A wine truck is set to hit the streets of Manchester next month, and it’s featuring top tier French wines from the Loire Valley.
As part of its ‘Bucket List’ tour, Loire Valley Wines is sending out its wine truck to give people the chance to “discover the region’s finest grape produce varieties alongside the beauties of the main UK’s cities”.
And Manchester is one of the cities on the visiting schedule.
Designed to offer a taste of France’s renowned Loire vineyards, the wine truck will run as part of a wider campaign in which bespoke wine tasting menus, offers, and giveaways will be available to make the most of at bars and restaurants across the UK.
The Little Loire Wine Truck will be at the Manchester Food & Drink Festival (MFDF) on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September from 11.30am – 7pm, with an expert sommelier on hand to take passers-by through free walk-in tastings, with bottles ranging from whites to rosés spanning Muscadet to Touraine.
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Budding wine connoisseurs can also enter a competition to have the wine truck stop off at their own home too.
As well as the wine truck popping up for the weekend at the city’s annual flagship food and drink festival, the Manchester Bucket List also features a handful of carefully-selected places to stop off at throughout September and dip a toe into the wines of the Loire Valley.
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A brand-new discovery route packed with treasures and discoveries has been curated especially for the occasion, with six Manchester bars already signed up to take part.
“The Loire Bucket List is for adventure seekers,” a spokesperson for the event said.
“Our discovery routes take you to the ‘secret’ places in your city, to see exciting and unexpected things, alongside a few carefully curated places to stop off to and explore the wines of the Loire Valley along the way.
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“Our collaborative events offer further opportunities to explore Loire Wines, from free in-store sampling to full guided tastings and of course, visits to our little Wine Truck, which will pop up around the UK.”
The wine truck will run as part of a wider campaign in which bespoke wine tasting menus, offers, and giveaways will be available / Credit: Em Zoode
The venues lined-up to host special wine events in Manchester are:
Manchester Tennis & Racquet Club
Flok
Mr Thomas’ Chop House
Atomeca
Oystercatcher
Man Bites Frog
Grape To Grain
With prices starting from as little as £15, and many still TBC, wines such as Rosé d’Anjou Famille Bougrier 2020, Touraine Sauvignon Domaine Guenault Bougrier 2020, Muscadet Polaris Batard Langelier, Clos La Cariziere, and L’Extra par Langlois Brut NV Crémant de Loire are all on the menu across each of the participating venues for wine enthusiasts to wet their whistle.
Specially-selected ‘wines of the month’, and food and wine pairings will also be available to try.
Specially-selected ‘wines of the month’, and food and wine pairings will also be available to try / Credit: Unsplash
A ‘saucy’ new Korean fried chicken restaurant is opening in the Gay Village
Daisy Jackson
A brand-new Korean fried chicken restaurant and cocktail bar is set to open on Canal Street this week.
CLUK is promising some big deals and amazing giveaways to celebrate its launch in Manchester, including free food and prize draws.
The newcomer in the heart of the city will specialise in Korean-style crispy fried chicken, but also warming ramen bowls, and salt & pepper classics.
Signature dishes will include Korean cheese-powder fried chicken, and Cheese Volcano Chicken.
CLUK will also serve dishes like kimchi cheese loaded fries, salt & pepper chicken, and huge sharing platters.
You can customise your Korean fried chicken order by size, choosing between wings and boneless and picking a flavour out of honey garlic, sweet and spicy, honey mustard, and honey and sour.
They promise it’ll all be ‘saucy, crunchy, and seriously addictive’.
That’s all washed down with ice-cold beers and creative cocktails, like martinis, spritzes and sours.
CLUK is now open in the Gay Village in ManchesterA spread of CLUK dishesInside CLUK ManchesterFried chicken with Korean cheese powderInside CLUK Manchester
The CLUK team are hoping to create a fun late-night dining option for this buzzing corner of the city centre.
To celebrate its launch on Thursday 18 September, CLUK have announced a whole heap of promotions.
This includes free chicken bao for the first 50 guests to visit during the first five days.
Over the two week launch period, visitors can spin the wheel whenever you spend £12 – spend £24 and spin twice.
And there are big prizes available – the top prize is a £100 gift card or £50 cash, with other prizes including free drinks, food and a £3 voucher as a consolation prize.
Plus, anyone who buys a gift card and tops it up with £100 will receive a free beer or cider.
When those two weeks are up, CLUK will run a £1,000 prize draw.
Plans lodged to turn Ducie Street Warehouse into huge food hall
Daisy Jackson
Ducie Street Warehouse could be transformed into a massive food hall, with new plans lodged.
The historic warehouse building near Manchester Piccadilly has worn a few hats over the years.
When it first opened, it was a home to Bistrotheque, a London export that bowed out from the beautiful Grade II-listed building after just six months.
Since then, it’s become a bustling all-day space where you can sit with a laptop for hours (and many do), snacking on a simple menu of flatbreads and salads as well as great cocktails.
But now it looks like Ducie Street Warehouse is in store for a major shake-up again, with plans now lodged to transform the space into huge food hall with more than 500 covers.
The planning application comes from the same team behind Edinburgh Street Food up in Scotland, which is packed with street food traders serving a range of cuisines.
If the plans for Manchester Street Food go ahead, the warehouse on Ducie Street will become the home of a 10-kitchen food hall.
It would flip most of the ground floor, including the terrace, while the upstairs continues operating as a hotel.
The plans also show that the existing private dining area will be turned into a casual games room, with the addition of pool tables, arcade machines and foosball tables.
Ducie Street Warehouse could be turned into a food hall. Credit: The Manc Group
Manchester Street Food will join a flurry of food halls across the city, with Mackie Mayor just a short walk away, along with the waterside venue Society, and the newly-opened House of Social.
The plans also mention minor changes to the exterior of the building, illuminating an external lift shaft in a rainbow hue.
Their application states: “The ‘Street Food’ brand works with a range of vibrant and independent street food vendors to provide varied yet complementary choices, whilst showcasing local breweries and distilleries.
“Their operations focus on supporting local businesses and to diverse the food and beverage offer to create a welcoming and accessible food experiences.
“The ’Street Food’ brand was first established in the form of Edinburgh Street Food which opened in 2023, and which welcomes a broad demographic. It is recognised as a cultural and culinary hub whilst contributing positively to the local economy.
“Building on the success of Edinburgh Street Food, the Applicant is keen to expand further and enhance Manchester’s hospitality, gastronomy and evening economy.
“As such, this full planning application has been prepared to enable the operation of Manchester Street Food from a prime city centre location at Ducie Street Warehouse.”
Do you think Manchester has the appetite for yet another street food hall?
The Manc -
2nd September 2021 
