meals/dishes at home. 

  • Northern Soul – Grill it Yourself Kit – Unit 10-11 Church Street, Manchester M4 1PN

BEST FOOD AND DRINK BOX DELIVERY  

Recognising the best food and drink delivery boxes created to serve the community with fine food and drink during lockdown. 

  • ShinDigger Brewing Co – Beer Delivery Boxes In Under 3 Hours – Unit 11, Springfield Lane Industrial Estate, Salford, M3 7JQ 

BEST INNOVATION SPONSORED BY HUN WINE

Recognising the most impressive business innovations by food and drink operators during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Cork of the North

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR SPONSORED BY BULLEIT BOURBON

Recognising the best new food and drink operations to open in Greater Manchester since the last awards decision period. 

BEST ONLINE VEGGIE/VEGAN OFFERING SPONSORED BY MEATLESS FARM 

This award recognises the restaurants and food businesses that have provided innovative and exciting menu options for vegetarian and vegan diners via takeaway/delivery services during lockdown. 

ARTISAN DRINKS PRODUCER OF THE YEAR SPONSORED BY FRANKLIN & SONS

This award recognises the plethora of fabulous local drinks producers, from gins and ciders to ales and meads, if it’s produced in Greater Manchester and tastes great, we want to celebrate it.

TAKE AWAY COFFEE EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR

This category recognises quality coffee takeaways during the COVID-19 crisis. This category is an adaptation of The Coffee Shop of the year award and only recognises those businesses that were able to stay open via takeaway.

STREET FOOD TRADER OF THE YEAR

Awarding one of the Greater Manchester-based street food legends who have adapted their services to provide takeaways and deliveries during lockdown.

LOCKDOWN HEROES SPONSORED BY MEN

Recognising those individuals and businesses who have provided continued support for the wider community, the food and drink industry and Greater Manchester as a whole during the COVID-19 Crisis..

HOWARDS AND RUTH OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT

Recognising someone who has contributed something outstanding to the food and drink industry in Greater Manchester.

  • Mary-Ellen McTague from The Creameries and Eat Well MCR. 

Phil Jones, The Manchester Food and Drink Festival Founding Director, said: “We’re very pleased to be able to recognise our brilliant hospitality sector during this extraordinarily difficult time.

“MFDF is proud to celebrate such a wonderful range of businesses and individuals, all showcasing the strong stuff that our local industry is made of. There’s been huge amounts of innovation and creativity – even during such a tough time, we’ve much to celebrate.

“Congratulations to all the winners, and nominees – the Festival will continue to support the industry however it can over the coming months.

“Roll on April 2021.”

MFDF itself has been rescheduled to take place in April.

Stay up-to-date with what’s happening in and around Greater Manchester via The Manc’s What’s On section.

Eats

Prestwich wine bar Chin Chin now serves roast dinner sandwiches

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich

A new (ish) wine bar in Prestwich has launched one of the city’s coolest Sunday offerings – roast dinner sandwiches, with a side of jazz.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 1000 times – Elnecot is up there as one of Manchester’s best Sunday roasts, with Yorkshire puddings you could fit a jug of gravy inside, blushing slices of roast beef, and generous portions that put you in the sort of food coma you should be in on a Sunday afternoon.

So when Roast Master (okay fine, his official job title is chef/owner) Michael Clay said that his sister venue Chin Chin was launching a Sunday offering, I was there with my nose pressed up at the window. I’m ready, Michael.

Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin, right in the heart of Prestwich village, brings that incredible roast beef and roast potatoes into a more casual format.

You can tuck into roast meat butties, roast potatoes loaded with cheese and gravy, and ice cream sundaes, all while perusing a well-thought-out wine list that’s written up by hand every time new bottles come in.

Oh, and did we mention there are £4 pints all day on Sunday – and that includes Guinness?

On the side of just about everything on the menu, you’re presented with a little bowl of extra gravy (how delightfully Northern) for dipping and dunking.

Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich
Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich
Roast beef sandwiches at Chin Chin
Roast beef sandwiches at Chin Chin
Lancashire cheese toasties
Lancashire cheese toasties
The Bifana
The Bifana
Loaded roasties
Loaded roasties
Wine and vinyl records
Wine and vinyl records
Inside Chin Chin wine bar
Inside Chin Chin wine bar
The wine list at Chin Chin
The wine list at Chin Chin

Our top pick would be the roast beef sandwich, served between ciabatta rolls and laced with mustard mayo and caramelised onions.

But the cheese toastie is worth a visit too – a hefty helping of Lancashire cheese and charred spring onions, with a ‘secret sauce’ on the side.

Coming soon will be a new menu item, a Bifana sandwich. If you’ve trudged the streets of Portugal you’ll have come across these – thin slices of pork marinated in white wine and garlic, piled into bread with a punchy mustard. Chin Chin’s are excellent.

