Food & Drink

The new Manchester fried chicken roast dinner with ‘skin crackling’

The bar for Sunday roasts in Manchester has been raised.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 3rd August 2021

There’s a new fried chicken roast dinner breaking onto the scene in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and it sounds absolutely incredible.

Consisting of a giant Yorkshire pudding, sweet potato mash, roasties, veg, crispy chicken skin and Kong’s signature fried chicken thigh, all this then comes topped with chicken gravy to provide hungover Mancunians with the ultimate Sunday cure.

Using thigh meat, the chicken here is brined for three hours, rolled in a secret spice mix, then double-dredged for a crispier texture. And if that’s not enough to tempt you, did we mention that the fried chicken roast also comes with a game-changing extra layer of fried crispy chicken skin ‘crackling’?

Phwoar.

A close up of the fried chicken roast dinner from Kong’s Chicken Shop / Image: Kong’s Chicken Shop
The fried chicken roast in all its glory with Yorkshire pudding, sweet potato mash, roasties, veg, crispy chicken skin and Kong’s signature fried chicken thigh / Image: The Greek Eats MCR

The fried chicken roast is the latest creation to come out of Kong’s Chicken Shop – the brainchild of Tom Potts (bar manager at CBRB and all-around fried chicken mastermind).

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The fried chicken roast premiered last weekend and seems to have been a hit, as he’s now decided to run it again this Sunday 8 August – albeit in limited numbers.

Sharing the news to Instagram page yesterday, Kong’s said: “Don’t know if you heard but we dropped a fried chicken roast yesterday. A lot of you have been asking if we’ll do it again next Sunday…

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“Well, we are yeah! Obviously! And hopefully every Sunday maybe forever?

“If you’ve been following up from our humble beginnings as a collection pop-up at CBRB you might remember that we asked you to pre order and book a time slot through our DM’s.

“If you want to secure a roast on Sunday, drop us a DM with what you’d like and if it’s a chicken or veggie! Walk-ins will be available but we’re only doing very limited numbers so if you don’t wanna chance it slide into those DMs.”

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Kong’s ultimate chicken sandwich / Image: Lous Brews

Up until now, Kong’s has been all about the wings, burgers, and tater tots, so this new fried chicken roast makes an exciting new addition to the lineup.

The fried chicken passion project, which first started life as a pop-up out of CBRB, is currently operating out of Northern Monk’s kitchen on weekends. If you want to get a fried chicken roast this weekend, that’s where you want to head.

They’re serving up their regular menu across the weekend too, but if you want to head down on Sunday for your fried chicken roast dinner fix, it’s worth dropping them a message first to secure your plate as the numbers are going to be limited this weekend.

You can hit Kong’s Chicken Shop up on Instagram here.

Food & Drink

Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK

Danny Jones Danny Jones Tesco VAR self checkout video

Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.

So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’

Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.

Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.

We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.

Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.

Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.

Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.

Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.

As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.

Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”

While it is obviously an effort to curb stealing, which remains one of the big drawbacks of self-service (shoplifting in England and Wales went up by 20% last year), Tesco has insisted that the goal is to improve convenience.

Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.

“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”

What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?

Read more:

You can now get a Pot Noodle as part of your Tesco meal deal
We don’t know about Tesco perpetuating VAR, but we can definitely get behind this one – that’s for damn sure.

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Featured Images — Tesco PLC/pin add/Mikey (via Flickr)

Food & Drink

Popular Manchester restaurant bar to give out FREE sausage rolls to people called ‘Greg’

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Sausage roll

One of Manchester’s much-loved restaurant bars is doing a free sausage roll giveaway next week… but there’s a catch.

The catch being you have to have a certain name in particular.

It was only last week that popular high street chain Pret A Manger announced it would be slinging out free sandwiches to any Mancs with ‘Nic’ in their name over the late May bank holiday weekend, and now Tariff & Dale is getting it on the giveaway action, and it’s all to celebrate the iconic event that is National Sausage Roll Day.

In case you didn’t know – which is very likely, let’s be real – next Thursday (5 June) is the day dedicated to all things sausage roll.

So what better way to mark the occasion than with free portions of Tariff & Dale‘s legendary meaty treat?

The popular Northern Quarter restaurant bar is known for its creative comfort food, craft beers and cocktails, and laid-back industrial vibe, with one of the cult-classic dishes on its menu having always been the honey pork sausage roll – which just so happens to be a whopping 15-inches long, by the way.

Resembling something more of a pork wellington than a sausage roll, if you will, the dish is crispy, golden, and glazed with honey on top.

But to celebrate National Sausage Roll day, instead of parting with £9.50 for a portion or £48 for the full 15-inch thing, people with one specific name can actually get a slice for completely free of charge.

Tariff & Dale sausage roll
Tariff & Dale is giving away FREE sausage rolls to people with this name next week / Credit: Supplied

And that name is ‘Greg’, because if we’re honest, when it comes to sausage rolls, we all tend to think of Greggs.

So whether your surname is Gregory or Gregson, or you’re simply just called Greg, then all you need to do to claim your complimentary slice of sausage roll heaven is head on down to Tariff & Dale next Thursday 5 June from 12pm up until 9pm.

Read more:

Make sure you show your valid ID proving your name when you order at the bar, and get ready to stuff your face.

Failing that, anyone not called Greg will just have to pop into actual Greggs instead.

Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons

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