If you haven’t watched Squid Game yet, then peer pressure clearly has nothing on you.
The hit Korean TV series has pipped Bridgerton to become the most-watched show on Netflix ever – and it seems that most of the country is currently pretty obsessed.
In the show, challenges must be completed in exchange for a huge cash prize – with over 400 debt-ridden contestants taking part in a series of life-or-death childrens’ games / Image: Netflix
In the show, challenges must be completed in exchange for a huge cash prize – with over 400 debt-ridden contestants taking part in a series of life-or-death childrens’ games. Successors pass through to the next round, whilst losers are swiftly ‘eliminated.’
Kids games played by contestants include ‘Red Light, Green LIght’, marbles, glass stepping stones, and a Dalgona honeycomb challenge that requires each player to carve a set shape out of their dish within a set time limit.
The Dalgona honeycomb challenge at A Nice Sip in the Corn Exchange gives you the choice of a circle, triangle, star or umbrella – just like in the Netflix show Squid Game / Image: elsaeats.food
In its third episode, which features the aforementioned sweet toffee treat challenge, contestants are forced to choose between four shapes – then battle against the clock to remove theirs from its tin, unscathed, before time runs out.
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This is done by etching through the Dalgona, a nostalgic winter Korean toffee candy made with melted sugar and baking soda. A popular street snack in the 70s and 80s, back then vendors would often challenge their young customers to trim the toffee away from the image using only a pin – as is depicted in the show.
To play the challenge at A Nice Sip, you need to buy two drinks. You can take part throughout October / Image: elsaeats.food
Rewards were often given back in the day, be that free candy, money, or a gift, with common shapes including circles, stars, and triangles. At A Nice Sip, though, your only reward is emerging victorious with a few great drinks in hand.
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The challenge itself is more difficult than it looks, especially as the treat cools and becomes more brittle. If you think you’ve got what it takes, though, you can give the challenge a go throughout October at city centre Corn Exchange cafe A Nice Sip.
The entrance to Hong Kong bubble tea cafe A Nice Sip in The Corn Exchange / Image: A Nice Sip
The newly-opened bubble tea spot is running the challenge throughout the month, but don’t worry there won’t be any faceless, red-suited guards with guns watching you.
To have a go, you simply need to purchase two drinks from the cafe – which sells everything from fruit tea to hot chocolate, coffee, and traditional Oolong tea. You can choose to tackle one of the four shapes available in the game, opting for either a circle, triangle, star or umbrella.
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Image: A Nice Sip
The Hong Kong cafe also sells a selection of tasty treats, from ice cream and fruit-loaded bubble waffles to matcha macaroons and toffee apple milkshakes.
The trendy bubble cafe first originated in Hong Kong before expanding into Asia, then coming to the UK in July 2018. It specialises in fine tea, which is brewed to exacting specifications on site daily.
You can find A Nice Sip inside Manchester’s iconic Corn Exchange, or the business also has two other sites in the Arndale Market and in Salford. However, the Dalgona challenge is only available at the Corn Exchange site.
To find out more, visit their website or follow them on Instagram here.
Featured Image – A Nice Sip / Netflix
Manchester
The new restaurants and bars opening in Manchester this month | April 2023
Georgina Pellant
Spring has arrived, and with it, Manchester has ushered in a whole host of new restaurant and bar openings in April.
From a new pasta concept over on Peter Street from the brains behind Gooey to whole loaves of sourdough filled with Full English fry ups in Ancoats, plus a stunning new contemporary Chinese restaurant on the edge of the Gay Village, there are so many new places popping up in the city centre to try this month.
Further afield, Hatch on Oxford Road welcomes three new traders whilst in Chorlton the family behind Barlow Moor Road’s Progress Convenience expand to open their first cafe, and over in Didsbury Village the former Botanist site reopens as new gastro pub The Wishing Well.
Keep reading to discover the best new restaurants and bars opening in Manchester this April.
Bread and Bowl at Ancoats General Store
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
This week Ancoats General Store has welcomed a new kitchen takeover from Bread and Bowl – home of one of Manchester’s naughtiest fry-ups.
