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
Family behind Salvi’s launch new concept, weeks after iconic restaurant closure
Daisy Jackson
Just weeks after the closure of its iconic, 16-year-old Italian restaurant in the Corn Exchange, the family behind Salvi’s have revealed a brand-new concept.
And this time, the reins are being handed over to the next generation.
Salvi’s founder Maurizio Cecco has helped to shape Amò, but it’s all the brainchild of his daughter, Sienna.
Sienna will run the business out of a unit up on Deansgate Mews, serving fresh pasta dishes, pizza sandwiches, tubs of tiramisu, and two-for-£10 spritzes.
The deli aspect of the original Salvi’s has been carried over to Amò too – you’ll find shelves almost to the ceiling filled with Italian pasta, wine, olive oils, pistachio spreads, and more.
Sienna has grown up in restaurants, with her parents launching Salvi’s when she was just two years old.
She said she wants the space to be a livelier, fresher version of the Italian restaurant that has been so loved by Mancs for so many years.
Sienna outside AmòFresh pasta dishesInside Amò by Salvi’sTheir viral frozen crema di caffeLemon granitaInside Amò by Salvi’sTiramisu pots
Amò, which is Neapolitan slang for ‘my love’, will have loads of fresh Italian dishes, including arancini, gnocchi, and hearty pasta plates.
At lunchtimes, guests can order from a £10 lunch menu, with dishes changing daily depending on the best produce the kitchen can get – it could be a pizza sandwich with proscuitto and tomato, a spicy pasta, or a gnocchi bake, always served with your choice of soft drink.
With its position on Deansgate Mews, Amò basks in the sunshine at lunchtimes.
And while it’s definitely a different concept to the original Salvi’s, Amò looks set to carry the family’s Italian food legacy into its next generation.
Award-winning Didsbury bakery La Chouquette reveals incredible new site
Daisy Jackson
La Chouquette is one of Greater Manchester’s top bakeries – an award-winner, with queues down the street every weekend for its authentic French pastries and loaves.
And now they’re ready for a new chapter, revealing a major expansion today.
Owners Catrina and Flo have painstakingly expanded the bakery into the unit next door, creating what feels like a true French bakery.
And in the midst of this huge renovation project, they’ve welcomed a tiny new baby boy – quite the summer for the couple.
Catrina and Flo launched La Chouquette in lockdown, and in a time where people could only get their hospitality fix from takeaways, immediately became one of the most popular spots in the region.
Their success has been so great, you’ll still consistently find queues down the street every weekend, for their top sellers like their authentic almond croissants.
Then in October 2024, they grew the business and launched Piqniq, a new deli in Didsbury village, serving freshly-baked baguette sandwiches, breakfast butties, toasties, tiramisu pots and their legendary pastries.
The new-look La Chouquette features beautiful details like mosaic floors, rich blue walls, wooden shelves, and brass light fixtures.
La Chouquette’s best-selling almond croissantsInside the stunning new La Chouquette in DidbsuryNew savoury bakesThe chausson aux pommesThe counter stuffed with artisan French bakesChocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns
The huge new counter displays more pastries and breads than ever before, like a hearty chausson aux pommes filled with apples that will be perfect for autumn, plus seasonal treats like a rhubarb creme brulee pastry, and homemade quiche.
Speaking at the grand relaunch today, Catrina said: “The layout has changed, it looks so much more chic, it looks like a traditional French bakery. We’re really excited about it.”
As for what’s on the counter, Flo reassured fans that their beloved almond and pistachio croissants remain, but with some new savoury editions, like a truffle croque monsieur made with croissant dough.
La Choquette has reopened today, and will be open seven days a week from 7am until 5pm.
Emily Sergeant -
8th November 2023 
