Levenshulme’s popular natural wine bar Isca is popping up at KAMPUS for a two-week residency, bringing some of their tastiest low-intervention bottles into the city centre.
It marks the first of a summer series of food and drink pop-ups at KAMPUS, designed to champion independents of Manchester whilst heralding the new opening of the waterside gardens.
The brainchild of sommelier Caroline Dubois and Chef Isobel Jenkins, who met while working at Michelin-recognised Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In, Isca is one of the city’s most respected homes of natural wine.
The pair have pioneered natural wines and ethically-sourced produce in Manchester, and now they’ll be showcasing the best of their selection down at Manchester’s garden neighbourhood over the course of a fortnight.
Isca’s founders have put together a wine list featuring a carefully curated mix of ‘old world’ natural wines from small producers in Europe for guests to enjoy, with glasses starting from £5.
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These will sit alongside a selection of beers from independent breweries, house homemade soft drinks and organic small plates including British and Irish farmhouse cheeses.
“People don’t realise that most supermarket wine has never been touched by a human hand and we want to tell the story of some amazing natural wines from the handpicked grapes to the incredible taste,” said co-founder Caroline.
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“We’ve always had lots of demand in the city centre and Kampus is the perfect location for us to bring the natural wine experience.
“We’re working with some niche winemakers and local producers so the independent vibe Kampus is creating really appealed to us.”
Visitors can sit out in the sun or enjoy a tipple from Isca in the Kampus Bungalow, a security cabin on stilts overlooking the canal that has since been transformed into a sort of ‘village hall’ for pop-ups and community events.
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There’ll also be a bottle shop on hand so you can take any favourites home with you.
Isca will serve on Friday and Saturday for two weekends at KAMPUS from June 11, opening at the Manchester garden neighbourhood from 5pm until late.
And it’s walk-ins only, so no need to book.
Isca KAMPUS opening hours:
Friday 11 June 5-11pm Saturday 12 June 2-11pm Friday 18 June 4-11pm Saturday 19 June 2-11pm
Eats
A pub in Stockport has launched a full Scotch egg menu
Daisy Jackson
It’s one of the world’s greatest snacks, especially when paired with a decent pint – and now a local pub is doing a whole Scotch egg menu.
The Davenport Arms over in Stockport is running a ‘Scotch Egg Week’, with a whole host of different Scotch eggs.
There’s even a dessert one, made with a Creme Egg instead of a real one.
The historic pub, which is known locally as The Thief’s Neck (and displays both names on its signs), is filled with cosy corners and snug rooms.
It’s an independently-run pub that operates under the Robinson’s Brewery family, with beers brewed just down the road in Stockport.
And now the local boozer is doing a full menu of homemade Scotch eggs, for one week only, each served with the perfect condiment.
There’ll be ‘The Classic’, where pork meat is wrapped around a perfect jammy-yolked egg, served with house piccalilli.
The Manchester EggA classic Scotch eggThe Davenport Arms, known locally as The Thief’s NeckInside the pub
Or you can get the much-loved Manchester egg, which features black pudding and a pickled Scotch egg, served with mustard mayo on the side.
Fish fans can grab a smoked haddock Scotch egg served with a curried mayo.
And for vegetarians, there’s one made with cheese and onion instead of meat, served with a house tomato relish.
There’s even a sweet one – a Creme Egg encased in brownie mix, and then wrapped in a Biscoff crumb, served with ice cream.
And if you really can’t decide, The Davenport Arms will do you a full platter of all of the above, for £29.95.
The Scotch Egg menu is available from Monday 30 March until Saturday 4 April and you can see more HERE.
One of Manchester’s grandest restaurants has finally reopened TWO YEARS after fire
Daisy Jackson
One of the most historic restaurants in Manchester has reopened at last, two years after a fire forced its closure.
Mount Street Dining Room & Bar – which many of us may remember as Mr Cooper’s – stands within the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.
The grand dining room dates all the way back to 1903, when it opened with the hotel as the Grill Room.
The restaurant was at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was frequented by railway travellers, perhaps best-known for hosting a lunch between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904, who went on to form the world-famous Rolls-Royce brand.
The Midland’s restaurants has gone through several changes in the decades since, undergoing a major £14 million refurb in 2020 to relaunch as Mount Street Dining Room & Bar.
Its interiors are inspired by the hotel’s early 1900s art deco and railway heritage, with a menu that focuses on locally-sourced British produce.
But the restaurant has been shut since early 2024, when a fire damaged the entrance and trellising around its main entrance on Mount Street.
The beautiful bar areaA glimpse of the menu at Mount StreetCocktails and British food
The Midland has finally managed to get the restaurant back open again this month, with a new food and cocktail menus, which aims to offer refined but simple British dining.
Expect dishes like pork and black pudding bonbons, white onion soup with crispy potatoes, smoked British salmon with lemon gel and dill mascarpone, and slow cooked beef daube with confit garlic mash.
Plus desserts such as rice pudding with Anise glazed pearsand Bakewell pudding with cherry syrup.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen inside this beautiful, storied dining room – and it looks just as beautiful as we remember.
Georgina Pellant -
8th June 2021 
