A new, ethical waterfront cafe has opened inside the People’s History Museum on the edge of Spinningfields.
Serving up fat breakfast sandwiches and pastries for breakfast and wholesome dishes like tagines, stews and daals for lunch, it’s got seating inside and out – including a beautiful evening sun trap overlooking the River Irwell.
Its owners are also currently in talks with Allied London to take over the space directly on the water, overlooked by Axel Void’s Peterloo mural – a move we think would be a great boost to the area.
Here, menus are for “cowards” – or so we’re told by founder and director Corin Bell, who we meet for an ethical breakfast and coffee ahead of the cafe’s launch on Wednesday 19 May.
Asked how it feels to be opening after all the madness of the past year, she quips: “We’re still in the middle of the madness, we’re not done with the madness.”
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In all seriousness, though, Corin seems to have it all very much together. As she admits herself, “it’s not easy being green” – even more so when you’re trying to use any and all buying power the best you can to support the future you want to see.
Peterloo mural by Axel Void, commissioned by PHM to mark the massacre’s 200th anniversary / Image : David Dixon
But the way we see it, they’re doing a damned good job. Everything in the cafe is ethically sourced, right down to the chairs we’re sitting on, which she tells us are made from repurposed fishing lines.
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Initially, Open Kitchen had hoped to open the cafe in 2020, but instead were called upon to feed those in need during the pandemic – putting together roughly 140,000 meals for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Now firmly installed in the PHM and working with a huge range of food businesses right up and down the supply chain, the cafe intercepts food that would have otherwise ended up in the bin and turns it into hearty meals.
Working with everyone from farmers and wholesalers, to product manufacturers and big food factories that make products for supermarkets, they’re touching on every point you can imagine – ensuring no food goes to waste.
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Corin states: “If it’s mouldy or it’s bad, food is a business and it goes to waste. It’s cheaper to dump it from the system than to keep it in. And that’s where we come in.”
“We work with cosmetic grade outs, fruit and veg that is too big, too small, a little bit bug-bitten, the wrong colour.
“We’ve had cauliflowers before that were rejected by a very large supermarket because they were the wrong shade of white.”
“We [also] take lots of part-prepped ingredients, you know those massive bags of chopped onions and part-prepped potatoes and things like that you get. As soon as you start prepping veg like that it gets a very short shelf life.”
The daal at Open Kitchen / Image: Lucas Smith photography
But they don’t source everything for free. Some things, like the thick cuts of bacon in our breakfast sandwich, or the chunky slices of sourdough encasing it, are instead purchased locally from suppliers that meet the cafe’s high ethical, sustainable and local requirements.
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“It’s that bit trickier from a food safety point of view, obviously you’ve got to be a lot more on it with high-risk foods,” Corin explains.
This includes some small businesses the team knows are working very ethically, but have not perhaps bothered to go through the proper certifications, because “it’s a hassle if you’re a little family-run operation.”
She tells us about a small farm in Derbyshire that has offered the cafe a whole mutton “about twice a year” and the kitchen’s plans to do nose-to-tail butchering to ensure nothing goes to waste.
A new, ethical waterfront cafe has opened inside the People’s History Museum / Megan Eaves via Flickr
Further down the line, she also wants to introduce tasting evenings with small plates and wine that would educate diners on some of their amazing suppliers and ethical production processes.
Corin is aware that many people find the concept of living ethically daunting, and she acknowledges sourcing ethically is never simple.
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Just by talking about the process of finding their coffee supplier Bird and Wild, who support the RSPB and use an old, sustainable farming method that also protects the habitats of birds, she reveals the minutiae detail that needs to be considered when making such decisions.
“You go, ‘we need a coffee supplier’ and then, ‘oh god it’s not that simple’, because [often] they’re clearing land, they’re destroying the environment, there’s child labour, there’s militias controlling entire governments because coffee is a cash crop … so you go down these massive rabbit holes and every simple decision you want to make [is never simple].
“I can understand why some people think ‘I can’t win and it’s exhausting’ ’cause it is hard work, but I think that message, so long as you’re making conscious choices and you’re thinking about where it’s come from and who is involved in making it, that’s a start, and you just go from there.”
To us, the beauty of a cafe like this means that, even if you do feel too overwhelmed to start implementing all of these ethical practices into your everyday life, you can start somewhere.
Namely, with a tasty bowl of ethical daal sat in the sun overlooking the River Irwell.
