Prestigious restaurant chain Hawksmoor has announced it will be launching an indulgent festive special of its home delivery boxes this Christmas.
Since temporarily closing doors in Manchester due to the first lockdown back in March, Hawksmoor has been working hard to bring its unique dining experience into homes nationwide with the Hawksmoor at Home series, offering easy-to-make meal kits and some of its most popular cocktails mixed by bartenders, along with special edition spirits and different products added regularly.
And now, in the lead up to Christmas, it’s only gone and got even more special.
Hawksmoor is launching its most indulgent Hawksmoor at Home offering yet – ‘The Festive Box’ – at it’s available to order from next Thursday.
Inside is everything you need for an easy-to-prepare steak night.
Pre-dinner cocktails are followed by smoked salmon and champagne, fillet steaks with sides, Hawksmoor beers and a bottle of Pulenta Malbec, and finished off with a huge sticky toffee pudding to share.
Hawksmoor at HomeHawksmoor at Home
What’s included then?
Sour Cherry Negroni
Hawksmoor smoked salmon, soda bread and cream cheese
Pamler & Co Brut Champagne
x2 300g Fillet steaks
Matt Brown’s Ultimate Oven Chips
Creamed Spinach
Bone marrow & Madeira jus (for making Bone marrow gravy)
A bottle of Rosso Braida
x1 large Sticky toffee pudding with Clotted Cream
x2 Hawksmoor lagers
The Festive Box comes with easy-to-follow instructions and a bar code to access videos by Matt Brown – Executive Group Chef at Hawksmoor – for anyone needing extra help with cooking.
Another bar code will take you to a specially-curated Spotify playlist to listen to if you wish.
The Hawksmoor at Home – The Festive Box will set you back £165 in total, but if you’re not big on drinking, or would prefer to pair it with your own tipples, you can get the Hawksmoor at Home – The Festive Box (Without Alcohol) for just £105 instead.
The restaurant chain has also chosen to give back this year too.
It has confirmed that £5 from each box sold will be split between three worthy causes that it has been cooking for and supporting in other ways this year – City Harvest, Wood Street Mission (Manchester), and Soul Food (Edinburgh) – and so far in 2020, Hawksmoor has donated tens of thousands of pounds and cooked over 30,000 nutritious meals for eight different charities.
Each of the organisations in London, Manchester and Edinburgh have been helping to fight hunger during what has been one of the most challenging years nationwide.
For every box we’ll donate £5 to @CityHarvest@WoodSt_Mission and @SocialBite_. So far in 2020 we’ve donated tens of thousands of pounds to and cooked 30,000 nutritious meals for 8 different charities fighting hunger during this most difficult of years. We’re cooking again now. pic.twitter.com/YtA2DWZIog
Speaking on Twitter about the decision to donate funds to chosen charities through the sales of the Hawksmoor at Home boxes this year, Hawksmoor said: “Christmas should be about being happy and doing something for other people. We hope that, whether the restaurants open or not, that we’ll all manage to make a few people happier this Christmas.”
How brilliant is this?
So, if you fancy treating yourself this season, you can get your hands on the Hawksmoor at Home – The Festive Box via the Hawksmoor website here.
Deliveries will start from Thursday 26th November, with last deliveries on Wednesday 23rd December.
Eats
Local brewery J.W. Lees is helping bring back Manchester’s beloved Boddingtons beer
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester, it’s time to rejoice in the return of a cask king, as Boddingtons is coming back in a big way and local brewery J.W. Lees is helping spearhead the revival.
The famous ‘Cream of Manchester’ has slowly dripped away over the decades, being found in fewer places by the year, though some holdouts have remained.
Fortunately, those who are truly passionate about Boddingtons and their love for the delicious golden ale haven’t waned over the years, helping keep it alive on keg in the few Manc pubs still serving it.
But while it was the Keg that kept Boddingtons alive, now, thanks to the native brewers, beer brand and pub chain, the popular beer is being given a fresh start back in its native home of a cask. By’eck – it’s back…
They’re hoping to make sights like this a thing of the past.More of this, please.(Credit: The Manc Eats)
Teaming up with the global Budweiser Brewing Group (BBG), which will now oversee the resurrection of the modern-day ‘Boddies’, J.W. Lees will be bringing the cask ale back to the masses.
Just in time for cosy, autumnal nights in the pub, no less.
Planning to reintroduce it in their pubs across the region, before hopefully taking on the North West and beyond, they’re promising to make it “smoother, creamier, and brewed closer to home than ever before.”
It seems fitting that Lees (founded in 1828) should be entrusted with one of our oldest beers in Boddingtons, which dates back to 1778 and went on to become not just one of the biggest beer brands in the UK but also one of the first to be canned and mass-produced on the shelves across the country.
To toast the return and impending supremacy of Boddies, J.W. Lees Albert Square pub, Founder’s Hall – which replaced the old Duttons when it opened last year – is even hosting a party to celebrate its comeback, featuring some of the very first of the new pints to be poured to the public on 23 September.
This isn’t just a reboot; the new and improved Boddies brand comes with a new 4.0% ABV recipe, looking to join the lineup of premium British ales.
William Lees-Jones, Managing Director J.W. Lees, said: “When I joined JW Lees in 1994, Boddingtons was ‘The Cream of Manchester’ and we were in awe of their position in leading the cask beer revolution.
“We are planning to put Boddingtons back where it rightly deserves to be as one of the leading premium UK cask beers, particularly in our heartland of the North West.
“We also look forward to working with Budweiser Brewing Group with their portfolio of market-leading lagers and premium packaged beers in our pubs.”
Historic Manchester pub issues apology for ’embarrassing’ toilets and asks for support
Daisy Jackson
One of Manchester’s most iconic pubs, Mr Thomas’s Chop House, is finally undergoing a major upgrade after admitting its building has become an ’embarrassment’.
The historic Cross Street boozer has shared a public apology for the ‘deteriorating’ state of its stunning building.
Mr Thomas’s Chop House is now pleading for support from punters as it undergoes the weeks-long scheme of improvements.
Visitors will find a reduced menu while renovations are taking place.
The pub said that it’s aware that the Grade II-listed pub has been in need of improvement for a while, but explained these works have been hampered by leasing issues.
Mr Thomas’s Chop House explained that it’s been ‘existing on over 30 short-term lease extensions for 8 years while our landlords negotiated with the superior landlord’.
It’s left them unable to invest into the building – until now.
The pub will be adding brand-new toilets downstairs (they said the old ones were ‘an embarrassment’), as well as improving the kitchens and adding a new beer cellar.
In their statement, Mr Thomas’s Chop House said: “First of all, we owe you, our loyal customers, an apology.
Mr Thomas’s Chop House is undergoing a refurb
“Over the past few years bits of our stunning building have deteriorated. The toilets have become a bit of an embarrassment. We are sorry.
“The fact is, we (The Victorian Chop House Company) have been existing on over 30 short-term lease extensions for 8 years while our landlords negotiated with the superior landlord.
“As a result of this uncertainty we haven’t been able to invest into the fabric of the building.
“But now the wait is finally over. And together with our landlords we are finally beginning a scheme of renovations which will return Tom’s to the state it should be in!”
Work began last week and is expected to last for around three weeks.
They also wrote: “Things will be slightly different but we are so excited. Please help us stay afloat while we work to restore Tom’s.”
Emily Sergeant -
20th November 2020 
