Eats

You can get chicken wings for free at this Manchester bar on Friday

The Blues Kitchen will be hosting the "ultimate wings frenzy".

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 11th January 2022

One of Manchester newest and most-popular late night hotspots is giving chicken wing lovers something to look forward to this week.

The Blues Kitchen – which opened its Manchester branch back in May 2021 on Quay Street in the heart of the city centre – is well-known and loved for its Southern-inspired menu of barbecue classics and proper comfort food, that features everything from stacked-up burgers, creamy mac n cheese, smoky ribs, and so much more.

But it’s the venue’s wide array of chicken wings, which are quite frankly “legendary”, that are known to really draw in the crowds.

Which is why, this Friday 14 January from 6pm, The Blues Kitchen will be hosting the “ultimate wings frenzy”, and will be giving chicken wing fans the chance to tuck into the delicacy for completely free of charge.

The catch?

ADVERTISEMENT

The deal is only available for just two-hours on one night only.

The Blues Kitchen will be hosting the “ultimate wings frenzy” / Credit: The Blues Kitchen

For two whole hours, from 6pm – 8pm, you can head on down to The Blues Kitchen to devour its signature “glorious, tangy, spicy” Buffalo Wings, which are all served with a blue cheese dip.

ADVERTISEMENT

These will usually set you back £7.95 for a small portion, or £11.50 for a large.

On top of that, from 5pm-7pm, you can also enjoy some signature cocktails for just £5 too, which includes the popular ‘Tommy’s Margarita’, made with Tequila Reposado, lime and agave – which normally costs £9.50.

Read more: The Blues Kitchen and DevilDog Sauces are teaming up for a hot wing eating competition – and you can enter

ADVERTISEMENT
The Blues Kitchen opened its Manchester branch back in May 2021 on Quay Street / Credit: Facebook (The Blues Kitchen – Manchester)

And that’s not all either, as from 8pm onwards, you can soak up a live soundtrack of timeless blues and soul music from The Blues Kitchen’s world-famous resident musicians and DJs in the Concert Hall, all while you tuck into your discounted wings and cocktails.

Fancy it then?

You can either sign up ahead of Friday via the Blues Kitchen website here, or just simply walk in and feast until your heart’s content.

Featured Image – The Blues Kitchen

Eats

I went on a walking wine tour around Manchester and it might be the perfect afternoon out

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Manchester Wine Tours. Credit: The Manc Group

If you love wine, and you love Manchester, and you’d quite like to do something with your afternoon that celebrates both of those things, can I put you onto the Manchester Wine Tours?

This genius little event sees small groups of people heading across the city on, essentially, an organised and very sophisticated bar crawl.

Imagine Carnage, but instead of drawing on a t-shirt and slamming neon green alcopops, you’re dressed up nicely and visiting some of Manchester’s top food and drink businesses.

Manchester Wine Tours is owned and operated by Kel Bishop, a local food and drink writer and wine teacher.

Each tour is different, taking in different bars, different wines, and different people.

But as a general rule of thumb you can expect to meet up with Kel somewhere centrally, and follow her to around four different bars, sampling one or two wines in each.

You end up drinking roughly two-thirds of a bottle of wine, unless you get lucky with a small group like ours, where we definitely got a little more than that.

And each tour factors in a few points of interest, in classic walking tour style and for even more of a Manchester flavour.

On the Manchester Wine Tour I joined, our route included a few of the city centre’s newest wine hotspots, starting at Kallos, the fantastic greek restaurant in Salford that’s striving to have the largest collection of greek wines in the UK.

Here we tucked into their divine, puffed-up flatbreads and dips, as well as tinned octopus, all paired with a crisp sparkling Domaine Karanika Brut Cuvee Speciale.

Stop one on our Manchester Wine Tours - Kallos
Stop one on our Manchester Wine Tours - Kallos
Stop one on our Manchester Wine Tours – Kallos

Then it was on with the big coats for a walk back into the city centre to Sterling.

On a personal note, I’ve been working as a food and drink journalist in Manchester for a decade. I did not expect to have any surprises along the way.

But then Kel led us into the wine room at Sterling – not usually open to the public – and proved me wrong.

Tucked away from the main bar, surrounded by wooden shelves glinting with different wines, we sampled a dry Chenin a New Zealand Lethbridge Chardonnay, and all realised we had been judging Chardonnay far too harshly.

