Food & Drink

New bar at Hatch opens that’s decorated exactly like a can of beer

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 8th May 2022

A new bar has opened its doors at street food village Hatch, transforming one of the shipping container units.

The Beavertown bar, a collaboration with the popular brewery, is plastered in so much Beavertown artwork it’s like you’re drinking cans inside a can.

The brand’s recognisable illustrations of skulls, rockets and other intergalactic objects now cover the walls, in shades of orange, blue and yellow.

  • Beavertown’s new bar at Hatch. Credit: Supplied
  • Beavertown’s new bar at Hatch. Credit: Supplied

Fans of Beavertown’s beers like Neck Oil, Gamma Ray and Bones will feel right at home.

The themed bar will have all of the aforementioned beers on draft, as well as cans of Nano Bot, Bones and Heavy Gravity, plus other limited edition special beers and new releases.

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The new venue has a small terrace outside and will soon open up a much larger rooftop terrace space.

Beavertown’s new bar at Hatch. Credit: Supplied

Customers can order food from any of the traders in Hatch to the Beavertown bar.

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Nick Dwyer, creative director from Beavertown Brewery, said: “Our initial ethos of everything looking as good as it tastes, and vice versa, has evolved over time to cover everything from experiences, to venues, to brick walls and shipping containers.

Read more: Kong’s is opening a sandwich shop at Hatch with crisp butties on the menu

“Our biggest illustration invasion to date, Hatch is a perfect opportunity to get Beavertown across via every sense imaginable, with our amazing beers on the bars, our distinctive visually adorning every wall and hopefully people having the time of their lives.”

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Pete Brizio, operations manager from Hatch, added: “Our new Beavertown Bar is set to be the hit of the summer in Manchester.

“Together with Beavertown we’ve created the perfect spot to enjoy the brand’s legendary range of IPAs and lager overlooking Hatch and sheltered by the Mancunian Way. It’s ‘summer in the city’ beer heaven!”

Featured image: Supplied

Food & Drink

Forget pub crawls – you can now go on a guided cheese crawl around Manchester

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

Manchester is a foodie’s paradise and with so many options at hand why not break it down into individual food groups – starting with the dairy crowd pleaser, cheese.

Long gone are the draining pub crawls of the past, it’s time to make way for the new pioneer in the world of adventurous crawling, ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’.

There’s always lots of food and drink options flowing throughout our bubbly city spanning all cuisines and cultures so it comes as no surprise that the latest way to experience Manchester is via cheese, a staple of many citizens’ diets.

On the tour, there will be insider knowledge on-hand as you wander the streets and sample the creamy delights, assisting you with any dying queso queries and pecorino ponders that you need to get off your chest.

There’ll be plenty of familiar independents on the Manchester Cheese Crawl, including Northern Soul’s impressive grilled cheese sandwiches as well as more traditional cheese samples.

How could this experience get any better I hear you ask, how about a free glass of fizz to accompany those already impressive cheese selections? Yes please! 

Guests can expect to sample some of Manchester’s dairy delights while being directed by some of Manchester’s top cheese connoisseurs that are the real big cheese.

Groups who take the tour aren’t just treated to food and drink, they also receive free entertainment from their food guides who are prepared to make you chuckle with their incredible humour.

Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire Cheese, a cheeseboard staple, has been recalled
The Manchester Cheese Crawl will feature plenty of bites for curd nerds
A selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.
A selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.
Credit: Unsplash

Previous visitors have commented on their experience while taking the tour sharing the names their groups received with highlights such as ‘Shaken not curd’ and ‘Three blind mice’.

They really are serious about their cheeses, another previous visitor who went on the tour revealed their guide even had a name that perfectly fit the occasion, ‘Mel the babybel’. 

It’s sure to be a fantastic day with games and activities planned for all as you walk between the shops landmarked on the cheese-filled route.

Everyone on the tour also gets a small taste of the high life as they are treated to a Lancashire cheese handmade by a local star and celebrity.

