Manchester’s grilled cheese legends Northern Soul are on the look out for ‘cheese tasters’ to trial their new Christmas menu for this year.
With the most wonderful time of the year now firmly in our sights, the Northern Quarter cult-favourite eatery is getting ready to launch its highly-anticipated festive food offering for 2023 in a couple of days time, and is in need of some enthusiastic cheese fans to lend a hand in testing out all the new diary-filled Christmas creations.
Taking to Instagram this week to call on keen ‘cheese tasters’ to come forward, Northern Soul wrote: “Christmas menu testers wanted.
“We are hosting a private Christmas launch party and giving a chance for a lucky few of you a chance to come and try our CRIMBO MENU and give us some feedback.”
The street food joint is an absolute favourite of Manchester‘s foodie community, and is known and loved for serving up some of the heartiest – and cheesiest, of course – comfort food dishes the city has to offer.
First established all the way back in 2015, and now based on Tib Street in the Northern Quarter and down at the Etihad Stadium on match days, as well as popping up at food festivals and markets across the UK throughout the year, Northern Soul has been serving Mancs cheesy grilled sandwiches for coming up to a decade now.
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Claiming to be the first restaurant of its kind to open in the UK, the grilled cheese OG’s have gone from strength to strength over the years, and have developed a well-deserved cult following along the way.
Northern Soul is looking for ‘cheese tasters’ to trial its Christmas menu / Credit: Northern Soul Grilled Cheese (via Facebook)
While grilled cheeses in all their finest forms are, of course, the restaurant’s speciality, Northern Soul also serves up other cheesy delights like mac and cheese, loaded fries, burgers, and jumbo wings, and is also known for adding all sorts of limited-edition seasonal specialities to its menu throughout the year.
And anyone who knows Northern Soul knows just how legendary its Christmas menus are each year – which is why getting the chance to become a ‘cheese taster’ this festive season is bound to be the stuff of dreams for fromage fanatics.
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Despite the fact most of the 2023 Christmas menu – which is being launched tomorrow (9 November) – is currently under wraps, Northern Soul has already confirmed that its beloved ‘Crimbo Dinner’ grilled cheese has made the cut this year.
This means the ‘cheese tasters’ will get to try out the creation that’s made up of juicy turkey crown, cranberry sauce, succulent stuffing, and a giant homemade pig in blanket, topped off with a little Yorkshire pudding and dripping in gravy.
The restaurant’s famous raclette is also returning for 2023, and it’s bigger and better than ever before.
The Alpine-inspired winter delicacy sees melted cheese draped over your own personal mini smörgåsbord of pickles, spicy piccalilli potatoes, and stout mushrooms made from a secret family recipe.
Fancy trying your chances at becoming one of Northern Soul’s ‘cheese tasters’ then? All you’ll need to do is head on over to the Instagram post and comment underneath letting Northern Soul know why you’d be the perfect person for the job.
Featured Image – Northern Soul Grilled Cheese (via Facebook)
Eats
Bar Posie – The beautiful new cocktail bar with an oyster happy hour from the team behind 10 Tib Lane
Daisy Jackson
The team behind Manchester’s 10 Tib Lane restaurant are ready to open a brand-new city centre cocktail bar, with an oyster happy hour.
They have announced that Bar Posie will be opening next week in the old Philpotts sandwich shop, right off Market Street.
The brand-new bar for the city centre will be serving cocktails, small plates and bar snacks, at the foot of Bruntwood SciTech’s Bloc building (also home to the Reset by Form pilates studio).
Bar Posie will be doing an aperitvo and oyster happy hour every Tuesday to Sunday between 12pm and 4pm, with £8 aperitivo and oysters for a quid.
It’s all coming from the 10 Tib Lane team, which opened in the old Bock Biere site back in 2021, transforming the space into a cosy multi-storey restaurant with seasonal sharing dishes.
This week, Bar Posie has shared a sneak peek of its menu, which will feature quality plates like confit chicken and wild mushroom croquettes, pork belly skewers, and a bitter leaf salad with buttermilk dressing.
As for drinks, expect cocktails like a cacao nib negroni, a classic vodka martini, and ‘La Isla’, a blend of Aperol, almond, Takamaka koko, mango and melon soda and acid.
That’s alongside conventional and natural wines, craft beer, and plenty of coffee.
Cocktails at Bar PosieHighlights of the snack menuA selection of snacks and cocktails at Bar PosieBar Posie is just off Market StreetInside Bar PosieInside Bar PosieCredit: The Manc Group
The space itself will be split into a mix of cosy booth seating, bar seats, and al fresco dining across two levels, with the cocktail bar at the very heart of everything.
Sophie Robson from Posie said: “We’re thrilled to finally be opening the doors to Posie. We’ve put all our passion and expertise into curating a menu that feels fresh and exciting, and into creating a space where people feel comfortable, looked after and relaxed.
“We can’t wait to welcome guests and show them the best of Posie.”
Matt Pazos, Retail Commercial Manager for Bruntwood SciTech, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Posie to the Bloc community.
“The team’s unique style is clear to see in the space, transforming it into a beautiful and inviting bar with an innovative menu offering that is testament to their expertise.
“Posie will make a fantastic addition to Manchester’s food and drink scene and we can’t wait to see how the brand grows in the coming months.”
Bar Posie will open in Bruntwood SciTech’s Bloc building on Tuesday 4 November.
Greggs confirms Festive Bakes return date as it unveils 2025 Christmas menu
Emily Sergeant
Greggs has unveiled its Christmas menu for 2025, and that means the Festive Bake is back again in all its glory.
The UK’s most-popular high street bakery chain has officially revealed its festive food and drink offering for the 2025 season, and there’s a few brand-new goodies joining the lineup this year, along with the return of some undeniable fan favourites.
And of course, nothing spells Christmas at Greggs quite like the Festive Bake, right?
The chain’s classic crumb-coated pastry filled with chicken, sage and onion stuffing, and sweetcure bacon in a creamy sage and cranberry sauce goes down an absolute treat each year, and is a serious fan-favourite, so it’s no surprise it’s made a comeback for 2025.
Thankfully for plant-based foodies, the Vegan Festive Bake has also made a comeback, but this year under a slightly different name – the Vegan Lattice (Festive Edition).
Greggs has unveiled its Christmas menu for 2025 / Credit: Greggs
Despite the new name, the flavours have stayed the same, as the Vegan Festive Lattice is puff pastry filled with savoury-flavour Quorn mycoprotein pieces, sage and onion stuffing balls, and vegan bacon, finished with a mouth-watering cranberry and red onion sauce.
Another returning Greggs festive favourite this year is the Christmas Lunch Baguette, which is a freshly-baked baguette ‘jam-packed full of festive flavours’, alongside last year’s newest addition, the Festive Flatbread – which is filled with sage and onion-style chicken, sweetcure bacon, mayo and cranberry and red onion relish.
When it comes to sweet treats, Greggs really does take some beating, as the lineup is full of tasty cakes, muffins, biscuits, and more.
Some of the stand-out newbies this year include the Gingerbread Muffin, and the Christmas Mini Caramel Shortbreads, while returning for more is the indulgent Chocolate & Hazelnut Flavour Doughnut, the Christmas tree and start-shaped biscuits, and of course, the classic Sweet Mince Pies.
The festive drinks lineup this year includes the popular Mint mochas and hot chocolates, and the Salted Caramel Latte.
Gingerbread returns for 2025 too, and you can get Gingerbread Lattes both hot and iced, as well as a Gingerbread Flat White.
Emily Sergeant -
8th November 2023 
