Manchester Food and Drink Festival is back for 2021.
Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unveiling of the government’s “irreversible” roadmap to lift England’s current national lockdown and reopen society over the next few months – with an aim to end all social restrictions by 21st June, at the earliest – the city’s flagship food and drink festival and undoubtedly one of the highlights in the annual events calendar has announced its grand return this September.
Manchester Food and Drink Festival (MFDF) will take place from Thursday 16th – Monday 27th September.
This year, the festival – which will once again be headline sponsored by food delivery platform Just Eat – is open to the entire Greater Manchester hospitality industry and will be supporting the recovery of its dining and drinking economies by showcasing and celebrating as many businesses as possible.
MFDF 2021 promises “a magnificent celebration of the region’s food and drink and all the talented people that bring it to the table”.
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Fans of MFDF will be pleased to know that the ‘Festival Hub’ is returning for 2021.
Taking place in Cathedral Gardens, he Festival Hub will, as always, be free to enter, but this year, there will be a limited number of bookable tables available, meaning for a reservation fee of £5, guests can guarantee a table and skip the queues.
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Advanced table bookings are now live and can be made here.
The team behind MFDF are also thrilled to announce that the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards are back “in the flesh” for 2021 too, and will taking place at a brand new venue.
The MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards will take place on Monday 27th September at Manchester Hall.
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After a year out of action, the event this year promises to be the “hospitality homecoming” event of the year, as MFDF brings the industry together to celebrate and recognise the achievements and challenges of this extraordinary time.
The 2021 award categories will be announced soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
Manchester Food & Drink FestivalManchester Food & Drink Festival
Speaking on the festival’s return this year, Alexa Stratton-Powell – Festival Director at Manchester Food and Drink Festival (MFDF) – said: “This year’s festival is about celebration, reflection and recovery [as] it has been an extraordinarily difficult time for the hospitality industry, and so too for the festival and all the events companies and professionals around the country.
“Postponing last year’s MFDF was a very difficult decision, but the right one.
“This year we’ll come together to do what Manchester does best – support each other and our city. We want to create the most exciting festival yet, celebrate as many of our hospitality businesses as possible and make sure everyone has a brilliant time enjoying the region’s amazing food and drink.
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“We’re particularly excited to be announcing the MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards are back [as] they give everyone a chance to recognise the achievements of our unrivalled hospitality community [and] we will be back soon to announce the award categories, nominees and how to vote.
“[This will] give everyone the chance to get behind their food heroes.”
Andrew Kenny – Managing Director of Just Eat UK – added: “We’re delighted that the plans for MFDF have been finalised and we can share the good news. We are really looking forward to celebrating with our customers, our local restaurant partners and the whole of Manchester at MFDF this September.”
Manchester Food & Drink Festival
As it stands, Manchester Food and Drink Festival (MFDF) will be delivered in line with current event guidance, and the festival team will be monitoring the situation closely as they continue to plan the event.
The new ‘MFDF Planner’ is ready to download for 2021 too.
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Bringing the “festival to your fingertips like never before”, app users will be able to browse the full festival programme, reserve tables at the Festival Hub and vote in the MFDF awards too, so head to the Apple and Android app stores to download by searching ‘MCR Food and Drink Festival’.
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You can find more information ahead of the event via the MFDF 2021 website here.
Food & Drink
‘This isn’t just like home, this IS home’: Saffa Soul is feeding communities straight from the heart
Danny Jones
That quote isn’t one of ours, nor is it from the owners themselves: that’s what a South African native had to say as they literally welled up eating the food being served by Saffa Soul, who have officially been named among the Best Street Food in Britain.
And now they’ve taken up a new residency right here in Greater Manchester – Circle Square in the city centre, to be specific.
Keshal Devchand, a.k.a. ‘Huggy’, is the man behind the brand, bringing those tears to people’s eyes not just here in town but up and down the UK, as they found out not so long ago during the annual British Street Food Awards (BSFA) last year.