Filled with fry-up favourites like high-grade local sausages, crispy streaky bacon, beans, cheese, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and hash browns, they are seriously impressive.
Alongside Charlotte’s famous Full English bread bowls, you’ll also find a brand new sandwich menu featuring breakfast burritos and all-day butties like the brilliantly-named ‘Meat Sweats’.
Open now
Onda at Exhibition
Image: The Manc Eatsa
Image: The Manc Eatsa
From the team behind Gooey and Michelin-trained chef Sam Astley-Dean (formerly of Rise pizza), new pasta concept Onda arrives inside Exhibition – taking over the space left empty by Great British Menu chef Caroline Martin’s recent departure.
Serving up a core menu of pasta small plates from £6 alongside starters of arancini, mixed vegetable fritti, and proper crunchy garlic bread with parsley butter, you’ll also find some giant family-style sharers on the menu here – not least, a huge plate of lumache alla vodka.
Onda’s arrival heralds an overturn to the dining concept at Exhibition, with new ‘approachable’ revised menus also on offer from neighbouring kitchens Baratxuri and Osma. Food is served until 9pm.
Open now
Read more:The team behind Gooey has launched a new pasta concept on Peter Street
Rio Mex at Hatch
Tacos at Rio Mex inside Hatch. / Image: The Manc Eats
Michelin-trained Great British Menu chef Caroline Martins. / Image: The Manc Eats
Having previously wowed Mancs with her fine-dining Sao Paulo Project menus at Blossom Street Social, not to mention starring in the north west heat of the BBC show Great British Menu, Martins is now also dabbling – eloquently, might we add – in the world of street food.
Inspired by her passion for the food of her home country of Brazil, combined with the time she spent living in Texas, Rio Mex sees one of Manchester’s most exciting chefs reflecting two of her favourite cuisines.
Must-try taco fillings include baja fish with biquinho pepper mayo and lime sour cream, ground pork al pastor with pineapple salsa, a five-hour chilli con carne with beef and black beans, and a melt-in-the-mouth barbacoa with cheddar sauce and house pickles.
Open now
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Home Contemporary Chinese
Crispy Brown Rice Cheung Fu. / Image: Home Contemporary Chinese
Image: Home Contemporary Chinese
Newly opened on the edge of Manchester’s Gay Village, Home Contemporary Chinese takes over the old Jasmine Lebanses restaurant space and is serving up exactly what its name suggests.
The menu is large, with a strong focus on Cantonese dishes. Think roasted meats, plenty of dim sum (all freshly-made on site), plus heaps of congee, soups and hot pot, and some interesting twists such as a ‘volcano omlette’.
On the bar, meanwhile, you’ll find a strong wine list featuring several Chinese bottles alongside crowd pleasing favourites, plus a mix of softs and other beverages.
Archie’s
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Image: The Manc Eatsa
Image: The Manc Eatsa
Not exactly a new opening but certainly a new look, Archie’s has just reopened after revamping its Oxford Road restaurant to include an all-pink subway carriage.
The beloved burger and shake bar has just unveiled a ‘subway station’ in the basement as part of the Oxford Road site’s £1m transformation.
Diners can now tuck into their smashed burgers, wings and tater tots from their own train booth.
Open now
Progress Caribbean, Chorlton
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Image: Facebook
Image: Facebook
Chorlton’s Afro Caribbean and European convenience store Progress has just opened its own takeaway shop and cafe, building on the success of its popular in-house hot food offering.
Locals are already raving about the dishes, which include plates of oxtail, fried chicken and curried chicken from £5.50 and patties from £2.
Open now
Crumbled at Hatch
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Crumbled has opened at Hatch underneath the Mancunian Way selling pots of apple and rhubarb crumble with unlimited custard.
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Opened by Manchester-born fashion model Chloe Peers, the stall offers two different types of crumbles with some eye-popping toppings including edible glitter, rose petals, Biscoff crumb and huge scoops of ice cream.
