Food & Drink

The Manc Eats: This week’s food and drink hit list feat. a record store moonlighting as a bar

New additions include black forest gateaux martinis and a Tex Mex spot in the former Walrus site.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 20th July 2021

Today, “freedom” is technically upon us. But for Manchester’s bars and restaurants, things feel less “free” than ever – with the industry caught up in the midst of what’s being referred to as a ‘pingdemic’.

With many hospitality staff forced to isolate even with negative tests and no symptoms, questions are being asked if there’s a better way to run things – especially as other guidance is being dropped and new test programmes are piloted as an alternative to isolation.

This week, pub giant Greene King has had to close thirteen sites due to staff shortages.

But amid the chaos, there is a silver lining, at least. From today, you’ll be able to go to the bar with no need to sign in at venues or order via an app. And there’s some good news close to home, too.

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Gary Usher’s Kala is finally reopening its doors after a prolonged period of closure – and we’ve tipped the restaurant as one of our places to go this week for that very reason. They’ve recently launched a fab new bar menu, but haven’t really been able to serve it much yet.

Keep reading to find out more about what they’ve got going on, plus our other top picks for this week.

Movement Bar is a new addition to Tib Street where you can grab a top craft beer and the latest 12″ / Image: Movement Bar

A Northern Quarter record store that moonlights as a bar

A new craft beer and wine bar in the Northern Quarter that also sells records? Or a record store selling booze? Either way, we’re here for it.

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Recently opened by the duo behind Manchester record label Small Moves Records (including Jez Kerr, of A Certain Ratio fame), the drinks selection here is actually pretty extensive with European breweries like Paulaner, Siren and House Party on draught, plus some rarified craft bottles and a decent wine and Japanese whiskey collection.

Find Movement Bar at 84 Tib St, Manchester M4 1LG, open Wednesday to Saturday.

Kala recently launched a new bar menu that includes this gorgeous peppered feather blade steak sandwich / Image: Kala

King Street favourite Kala emerges from isolation

Gary Usher’s Kala has been beset with track and trace problems of late, having to close repeatedly – or so it feels.

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As of this Wednesday, the team is back with all the usual menu favourites – plus a new bar snack menu that includes some mouthwatering additions, like £10 peppered feather blade steak sandwiches served inside a sesame roll.

If you visit, make sure to get the pistachio and raspberry Bakewell tart too. It’s a revelation.

Find Kala at 55 King St, Manchester M2 4LQ. from midday on Wednesday 21 July

The Mews is a new opening from the team behind Alvarium in the Northern Quarter / Image: The Mews

Black forest gateaux martinis and sexy charcuterie from the Alvarium team

Brand new opening The Mews comes from the team behind the popular NQ spot Alvarium. They are collaborating with The Crafty Cheese Man, aka Jonathan Pearcey, to produce some super sexy charcuterie and cheese boards – creating a new killer food and drink combo in this often forgotten section of town.

Think nibbly treats like whipped goats cheese and mascarpone with chilli jam, served alongside top-quality seasonal cocktails like black forest gateaux martinis and a Japanese ‘forest bathing’ inspired Old Fashioned with Nikka and fennel syrup, plus a banging wine list and beer selection.

Tucked away on Deansgate Mews (on the elevated walkway between Deansgate and the GNW), if you’re looking for a chilled spot to enjoy a few quality drinks in the sun you can’t go wrong here.

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Find The Mews at The Mews Bar and Charcuterie, Deansgate, Manchester M3 4EN.

The Higher Ground team will bring a natural wine pop-up to Pollen later this month before opening their own site / Image: Flawd

A natural wine pop-up from the team behind Higher Ground

Flawd Wine is a new concept from the team behind Higher Ground. Serving low-intervention wines and small plates of British cheese as well as charcuterie and ferments from the award-winning Curing Rebels based in Brighton, it is set to open a new home in New Islington this September.

Ahead of that, though, the team – which includes Joseph Otway, formerly Head Chef of Where The Light Gets In – is running a series of pop-up events at Pollen throughout July and August to give the neighbourhood a taste of what’s to come.

Find Flawd popping up at Pollen every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 23 July until 15 August, before they open their own space in September.

Man With Fish is influenced by America’s southern saloons and is being opened inside what was formerly Walrus / Image: Man With Fish

A new Tex Mex bar in the former Walrus site

Named by the owner’s daughter, Man With Fish is influenced by America’s southern saloons and is being opened inside what was formerly Walrus.

Brought to Manchester by the same team that brought us Quarter House on Stevenson Square, think Tex Mex-style food with a big BBQ pull courtesy of charcoal grill nerd Jason Latham, plus a whopping 17 different beers on tap.

Find Man With Fish at 78-88 High St, Manchester M4 1ES from July 19 at 5pm.

Food & Drink

This Manchester food hall is selling ice cream made from the world’s stinkiest fruit

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

A Manchester food hall is serving up a new ice cream flavour that it claims is the stinkiest in the world.

For those unfamiliar with durian, it’s essentially the marmite of the fruit world. Famous for having a truly terrible smell that’s been unfavourably compared to cat p*ss, it’s so pungent that it’s actually been made illegal to eat it on the subway in Singapore.

No such restrictions apply here in Manchester, though, where Hello Oriental, the new(ish) three-storey Asian street food hall on Oxford Road, is causing something of a stir with its stinky but delicious new addition to its soft serve menu.

