This week Michelin hasreleased its 2022 Guide and theNorthern Quarter restaurant District has scored big.
Despite being pretty new to the city’s dining scene, the new wave Thai eatery managed to bag a place in this year’s coveted list of recommended restaurants.
As it’s only been open for eight months., the news has left owners stunned – prompting an outpouring of gratitude on the restaurant’s social media pages.
Sharing the news with its followers yesterday, District wrote on Instagram: “Congratulations to every restaurant that gained and retained their stars today!
“We are so proud to be mentioned in the 2022 @michelinguide
ADVERTISEMENT
“In all honesty this wasn’t on our radar after only being open for 8 months but we are honoured. Thank you to everybody who has visited so far and to our team for their commitment and hard work.”
Image: District via The Michelin Guide
Known for its progressive barbecue cookery inspired by a futuristic vision of Bangkok, District serves a choice of two different set menu experiences.
ADVERTISEMENT
Every dish touches the barbecue, with a choice of the 12-course ‘The Full Experience’ priced at £100 or the 6-course ‘Discovery’ at £50.
Michelin’s description of District reads: “Industrial styling, a banging playlist and projections of a Bangkok of the future set the scene for on-view barbecue cooking.
“Two set tasting menus offer deconstructed and re-invented Thai dishes with a classic heart. The knowledgeable service is well-paced and there’s a cocktail bar downstairs.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Speaking on the huge achievement, owner Ben Humphreys told The Manc: “It feels amazing to be mentioned in the guide after such a short amount of time.
Image: District
“We are a small, tight-knit team working on a small budget so any recognition for all the hard work feels great. We are so appreciative of the team for just getting stuck into all areas of the business.”
Asked whether this taste of fame has tempted them to aim higher for a star, he added: “It’s great to know we are on their radar and they like what we do.
“We will just carry on cooking food and giving service that we’d like to experience and that we think our guests will love. If that brings us any accolades in the future that’d be a bonus!”
Image: District
Commenting on the restaurant’s journey so far, Ben told us: “We’re trying to offer something a little different which has opened us up to criticism and skepticism so it’s been tough at times.
ADVERTISEMENT
“However, we’ve had some real highlights and going in the guide is definitely one that makes it all worthwhile.”
Still, despite all the praise it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for District since opening its doors on Oldham street.
Last year, the restaurant came under fire after getting embroiled in a ‘religious diet’ row with a customer that went viral on social media.
The argument, which stemmed from the new wave Thai eatery’s non-refundable deposit policy, came to a head after a customer asked for its famously strict 12-course set menu to be altered to cater to his religious needs.
Image: District
Image: District
In this instance, the diner asked for a pork dish to be substituted after already paying his £15 deposit, at which point he had already been notified that he should contact the restaurant about dietaries before putting down any money for the booking.
ADVERTISEMENT
After being told it was not possible, he emailed to ask “why not shout loud on your homepage ‘We don’t cater for Jews’”.
Read more: Chefs refusing to cater for dietary issues listed as hospitality trend for 2022
Ultimately, however, his threats to speak out on social media spectacularly backfired after the restaurant posted them to its social pages themselves – adding it ‘will not be bullied or threatened into returning deposits’.
Feature image – District
News
Manchester United reject offers for Mason Greenwood as rep says he ‘should be allowed to move forward with his young life’
Danny Jones
Manchester United have reportedly rejected a number of offers for Mason Greenwood as the club continues their internal investigation into his behaviour.
The club have reportedly received a number of offers for the young forward from Turkish teams in recent weeks and months while Greenwood has been suspended from playing or training. He has yet to return to the sport after charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm were dropped.
The charges handed down in January 2022 were ultimately dropped last month when key witnesses withdrew, more than a year on from the incident that was widely circulated on social media.
Now, following a behind-the-scenes feature by The Athletic and ‘new material’ leading the Crown Prosecution Service to drop the case for the foreseeable, it seems United are now the only party still investigating Greenwood, with his own team and figures around the club pushing for a resolution.