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Starting at the Richard Cobden Statue and finishing on the always vibrant Tib Street, a quick google search reveals this walk isn’t too strenuous taking only 12 minutes but with many cheeses to get your whiskers on it will probably take around an estimated two hours to tackle.

Running this Saturday 16 November and planned to continue until November 2025 and beyond, you’d be emmental to miss out on this cheesy adventure.

If all this cheese talk has left you dreaming about your next foodie fix, tickets for ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’ are on sale and available here.

Featured Image: Unsplash

Food & Drink

Ornella’s – The tiny Denton restaurant vying to be named one of the best in Greater Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

Ornella’s is one of those brilliant Greater Manchester restaurants that’s doing a totally roaring trade without rabbiting on about it too much.

From its tiny spot in the middle of Denton, this cosy Italian has got its head down and focused on cooking, and cooking really, really well.

The results speak for themselves. You will quite literally wait months to get a table here.

In fact if you’re thinking of making a reservation, you pretty much have two options – wait until next June, or eat lunch (as we did) at 11.30am on a Wednesday. Did the early hour stop me drinking a large Aperol Spritz though? Of course not. 

Ornella’s will always be worth the patience it takes to get your bum on a seat.

It all started as a lockdown project for Ornella Cancila, where customers would come and collect carefully-made Sicilian dishes from a bench outside her home.

And now it’s grown to be one of those local spots that Tameside residents are proud of, and everyone else in Greater Manchester is jealous of.

Inside Ornella's Italian restaurant in Denton. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside Ornella’s Italian restaurant in Denton. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside Ornella's Italian restaurant in Denton. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside Ornella’s Italian restaurant in Denton. Credit: The Manc Group

I’ve encountered a lot of people who have been to Ornella’s, and haven’t yet heard a single bad word said about it.

It’s actually on this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Festival shortlist, after being named the best affordable venue in the region last year.

Inside, there are just a couple of rows of tables in front of a deli counter displaying top-quality meats and other deli items.

Let’s get stuck into that main restaurant menu though, which is way more comprehensive than you’d expect for such a small space.

An arancini that looks exactly like Donald Trump. Credit: The Manc Group
An arancini that looks exactly like Donald Trump. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside another Ornella's arancini. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside another Ornella’s arancini. Credit: The Manc Group

There are a couple of different arancini on the menu, one of which looks exactly like Donald Trump – a rotund orange fried ball topped with a bright white wig of parmesan.

That one is stuffed with caramelised onion and saffron (unlike the real deal), while another comes with nduja and mozzarella with a hot honey drizzle.

A clear menu highlight is the pistachio carbonara with crispy guanciale pieces that burst in little salty mouthfuls against the rich and creamy pasta sauce.

There’s also a beef short rib that releases its grip on the bone with a gentle prod from a fork, falling into a pool of creamy parmesan gnocchi. It tastes exactly like how it feels to step into a warm house after being pelted by rain all day, or pulling on a pair of socks that have been warmed on a radiator. Pure comfort. 

The pistachio carbonara from Ornella's Kitchen. Credit: The Manc Group
The pistachio carbonara from Ornella’s Kitchen. Credit: The Manc Group
Pistachio gelato in a Sicilian brioche bun. Credit: The Manc Group
Pistachio gelato in a Sicilian brioche bun. Credit: The Manc Group

Truffle fans can’t go wrong with Ornella’s creamy truffle mafalde, covered in generous shavings of truffle and pecorino.

Ornella is generous with all of her cheese portions, actually – the sourdough garlic bread also arrives blanketed in the stuff.

I kick my feet under the table and actually giggle after taking a bite of the oven-baked conchiglioni shells, which are filled with pumpkin cream, sharp cheddar, pork sausage and a sourdough crumb. It flits from sweet to salt with every chew.

And then for desserts, you’ll find proper Italian pistachio gelato, served in a soft Sicilian brioche bun, and a Biscoff and white chocolate cheesecake that had me and my mate jousting with our forks for the last bite like really sh*t knights.

Ornella’s might not be a big space, but it’s destined for big things. Just good luck getting that reservation…

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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