When it comes to Sunday roasts, by and large they’re pretty damn hard to beat. A catch-all plate loaded with your favourite meat and vegetables, drenched in gravy and topped with a fluffy Yorkshire pudding, what’s not to love?
Hands down this would be our death row meal every time. There’s simply no competition. So when we heard that a restaurant in Manchester has just launched a Sunday roast with bottomless drinks we felt the news was way too good not to share. After all, hot foodies don’t gatekeep.
Let’s be honest, we all love a good drink with our roast anyway – and now The Oast House has gone and made it that much more affordable.
Starting from 12pm on a Sunday, you can get 90 minutes of unlimited prosecco, a range of different spritzes and pints of lager here with your roast dinner for an extra £15.
Image: The Oast House
Image: The Oast House
The roast itself is priced at two courses for £18.50 or three for £22.50, with main choices including gorgeously pink-looking roast beef and lamb, plus chicken, crispy pork belly and a chestnut, mushroom and red lentil roast.
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All come served with mustard glazed carrots, red cabbage, Tenderstem broccoli, roast potatoes, a Yorkshire pudding and gravy – plus the option to add on crispy onion-topped Shorrocks Lancashire cauliflower cheese for an extra £2.50.
Elsewhere on the menu, you’ll find the likes of scotch eggs with picalilli, pea hummus, wings and calamari to whet your appetite as starters.
In the pudding section, meanwhile, there is a host of tempting options: ranging from a rose and hibiscus poached peach and pistachio cheesecake, to cookie dough loaded with Oreos and vanilla icecream.
Image: The Oast House
Image: The Oast House
Further pudding choices include a mouthwatering lemon tart served with raspberry sorbet and crushed honeycomb, a vegan-friendly dark chocolate and peanut butter pot with Biscoff crumb and caramelised banana, and everyone’s favourite: a sticky toffee pudding with rich toffee sauce and icecream on the side.
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Bottomless drinks options will set you back £15 per person and can be enjoyed by the whole table up to a maximum of six, with spritz choices spanning Aperol, raspberry, blood orange or elderflower.
However, if you’re not feeling that there’s also a Bloody Mary menu promising the ‘perfect pick me up’ for hungover heads with three different styles to choose from.
If you fancy getting stuck into a big roast and making a boozy one of it, then we think this will be right up your street.
Inside The Black Friar as Salford pub unveils incredible floral display
Daisy Jackson
Spring has really sprung in Salford – legendary pub The Black Friar has just revealed a sensational makeover, with gigantic flowers sprawled across its frontage and a new seasonal menu to go with it.
The historic pub is celebrating the changing of the seasons with both a striking floral installation and a menu that celebrates spring and Salford in equal measure.
Most Mancs will by now have spotted the 4,000 flower-strong installation that now adorns the front of The Black Friar, with bright pink, yellow and purple flowers spilling from a gigantic pink tap.
And all those florals continue inside, with the pub’s Tavern – previously a cosy winter hideaway – now filled with trailing blooms and woodland installations, just off their award-winning garden.
Cheshire-based artist Kelly Louise Chapman is the woman behind this sensational transformation of the much-loved gastropub.
As for the pub’s kitchen, they’ve crafted a new very seasonal and very British menu, with plenty of nods to Black Friar’s Salford roots.
There are dishes like a Boddingtons braised ox cheek (the pub still proudly displays its Boddingtons sign outside), aged beef tartare, butternut squash and ricotta tortellini, and pan-roasted cod fillet.
Spring small plates at The Black Friar pubDelicious spring drinksInside The Tavern at The Black Friar
A popular item from the Valentine’s Day menu – the Cornish crab vol-au-vent – will be sticking around on the spring menu, along with an enhanced grill section that includes a lamb Barnsley chop cooked over coals.
Then for desserts, you’ll be spoilt with a banoffee knickerbocker glory, and passionfruit panna cotta.
And for drinks (because this is a pub, after all), The Black Friar has put together a range of seasonal drinks like a rose sangria sharer, and non-alcoholic sodas like kaffir lime and coconut.
Ben Chaplin, head chef at The Black Friar, said: “This new menu is all about celebrating the best of spring produce.
“We’ve carefully crafted each dish to highlight fresh, seasonal ingredients and bold flavours, adding new depth to our offerings while still delivering the comfort that will always be associated with The Black Friar.
“My top recommendation and personal favourite dish is the Slow-Cooked Boddingtons Braised Ox Cheek.”
Neil Burke, owner of The Black Friar, commented: “We wanted to bring a taste of spring to The Black Friar, inside and out. This floral installation will transform the space and bring sunshine and smiles, whatever the weather!
“My top recommendation on the new menu is the Cumbrian Spiced Lamb Scotch Egg. It’s EXCEPTIONAL.”
To find out more about The Black Friar and to book a table, visit HERE.
Team behind award-winning Higher Ground to open new Bar Shrimp seafood bar in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Higher Ground, one of Manchester’s very top restaurants, is to open a brand-new seafood bar later this year.
With Bar Shrimp, they’ll be bringing a brand-new offering to town, with cocktails, beers on tap, British seafood and snacks.
Bar Shrimp will come from Daniel Craig Martin, Joseph Otway and Richard Cossins, who at this point are a well-oiled operational machine.
They’re the team behind proudly British bistro Higher Ground, which grows much of its own produce at its Cinderwood Market Garden and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand within a year of opening.
The same team are also behind Flawd, the beautiful waterside wine bar at Ancoats Marina.
And they’ve cemented themselves as one of Manchester’s most widely acclaimed hospitality teams – even Rick Stein says Higher Ground is one of the best places to eat in the entire country, which is high praise indeed.
Bar Shrimp, set to open in Manchester this winter, aims to be a ‘relaxed and focused bar with delicious food’.
They say: “Whether it’s a beer after work, some food with friends or after dinner drinks late into the night, Bar Shrimp will be a dynamic space where the music and energy evolves throughout the evening where everyone and anyone can come together for a memorable experience.”
They announced the news this morning on Cerys Matthews’ BBC 6Music Show.
British seafood with a side of cocktails? Sounds alright to us.
A location, opening date and more info on Bar Shrimp will follow – stay up to date with their latest HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
1st February 2023 