Winning the 2025 title, the reigning champions are simply meeting demand by posting up with their latest semi-permanent space, as an incredible rise in popularity has only ramped up since taking the crown. How they’ll fare remains to be seen, but as always, “the food speaks for itself.”
To be honest, we have every faith they’re going to be just as big a hit as the new resident kitchen inside The Taphouse as they were on Temperance Street and as their various street food stalls up and down the nation since this incredible journey started just 19 months ago.
Yep, this unbelievably hearty, authentic and award-winning foodie phenomenon isn’t even two years old yet, but the Johannesburg-born concept is already on course to write itself into cultural and culinary annals if they carry on the way they’re going.
Not only is everything from the braai (barbeque) meats, to the rich and smoky curries, that famous bunny chow, homemade sauces and everything in between unbelievably flavourful, this stuff is steeped in not just tradition but pure hard work.
‘Huggy’ and co. refuse to do anything that isn’t the real ‘saffa’ way, and it’s these simple but faithfully sustained principles that have seen this food connect with literally tens of thousands all over.
And that’s not just in this country: these guys have already journeyed through the likes of city-centric face-offs, and regional BSFA showdowns, to heading to Germany for the continental equivalent, where they also notched ‘Future Food Legend’.
It’s not hard to see why they’re officially the ‘People’s Choice’ and already mean so much to so many.
From importing wood from his homeland and stoking the fires by hand with a bellow, to keeping his mum’s yellow lentil recipe alive and sharing those same childhood memories with Manc, Brits and, indeed, the rest of the world, Huggy is doing proper boots on the ground community work.
Our favourite story from our recent visit was Huggy telling us about how their appearance at the 2025 European Street Awards turned into so much of a big deal that the entire South African consulate in Munich shut down early so they could eat his food for lunch. Just WOW.
And that’s not just for those who hail from South Africa and have since emigrated; as seen by his various pop-ups since starting out, Saffa Soul is a real come-one, come-all affair.
This is proven even more to be the case by his upcoming plans, too, as not only is the team looking to start their own regular Sunday roast club with inspiration from Supper, but they’re even going to be doing ‘beer cooler’ events in the summer.
Picture South African tradition, part US cook-out, with a sprinkling of Aussie and classic British BBQ parties – it’s one of the things we’re most excited about this year.
We’ve also had a little glimpse at other menu items soon set to be introduced into the rotation, and all we can say is that we’re already salivating.
Honestly, we implore you to go and show Huggy’s gang some love, and we promise you won’t leave a single scrap on your table.
A tiny tiramisu hatch is opening in Ancoats this week
Daisy Jackson
A brand-new dessert spot is set to open its doors (or should that be windows) in Ancoats later this week.
Layr is a new business that is selling just one thing, and doing that one thing really well – tiramisu.
The tiramisu hatch is set to open on Thursday 29 January, with a menu of three different tiramisu flavours, each served individually portioned.
This new addition to Ancoats will be serving freshly-made, alcohol-free, Halal desserts, starting off with a classic tiramisu where sponge is soaked in espresso, then layered with vanilla marscapone and cocoa dust.
Layr has also created a new matcha tiramisu, where the sponge is soaked in matcha instead of coffee.
And completing the menu is a pistachio Layr, with pistachio marscapone, nuts, and pistachio sauce.
Layr’s tiramisu hatch on Radium Street is the latest dessert spot to open in this corner of Ancoats, in a building that’s become a bit of an incubator for sweet treats.
Pistachio tiramisu from the Layr dessert hatchA trio of tiramisu
The building is perhaps most famous for launching The Flat Baker, who operated out of a corner unit for years before becoming too successful and jumping down the road with their own proper bakery and cafe.
Layr also neighbours Baby Mayhem, famed for its extravagant doughnuts, including its bakes topped with ice cream ‘spaghetti’.
Layr will be open from 5pm until 10pm on Thursdays and Fridays, and from 4pm until 10pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Emily Sergeant -
5th March 2021 
