Eats

All of Manchester’s last minute bar and restaurant deals ahead of lockdown

The local hospitality sector has announced a wide range of deals on food and drink ahead of their imminent month-long closure.

The Manc The Manc - 2nd November 2020
Burst / Pexels

So, yeah. It’s happened again.

On Saturday, for the second time in the space of eight months, the Prime Minister appeared on our television screens and ordered everyone to stay indoors – stirring up a stomach-churning sense of deja-vu.

The virus that sent the UK into quarantine back in March has enjoyed an alarming new lease of life, and without tough action now, Boris warned us, Christmas would effectively be cancelled.

There’s a temporary ban on most socialising, whilst thousands of businesses across England must close.

Among those ordered to shut, of course, are bars and restaurants.

Hospitality has had a raw deal throughout the pandemic, with the sector subjected to particularly stringent measures including a 10pm curfew.

But from Thursday, every bar, pub and restaurant in England will have to shut entirely – serving customers only via takeaway (although it will be forbidden to provide alcohol ‘to go’).

Ultimately, there’s lots of stock set to go to waste. And in order to clear the shelves and pipes, bars in Manchester are launching a wide variety of lockdown deals – offering customers the chance to grab a bargain before the country closes down again.

Here are a few of the best ones. We’ll keep adding more as they come in.

£1 pints at Albert’s Schloss

Albert’s Schloss is serving pints for £1 for three days in November.

Litre growlers are also being poured for £2.50.

All of their draught beer is included in the lockdown deal – and you’ll need to order food as per Tier 3 rules.

The bar wrote on social media: “Today [Monday 2 November] til end of play Wednesday, we’ll be serving £1 pints.

“Tour the Taps to stop it going to waste – you can also take away a 1 litre growler of your favourite bier for only £2.50, just ask your server.

“Our Haus will be open 4pm – 10pm til we close the doors (again) on Weds. Available on every draught bier – til they’re gone. Must be served with a substantial meal. Bookings strongly advised.”

Big sale at Nibble NQ

Northern Quarter’s Nibble restaurant is also arranging a huge lockdown clearance – with loads of ingredients up for grabs for low prices.

Eggs, sausages. beans, milk, juice, powder and sugar are all being advertised on the cheap – and you can place your order via email.

Nibble representatives said: “The money is undoubtedly better in the bank than on our shelves, so if you’re going to be getting any of these things from the supermarket over the coming days and weeks please consider placing an order with us instead to help with cash flow while we get ready to close up and focus on delivery and collection only.”

Nibble NQ added: “This list is subject to availability, and preorder only, once it’s gone it’s gone. But we will continue to provide our local and national delivery menus throughout lockdown so check out the website for these and email [email protected] for any upcoming orders and birthday treats for loved ones.”

£10 off per person at Kala Bistro

Kala Bistro is offering £10 off food and non-alcoholic drinks every day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The lockdown deal is available for both lunch and dinner, with the restaurant encouraging customers to enjoy “one last Kala fix before [they] close for a short break.”

The King Street venue will be opening from midday to 3pm and 5pm – 8pm.

Free shooting at Point Blank

Fancy taking out some of your frustration on the pending lockdown with a shooting game?

Point Blank – the speakeasy-style range on Deansgate – is offering customers a free go on the guns before the bar closes down.

Representatives commented on social media: “We are offering FREE SHOOTING all day Tuesday & Wednesday.”

They added: “Not only that, we’ve got drinks deals, pizzas, guns and positive vibes.”

To book a booth, customers can call Point Blank on 0333 023 0363.

50% off at Asha’s

Asha’s Indian restaurant on Peter Street has also announced a corker of a lockdown deal – half price dishes right across their A La Carte menu.

The restaurant wrote on social media: “As a massive thank you for your continued support throughout this pandemic, we would like to invite you to enjoy 50% off our á la carte menu from Monday 2nd November – Wednesday 4th November from 5pm – 9.30pm.”

Bookings can be made online or by calling 0161 832 5309. Walk-ins are also welcome.

