This week hidden Manchester cocktail bar Speak In Code was announced as one of the very best in the UK, rankingat an impressive number 10at the Top 50 UK Bars awards.
The prestigious list, released annually, has put the small Manchester bar on the map in a whole new way – and suffice to say, the team is absolutely thrilled.
Seemingly still in shock, they released a statement to their followers on social media yesterday saying they were “completely speechless”.
Clearly overjoyed with the huge accolade, they continued: “We’re still processing this even today like, is this real?”
It’s been a difficult time for the tiny cocktail bar, which has struggled throughout the Covid pandemic with constantly having to shut and then reopen as their small team tried to keep the operation running.
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Last summer, just as they reopened and launched their new menu, three out of their team of five was hit hard with Covid and the bar was forced to close again.
Still, if anything this proves that good things really do come to those who wait – with the team absolutely overjoyed to have made the Top 50 list, after receiving the news at the beginning of the year.
“No matter what the position was, we felt nothing but happiness and gratitude to just be in the same room as some of the best bars on the planet, let alone stand amongst them on this list.”
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Image: Speak In Code
Saying that making it to number ten was “beyond our wildest dreams”, they continued “we’re just a small team of people who are super passionate about flavour exploration and hip hop”
“You all know the love we have for you guys who’ve seen us go on a difficult journey and been there to support and show us the love back, and we really do this for you.
“We’re even more motivated to get back to it and keep improving what we do. Big thank you to everyone who has supported us.”
The bar also shouted out their fellow Mancs who took home awards or made it into the shortlist, as well as nodding to the many bars north of London that received recognition this year.
Image: Speak In Code
Whilst London did dominate half of the list, there were still a large number of northern drinking spots included this year.
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In Manchester, Schofield’s Bar made it into the top 20 – ranking at number 16 – whilst Three Little Words, the bar and restaurant from Manchester Gin, took home the Bar Team of the Year award.
Newcomer Mecanica also got an honourable mention, shortlisted for the Best Newcomer award.
In total, ten of the Top 50 Cocktail Bars this year are found in the north of England.
Over in Leeds, four bars made the list with Jake’s Bar & Still Room, Roland’s, Below Stairs and Hedonist all getting a well-dseerved mention.
Further afield, Liverpool’s Present Company, Sheffield’s Public and Newcastle’s Mother Mercy are also featured, with four more – Bramble Bar & Lounge, Panda and Sons, The Absent Ear and Hay Palu – getting a shout out up in Scotland.
The full statement from Speak In Code read: “Wow! What a 24 hours it’s been…
“We started off the year with the news that we’d been voted into the official @50cocktailbars top 50 in the UK.
“No matter what the position was, we felt nothing but happiness and gratitude to just be in the same room as some of the best bars on the planet, let alone stand amongst them on this list.
“Then something happened beyond our wildest dreams. We were announce as No.10 on that list of the top 50 in the UK. I mean, we’re all completely speechless, we’re still processing this even today like, is this real?
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“You all know the love we have for you guys who’ve seen us go on a difficult journey and been there to support and show us the love back, and we really do this for you.
“We’ve always said, first and foremost we’re just a small team of people who are super passionate about flavour exploration and hip hop… If you dig that too then it’s a vibe.
“We’re even more motivated to get back to it and keep improving what we do. Big thank you to everyone who has supported us.
The GIANT £375 chocolate Easter egg that’s ‘too beautiful to eat’
Daisy Jackson
One of the north’s most legendary hospitality businesses has created an Imperial Easter Egg, and the effort that goes into crafting it is wild.
Coming in at 10kg, 22 inches tall, and £375, Bettys enormous chocolate treat shows off a whole lot of artistry.
The iconic tearoom, which has sites across Yorkshire, has shared the behind-the-scenes video to its TikTok page, drumming up almost half a million views.
The mouth-watering video shows first milk chocolate being hand-painted onto a chocolate egg-shaped mould to create the Easter egg’s beautiful textured appearance, The Hoot reports.
Then layer after layer of melted chocolate is poured in from a chocolate tap, before being trimmed and tidied.
