This September the world’s biggest wing festival will return to Manchester, bringing together the UK’s best for a two-day event celebrating the humble chicken wing.
Set to serve a whopping 200,000 wings over that 48 hour period, expectations are already high for Wing Fest’s return this Autumn.
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As it gears up to make its way back to the city, we take a look at some of the winners from years past to give you an idea of what to expect (and who to make a beeline for).
From established restaurants to pop-up concepts launched on furlough, there’s some real variety to be discovered here amongst the street food stalls – making Wing Fest a must-attend event for foodies that are serious about their chicken.
Mexican Seoul
First up we spoke with hall of flame multiple award-winners Mexican Seoul, who have taken home a host of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards in recent years.
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Founded in lockdown after owner Ashley Chipchase found himself on furlough from his job, Mexican Seoul first attended Wing Fest as customers before deciding to give the street food festival a go themselves.
After winning three awards in a row, he made the decision to quit his job and go pro – right there on stage.
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Image: Mexican Seoul
Image: Mexican Seoul
Ashley told The Manc: “After getting furloughed from our jobs we decided to turn a negative into a positive and spent the next 6 months refining our home recipes and trialling different frying methods.
“We ended up juggling a full time job whilst working street food markets at the weekend and prepping into the early hours of the morning.
“We’ve been going to Wing Fest as customers since 2016 and it’s always been a goal to compete. We were lucky enough to be invited down and it really gave us a fantastic opportunity to showcase our menu and we are still blown away we picked up awards.
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“When we got invited on stage for three awards it was like a movie. Being recognised for what we do was amazing. They told us to say something on the microphone and we ended up quitting our daytime jobs there and then, on the stage, at Wing Fest.”
Inspired to get into street food by fellow Wing Fest trader Wingman’s after discovering them in 2016, he also tells us he drew inspiration for his wings from the LA food truck scene – naming Korean-American chef Roy Choi as a particularly strong influence.
The signature wings to look out for here at Mexican Seoul are the Gochu-Gang, made spicy with fermented Korean chilli paste then sauced up with added sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger, All made using free range, halal chicken that’s been brined for 24 hours in buttermilk chicken, wings are then double fried to create a signature crispy texture.
That’s not all he does, though, Ashley also serves a range of different Korean-inspired tacos with special sauces made in house from scratch.
Asked how he feels about coming back to Manchester this year, he said: “Each time we visit we notice that the street food scene is growing rapidly… the last time we were there we found an amazing pizza place called Ramona that had one of the best Detroit pizzas we have tried in the UK.
“We never thought we would be showcasing our food across the UK so it feels like an amazing opportunity be able to bring our Gochu-Gang wings to Manchester.”
Yard and Coop
Alongside Mexican Seoul, we also spoke with local Manchester-based winners Yard and Coop who have been a fixture of the Northern Quarter’s culinary scene since 2015.
Owners Laura and Carl Morris took home their first Wing Fest award last year, scooping up third place in the Judges’ Choice Buffalo Wing category but tell us they ‘plan on coming back bigger and better this year.’
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Image: Yard and Coop
Image: Yard and Coop
The pair, who tell us they have eaten in ‘just about every fried chicken joint in the UK and a fair few in New York and beyond’ say there are plenty of Americana influences to be found in their food before adding: ‘we will literally deep fry anything’.
They’re not kidding. Tihs Easter just gone, they deep fried a creme egg for a special – something that went down an absolute treat with customers.
As for what their Wing Fest signature recipes will be this year, they say they’re ‘still testing recipes’ but will definitely ‘bring that extra level’.
They said: “At wing fest as we 24hr brine them then pressure fry so the meat falls off the bone. Then we buttermilk and crumb them with our secret recipe. Each wing has had so much love before it ends up on your plate!”
“It’s our manor – we are here to bring the title home where it belongs.”
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How to get Wing Fest tickets
Taking place this year from 24-25 September, tickets for Wing Fest Manchester 2022 are on sale now.
Combining wings, music, beer and bourbon across a two-day celebration of the best chicken wings the UK has to offer, festival-goers can expect to find over 20 different street food traders, restaurants and BBQ teams on site across the weekend.
