If Bundobust can’t make you eat your sprouts then we’re not sure who can. The Manchester restaurant has just launched a new Christmas menu featuring sprout bhajis – and it’s exquisite.
We loved Bundobust at any time of the year, but when we heard that they were making mince pie parathas and gingerbread ale for the occasion we knew that we had to get ourselves down asap.
Putting a seasonal twist on their brilliant Indian street food dishes, the infamous sprout bhajis make a triumphant return atop a spiced cranberry chutney – giving new life to the celebrated (if somewhat misunderstood) seasonal vegetable.
The Sprout Bhaji Butty is a thing of beauty. / Image: The Manc Eats
The Sprout Bhaji Butty and the classic Vada Pav. / Image: The Manc Eats
Fans of the Christmas sarnie can also opt for the sprout bhaji butty, a crispy sprout bhaji patty with salad, spiced cranberry and green chutneys. Even better, £1 from every sprout bhaji butty sold will go towards the #CookForUkraine charity initiative, reports The Hoot.
Elsewhere, you’ll find festive dahl with rice: a warming and smoky Christmas take on Dal Makhani boosted with black cardamom, clove and cinnamon that feels like a hug in a bowl.
The beloved biryani balls are also back for 2022, pairing India’s celebratory dish, Biryani, with the party buffet snackability of arancini. A match made in heaven, right? Spiced with mint, saffron, ginger, nutmeg and rose, served in a rich tomato sauce crowned with crispy onions, we’re sure these are going to be flying off the shelves.
As for the mince pie parathas, what to say? A new addition this year, these are a perfect sweet-savoury flavour bomb stuffed with sultana, raisin, cinnamon, clove, star anise and coconut. We ordered them with the signature house paneer and made ourselves little festive wraps – a trick we highly recommend you try for yourselves.
And of course, you’ll need something to wash all the delicious food down with, and it wouldn’t be Bundobust without beer. So from 21 November, you’ll be able to grab a pint of Bundobust Brewery’s AADU – a limited edition 5.8% Gingerbread Wheat Beer.
Equally, if beer isn’t your thing you can opt for a mulled wine, Bundo Snowball, Cosmopolitan or Amaretto Sour. We swear down the mulled wine is one of the best we’ve ever had.
All the dishes are available now until Christmas. To book a table take a look at their website.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Eats
Hotel Chocolat to open viral chocolate Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Hotel Chocolat is set to open a Velvetiser Cafe in Manchester city centre, and it’ll be absolute paradise for chocolate lovers.
The popular chocolate shop, which has stores across the UK selling delicious chocolate bars, boxes and more, is now preparing to branch out in town.
Hotel Chocolat then hit a new level of fame with its Velvetiser, an invention that creates velvety smooth hot drinks at the touch of a button.
They’ve been so popular, Hotel Chocolat is now opening Velvetiser Cafes across the UK – and Manchester is up next.
If it follows in the footsteps of the Meadowhall cafe in Sheffield, visitors will be able to customise their perfect hot chocolate from thousands of combinations.
There are 18 flavours, different milks, and a whole variety of toppings available.
Then you drink can be served hot, over ice, or as a choc shake.
Colourful hoardings for the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe have now appeared on Cross Street, just next door to the new Joe & The Juice.
A planning application has also been lodged with Manchester City Council.
Drake-backed fried chicken brand Dave’s Hot Chicken is opening in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The huge LA-based fried chicken brand backed by Drake is heading to Manchester for the very first time this summer.
Dave’s Hot Chicken is set to open in the Printworks this August – the first UK branch outside of London and Birmingham.
The cult chicken brand has said that its new venue will feature an ‘industrial design inspired by Manchester’s rave scene’ (if we had a pound every time a new venue used that design style, we’d be as rich as Drake…).
Dave’s Hot Chicken is famed for its signature Nashville-style hot chicken, which is served in seven different spice levels from No Spice to Reaper.
Expect sliders, tenders, ‘next-level’ top-loaded shakes and slushes.
It’s grown so quickly that in 2021, it caught the eye of none other than rapper Drake, who is a ‘significant investor’ in the brand.
The fried chicken spot will be moving into the large corner unit at Printworks, which has previously been Busaba Thai, and Floripa, with 139 covers.
Dave’s Hot Chicken is coming to Manchester
Inside, it will feature towering ceilings, exposed steelwork, and laser lights, claiming to be a ‘full-on sensory trip, where music, light and fried chicken will come together to create a high-voltage experience’.
There will also be custom graffiti inspired by L.A.-based street artists Splatterhaus and Dehm.
Dave’s Hot Chicken still has hour-long queues down in London, several months after opening on Shaftesbury Avenue – next up will be a Birmingham branch in July before Manchester opens later this summer.
And this is just the start of a nationwide expansion.
Jim Attwood, Managing Director of Dave’s Hot Chicken UK, said: “Printworks Manchester is the ideal setting for our next UK site – right at the heart of one of the country’s most exciting cities.
“The new restaurant pays homage to Manchester’s legendary warehouse rave scene, with an industrial-inspired design and bold, high-energy atmosphere to match our signature flavours.
“We can’t wait to bring something fresh to this iconic venue and its vibrant mix of entertainment, food and culture.”
Dave’s Hot Chicken will open at Printworks Manchester on 8 August.
Georgina Pellant -
24th November 2022 