Inside Sterling
Inside Sterling
Inside Sterling

It’s at this stop that Kel really breaks down the art of wine tasting, and how to build your understanding of a wine from sight to smell to sip.

Suitably warmed up, it was time for a dash across to Winsome, the new British restaurant that’s already been added to the Michelin guide, where we crammed around a centrepiece of wine bottle candles dripping in wax to discover the delights of the Greek Alkemi Xenomavro rose – my favourite wine from the night that I bought an extra bottle of to take home.

Each stop of the wine tour offers snacks as well as the wines, and for Winsome it was a delicate squash dish picked by the chef to compliment our drinks.

Manchester Wine Tours in Winsome
Manchester Wine Tours in Winsome
Manchester Wine Tours in Winsome

We also sampled a lethally good Terre de Zeus Xinomavro here – it was a good day for Greek wine.

By this point of the tour we’re like a slightly wobbly gaggle of baby birds, scurrying after Kel towards our final spot for the night – Beeswing.

The Kampus bar provided an Austrian Funkstille Zweigelt (ordered an extra glass of this, it was so good) and a The Good Luck Club Cabernet Sauvignon from the Barossa Valley, plus boards of charcuterie and cheese.

ADVERTISEMENT

My brain is like a sieve for wine facts (I’ve written up most of this by looking at the labels), but I guess that just means the Manchester Wine Tour will have a repeat customer.

Kel is an expert at reading the room and deftly tailors her tastings to suit each person’s wine experience. For some it’s just the pleasure of drinking a nice wine (here, have a top-up), for others it’s digging into the history and politics of the drink. Some just wanted to uncover a new bar or restaurant, playing tourist in their own city.

It felt as though all seven of us on our tour took something different away from the exact same experience – and is that not the beauty of good hospitality?

It’s all completely accessible, approachable and very, very fun.

You can find out more and book your spot HERE.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

‘Exclusive’ Manchester nightclub shares customer’s eye-watering £88k bill

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson 'Exclusive' Manchester nightclub shares customer's eye-watering £88k bill

A nightclub in Manchester has shared a picture of a recent customer’s bill – and to call them a big spender would be underselling it.

The luxury nightclub posted a photo of a bill that racked up to an eye-watering £88k.

Or, to be very specific, £88,589.60.

The flash customer was at The Continental Club, otherwise known as The Conti, an ‘exclusive’ bar and club on South King Street.

The bar is a drastic departure from the former nightlife spot which stood in its place – the building was previously home to South, a legendary underground club famed for its alternative soundtrack.

Now it’s got a new life as a nightlife haunt where, apparently, it’s not uncommon to spend the equivalent of a small terrace house on drinks.

The bar shared the picture of the receipt yesterday, describing it as a ‘record-breaker’.

The Continental Club has claimed that it’s not only the biggest spend in its own walls, but the most expensive bill to have ever taken place in any club in Manchester.

The Continental Club on South King Street shared the huge bill. Credit: Google Maps
‘Exclusive’ Manchester nightclub shares customer’s eye-watering £88k bill

Curious to see how exactly a person could spend £88k on drinks? Let’s break down some of the more expensive items.

Let’s kick things off with three bottles of Clase Azul Ultra Extra Anejo, a tequila which retails for around £2.5k but set this customer back £9,500 a pop…

Then there’s a couple of magnums of Dom Perignon rose champagne (£2,000 each), a few bottles of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades Champagne (£1,500 each), and a few £950 bottles of Chivas Regal 25 whiskey.

It makes the £850 Grey Goose at the bottom seem like child’s play.

They also slammed at least 48 Red Bulls, according to the bill.

Then on top of that you’ve got a staggering £8k worth of service charge – some very happy staff went home that night, I’d imagine.

The Continental Club wrote: “Some come to sip…others come to set records. The biggest table spend to EVER take place in a club in Manchester.”

How the other half live, eh?

Read more

Featured image: The Continental Club

More Eats

V. Goode Pies is open in Manchester

Eats

V.Goode Pies – Michelin-recommended Manchester restaurant launches new pie shop

Christmas

Tesco unveils Britain’s favourite Christmas meal deal – is yours on here?

Uma ramen restaurant inside Odioba coffee shop Stockport review

Art & Culture

Stockport town centre’s first ramen spot sat above a coffee shop that we can’t get enough of

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches