You can get free booze Sandinista in Manchester if you had a birthday during lockdown
Sandinista, a Latin-inspired drinking den tucked away off St Anne's Square on Old Bank St, is offering a free bottle of fizz OR five bottles of beer to anyone who had to host their special occasion over Zoom.
Were you forced to celebrate your birthday indoors this year without the company of your family and friends?
A Manchester bar wants to make it up to you.
Sandinista, a Latin-inspired drinking den tucked away off St Anne’s Square on Old Bank St, is offering a free bottle of fizz OR five bottles of beer to anyone who had to host their special occasion over Zoom in 2020.
This discount lasts all through September – and all you need to do is book a seat at the bar between the 1st and the 30th.
Arguably, almost everyone has had a lockdown-y kind of birthday this year, but your big day will need to fall within certain dates to qualify for free booze at Sandinista.
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Simply put, your DOB needs to fall between 21 March (the day hospitality closed) and 4 July (when everything opened up again).
The bar explained the rules when announcing the offer on social media.
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“Well we’ve got a treat for you!” they wrote.
“From the 1st of September – 30th September, join us at Sandies, flash us your ID to prove it was your birthday between the 21st March – 4th July & we’ll give you either 5 Beers or a Bottle if Prosecco on us!”
Well, that’s a silver lining to a seriously sh*tty year.
Head over to Sandinista’s website to book a table and get the party started.
Eats
Roman kitchen Bar Caput replaces Stockport’s only Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant
Daisy Jackson
Stockport’s only Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant, Cantaloupe, has closed its doors – but the team have quickly pivoted to launch a brand-new concept in its place.
If Cantaloupe was simple Mediterranean small plates and great wine, Bar Caput is all cocktails, pizza… and still great wine.
The new concept from the same team behind the original restaurant is inspired by ‘the drinking and aperitivi culture of Rome’.
The intention is that while Cantaloupe was a real destination restaurant – especially after earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand earlier this year – Bar Caput will be a more return-to-time-and-time-again neighbourhood haunt.
On the menu, you’ll find brilliant, bright cocktails, like the ‘Bicycle Thief’ made with gin, Campari and grapefruit, and the refreshing ‘Calindri’ (named after the legendary Italian actor).
Then for the food, the bulk of the menu centres around Roman-style pizzas, with thin, crispy bases and fantastic quality toppings.
Roman pizzas, snacks, and frittiCantaloupe has become Bar CaputChocolate sorbet at Bar Caput
There’s currently one with zucchini flowers, and thick anchovy fillets, finished with fior di latter.
If you don’t like the punchy salty flavour of anchovy, give that one a swerve and instead grab a Friggitelli, which has crispy guanciale and vibrant green peppers on it.
There are also plenty of nibbles and snacks if you’re not coming in for a full meal, from house-pickled market veggies to a cacio e pepe fritto which is, as the name suggests, cheesy, peppery, and fried.
Cantaloupe’s sort-of closure was a sad blow for Stockport, particularly after the restaurant had earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand earlier this year and a place in the Good Food Guide’s Top 100.
The team said at the time that they were proud of everything they had achieved at Cantaloupe, from filling tables with industry names to ‘doing it all from a kitchen measuring just 75cm by 3m 15cm, with subpar equipment’.
The tiny kitchen at Bar CaputIt’s taken over the Cantaloupe site
But they were equally keen to thank the people who had supported them along the way.
“We’re so grateful for the support we’ve received from Stockport and the wider community,” they said. “We’ve been blessed with great guests, many of whom have become regulars.”
They also thanked their suppliers and the staff who had helped make Cantaloupe what it was.
And while saying goodbye to Cantaloupe might have been a blow, Bar Caput feels like a pretty exciting replacement.
With Roman-inspired pizza, aperitivi and cocktails now taking over the space, the team are keeping their place in Stockport’s food scene – just with a slightly different flavour.
The family-run gem doing tapas, craft beer, cocktails and live music just outside Manchester
Daisy Jackson
A good neighbourhood restaurant should be somewhere you can pop in to at any time of day, for just about any occasion.
Whether it’s coffee and a bake after the school run, a tapas night with your mates, a cosy cocktail with your partner, or even somewhere to end the night listening to live music, Gin & Brews is one such neighbourhood gem.
This brilliant family-run venue opened in an old bank in Garstang in 2023 and quickly spilled over into the unit next door, expanding its offering as it went.
It’s gone from a cosy bottle shop and microbar to a true neighbourhood haunt, with fantastic deals (like two pizzas and a bottle of wine for £25 on Thursdays) and cocktails made with their own distilled spirits.
The food is a big part of the appeal, particularly the tapas.
There’s bread and oils, chorizo and prawns, goat’s cheese and loaded potatoes, with plenty designed for sharing – you might want to order more than you think you need, but at £12 for three dishes, that’s no hardship.
You can get three tapas dishes for £12Lemon curd French toast
Then there’s the homemade honey and sea salt butter. It’s the sort of butter you try once and immediately want to tell everyone about.
For daytime visits, the brunch menu brings out perfectly poppable eggs and seriously good French toast, with the lemon curd a particular must-try.
And if you have dietary requirements, Gin & Brews is unusually well set up for gluten-free diners, with almost everything on the menu gluten free – even the beer – plus a generous selection of gluten-free bakes.
The drinks offering is where things get particularly interesting.
The team make their own spirits under the Garstang Gin name, with the distillery growing from just three spirits to an impressive 46.
It’s a natural progression for the owner, who previously worked in the drinks industry before leaving to set up her own gin distillery.
They distill their own Garstang Gin spirits for cocktailsInside Gin & Brews
Those spirits now make their way into the cocktails at Gin & Brews, giving the bar plenty of its own character and making it a particularly good shout if cocktails are your thing.
There’s also a constantly changing selection of craft beer, with the range switching up regularly, alongside the bottle shop, so there’s always something new to discover.
For somewhere that has grown so quickly, Gin & Brews still feels firmly rooted in its community.
Much of what goes onto your plate is sourced from businesses on the high street, including local butchers and egg suppliers. Even some of the cakes and cookies are made by one of the members of staff.
It feels fitting for a venue in Garstang, which is recognised as the world’s first Fair Trade Town.
Bakes at Gin & Brews are made by a member of staff
And while Wednesday and Thursday evenings are already busy, the team are keen to bring more people through the doors during the day. They certainly have the offering for it.
There are coffee-and-cake afternoons, brunch dates, tapas lunches, craft beer, cocktails and plenty of gluten-free treats to take away.
Then, when the sun goes down, the music comes on, with live performances at weekends and regular events bringing the place to life.
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If you’re looking for a reason to venture out of Manchester for something a little different, this might just be it.
Gin & Brews has only been around for a few years, but it already feels like one of those places that has been part of the local scene forever.
And if the homemade butter doesn’t convince you, the cocktails probably will.
The Manc -
19th August 2020 