Customers can also opt to pay an additional £1 to enjoy unlimited custard refills, something that is well worth it when you find yourself halfway down the pot.
Open now
Suki Sukiat Great Northern Warehouse
Image: The Manc Eats
Suki Suki co-owner Raushan Kumar. / Image: The Manc Eats
A new pan-Asian eatery and bar has opened inside the Great Northern Warehouse from the same family behind Manchester restaurant Namaste Nepal serving up bao, dumplings and steaming bowls of ramen noodles alongside fun cocktails and a selection of craft beer.
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Called Suki Suki, it is split over three floors: housed within an exposed brick archway and delicately decked with Herringbone booth seating, high bar stools, ambient lighting and rattan finishings.
Open now
The Wishing Well
Outside The Wishing Well. / Image: The Manc Eats
Fish and chips at The Wishing Well. / mage: The Manc Eats
Taking over the former Botanist site in Didsbury village, brand new gastro pub The Wishing Well is bringing traditional British classics to the neighbourhood.
Think big plates of fish and chips, ham, egg and chips, and a steak pie with proper mash, plus traditional roasts every Sunday in cosy settings with big wooden tables and industrial fittings.
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Open now
Pelican
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Manchester brewery Squawk has opened a new bar in the Northern Quarter this week, taking over the former Beatnikz taproom site.
Called Pelican, it is the first bricks-and-mortar site for the indie brewery favourite which first launched in Manchester ten years ago.
Now, fans of Squawk’s locally-brewed beers will be able to head down to Dale Street for a taste of its famous fruity IPAs, light lagers and punchy sours.
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Open now
Phukt at Hatch
Loaded masala fries at Phukt. / Image: The Manc Eats
The butter chicken burger at Phukt. / Image: The Manc Eats
Phukt completes the lineup of new food traders at Hatch this March, promising a ‘feast from the East’ with its tandoori gyros and biryani burritos, chaats, salads, dirty burgers and more.
Must-tries at Pakistani and Indian fusion spot Phukt include the butter chicken burger (served with its own pot of incredible ‘secret’ sauce) and loaded masala fries.
Open now
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
Music memorabilia shop with a difference opens in Manchester, and it’s a shrine to all things 1990s
Daisy Jackson
A new music memorabilia shop filled with items created by the legendary design outfit Microdot has opened in Manchester.
For the uninitiated, Microdot – founded by industry icon Brian Cannon – was behind some of the world’s most famous album covers.
The studio created record sleeve artwork for every piece of music released by Oasis and Verve in the 1990s, from the living room of Definitely, Maybe to the sunken Rolls-Royce in a swimming pool for Be Here Now.
Unlike other music memorabilia stores, everything inside the new Microdot Manchester store has been created by the design outfit.
It’s all displayed on walls and rails like a museum – but just about everything is up for sale.
One exception is a fireplace standing on one wall, which featured on Oasis’s Definitely, Maybe album cover and is currently on loan from Bonehead himself.
Microdot Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupMicrodot Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupMicrodot Manchester. Credit: Supplied
Particularly fascinating are the annotated sketches from Brian, where’s he’s revealed some behind-the-scenes insight into these legendary album covers.
Like the familiar assortment of items around the pool on Be Here Now? Yeah, totally random stuff picked by Liam and Noel. No significance at all.
And that man with a moustache who pops up on three different Oasis covers, including the D’ You Know What I Mean artwork? It’s Brian’s dad…
You’ll also find walls covered in photo prints, from behind-the-scenes images to pictures of bands on tour, from the Gallagher brothers to John Cooper Clarke.
The shop is selling rare signed memorabilia dating back to the 1990s, alongside band t-shirts and prints.
Microdot founder Brian Cannon said: “We are very excited to be in Manchester, bringing with us a unique offering, friendly and knowledgable staff, and a great place to hang out.”
Operations manager Ben Mason added: “Manchester, for so long synonymous with musical heritage, is for us the perfect place to launch the new Microdot store.”
Microdot Manchester is located at 6 King Street and is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, and on Sundays from 11am until 5pm.
Georgina Pellant -
19th October 2021 
