Eats

Renowned Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In is heading to Manchester for a very special event series

The series includes a conceptual pop-up fast-food diner and a banquet.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 15th October 2024

Acclaimed Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In has just announced details of an exciting five month-long residency in Manchester city centre.

The Green Michelin Star restaurant, famed for its seasonal tasting menus and natural wines, will be opening a temporary concept restaurant and a series of events right across town.

Where The Light Gets In: A Play in the City will take over two venues (as well as the city streets) – The Bungalow at Kampus and community space Altogether Otherwise in NOMA.

It’s a bit of an unusual concept but just bear with us here.

Although billed as a ‘four-act programme’ that has been presented like a play (complete with scenes), this incredible project from Where The Light Gets In (WTLGI) is really a series of pop-up events, from workshops to dining experiences, across Manchester.

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The events will include a free night of natural wine and food, a conceptual pop-up fast-food diner, film screenings, walking tours, a pop-up restaurant, panel talks, and a full-blown banquet.

You’ll even be able to go litter-picking and trade in your bag of rubbish for a glass of wine.

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Where The Light Gets In: A Play in the City will run between 21 November and 30 March, kicking off for the first month with ‘A Man Eating A Leg Of Chicken’.

This will be a free-entry, no-reservations pop-up where you can drink natural wines and ‘gorge on shellfish and animals roasted over wood’.

There’ll also be weekend takeovers from WTLGI’s favourite labels and record shops at Altogether Otherwise.

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Altogether Otherwise in NOMA will be used as a venue for the Where The Light Gets In Manchester residency. Credit: Supplied
Altogether Otherwise in NOMA will be used as a venue for the Where The Light Gets In Manchester residency. Credit: Supplied

From early January until 2 February, Where The Light Gets In will turn The Bungalow at Kampus into a conceptual fast-food restaurant The Land of Cockaigne, from wood-fired burgers to ice cream floats to spritzy grape juice.

It’ll involve self-serve counters, name tags and sauce udders, with the option to order a takeaway with an automated phone service.

In February, it’ll be Une semaine de bonté (A WEEK OF KINDNESS) at The Bungalow, with a restaurant ‘dressed with the beginning of spring’ serving simple dishes celebrating the arrival of a new season and delicious wines.

And finally in March, there’ll be the Luncheon of the Boating Party banquets, where guests sit at one long table and eat family-style platters with plenty of wine.

Sam Buckley from Where The Light Gets In. Credit: Supplied
Sam Buckley from Where The Light Gets In. Credit: Supplied
Sam Buckley from Where The Light Gets In. Credit: Supplied

Alongside those four main events will be masses of foraging and gardening workshops, walking tours, Q&As and loads more.

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The intention of the concept restaurant and residency is to bring Where The Light Gets In’s passion for sustainability and great food right into the bustling city centre for five months that combine food, art, and urban living.

The restaurant team has asked: “Are we heading to a cataclysmic dystopia or can we rewrite the future?

“Set against the backdrop of the city of Manchester, this programme explores the tension between city life and rural tradition, asking critical questions about food systems, and our own identity within nature, the city, and the arts.”

Where The Lights Gets In in Stockport is headed up by acclaimed chef Sam Buckley and is easily one of Greater Manchester’s best and most exciting restaurants.

Tickets are available from midday on Tuesday 15 October.

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Full programme for Where The Light Gets In: A Play in the City Manchester residency

ACT 1: “A MAN EATING A LEG OF CHICKEN”

SCENE: A bustling Metropolis.
When: Thursday to Saturday, 21 November to 21 December 2024, 5pm-11pm
Where: Altogether Otherwise, NOMA, 6-10 Hanover St, Manchester M4 4BB
What: We raid the cellars of WTLGI to bring you our favourite natural wines from the continent. Gorge on shellfish and whole animals roasted over wood. Weekender takeovers from our favourite labels and record shops. Welcome to your now. Welcome to the city.
How: Free entry, no reservations

ACT 1 events highlights (running alongside):
Opening night party: Living Room Dance Club 21st November 2024, 5pm-midnight
Honest shop: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 12pm-4pm

ACT 2: THE LAND OF COCKAIGNE

SCENE: A fast food restaurant.
When: Monday to Sunday, 10 January – 2 February 2025. 5pm-late
Where: The Bungalow at Kampus, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3GL
What: A conceptual fast-food diner. Churning out wood-fired burgers, ice cream floats and spritzy grape juice. It’s self-service counters, name tags and sauce udders. Eat in or take away using our automated telephone service. Grab a tray and find a seat, welcome to the future of convenient feeding: fast-paced and unlimited choice.
How: Head HERE to reserve your seat, or order a takeaway for collection on our phone line. Open for walk-ins also.