50p wings at Northern Soul

Northern Soul Grilled Cheese – Manchester’s top toastie takeaway of Man v Food fame – has ordered in a “f*** load” of wings for this week, according to staff.

But now, due to new circumstances, they need to offload this grub somewhere fast.

That’s why Northern Soul is plating up wings for 50p each right up until Wednesday.

Learn more here.

50% off at Solita

Both Solita restaurants in Northern Quarter and Didsbury will be offering an all-day discount Monday to Wednesday – with 50% off their menu (up to £10 per person).

Offers on alcoholic drinks will also be available.

Learn more about how to book here.

50% off at TNQ

TNQ, based on Northern Quarter’s High Street, is offering half-price food until they have to close their doors on Wednesday at 10pm.

The restaurant stated: “Join us for half price food when dinning on our A la carte menu, just ring and quote ‘TNQ50’ on 0161 832 7115.”

Learn more here.

Milk bottles of beer at Elnecot

Cutting Room Square’s neighbourhood kitchen and bar Elnecot also needs to get rid of its beer – so staff are encouraging customers to visit the premises with empty milk cartons and get them filled up with lager instead.

The price? £2 a litre.

Somehow it seems likely that Mancs will be ploughing through the rest of their milk supply later today…

Learn more here.

Deals galore at Blossom Street Social

Open from 4pm – 8pm Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday this week, Blossom Street Social is apparently all set to start serving “tempting platters, free wine upgrades & cheaper pints”.

According to their social media channels, the bar is pouring their “famous FOUR [at] just £3.50/ pint, served in an ice cold tankard!”

Check out their Insta for more info.

Eats

Prestwich wine bar Chin Chin now serves roast dinner sandwiches

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich

A new (ish) wine bar in Prestwich has launched one of the city’s coolest Sunday offerings – roast dinner sandwiches, with a side of jazz.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 1000 times – Elnecot is up there as one of Manchester’s best Sunday roasts, with Yorkshire puddings you could fit a jug of gravy inside, blushing slices of roast beef, and generous portions that put you in the sort of food coma you should be in on a Sunday afternoon.

So when Roast Master (okay fine, his official job title is chef/owner) Michael Clay said that his sister venue Chin Chin was launching a Sunday offering, I was there with my nose pressed up at the window. I’m ready, Michael.

Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin, right in the heart of Prestwich village, brings that incredible roast beef and roast potatoes into a more casual format.

You can tuck into roast meat butties, roast potatoes loaded with cheese and gravy, and ice cream sundaes, all while perusing a well-thought-out wine list that’s written up by hand every time new bottles come in.

Oh, and did we mention there are £4 pints all day on Sunday – and that includes Guinness?

On the side of just about everything on the menu, you’re presented with a little bowl of extra gravy (how delightfully Northern) for dipping and dunking.

Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich
Sunday Sessions at Chin Chin in Prestwich
Roast beef sandwiches at Chin Chin
Roast beef sandwiches at Chin Chin
Lancashire cheese toasties
Lancashire cheese toasties
The Bifana
The Bifana
Loaded roasties
Loaded roasties
Wine and vinyl records
Wine and vinyl records
Inside Chin Chin wine bar
Inside Chin Chin wine bar
The wine list at Chin Chin
The wine list at Chin Chin

Our top pick would be the roast beef sandwich, served between ciabatta rolls and laced with mustard mayo and caramelised onions.

But the cheese toastie is worth a visit too – a hefty helping of Lancashire cheese and charred spring onions, with a ‘secret sauce’ on the side.

Coming soon will be a new menu item, a Bifana sandwich. If you’ve trudged the streets of Portugal you’ll have come across these – thin slices of pork marinated in white wine and garlic, piled into bread with a punchy mustard. Chin Chin’s are excellent.

And for afters, because there is always room for dessert, it’s a lovely ice cream sundae topped with miso caramel and a showering of pistachios.

The whole time you’ll be eating with a soundtrack of jazz, played through the wine bar’s vinyl record system and Michael’s own personal collection of vinyls.

Chin Chin is open now on Bury New Road, with food on Sundays served between 12pm and 6pm.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Drinking around the ‘Beermuda Triangle’ of brewery taprooms in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Drinking around the Beermuda Triangle in Manchester

If you’re looking for the best pints in Manchester, turn your ass around at the door of the pub and head to the ‘Beermuda Triangle’, a corner of the city centre where taprooms are king.

Our city has a great rep for craft beer and microbreweries, and a lot of these are concentrated in one brilliant, unexpected stretch of industrial estate.

Head beyond Manchester Piccadilly and you’ll find yourself in an area nicknamed the ‘Beermuda Triangle’, where tucked among tool shops and warehouses are breweries welcoming in thirsty punters.

These are places where you can sip on the freshest lagers, ales and sours, straight from the source.

As you kick back in one of these taprooms, you can see the brewers hard at work on their next creation, and see beers being canned before your eyes.

There are, of course, plenty of other taprooms and brewery-operated bars all over Greater Manchester, but if you want to minimise your step count and maximise your drinking time, this is where to head.

So we’ve gone out exploring the current residents on the Beermuda Triangle (I know, tough job) to give you the low-down for your next pub crawl.

All the taprooms on Manchester’s Beermuda Triangle

Cloudwater

Cloudwater's Taproom on the Beermuda Triangle
Cloudwater's Taproom on the Beermuda Triangle

When you think of craft beer, you probably think of these guys.

Since being founded in 2014, Cloudwater has gone on huge things and is now listed among the largest craft beer brands in the UK.

They’ve got their own pub (The Sadler’s Cat), a taproom down in London, and a huge brewery next-door to their taproom on the Piccadilly Trading Estate.

In here, it’s a stripped-back, Scandi-style interior upstairs, with a few extra tables squeezed in amongst oak barrels downstairs, plus a decent suntrap terrace out the front.

Our order? A pint of Fuzzy pale ale.

Track

Track Taproom
Track Taproom
Track Taproom
Track Taproom

Another big player in the craft beer game, Track’s taproom is comfortably one of Manchester’s coolest bars.

It’s a huge space, split between the actual brewery and the taproom, where beers are displayed on a rainbow-hued menu board and their own merch lines the walls.

With loads of plants, a leafy little beer garden, and a small kitchen that’s home to Slice Culture pizzeria, this one is the least rough-and-ready of all the taprooms on the Beermuda Triangle.

The most logical order here has, and will always be, Sonoma, they’re easy-drinking session pale ale available on both cask and keg – but there are always tonnes of other beers beyond their core range that are worth your attention.

Sureshot

Sureshot taproom
Sureshot taproom
Sureshot taproom

Sureshot proves that you can take the art of brewing seriously but still have a laugh, with silly beer names and a giant bear mascot manically grinning at you as you sip your beer.

What’ll it be – a pint of ‘Wait… What?’, a schooner of ‘Small Man’s Wetsuit’, or a third of ‘Be Polite and Comb Your Hair?’.

They’re known for their hop-forward styles but are always dreaming up new creations and collaborations, like a recent sour with Bundobust, and collaboration with inclusive football club Manchester Lacesm with a donation of each ‘I Thought She Was A Pisces’ sold going to the club.

This one’s off the Piccadilly Trading Estate and is under the railway arches, handily with Nell’s next door who will deliver you a pizza while you’re on your taproom crawl.

Balance Brewing & Blending

Inside Balance Brewing's taproom in Manchester
Inside Balance Brewing's taproom in Manchester

The final stop on the Beermuda triangle is Balance, who specialise in barrel-fermented sours.

The taproom itself is a real looker, with fairy lights festooned overhead, a deep burgundy bar, and persian rugs thrown all over the concrete floors.

The beers here are all funky and punchy and well worth ordering a few testers of before you make your final decision.

Whatever you order, it’s going to have good British roots and a beautiful flavour.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

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