Manchester’s Cat Café is set to reopen four years after its closed
Danny Jones
Feline fans, rejoice, because Cat Café Manchester looks like it is reopening more than four whole years after its unfortunate closure.
The city centre’s much-loved cat café – the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester and among just a small handful in the North West – closed back in 2021 following unavoidable economic struggles brought about by the pandemic
Despite being hugely popular before having to shut its doors, the business was unable to reach an agreement with their landlord at the time and the owners were left with no other choice than to close permanently – or so we thought…
Seemingly back from the dead and published their first post since 11 January 2021, the official Instagram page shared just one line along with a picture of their soon-to-be new premises.
Briefly teasing fans ahead of an official announcement, the post reads: “Manchester we’ve missed you! There’s only one thing this place needs…”
The shot taken across the road from Manchester’s historic Barton Arcade shows the large shopfront unit on the main Deansgate strip where the original Classic Football Shirts store used to be.
As you can see, although the vintage footy kit reseller’s brand and decals still remain plastered on the windows, the two-storey location has been vacant since October 2023 when CFS moved their flagship Manchester branch to Dale Street in the Northern Quarter.
We’ve personally been wondering what might take the old venue’s place for a while now, with the rest of the Grade II-listed Victorian shopping arcade populated by food and drink spaces, a barbershop and fashion retailers like The R Store, but after all this time the last thing we expect was the Cat Café.
This will no doubt come as wonderful news to the countless fans who were gutted to see it disappear just a few short years ago.
At the time, a fundraiser was set up in an attempt to rescue it and the pet-forward coffee shop format also paved the way for similar ventures like this one over Salford.
Although we’re still yet to hear any more details regarding a possible reopening date, we can safely assume their four-year hiatus will be coming to an end sometime in 2025.
When they were still up and running, the café had 10 resident cats at their original site on the edge of NQ, now home to one of two Gooeys in Manchester.
It is worth noting that there were some concerns raised around hygiene and animal welfare, though we’re sure steps have been taken to address these issues in the interim.
The Didsbury Dozen loses one of its best as The Dockyard confirms closure
Danny Jones
The Didsbury Dozen has lost one of its strongest stops as the much-loved Dockyard sadly closed for good this past weekend.
A favourite among those taking on the popular Greater Manchester pub crawl and a busy bar in its own right along the main Didsbury Village strip, The Dockyard has been a staple of South Manchester boozing for some time.
However, it’s time as part of the Dozen and in the heart of the community has come to an end, with the staff having completed their final service on Sunday, 19 January.
Sharing a short but heartfelt goodbye on social media, they welcomed customers to join them one last time “to raise a glass and say cheers!”.
An unreal beer garden too. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The post begins: “Right Didsbury… Thank you so much for your welcome and custom when we arrived here in the village, but the time has now come to say goodbye. We have had a blast over the last four years and we hope you have too!”
Although many relatively new to the area or at least its drinking scene will only know it as The Dockyard, the venue has actually been under a lot of names over the years.
Originally known as Times Square, it was then refurbished into a branch of O’Neills in 1996 before going on to re-open as The Stokers Arms in 2014.
Nevertheless, it maintained a regular and loyal following as The Dockyard and many will be “sorry to see it go”; one person commented: “Oh no! We had a fab time in here over Christmas and [were] hoping to return soon. Sorry to see you go and I will be visiting your other sites.
Thankfully, they did go on to confirm that the remaining pubs in Salford Quays and Northwich will remain open – as is the Left Bank location in Spinningfields overlooking the River Irwell. Better still, the building itself will still remain a pub and we already know what’s taking its place:
Although there is still no news on when we can expect to see The Salmon’s second venture launch, if it’s anything like the success the Northern Quarter one has seen then we’re in for a treat.
So don’t worry, The Didsbury Dozen may have taken a hit but it’s still intact and there are plenty of other pubs you can work into the crawl in the meantime.
For now, though, all we can say is rest in peace to The Dockyard Didsbury, you were a real one – we’ll always have the memories.
Georgina Pellant -
5th August 2022 
