Indian street food favourite Bundobust has announced it will be launching a Middle Eastern-Indian fusion menu at its Manchester restaurants over the coming weeks to welcome Liverpool’s Maray to the city.
Teaming up with Maray, the popular Liverpool Bold Street restaurant tipped to open on Lincoln Square later this year, the chefs have put their heads together to introduce something a little bit different this fortnight.
Available for the next wo weeks only, a series of new collab dishes combine some famous Bundo customer favourites, like the bhel puri, okra fries and vada pav, with Maray’s most iconic dishes – not least, the infamous disco cauliflower.
The ‘valafel pav’ is only available for a fortnight before it’s gone. / Image: The Manc Eats
It combines the deep-fried potato ball we know and love with Maray’s falafel. / Image: The Manc Eats
Bundo’s okra fries become ‘jazzy fries’ – topped with tahini, tamarind, spring onion and chilli, and served with a Maray sauce trio of harrisa, zhug and tahini.
Elsewhere, the Bundobust vada pave becomes the valafel pav – taking the ever-popular deep-fried potato burger and adding Maray’s signature falafel into the mix.
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As for Maray’s disco cauliflower, this inimitable dish weaves its way into Bundo’s bhel puri. Sharing the disco love, this classic Mumbai broken samosa dish is dressed with added caramelised cauli, flaked almonds and pomegranate seeds.
A selection of special Maray variations on Bundobust favourites, available for two weeks only. / Image:The Manc Eats
There is also halloumi tikka served with sour cherry jam, dukkah and sumac, available as part of the collaboration between the two restaurants.
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The special menu is available for two weeks, starting from Monday 9 May at both Bundobust sites on Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly,
Kicking off on Monday 9 May, Bundobust Brewery on Oxford Road along with their Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Bold Street restaurants bring Middle Eastern-Indian fusion to the specials menu with a series of collab dishes.
Image: The Manc Eats
The special menu will be available as single dishes or as the ‘Bundobust x Maray Combo for 2′.
£2 from every combo and £1 from every Valafel Pav sold will be donated to Eat Well MCR, the social enterprise providing nutritious, restaurant-quality meals to local people in need.
The menu will is available from now until Sunday 22 May at both of Bundobust’s Manchester restaurants.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
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Pat Regan at the Fairfield Social Club – a brilliantly unhinged evening of standup comedy
Clementine Hall
There’s a particular kind of chaos that only Pat Regan can deliver, and the recently re-recognised Fairfield Social Club got the full force of it last night.
Making his Manchester debut as part of the ‘A Lovely Time’ series at the equally as lovely Fairfield Social Club, the New York comic, writer, and podcast host arrived with the energy of someone who had already lived through three emotional breakdowns before breakfast and somehow still had the worst to come.
Known for his work on HBO’s Hacks and the cult-favourite podcast Seek Treatment with fellow comic Catherine Cohen, Regan’s stand-up feels less like your traditional comedy set and more like being trapped in the world’s funniest group chat.
The perfectly intimate room beneath Fairfield’s railway arches was packed with adoring fans who were immediately on side as Regan launched into stories about traumatic trips to Paris, Grindr dates, massage tables and having crushes at the gym.
The audience was in the palm of his slightly sweaty hands (don’t worry, he’ll be fine with me saying so), laughing at every awkward punchline and self-deprecating anecdote.
The material is nothing groundbreaking, but this is what makes it so deeply hilarious; never before has shopping for the perfect pair of jeans been so serious and unserious at the same time.
There was laughter rolling through the venue for virtually the entire set, and after an hour of never-ending quips and jokes, we were left wanting more.
And the best part is, it won’t be long until we get more from this place, and it’s no wonder they’re starting to get the hosting plaudits they deserve.
It’s safe to say Fairfield Social Club has become one of Manchester’s most exciting homes for alternative comedy, and this felt like exactly the sort of booking that justifies its growing reputation.
By the time Regan left the stage, the audience looked equal parts exhausted and delighted. An absolutely classy evening indeed.
Find out about what else is on at the Fairfield Social Club HERE.
First-ever JD Wetherspoon pub to open at Manchester Airport
Danny Jones
In news that we feel many Mancs and travellers all-round have been waiting on for a long time, the well-known British chain, JD Wetherspoon, will be opening its first-ever pub at Manchester Airport.
That’s right: soon that first airport pint of the holiday could actually be a relatively cheap one.
While Wetherspoons are no strangers to popping up in terminals across the UK and Ireland, they’ve never done so here in Manchester despite having three, yes THREE, in Gatwick alone.
Not for much longer, though, as soon T2 will be lending more than 3,000 square feet of its prime leisure and retail real estate to a new Greater Manchester ‘Spoons’.
Posting on social media, the airport wrote: “Wetherspoon comes to Manchester Airport this September! The pub will be located in the Terminal 2 Departures lounge and will have more than 300 seats.
“This will become the final major food and drink venue to open its doors as part of our decade-long £1.3bn transformation of Terminal 2. It will be named ‘The Belle Vue’, in a nod to Manchester’s historic showground [now a sports complex and leisure hub].
“It was a focal point for social life in the city from the Victorian period up until 2020, when the final event was held at Belle Vue stadium. The design of the pub is inspired by the history of Belle Vue and the sporting culture of the North West of England. We look forward to welcoming you all in September!”
While a lot of money has been pumped into T2’s refurb as a whole over the past few years, it remains unclear just how much this particular new addition will cost; we do know that great sums were set aside for the launch of the Great Northern Market last year.
The inaugural Manchester Airport Spoons is just the latest in a series of major renovations.
As mentioned, the company already operate several up and down the country – 10 airport pubs, to be specific – but this will be the first in the North West.
Speaking on the news, JD Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson said in a statement: “We are looking forward to opening at Manchester Airport. We believe our new pub will prove popular with travellers of all ages and be an asset to the new terminal.”
With Manchester Airport adding a dozen new routes to its roster this summer, you can expect to see even more people flying in and out than ever – no doubt having already polished off a cut-price pint or two beforehand.
Georgina Pellant -
9th May 2022 
