Three years on from its opening under the Grade-II listed railway archways in central Manchester, Manchester Gin’s bar and restaurant is very much settling into its surroundings.
As sleek and stylish as ever, it has recently introduced a new signature cocktail menu – the third in as many years – celebrating the processes behind its spirit-making operation next door at The Spirit of Manchester Distillery with a 16-strong drinks list.
No longer content with just making gin, the team has branched out to explore the worlds of rum, vodka, vermouth and even absinthe – the famous ‘naughty water’ beloved by artists like Picasso, Gaudi, Hemingway and Dali.
Image: The Manc Eats
Its new Bar & Drinks Development Manager, Daniel Clarke, has put together a new menu ‘Ground to Glass’ to showcase all of these new creations, whilst in the kitchen Head Chef Karl Kivell is busy crafting fresh, flavourful small plates – all thoughtfully developed to complement the cocktails on offer.
From a hearty Italian-inspired sausage roll served with mustard-yellow apple ketchup to beef skirt marinated in the house-made spiced One-Eyed Rebel Rum, Karl had certainly had some fun with the food menu.
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Whipped cheese with radishes, beer-battered fish with shoestring fries and curry sauce and prawns in a rich and spicy tomato ‘nduja sauce all make for pleasant table-fillers as you tuck into the impressive cocktails.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Elsewhere, an anchovy and heirloom tomato salad is prepared with Manchester Gin Wild Spirit, whilst on the dessert menu sweet tooths will find a Manchester Raspberry Infused Millefeuille, giving another boozy hit to the food menu here.
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As for the drinks, hero cocktails include ‘For Miso Sake’, an Asian-inspired cocktail featuring Manchester Gin Wild Spirit, red pepper, plum saké, jasmine and miso, served in a glass inside a traditional Japanese Masu Box, and the striking ‘Under Pressure’, a smoky delight with Manchester Gin Raspberry Infused, watermelon infused Aperol, mint, lime distillate and apple, topped with a show-stopping bubble made from citrus.
Having recently won the Team of the Year at the Top 50 Cocktail Bar Awards, the venue is “really pushing” themselves, says Jen Wiggins, owner at Three Little Words and co-founder of The Spirit of Manchester Distillery.
The ‘For Miso Sake’ cocktail is a new addition at Three Little Words. / Image: Three Little Words
“In this menu, we wanted to hone in on the countless fascinating processes that take place to turn grains and plants into the spirits and drinks that we all love. Every day in our distillery we work with these processes from distilling, extracting, infusing and macerating.
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“We’ve taken 16 of these processes and harnessed them to inspire the cocktails and some of their ingredients on this menu, but it’s not style over substance – we’ve ensured that each cocktail has a place on the menu.
“In addition to our new cocktail menu, our new food menu perfectly pairs up with our enticing drinks offering, with several dishes incorporating our very own inhouse tipples into the recipe – making the menus a true match made in heaven.”
To see the full menu and book a table, visit the Three Little Words website here.
Feature image – Three Little Words
Feature
We’ve found some of the best Chinese food in town – being served out of a snooker hall
Danny Jones
Yes, you heard us right: we’ve stumbled across one of our favourite new places for Chinese food just on the outskirts of Manchester city centre – it just so happens to be served out of a best-in-class snooker hall.
And that really is just the tip of the iceberg here.
Some of you may have heard about and/or seen it already, but we’ll admit we were a little late to the party when it comes to Club 200, a.k.a. the pool, snooker, darts, mahjong club and more, which has so many different things rolled into that it’s really more a Russian doll than a Chinese restaurant or sports venue.
The hook speaks for itself: a place where people spend just as much time practising with chopsticks as they do their cues, as it really isn’t a gimmick, as some pessimistic folk would have you think – the food is banging and so are the vibes in general.
Not only is this quite literally the best snooker club in Manchester – complete with everything from classic American billiards and Chinese 8-ball to king-size snooker tables that the Ronnie O’Sullivan has played and won on, to a special AI system you won’t find anywhere else – it is SO much more than that.
Whilst the backroom was packed with everyone from casuals to those looking to get their pro certification via the official Q Tour, and lads in the front were practising their arrows, as co-owner Simon admitted they get almost just as many darts regulars these days, a storm was cooking up in the kitchen.
It would be unfair to say this place doubles as a bar and restaurant, because we really couldn’t get over how well put together this menu was.
‘Café 200’s food offerings involve classics like fried rice and chow mein dishes, to the kind of sides you could expect from your local Chinese chippy, but it’s even more authentic exports that really impress.
For instance, the beef ho fun seemed to be a big hit with everyone; we loved the salty seafood udon as well (a great chew on those noodles), and we know plenty of people still searching for proper Hong Kong-style French toast – they might just find it here.
Speaking of the special administrative region, which has a twisting and turning but nevertheless rich culinary culture all of its own, that last dish had us hopping with joy.
You’re looking at baked Portuguese rice: a Macau speciality rooted in the region’s colonial history.
We’ve never quite had anything like it before, even in all of our years eating this kind of cuisine around the 10 boroughs, but we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
And then there’s everything else they do, from karaoke and bingo nights to catering for birthdays and other functions, or even just serving as a cool, somewhat tucked-away spot to watch the footy and other live sport come the weekend.
You can tell this place has built up a real community over the last 18 months or so, and while the food speaks for itself, it’s the sheer abundance and variety going on that makes it especially charming to so many.
Speaking of jack-of-all-trade venues, we stumbled across a similar multi-talented one over in Salford not so long ago, too…
‘Manc the Biff’: the Co-op Live crowd made the Clyro boys welcome on debut
Danny Jones
It feels like we’ve been waiting a long time to welcome Biffy Clyro back to Manchester, and they really didn’t disappoint on their Co-op Live debut.
Here’s our review of what was a proper rock show.
After a strong lineup of support acts with The Armed and Soft Play (formerly Slaves) injecting plenty of early energy into the crowds, already knew two things: the Scots wouldn’t disappoint, and a Manc crowd NEVER lets you down.
We knew everyone was on top form from the moment the Kilmarnock icons stepped out on stage under a swathe of blankets to the opener from their latest album, Futique.
Once the curtain was eventually lifted during ‘A Little Love’, which has quickly become one of the most popular singles for some time, you could see the sea of fans below start bouncing.
Rolling into the likes of ‘Hunting Season’ and Only Revolutions classic, ‘The Captain’, those bounces quite quickly turned into a healthy-sized pit, and those up in the stands with us finally got on their feet.
That was maybe our only complaint: we love seeing a seated section pretending they’re in standing from their start, but we get it and each to their own, of course.
In fact, the same goes for the rest of the session players joining them on the road this year.
One thing we weren’t expecting was quite how cool the production levels were going to be. We’ve never been Biffy fans for their creativity when it comes to toying with stage design or lighting rigs, but they threw in some fun effects regardless.
Highlights from the night included ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’, ‘Bubbles’, and ‘Black Chandelier’, though we were sad not to hear ‘Victory Over The Sun’, and it was especially gutting that one of our favourite tracks from the new record, ‘True Believer’, didn’t end up on the setlist.
Again, you can’t have anything – we’re just glad we got to be there and see a truly great British rock band proving that they are well and truly an arena-level band.
Lastly, even after all the years and an X-Factor cover trying its hardest to take the credit away from them, ‘Many of Horror’ is still an unbelievable rock ballad, and d’ya know who is an unbelievable rock band? “Biffy. F***ing. Clyroooooo.”
Georgina Pellant -
8th July 2022 