And for afters, because there is always room for dessert, it’s a lovely ice cream sundae topped with miso caramel and a showering of pistachios.

The whole time you’ll be eating with a soundtrack of jazz, played through the wine bar’s vinyl record system and Michael’s own personal collection of vinyls.

Chin Chin is open now on Bury New Road, with food on Sundays served between 12pm and 6pm.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Drinking around the ‘Beermuda Triangle’ of brewery taprooms in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Drinking around the Beermuda Triangle in Manchester

If you’re looking for the best pints in Manchester, turn your ass around at the door of the pub and head to the ‘Beermuda Triangle’, a corner of the city centre where taprooms are king.

Our city has a great rep for craft beer and microbreweries, and a lot of these are concentrated in one brilliant, unexpected stretch of industrial estate.

Head beyond Manchester Piccadilly and you’ll find yourself in an area nicknamed the ‘Beermuda Triangle’, where tucked among tool shops and warehouses are breweries welcoming in thirsty punters.

These are places where you can sip on the freshest lagers, ales and sours, straight from the source.

As you kick back in one of these taprooms, you can see the brewers hard at work on their next creation, and see beers being canned before your eyes.

There are, of course, plenty of other taprooms and brewery-operated bars all over Greater Manchester, but if you want to minimise your step count and maximise your drinking time, this is where to head.

So we’ve gone out exploring the current residents on the Beermuda Triangle (I know, tough job) to give you the low-down for your next pub crawl.

All the taprooms on Manchester’s Beermuda Triangle

Cloudwater

Cloudwater's Taproom on the Beermuda Triangle
Cloudwater's Taproom on the Beermuda Triangle

When you think of craft beer, you probably think of these guys.

Since being founded in 2014, Cloudwater has gone on huge things and is now listed among the largest craft beer brands in the UK.

They’ve got their own pub (The Sadler’s Cat), a taproom down in London, and a huge brewery next-door to their taproom on the Piccadilly Trading Estate.

In here, it’s a stripped-back, Scandi-style interior upstairs, with a few extra tables squeezed in amongst oak barrels downstairs, plus a decent suntrap terrace out the front.

Our order? A pint of Fuzzy pale ale.

Track

Track Taproom
Track Taproom
Track Taproom
Track Taproom

Another big player in the craft beer game, Track’s taproom is comfortably one of Manchester’s coolest bars.

It’s a huge space, split between the actual brewery and the taproom, where beers are displayed on a rainbow-hued menu board and their own merch lines the walls.

With loads of plants, a leafy little beer garden, and a small kitchen that’s home to Slice Culture pizzeria, this one is the least rough-and-ready of all the taprooms on the Beermuda Triangle.

The most logical order here has, and will always be, Sonoma, they’re easy-drinking session pale ale available on both cask and keg – but there are always tonnes of other beers beyond their core range that are worth your attention.

Sureshot

Sureshot taproom
Sureshot taproom
Sureshot taproom

Sureshot proves that you can take the art of brewing seriously but still have a laugh, with silly beer names and a giant bear mascot manically grinning at you as you sip your beer.

What’ll it be – a pint of ‘Wait… What?’, a schooner of ‘Small Man’s Wetsuit’, or a third of ‘Be Polite and Comb Your Hair?’.

They’re known for their hop-forward styles but are always dreaming up new creations and collaborations, like a recent sour with Bundobust, and collaboration with inclusive football club Manchester Lacesm with a donation of each ‘I Thought She Was A Pisces’ sold going to the club.

This one’s off the Piccadilly Trading Estate and is under the railway arches, handily with Nell’s next door who will deliver you a pizza while you’re on your taproom crawl.

Balance Brewing & Blending

Inside Balance Brewing's taproom in Manchester
Inside Balance Brewing's taproom in Manchester

The final stop on the Beermuda triangle is Balance, who specialise in barrel-fermented sours.

The taproom itself is a real looker, with fairy lights festooned overhead, a deep burgundy bar, and persian rugs thrown all over the concrete floors.

The beers here are all funky and punchy and well worth ordering a few testers of before you make your final decision.

Whatever you order, it’s going to have good British roots and a beautiful flavour.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

More Eats

Inside The Faraday Pub, the Northern Quarter’s newest boozer

Eats

Inside The Faraday Pub, the Northern Quarter’s newest boozer

How Chotto Matte in Manchester will look

Eats

Chotto Matte – Amazing new images show how Manchester’s luxury new rooftop restaurant will look

Dog Bowl is closing in Manchester to become Wynward Lanes. Credit: The-Vain - Carl Sukonik - @thevainphotos

Eats

Beloved bowling bar to close after 12 years ahead of major transformation

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches