Eats

You can now apply to be part of Manchester’s first ever ‘five star foodie’ panel

The Lowry Hotel is currently recruiting people to sample and review the restaurant’s newest dishes.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 27th October 2020
@HOME by The Lowry Hotel

The Lowry Hotel’s River Restaurant is currently recruiting for the city’s first ever ‘five star foodie panel’ to sample and review the restaurant’s newest dishes all from the comfort of their own home.

Do you fancy yourself as the next Jay Raynor?  Do you know your velouté from your vichyssoise?

As The River Restaurant is needing feedback on its exclusive new @HOME Package – which includes all the ingredients to cook five courses at home with a bottle of wine to share between two – food-loving Mancunians are now being encouraged to submit their application to join the city’s hottest new review panel.

No foodie CV is necessary, just a passion for good eats.

@HOME by The Lowry is a new dining concept which allows customers to enjoy restaurant quality food at home via a click-and-collect service, so for those not selected as a panel member you can still enjoy the luxury of five-star cooking with the @HOME Dining Package, which is priced at £60 for a five-course meal for two people and a bottle of wine.

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The five lucky applicants chosen to sit on the hotel’s first ever panel will receive a personalised @HOME packages each month.

With menus curated by award-winning Executive Head Chef Dave Ashton, successful applicants will get to taste different sumptuous dishes and accompanying wines between October and December 2020, with the expectation the role will continue in to 2021, and, if that wasn’t enough, they will also be able to enjoy exclusive hotel member benefits, which includes a complimentary overnight stay at The Lowry Hotel to indulge in five star luxury.

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All they’ll be expected to do for the role is finish off the dishes at home using the ingredients provided, and rate the dishes using the #LowryLifeatHome hashtag on Instagram or Twitter.

Dave Ashton – Executive Head Chef at The Lowry Hotel’s River Restaurant – said: “We’ve been hard at work in the kitchen, developing and testing a five-star dining experience which people can enjoy at home.

“We have successfully launched our @HOME afternoon tea and Sunday roast service, but now we need your help to tell us what you think of our new deluxe dining package and menu changes.

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“Manchester’s food scene is constantly growing, and we need people like you, who love good food, to tell us what you think of our new menu and help make it even more delicious. Our dining package changes on a monthly basis, so you will sample five different dishes each month paired with a bottle of wine for you and your lucky plus one.

“We look forward to hearing your thoughts and evolving the menu for the following month based on your feedback.”

To be in with a chance of being selected for the role, you’ll need to follow The Lowry’s Instagram account – @thelowryhotel – and send an email to [email protected] with your name, Instagram or Twitter account handle, proof of age, and 150 words explaining why you think you should be selected.

You have until Sunday 8th November to get your applications in.

Members will be chosen by a panel of judges comprised of two representatives from The Lowry Hotel.

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Don’t worry if you’re not chosen for the role though, because The River Restaurant’s @HOME service also includes a bubbly afternoon tea – which will set you back just £50 for two people – and includes a fully-prepared afternoon tea spread, including tea from the Manor and a bottle of Prosecco, and even a Sunday lunch option – priced at £40 for two people – which includes the freshest of locally-sourced veg, quality meats, and plenty of mouth-watering gravy.

You can find more information about the @HOME service via The Lowry Hotel website here.

Eats

An award-winning pie and mash cafe is opening in Manchester

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

This month award-winning piemakers Great North Pie Co will officially open in Manchester city centre, bringing its high-quality goodies to Kampus for the very first time.

Serving up a modern take on traditional pie and mash dinners, a new, seasonal menu features four butter-pastry pies, stuffed to the brim using only the best ingredients from North West producers.

From 14-hour braised beef and ale pies, to roast chicken and mushroom and the company’s hero classic Lancashire cheese and onion, pie fans can expect to find classic flavour combinations done well at the cosy and intimate new space.

Each pie on the menu is served with a wide range of sides, with choices including buttery mash or proper home-style chips, cauliflower cheese, pickled red cabbage, mushy garden peas or chip shop mushy peas all served with roast onion and brown sauce gravy or the house curry sauce- the ultimate feed.

There will also be weekly comfort food specials such as lamb and pea steamed suet puddings, corned beef hash, Lancashire Hot Pot, and keema and chips.

Image: Great North Pie Co
Image: Great North Pie Co

To round off the perfect meal, puddings include school dinner-style sweet treats like chocolate sponge and custard and the classic sticky toffee pudding. 

Breakfast sandwiches will be served daily between 10:30am and 2.30pm and will feature quality versions of all the breakfast classics including Cheshire Smokehouse honey-cured bacon and Stornoway black pudding.

The drinks menu, meanwhile, includes the likes of Manchester Union Lager on draught, a selection of quality wines and proseccos, plus a handful of spritz style cocktails.

Read more: All the February Manchester restaurant deals, discounts and offers you need in 2023

With booth-style seating for 20 inside and an outdoor area seating area for up to 30 more overlooking the Kampus garden and canal, the cosy new pie cafe is the first resident to arrive on the cobbles of Kampus’s Little David Street.

Neil Broomfield, co-founder of Great North Pie Co, said: “Since we started making pies it’s always been an ambition to have a base in the city centre.

“We’d been looking for a while and as soon as we saw Kampus, Little David Street and the gardens, we knew it was the right place for us. While it’s our first city centre venue, we don’t have plans  to rollout out any more, as we place our focus on keeping the quality and consistency we aim for.

Image: Great North Pie Co
Image: Great North Pie Co

“We just want to concentrate on doing one thing and doing it well. The mix of traders coming into Kampus is amazing and we’re so proud to be part of it.”

Read more: Huge waterside food hall to breathe life into old Manchester warehouse

Great North Pie Co also has venues in Lake District’s Ambleside and in Altrincham Market.  Its products can also be found at monthly farmers markets, where they started the business, in locations such as Urmston, Knutsford, Northwich, Altrincham, Chester, Wilmslow, Chorlton, Bakewell, Macclesfield and West Didsbury.

The pie brand supplies pubs and restaurants nationwide and also supplies to the likes of Booths, Robinsons’s brewery, Dukeshill Hams, Manchester City Football Club, Stockport County FC, and other popular pubs and restaurants across the country.

Read more: A new Deep South-inspired dive bar is coming to Manchester’s Northern Quarter

Its new cafe will officially open its kitchen & bar at Kampus on Monday, 27 February, with its handcrafted pies available to take away cold as well as eat in.

Feature image – Great North Pie

Eats

Huge waterside food hall to breathe life into old Manchester warehouse

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

A new waterside food hall is tipped to open in Manchester as the Allied London team set their sites on a former warehouse on the banks of the river Irwell.

Sitting on the cusp of Spinningfields and Salford, Shipyard, as it will be known, will take inspiration from popular existing concepts such as Manchester’s Mackie Mayor, Lisbon’s Time Out Market, and the Kyiv Food Market.

Located on the corner of Water Street and New Quay Street, according to plans submitted to Manchester City Council it will move into a long-empty warehouse formerly known as Albert Shed.

Due to open in the same part of town as the hotly-anticipated new venue Factory International, after sitting empty for years it’s hoped that the new project will breathe some new life back into the area.

Promising to bring a mix of artisan vendors and ‘rolling smaller stalls’, the new food hall plans to create a new riverside dining destination in the Manchester neighbourhood of St. Johns.

Developers want to transform the existing first floor car park of the building into a food hall, then add a second mezzanine level to provide more seating.

Image: Albert’s Shed / Allied London

A statement to planners said: “We have been working alongside Allied London on the Shipyard (formerly Albert Sheds) to create a new riverside dining destination within the prime location in St. John’s Masterplan.

“Being one of the few original industrial buildings left within the city centre, its high ceilings and waterfront location will provide the perfect atmosphere from day to night.

Read more: Aldi launches new ‘magic bags’ with £10 worth of food for just £3.30

“Our proposals are to repurpose the former warehouse into an eclectic and curated destination that compliments the wider St. Johns Masterplan, by encouraging a mix of artisan vendors and rolling smaller stalls.”

“It is envisaged that the food hall will become more visible during dusk and evening time as the interior is illuminated,” the documents added. “The form of the timber canopy will provide solar shading from morning sun whilst at night the internal space will illuminate the river side.”

Feature image – Alberts Shed / Allied London

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