ACT 2 event highlights:
Film screenings. Altogether Otherwise
DATE TBC Silo: The Zero Waste Blueprint – Q&A with Douglas McMaster & Sam Buckley
DATE TBC WTLGI X SILO MEAL
Manchester Utopia – The Modernist walking tour

ACT 3: Une semaine de bonté (A WEEK OF KINDNESS)

SCENE: A pleasant garden; simple and sufficient
When: Monday to Sunday, 3rd February – 2nd March 2025. 5pm-late
Where: The Bungalow at Kampus, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3GL
What: A clean and well-lit restaurant dressed with the beginnings of Spring. We offer a moderate choice of simple dishes carefully prepared with ingredients selected for their freshness and relevance to the time and place. A thoughtful selection of wines from small-scale producers.
How: Head to HERE to reserve your seat. Open for walk-ins also.

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Act 3 event highlights:
Panel discussion on the history of communal green spaces.
Open Call for Manchester Chefs: Master Whole Animal Butchery with Samuel Buckley and Marcus of Littlewoods Butchers, followed by a meal for EatWell.
TRIAGE: A Pickling walk-in centre. Drop in with your veg and we’ll help you to preserve it. 12-2 Friday.
Film screening Altogether Otherwise
Urban Foraging Walk & Litter Picking: A guided exploration of local green spaces, teaching participants to identify and gather wild edibles. Pick a bag of litter, get a glass of wine on us.
Book tables with a stranger – In this act we encourage discussion and conversation around the dinner table. It is often the non-tangible delights that arouse pleasure and satisfaction.

ACT 4: LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY

SCENE: A long wooden table in the middle of a garden.
‘And if one day my wisdom should desert me – ah, it loves to fly away! – then may my pride too fly with my folly’
When: Monday to Sunday, 3 March – 30 March 2025. 5pm-late
Where: The Bungalow at Kampus, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3GL
What: Join us for a banquet to celebrate the finale of our residency in Manchester. Guests will sit at one long table and enjoy an array of dishes designed to eat family-style. Platters of vegetables, meats and fish will adorn the centre of the table. We will share, we will pour wine.
How: Head HERE to reserve your seat at the table.

Act 4 events:
Hand-drawn ‘fruit maps’ that plot the locations of fruit trees and foraging spots, growing on, or overhanging, public space in Manchester.
Urban Gardening Workshop: Led by Manchester Urban Diggers, participants learn to cultivate their own urban gardens, regardless of space constraints.

Read more: Northern Quarter transformed as Peaky Blinders creators film new Netflix series House of Guinness

Featured image: Supplied

Eats

The 5 best places to go for a matcha in Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson A selection of matcha items at Tsujuri in Manchester

Matcha fever has the nation gripped at the minute – it feels like half the country has turned its back on flat whites in favour of the popular green tea drink.

This pretty Japanese beverage might have been around for centuries, but it’s having a bit of a new moment here in Manchester and finding a whole new wave of fans.

With the global success of brands like Blank Street, you can barely walk down the street without passing someone sipping something green.

So we’ve decided to pull together five local spots in Manchester who are doing the very best matcha in town, from the very traditional to the very playful.

Know of somewhere we’ve missed? Drop us a DM on our The Manc Eats Instagram page HERE.

Ohayo Tea, Chinatown

Ohayo Tea in Manchester
A matcha bubble tea at Ohayo Tea in Manchester
Matcha bubble tea and soft serve at Ohayo Tea in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group

This adorable bubble tea cafe in Chinatown has a Shiba Inu dog as its mascot, and you’ll find his face carved into the walls, waffles in the shape of his head, and a giant dog statue bursting out of the wall.

Ohayo Tea serve a complex take on a matcha drink that plays into their bubble tea expertise – expect your matcha to come layered with tapioca pearls, cheese foam, pistachio foam, and plenty more options too.

These drinks come with instructions – tilt your branded cup (the Shiba is back) it to at least 45 degrees to get every layer at once, or, if you insist, use a thick straw to mix it all together.

You can also get matcha soft serve here with shards of honeycomb stuck to it. Delightful.

Just Between Friends, Ancoats and Northern Quarter

Just Between Friends, Ancoats
Matcha drinks at Just Between Friends, Ancoats
Matcha drinks at Just Between Friends, Ancoats. Credit: The Manc Group

If you’re someone who actually likes matcha to taste of matcha, rather than of all sorts of syrups and other add-ons, turn to one of the city’s best coffee shops. 

At Just Between Friends – which has locations tucked into an old mill in Ancoats as well as right on Tib Street in the Northern Quarter – matcha is whisked properly with a traditional bamboo whisk, before being added to steamed or chilled milk.

The result is either a warm, smooth drink served in an earthenware cup, or a refreshing iced matcha. 

You can wedge yourself into a window seat or even sit on the cobbled archway outside and imagine you’ve transported yourself to a Tokyo backstreet.

Matcha Kyoto, Deansgate

We’d love to tell you the opening hours and location of this pop-up matcha hotspot, but it tends to shift around Manchester a bit.