Served in cute little bear and taiyaki fish-shaped cones, typical flavours on offer through the week here include ube (purple yam), pandan leaf, charcoal, mango and vanilla.

Credit: The Manc Group
The durian soft serve Credit: Supplied

But now, alongside those brightly-coloured, exotic soft serve flavours you’ll also find something a little bit more controversial. Durian soft serve.

Whilst no one seems to disagree on the terrible stench, when it comes to how the fruit actually tastes there are a mixture of comparisons.

Managing to be sweet, creamy and savoury all at once, some say it tastes like “diced garlic and caramel poured into whipped cream”.

The new supermarket at Hello Oriental. Credit: The Manc Group

Others have referred to “subtle hints of chives mixed with powdered sugar”.

Described by Hello Oriental as “one of the most addictive flavours to ever cross your tastebuds”, it’s safe to say that South Asia’s durian fruit ‘isn’t for everyone’ but, if you can get past its uniquely ferocious pong, you are in for a deliciously wild ride.

Available from Hello Oriental on weekends only, the durian batch of soft serve is specially prepared by the team fresh on Saturday and Sunday mornings and available to enjoy from 1pm.

Read more: Manchester’s tiniest tapas bar has found a new home in the Northern Quarter

Located just off Oxford Road, around the corner from Hatch, Hello Oriental offers uncensored
East Asian street food across three storeys.

Comprising a restaurant, bar, cafe, events space and fully stocked supermarket, it recently received a rave review in the Times, with Marina O’Loughlin calling it a “northern powerhouse of Asian street food”.

Featured image – The Manc Eats

Food & Drink

Manchester restaurant famed for ‘inflexible’ tasting menu completely flips the script

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

Since its arrival in Manchester, Michelin-recommended new wave Thai BBQ favourite District has staked its reputation on two things: fantastically surreal, delicious food and an extremely inflexible tasting menu.

Until recently its diners have had two choices, opt for the ten-course tasting menu or spring for the twelve, and whilst everyone I’ve ever known to go has swooned in delight over the whole experience, there’s no denying it hardly makes for a cheap night out (or an easily organised one).

Deposits have always been required up front, and adaptions have famously never been made for a customer’s dislikes, or even religious needs. It’s for this reason, and this reason alone, that until last week I’d never made it over – despite wanting desperately to go.

Simply put, I’d just struggled to find anyone prepared to give up a whole evening (and a shed load of cash) to come with me. Amazing, I know, but thankfully, that’s all now changed.

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

Read more: Chefs refusing to cater for dietary issues listed as hospitality trend for 2022

Last year, the kitchen made headlines after getting embroiled in a ‘religious diet’ row with a Jewish customer who’d taken umbrage with its refund policy.

The whole affair culminated with District posting the entire altercation to its social media pages, alongside a caption stating it ‘will not be bullied or threatened into returning deposits’.

During the row, the customer had asked, “why not shout loud on your homepage ‘We don’t cater for Jews’”. Still, they held firm.

A year on and it seems that external pressures may have caused that iron will to buckle, because for the first time ever the Michelin-acclaimed restaurant has moved to offer dishes individually.

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

In a complete change of direction, diners can now pop in off the cuff to enjoy a few plates and a couple of drinks. Personally, I think it’s the best news ever, but then I would. It’ll be much easier to get my friends in now.

Suddenly one of the best restaurants in the city has become so much more accessible, and its timing couldn’t be better. After all, we’re all getting poorer, and whilst not everyone has £100 to spend on dinner, everyone deserves a taste of the magic happening in the kitchen here.

Whilst the restaurant maintains that diners can either curate their own District experience or simply pop in for a few dishes, on our visit it is very much a small plate, tapas-style service, with everything appearing on the table in front of us in quick succession.

Read more: Manchester’s tiniest tapas bar has found a new home in the Northern Quarter

Translucent stone bass (£9) floats alien-like in its dish with crispy purple yam antennae suspended above a shimmering nam jim, whilst a pinky-purple pigeon satay (£9) is rich and gamey, dressed with sweetcorn, pumpkin seeds and crisped turnip all unfolding on the plate like a flower in bloom.

Every dish here is a surprise, ranging from a beautifully fresh salad of peach, pear, ginger and shrimp floss, to chicken fat rice, which comes showered in a generous helping of crumbed crispy skin.

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

That rule extends into the desserts too. Homemade ‘tangfastic’ tamarind and chicken fat fudge sweets appear, suspended, on their own white marble platform like some sort of futuristic offering.

Elsewhere, a calamansi curd pavlova with sheeps yoghurt and passion fruit reinvents any preconceived notions I might have had about Thai food – or pavlova for that matter.

As Marina O’Loughiling wrote in her review of District for The Times last year, this is “Thai, but not as we know it”.

Read more: Chefs refusing to cater for dietary issues listed as hospitality trend for 2022

Speaking on the change of direction for the restaurant, owner Ben Humphries said: “We are passionate about creating the highest quality experience for our customers.

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“Our aim is to capture the essence of Thai flavours whilst maintaining the highest quality produce, suppliers and dishes.

“Changing our service style will give us creative freedom in the kitchen. We can develop dishes that don’t have to fit into a tasting menu format. We will also have the opportunity to offer daily changing special dishes.”

The new menu is available now with bookings being taken under ‘New Wave Thai’ on District’s bookings page here.

Feature image – The Manc Eats

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