There’s nothing that sounds more inviting on a cold January evening than a lovely warming pie, so when we heard that The Black Friar’s now annual Pie Festival is returning once again for 2024, we have no shame in admitting we did a little dance.
In case you never had the pleasure, The Black Friar pub over in Greengate, which was resurrected and lovingly restored to an unparalleled level of personal glory back in 2021, serves some of the best you’ll find on the Salford side of the Irwell and a couple of years back they started their own Pie Festival.
Now entering its third edition, the public house and gourmet restaurant is bringing back the parade of meat and gravy, sweet and savoury, and pretty all things pie and pastry-encrusted in the New Year.
Best of all, not only are there some seriously enticing flavours on offer but this thing is also all about value for money and we can never resist a good deal.
Launching from Monday, 8 January and running all the way up until the end of February, The Black Friar will be helping warm your cockles all winter with some proper northern pies.
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Following rave reviews of Head Chef Ben Chaplin’s recipes from revered food critic Jay Rayner in 2022, the festival’s inaugural year, you can expect beloved menu signatures as well as an ever-rotating lineup of lip-smacking daily specials for two whole months.
Boasting flavours such as Creamy Chicken and Pancetta, Minced Aged Beef and Root Vegetable, as well as a Classic Fish Pie for their three fixed offerings, alongside a host of daily specials like a breakfast pie, curry fillings, sweet dessert pies and even a ‘doggy’ pie (man’s best friend’s got to eat too).
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Every single one of those is getting a firm Churchill the dog nod and a hearty ‘Oh yes!’ from us. Unbelievably, each pie will be available for just £10 and if you don’t mind spending more than a tenner, you can also grab their seasonal desserts like sticky toffee pudding, apple crumble and a gingerbread rice pudding for just £7 extra. Banging.
You can grab a side of chips, mash or seasonal veg for just £3 too. (Credit: The Black Friar Salford via Instagram)
£10 pies will be available all day every Monday and will be served until 6pm from Tuesday-Friday. Even if you don’t fancy a pie whilst the festival is on but still fancy popping in, the new 2024 menu will also have a range of winter warmers mains, including Grandma’s Pork Sausage served with mash and onion gravy, a creamy Mushroom Tagliatelle and a fragrant Vegetable Bhuna made with seasonal veg.
As for starters, we’re talking Boddingtons Rarebit with hen’s egg and chard (yeah, you heard us), White Anchovies on Toasted Sourdough, as well as Roasted Cauliflower with Ras El Hanout, harissa ragu, grapes and almond, just to name a few.
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And for dessert, we’ve already reeled off the seasonal specials but you’ll know there’s always plenty more to choose from when it comes to The Black Friar’s impressive gourmet menu. It’s pub grub done proper and never disappoints.
To book a table for the Pie Festival, head over to The Black Friar’s website HERE and if you wondering where it ranks amongst the best places to get pie in Greater Manchester, look no further:
Award-winning Manchester cocktail bar Red Light announces surprise return in new location
Daisy Jackson
Red Light, an award-winning cocktail bar that closed its doors earlier this year, has announced it’s making a grand return.
The celebrated watering hole had been at Kampus in the city centre for three years before it closed for good in August.
But now, in news that will thrill a lot of us in Manchester, the bar has announced it’s returning, with plenty of new ’surprises’ to come.
Announcing Red Light 2.0 this evening, they revealed a brand-new location, with all the cocktails we all loved before, plus a new bar snack offering.
Also new with its reopening will be a dedicated clubbing space (operating in a residential area was one of the reasons Red Light closed at Kampus) and the return of its legendary street parties.
They said: “Your love and support has meant the absolute world to us since we closed the doors to our Kampus venue.
“It’s been a tricky secret to keep but we’re thrilled to share that we’re back and in a brand new location!
“This one feels special, it’s not often you get a second chance at things in the current climate.”
They added: “We can’t wait to welcome you with open arms. Red Light NQ. LETS GO BABY!”
Although they’ve not announced the location, they have teased some pictures – and unless we’re very much mistaken, they’ll be moving into Tariff Street, in the old El Capo site.
Chinatown restaurant pleads for help after dine-and-dash customer leaves staff member in A&E
Daisy Jackson
A brilliant restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown has shared CCTV and a heartfelt appeal after one of its staff members was left in A&E.
Noodle Alley shared that one of its young staff members chased after a group of dine-and-dash customers who’d left without paying for their meal.
The restaurant then said that she was ‘assaulted’ at some point in the chase and ended up in A&E.
In their statement, Noodle Alley said that the staff member ‘had treated them kindly and never expected that kindness to come back to her like this’.
They wrote: “What has this world come to? A violent man sent our staff to A&E over an unpaid meal.”
The CCTV shows a group of three young men, all carrying Selfridges shopping bags, entering the restaurant.
They sit and enjoy a meal, before two of them slip out of the restaurant. The third man then exits but is chased by a Noodle Alley staff member.
It’s at this point – out of the range of the restaurant’s CCTV – that they said she was assaulted ‘after going beyond her duty to try and recover what had been taken’.
The family business said that she has been ’emotionally affected’ by the incident.
The police are involved and the restaurant has appealed for anyone who can help with their investigation to get in touch.
It’s also the second time they’ve appealed about a dine-and-dash customer in the last few months, but this incident went ‘far beyond’ previous incidents.
In their full statement, Noodle Alley said: “We’re a small family business, and lately it feels like small businesses are being targeted again and again.
“But this time, it went far beyond anything we have experienced before.
“One of our young staff members — a girl simply doing her job — was assaulted after going beyond her duty to try to recover what had been taken from our restaurant. She ended up in A&E.
“What hurts us most is seeing how emotionally affected she has been by what happened. She told us she had treated them kindly and never expected that kindness to come back to her like this.
“We work hard to look after our staff and our customers, and nobody should have to go through this simply for doing their job.
“We have reported the incident to the police.
“If anyone recognises these individuals or has any information that could help the police with their investigation, please contact us or the police directly.
“We’re sharing this because we believe our staff deserve to feel safe at work.”
Danny Jones -
28th December 2023 
