Eats

Manchester Food and Drink Festival has been postponed for a week

Organisers made the announcement following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 12th September 2022

Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, organisers of Manchester’s Food and Drink Festival (MFDF) have announced that its 25th-anniversary event will be postponed for a week out of respect for the royal period of mourning.

The festival will now take place from Thursday 22 September, with events running until Sunday 25 September, then again from Thursday 29 September to Sunday 2 October at its free-to-attend festival hub on Cathedral Gardens.

The MFDF curry club, initially due to take place on 20 September at 7pm, has also been postponed for the time being with a new date due to be announced by festival organisers soon.

Elsewhere, the MFDF wine and fizz festival will now take place after the festival on 7-8 October. Moving t a new home this year, it will be held over at New Century, the brand new music venue and food hall at NOMA.

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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: MFDF

The MFDF Gala dinner, meanwhile, will take place on 26 September as originally planned at Escape To Freight Island.

Read more: Manchester Food and Drink Festival unveils full 25th anniversary programme

Last week, organisers unveiled the full programme for the festival’s 25th anniversary event, which will feature a host of street food traders, an artisan food market, and a live music stage, as well as a huge beer bar pouring locally-made brews throughout.

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Elsewhere, there’ll be live fire pit cooking from some of Manchester’s top chefs and a series of talks and workshops from renowned food journalist and author Felicity Cloake, Kate Humble, Lia Leendertz and Edd Kimber and more as part of its Masterclass Kitchen.

Read more: Manchester Food and Drink Festival reveal 2022 awards shortlists as voting opens

Beyond the festival hub meanwhile, this year will also see restaurants around the city partner with MFDF to offer £25 menus in celebration of its longstanding presence in the city, with the likes of Three Little Words, District, Embankment Kitchen, Mi&Pho and more all taking part.

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For more details on the festival and its upcoming events, you can visit the MFDF website here.

Feature image – MFDF

Eats

One Plus Chinese restaurant crowned best in Manchester for third year running

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

A Chinese restaurant in Manchester has just been crowned the city’s best for the third year running.

One Plus in Manchester city centre revealed on Wednesday that it had taken home the gong for the Best Chinese Restaurant in Manhester at the Restaurant Guru awards for the third year in a row.

Sharing a picture of its award on social media, the restaurant wrote: “Thanks for this award. That’s 3 on the bounce taking this award for 2020, 2021 and now 2022.”

Commenting on having completed an award-winning hattrick in the ever-challenging post-Covid restaurant climate, the team continued, adding: “It’s not been easy and I don’t see it getting any easier but it’s nice to be recognised again.”

Image: One Plus
Image: One Plus

The Charles Street restaurant has won numerous awards since opening in the city in 2018, first drawing people in with the opportunity to cook their own hot pot dishes from a conveyor belt of different options.

Today, people go just as much for its excellent hot pot as they do for One Plus’s hand-stretched noodles, Chinese BBQ and rice dishes.

Read more: Grub is opening a ‘proper northern’ butty shop on First Street

Split across three levels, the restaurant offers something different from other Chinese eateries in Manchester with a rice and noodle bar in its basement, authentic Chinese BBQ and an a la carte seafood menu on the first floor, and Chinese hot pot on the ground floor.

As part of the Chinese BBQ experience, diners can keep their food hot or charred towards their preference via their own personal coal pit on their table.

Read more: Signs say ‘Instagrammable’ Manchester restaurant Boujee is closed for good

Elsewhere, the hot pot dining experience offers individual broths with food delivered from a ‘sushi style’ conveyor belt, so whatever catches your eyes, pop this into your tasty broth and eat when ready.

To find out more and book a table at One Plus, visit the restaurant’s website here.

Feature image – One Plus

Eats

Signs say ‘Instagrammable’ Manchester restaurant Boujee is closed for good

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

Less than two months after Boujee closed its site in Liverpool, signs have appeared outside the Manchester site showing that it has also suffered the same fate.

A handwritten note simply reading “closed, so sorry” has been taped to the all-pink restaurant and bar’s front door, whilst a second on the restaurant’s terrace, which had been taken over by pop-up venue Carnival, read: ‘we are extremely sorry but due to unforeseen circumstances we are left with no other options to close the venue.”

Image: Boujee

On the Boujee website, all traces of the Manchester venue have now been removed with just the Chester site now available to book online.

The news should not come as a surprise, given that the restaurant has appeared to be struggling for several months now.

Earlier this summer, staff walked out of the Liverpool site complaining of unpaid wages and tips. At the time, workers said that they had received just 40% of their expected wages on recent paydays and claimed that management had withheld their table service charges for months.

The pay dispute was reported in the Liverpool Echo, after staff told the paper some colleagues had walked out of shifts over the situation and that others were struggling to meet their rent and mortgage payments.

A company message was shared with Boujee’s staff at the end of June in an attempt to explain to workers why they had not received their full pay.

Read more: Unpaid wages and tips cause staff walk out at Boujee restaurant

It said: “It is with huge regret and disappointment that we are not able to pay the wages in their entirety today. We have exhausted every avenue and it is at the point where we require the revenue from this weekend and next in order to catch up and make the payments in full.

“Today we will be making a payment to all employees of 40 per cent of their total wage. On Monday we will make a second payment and this will be 30 per cent of their total wage plus 50 per cent of the service charge for the month.

“The following Monday we will pay the remaining 30 per cent and the remaining 50 per cent of the service charge.

“We are extremely sorry that it has come to this and I assure you we are doing all we can to get back on track and our team are vital in this path to recovery. We fully appreciate this is not acceptable and we thank you for your hard work, support and loyalty through what has been a very challenging time.”

Now, it appears that the business has had another setback as it has moved to close its Manchester site too.

Image: The Manc Group

The news follows an announcement from the former director and Real Housewive Of Cheshire star Lystra Adams who revealed last month that she had walked away from the business.

In a post on Instagram, Lystra wrote: “I’m walking away … As of yesterday 23/09/2022 I walked away from what I’ve know and loved for past near two years. As many of you may know I have given considerable time and dedication in building the brand and platform for myself.

“Over the past eight months things had taken a bumpy turn. I had confidence in that the board of directors would turn it around. Unfortunately mistakes were made along the way […] and it made the comeback near impossible.”

She continued: “As a 20-per-cent shareholder and the face of the business I want you to know that I did what I could with what I had. […] I’ve made my voice heard more than before as I dreaded this day would come. I’ve taken abuse in all forms for being the face of the companies involved as well as my daughter and enough is enough.

“Sorry it’s taken so long to speak out and I want to thank each and everyone that has visited or worked for Boujee and carnival from opening until now. All my love, Lystra.”

Feature image – The Manc Group

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