▪️ Police spoke to #MUFC about Greenwood during lockdown ▪️ Senior staff offered guidance but no specialists brought in ▪️ Man United have rejected offers from Turkish sides as internal investigation continues
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 27, 2023
Speaking to Laurie Whitwell as part of the piece, one of Greenwood’s representatives argued that there is “no real substance” to the allegations, them “a mix of old news, speculation, half-truths and completely untrue claims.”
He went on to say, “Mason is 21, he has been cleared and should be allowed the opportunity to rebuild and move forward with his young life.”
Another source is also said to have told the outlet that the youngster has been fundamentally changed by the experience, insisting that he “would run through a brick wall” to be back playing at United.
As for the club’s stance, it remains to be seen what their final decision on his future will be, but it was reported earlier this month that a potential return is still “firmly under consideration” and his number 11 shirt has not yet been vacated as many would have expected if he was set to move on.
His potential ‘phased return’ could include everything from therapy to a TV interview.https://t.co/DTisidvpRr
On the other hand, the article goes on to detail questions surrounding Greenwood’s conduct and general attitude during his relatively short time as a senior player too, the suggestion being that he was slacking in training because “he knew he was a good player”.
His attendance at Carrington is said to have been raised as an issue on more than one occasion and then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær often covered for training sessions and games he missed after failing to turn up to the team hotel for “unexplained absences”.
Another source who watched him play aged just 16 also went on to reveal that Bradford-born academy product “wasn’t shy about telling someone they were s***”, apparently even calling out Cristiano Ronaldo as “dead [finished]” when he was still at Real Madrid.
Greenwood played over 100 senior games for United and was widely considered one of the brightest young prospects in England, let alone the club, but the career trajectory he looked to be on is widely different from the problematic position he finds himself in now, regardless of any offers from abroad.
Led By Donkeys fool MPs into revealing ridiculous £10,000 daily rate in fake job interviews
Danny Jones
British political campaign group, Led By Donkeys, have once again taken aim at the Conservative government, managing to fool multiple MPs by putting them through fake job interviews.
The campaigners hatched the plan to see just how easy it is to ‘hire an MP’, with Tory politicians having been criticised for earning an additional £15.2 million in added income from ‘second jobs’ since 2019 alone — that’s on top of their already £80k-a-year salaries, of course.
So, after setting up a fake consultancy firm based out of Seoul, South Korea called Hanseong Consulting and inviting along a number of MPs, many of whom either previously held or currently sit in senior party positions, they began holding Zoom interviews with the various candidates to see if they’d be interested.
More importantly, however, the crucial question was “how much would they want to be paid?”. The likes of former Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng had very simple but nevertheless astounding answers:
🚨MPs FOR HIRE: a Led By Donkeys undercover investigation🚨
As you can see in the trailer for the full mini-documentary, both the former health secretary and the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer quoted their day rate as up to £10,000.
In fact, Hancock broke down his figures even further, insisting that an hourly rate would equate to “around £1,500”. Wonder how that sizes up to the fee he was paid to be on I’m A Celeb? (yes, that wasn’t a fever dream, it really happened). We’ll let you do the nauseating maths on that one.
Other Tories who were duped into putting themselves forward for the made-up job included Gavin Williamson, Stephen Hammond and the Chairman of the party’s 1922 Committee (a private members group known to influencers backbenchers), Sir Graham Brady.
Well, they were the only ‘candidates’ to have issued statements after the fact trying to play down the story, anyway. The campaigners approached 20 different MPs under the guise of the fabricated company, with other individuals dropping out in more preliminary stages.
After having asked for £60k a year on top of his £48k annual salary as the representative for Manc constituency Altrincham and Sale West, this would have been Brady’s fourth job besides his two marketing and comms advisory roles, but assured he would always act “within the Code of Conduct”.
Hammond had more to say on the matter, responding that “scamming is an unpleasant activity undertaken with malicious intent”, while Hancock’s office responded by labelling it a “failed attempt at entrapment” and insisted he is free to look at “exploratory options” as he is set to stand down as an MP.
Led By Donkeys are now in the process of gradually releasing each one of the fake job interviews in full on their YouTube channel.
Georgina Pellant -
17th February 2022 