It’s worth tracking down though – Matcha Kyoto is importing speciality ingredients all the way from Kyoto and doing everything as authentically as possible.

With matcha whipped cream, matcha lattes, matcha desserts and matcha toppings it’s a dream come true for matcha lovers… Is the word matcha starting to sound like gibberish to anyone else at this point?

Track their latest movements on their Instagram HERE.

Sipp, Ancoats and Deansgate Square

Sipp matcha in Ancoats
Sipp matcha in Ancoats
Sipp matcha in Ancoats. Credit: The Manc Group

If you’re new to matcha, or just know that you like yours with a little sweetness and fun, you must get a sip of Sipp’s.

These guys are based in General Stores around town, with their own coffee shop soon to open in Chorlton, and they have a whole list of ‘Matcha Cloud’ drinks.

Their best-seller is the raspberry and coconut, which tastes exactly like a lamington, or there are always specials cropping up (currently, it’s a mango and passionfruit).

This is gateway matcha – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Tsujiri, Chinatown

A selection of matcha items at Tsujuri in Manchester
A selection of matcha items at Tsujuri in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group

Not satisfied with simply serving matcha you can drink, Tsujiri is a Japanese tea house using this powerful ingredient in cakes, ice creams, cheesecakes and more.

Tsujiri was founded all the way back in 1860, before bringing the finest matcha lattes and infused desserts to British shores.

In Manchester, you’ll find them in the heart of Chinatown, tucked up an anonymous flight of stairs, where there are cabinets full of green sweet treats like a matcha basque cheesecake, matcha sundaes, and classic iced lattes.

The GOATs.

More food and drink:

Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

The two best bakeries in Greater Manchester, according to the Good Food Guide

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Two bakeries in Greater Manchester have been named among the best in the UK

The Good Food Guide has released its list of the top bakeries across the UK – and two in Greater Manchester have made the cut.

The prestigious guide has been travelling across the nation testing out the joy of British bakeries, from pastries to loaves to biscuits.

50 bakeries around the UK have been selected, ‘from a makeshift industrial unit in Devon to a radically remote destination in the Scottish Highlands and a must-visit spot in Mid Wales’.

Greater Manchester, as we know, has no shortage of great bakeries, whether it’s queueing for ages for an artisan pastry at La Chouquette, the ever-changing specials at Half Dozen Other in the Green Quarter, or delicious bakes and breads at Companio.

The Good Food Guide has said that the nation is going through something of a ‘modern baking boom’ and selected two spots locally that are doing it better than anyone else.

The first is Pollen, a legendary bakery which started life under a railway arch near Manchester Piccadilly, where people would queue all morning for a cruffin (at the time, this was revolutionary).

The team have now gone on to open a sunny waterside cafe at Ancoats Marina, and another in the leafy Kampus neighbourhood.

Pollen in Ancoats
Pollen in Ancoats
Pollen in Ancoats
Pollen in Ancoats
Pollen at Kampus
Pollen at Kampus
Pollen at Kampus
Pollen at Kampus
Credit: The Manc Group

The Good Food Guide praised Pollen for its ‘quality viennoiserie and sourdough loaves’.

The Good Food Guide says of Pollen: “Since the aroma of fresh croissants first wafted from the ovens of the original bakery in Ancoats, Pollen has established something of a cult status in Manchester for its quality viennoiserie and sourdough loaves.

“A second, larger outpost at the Kampus development in the Piccadilly area is a serene, putty-hued space looking onto a lush courtyard garden where you can linger over a lunch of BBQ mushrooms on toast with celeriac and salsa verde or Jerusalem artichoke soup with herb butter.

“The counter also advertises a handsome selection of sweet treats: our surprisingly delicate matcha cheesecake was a sure sign of the pastry team’s skills.”

Long Boi's Bakehouse in Levenshulme
Long Boi's Bakehouse in Levenshulme
Long Boi's Bakehouse in Levenshulme
Long Boi’s Bakehouse in Levenshulme. Credit: The Manc Group

The second of the bakeries in Greater Manchester to catch the eye of the Good Food Guide is the brilliant Long Bois over in Levenshulme, a sunny, colourful little bakery which first rocketed to fame for its homemade pop tarts.

The guide said: “A small team of all-female bakers turns out a satisfyingly creative selection of sweet and savoury bakes – perhaps a pandan lamington (a take on the coconut-drenched Aussie classic) or an ‘everything bagel’ croissant stuffed with dill, spring onion and cream cheese – while classic cakes and pastries are presented with equal doses of flavour and flourish.

“With a tiny production kitchen, bread comes from the also-excellent Holy Grain Sourdough in Manchester city centre. Like any self-respecting neighbourhood bakery, they sell out quickly – so get there early.”

Where’s your favourite bakery in Greater Manchester?

More food and drink news:

Featured image: The Manc Group

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