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.

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.

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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

Inside Popeyes as fried chicken restaurant opens its first Manchester drive-thru

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

Popeyes is ready to open its first-ever Greater Manchester drive-thru restaurant, where you can pick up its legendary Louisiana-style fried chicken and shakes.

To celebrate its launch, Popeyes will be giving away free chicken sandwiches for a year to the first people in the queue – and when it launched at Piccadilly Gardens, someone waited outside for 16 hours.

People really love this chicken…

In the blink of an eye, the colourful orange and blue building has taken shape on Bury New Road, where hungry diners can pick up meals in the drive-thru or order ahead for curbside collection.

Customers dining in can order through a QR code or touch-screens, before sitting down at one of the many orange booths to tuck into trays piled high with sandwiches, tenders, mac and cheese, and more.

There are 72 indoors plus an outside dining area, dual-ordering lanes, and designated bays for pre-orders.

Popeyes is famed for its viral ‘shatter crunch’-coated fried chicken, its Southern US biscuits and gravy, and its brekkie menu where British classics are given a New Orleans twist.

Inside Greater Manchester's new Popeyes drive-thru
Inside Greater Manchester's new Popeyes drive-thru
Inside Greater Manchester's new Popeyes drive-thru
Inside Greater Manchester’s new Popeyes drive-thru

The doors and lanes to the new chicken shop will officially open on Friday 26 April at 11am.

The first three people queueing both on foot and in cars will win free chicken sandwiches for a year, and the first 25 in both queues will get a free chicken sandwich and exclusive merch.

This new Popeyes marks the brand’s 11th opening in 2024, and 47th since launching in the UK in 2021.

You’ll find it at 288-292 unit Bury New Rd, M7 2YJ, right next to the McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s on the border of Prestwich.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

Eats

Skof, Manchester’s most hotly-anticipated restaurant, confirms opening date and menu prices

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Tom Barnes with the team outside Skof, a new restaurant opening in Manchester in May. Credit: Supplied

A restaurant with a serious Michelin pedigree is set to open in Manchester very soon, as chef Tom Barnes readies to launch Skof and gives a glimpse into its menu.

Tom’s impressive CV includes time spent at L’Enclume, the three-Michelin star Lake District restaurant widely considered one of the best in the world, and he’ll bring that same farm-to-table ethos to the city centre with his debut restaurant.

Skof will be taking over a historic building in the NOMA neighbourhood, right by Manchester Victoria, with an official opening date now locked in.

Skof is set to launch on Wednesday 29 May, with bookings going live today and tables available all the way through to 14 September (and likely to fill up fast).

Tom Barnes has also teased what’s to come on his menu, with two different tasting menus available.

Skof will have a 12-course tasting menu priced at £120, and a 15-course menu for £165 – plus a £50, four-course lunch offering.

The restaurant will be owned and operated by Tom but falls under Simon Rogan’s UMBEL Restaurants group, and he’ll be weaving in new suppliers as well as using daily deliveries of produce grown specifically for him from Simon Rogan’s Our Farm in the Cartmel Valley.

He’ll be using small-scale suppliers such as Cinderwood Market Garden in Nantwich and Lake District Farmers to fill his exciting menu of home-grown dishes.

The first set of menus will include dishes like roasted Sladesdown duck, peach leaf, Ibis celeriac, and wholemeal bread; Berkswell cheese sable biscuit, crushed broad beans, whipped roe, and bronze fennel; and a lightly set custard, served with Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms, truffle, and mushroom dashi.

Tom Barnes with the team outside Skof, a new restaurant opening in Manchester in May which has confirmed its launch date and menu prices. Credit: Supplied
Tom Barnes with the team outside Skof, a new restaurant opening in Manchester in May which has confirmed its launch date and menu prices. Credit: Supplied

There’ll be a lot of thought that goes in to the drinks pairings too, working with restaurant manager Sean Oakford and assistant restaurant manager Max Lawrence (both ex-L’Enclume), on a range of drinks options to include alcohol-free or mixed-alcohol pairings, or matching wines to go with the menu.

Tom has also collaborated with Manchester brewery, Track to create Sidney, a light and refreshing beer intended as an alternative to kick off the meal.

Tom Barnes said: “It’s been a long time coming, so I’m excited to be able to finally release our reservations. I can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on and to return some of the incredible hospitality I’ve received from the people of Manchester.

“With Skof, my purpose is to create an incredible experience that focuses on great quality ingredients but above all, puts a smile on peoples faces.”

Skof will open in Manchester’s NOMA district on Wednesday 29 May.

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Featured image: Supplied

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