Food & Drink
First Look: Fitzpatrick’s – Stockport’s new Irish Bar gets off to a stunning start
Danny Jones
Stockport has a brand new Irish bar as the growing Greater Manchester trend continues, with Fitzpatrick’s officially debuting to the public on Thursday, 19 June.
Taking over the former Bask site just outside the train station, Fitzpatrick’s is the borough’s answer to American sports bar meets an Irish pub and grill, with live music, a wide array of food and more.
We had the privilege of walking in on opening day, and the place was absolutely packed to the rafters from the off, and we didn’t even stay until the end. More fool us…
We had a grand auld time seeing @fitzstockport open their doors yesterday evening. ☘️
As you can see, it hasn’t taken them any time at all to get an atmosphere going; good weather on their inaugural day, but the free-flowing beer, classic pub food flying out of the kitchen, and musicians reeling off classic Irish folk music did most of the heavy lifting.
Plus, that beer garden and covered outdoor terrace area are pretty perfect in any weather, to be fair.
The scran on their maiden evening mainly consisted of pizza, chips and other easy-to-serve-up plates as they gradually ease into the first week or so of service, but with a full menu of burgers, pies, breakfasts and even Sunday roasts to come, we’re very excited to try the full gamut.
Regardless, the staff were pulling pints like pros, John himself had plenty of involvement greeting people and getting behind the bar, and the atmosphere was buzzing from minute one.
ln fact, that was arguably the best part about it all: there was that genuine feeling of a new community cornerstone being born, with the well-known Stopfordian reeling off names and recognising what seemed like almost every face that walked through the door.
You don’t get that everywhere.
A lay of the land at Fitzpatrick’s Stockport. (Credit: The Manc Eats)
Although this was their first proper day of trading, they had already gauged the kind of crowds they could expect by soft launching with friends and family last week.
That being said, as mentioned, there was a real tight-knit, community feel to the place, full of County kits, young families and older couples alike, all of whom seemed to be dovetailing together as if the pub had always been around.
SK is often dubbed one of those places where everyone kind of knows everyone, even despite how big the town is as a whole, and this definitely felt like proof of that perception.
Of course, there is some familiarity with the space having previously been Bask, but the location of the stage, a newly decked out bar and the large jumbo-tron style TV set-up for live sport in the centre of the room (providing prime viewing from virtually all angles) have made a big difference.
Based solely on the hordes of people that piled into the place the second the doors opened, we can’t wait to see what the gaff is like once it’s in so-called ‘full swing’. John and his team might just be on to something big here.
Speaking to The Manc, he said: “As a local lad, I wanted to put something into the space that reflects a lot of my history and culture. Music, food, sport and a great atmosphere are all things I love, so I wanted to reflect that in this gorgeous space.”
Open 4-11 from Tuesday to Thursday, 2pm until late on Fridays, and the same only from 1pm at weekends, we can imagine Stockport punters are about to be spending a lot of time in Fitzpatrick’s.
The Thirsty Korean is thriving in its new location – and now serves brunch
Daisy Jackson
The Thirsty Korean’s closure early last year hit Chorlton (and beyond) pretty hard.
This was a much-loved independent that was popular for its authentic, value-for-money Korean food and found a new level of fame when Sacha Lord offered to pay for everyone’s dinner for a day.
But fret not – The Thirsty Korean is back, it’s bigger, and it’s brunchier, already thriving in a new location in Chorlton.
From this sunny new spot on Wilbraham Road, they’re doing the sort of spicy brunch dishes that’ll kick-start not just your morning, but your entire week.
We’re talking their now-famous Korean fried chicken, either as full battered wings or sticky and spicy bites.
We’re also talking traditional tteokbokki with lashings of melted cheese on top, silky sweet potato noodles, Korean pancakes stuffed with spring onion or kimchi or chicken, kimchi fried rice with runny eggs on top, and egg-coated cod.
The Thirsty Korean’s brunch spreadCheesy Ttekbokki noodlesThe new-look Thirsty Korean
Behind this local gem is Eunji Noh, and with the extra space she can stretch her ambition and her menu further.
You’ll still find all the usual popular Korean dishes but she’s reached out to other parts of Korea to bring lesser-seen plates to her menu too, including seafood and now brunch items.
Whether you order as many small plates as you can to share, or commit to one of their big dishes, you’ll be leaving here very full and very happy.
The Thirsty Korean, Manchester has missed you so much.
The Thirsty Korean is now open at 520 Wilbraham Road in Chorlton – you can make a booking HERE.