Bettys, which has tearooms across Harrogate, York, and Leeds, uses the finest Swiss Grand Cru chocolate for its imperial Easter egg, and every bit that’s trimmed away is melted down to reuse elsewhere.
Then a pastry chef at the tearoom will spend up to an hour PER EGG piping on the ornate decorations, carefully piping on coloured white chocolate stems and ferns.
Then colourful royal icing flowers are placed on its surface, each one again hand-piped by their cake decorators.
The end result is a whopping Spring-time masterpiece covered in shades of green, yellow and purple.
Bettys Imperial Easter Egg weighs in at a massive 10kg and stands at 22 inches tall.
Bettys says: “Celebrating the creativity and craft that makes Bettys unique, our handmade Imperial Easter eggs continue a tradition stretching back more than a century, when our founder Frederick Belmont designed eggs which were ornately embellished with hand-piped icing designs.
“Containing over five kilos of Grand Cru Swiss chocolate made from prized Venezuelan criollo cocoa beans, the Imperial Egg is a true work of art, showcasing the highest skills of our chocolatiers and cake decorators.
“Each Imperial Egg carries an array of delicate, individually crafted spring blooms and foliage including primroses, narcissi and pansies, with hand-piped stems as a final perfect touch.
“Our Imperial Easter Egg is made to order and is only available for collection from one of our Yorkshire shops.”
And if £375 is a bit out of budget, you can buy a miniature version that’s just as beautiful for a tenth of the price.
In the comment section on the video, one person wrote: “30 mins and a cup of tea and I’d polish that off.”
Another said: “A chocolate… tap?! I’m calling my plumber.”
Someone else wrote: “That’s just too beautiful to eat! A work of art!”
What a beautiful beast indeed.
Featured image: Bettys
Eats
Inside the Manchester restaurant serving ‘India’s answer to a Wigan kebab’
Georgina Pellant
When it comes to finding new and innovative ways to enjoy the humble potato, it’s fair to say that we Brits pretty much have the art down.
From creamy mash to deep-fried chips, crunchy hasslebacks, hash browns, and the all-time classic that is bubble and squeak, you name it, we’ve tried it.
Still, somehow it took the arrival of Indian street food favorite Bundobust for us to be introduced to the concept of a mashed potato burger – and we are forever thankful.
Comprised of a deep-fried potato dumpling placed inside a brioche bun, accompanied by two house-made chutneys and a whole green chili pepper, since its introduction to the Manchester food scene in 2016 the Vada Pav has become one of Bundobust’s most iconic dishes.
Also known as a Bombay burger, the vegetarian fast food snack sells in its thousands back home in Mumbai and has now become something of a signature dish here in Manchester too.
We recently popped down with Deliveroo for an episode of Takeaway Champions to try the dish, and after one taste our reviewer immediately called it the ‘Indian answer to a Wigan kebab’. It’s simply carbs on carbs on carbs, and we’re here for it.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
That said, it’s not the only thing worth ordering when you visit.
Other longstanding menu staples at Bundobust include its barbecued paneer, mushroom and pepper tikka kebabs, sweet and crunchy Bundo chaat, and crispy okra fries; whilst new dishes include the Ragda Pethis – a north-meets-east combination of mushy peas and potato cake, sev, tomato, onion, and tamarind chutney.
Having first opened in Manchester in 2016, today Bundobust has two sites in the city centre. Its original home still sits underneath Piccadilly Gardens, with a second restaurant and in-house brewery residing over on Oxford Road.
The restaurant – initially born in Leeds before making its way to Manchester – has always had a strong reputation for sourcing excellent craft beer, but since quietly opening its own brewery during the Covid lockdowns it’s only gone from strength to strength.
Housed in a unique 100-year-old space within the iconic Grade II listed St James building, the Manchester-based brewery is a custom-built 10-hectolitre facility capable of producing 20,000 pints a month.
Today, alongside beers from other respected brewers, the restaurant serves up a list of specially-made house beers, all designed to complement the flavours of its dishes.
These include a coriander lager, a masala chai porter and a tropical pale ale, as well as its latest concoction: a mango lassi beer created in collaboration with brewers at Northern Monk.
Georgina Pellant -
3rd February 2022 
