It’s another great week for eating and drinking in Manchester, and boy have we got some tasty newcomers for you to check out this week.
From doner kebabs created by a Michelin star chef to a bottomless BBQ brunch at Manchester’s cricket-themed restaurant Sixes, plus a new Sunday menu from MFDF’s restaurant of the year winner Baratxuri an entire street of Thai street food at the Trafford centre you’re absolutely spoilt for choice.
Berlin street-style kebabs from a Michelin star chef
Michelin starred Brummy chef Brad Carter, behind restaurant Carters of Moseley, launched his kebab shop in lockdown – taking meat from his existing suppliers and repurposing them into fancy doners.
inspired by an amazing Berlin chip shop kebab he queued for four hours to get in minus twelve temperatures, he started making a different one every week – using his high-end cheffing skills to develop some of the fanciest doners going
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Now he’s opened a proper shop here in Manchester at Escape to Freight Island – bringing some top-shelf doner tackle to the city (think squid doner, made by taking squid and pork fat and emulsifying them on the spide to pave off squid sausage meat).
Find it at Escape to Freight Island, 11 Baring St, Manchester M1 2PZ.
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Image: The Manc Eats
A basque-style Sunday lunch at Baratxuri
Baratxuri is the place to be this month after winning two of the top gongs at this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Festival. Since taking home awards for Chef of the Year and Restaurant of the Year, the bookings have flooded in.
Whilst the Ramsbottom restaurant is, by all accounts, a complete joy to visit if you don’t fancy trekking that far out of town you can also enjoy Baratxuri’s food at Escape to Freight Island. Even better, the team there has released a new Basque-style Sunday lunch menu priced at just £21 for two courses.
Think wood-fired cuts of suckling lamb, beef cheek and whole-grilled sardines, plus smoked beetroot braised figs with blue cheese and a gorgeously spicy cauliflower bravas, finished off with a choice of Basque-style rum and orange syrup-topped trifle or orange and almond torta.
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Find it at The Ticket Hall inside Escape to Freight Island, 11 Baring St, Manchester M1 2PZ.
Image: Sixes
A British bottomless BBQ brunch (with optional cricket)
Manchester’s cricket-themed restaurant Sixes, housed inside the Corn Exchange, has launched a new bottomless brunch menu with a selection of dishes inspired by classic English BBQs.
Think mac and cheese croquettes, and beef short rib on bone marrow toast, burgers, steaks and sweet potato ‘from the ashes.’Drinks choices, meanwhile, include 90 minutes of unlimited prosecco and cocktails like ‘girl next door’ and ‘garden variety’ for £35, or you can opt for a champagne upgrade for an additional £5.
If you want to make a proper afternoon of it, you can play a game of cricket or two whilst you’re here too. Off-peak prices start from £20 for thirty minutes for up to three people.
Find it at The Corn Exchange in the former Alston Bar & Beef unit on Cathedral St, Manchester M4 3TR.
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Image: Thaikhun
A first-of-its-kind Thai street food buffet
In what owners say is a first-of-its-kind opening, the team behind Thaikhun has launched a buffet restaurant dedicated to popular Thai street food dishes.
Mains on offer will differ every day, but customers can expect to find classics like pad thai, massaman, and khao soi gai soup here – with owner Kim Kaewkraikhot promising every dish is one you’d really find on a Thai street food stall.
With loads of savoury favourites and its own fully-equipped dessert station boasting a chocolate fountain, popcorn machine, slushy machine, and ice cream machine, the Thaikhun Street restaurant makes an impressive new addition to the Trafford Centre.
Find it at The Trafford Centre, open seven days a week.
News
Government sets out multi-million-pound plan to move UK away from animal testing in science
Emily Sergeant
A £22m push to ramp up the UK’s move away from animal testing in science is set to bring together cutting-edge tech and research.
The latest figures show there were 2.54 million animal testing procedures in Great Britain in 2025, which is down 3.8% on 2024, but with a further update due to be released later this year, the Government is now moving to ‘capitalise’ on that momentum with funding to shift the nation onto alternative testing options.
A dedicated national research hub and nine new high-tech projects are planned to develop ‘better ways’ to test medicines on human biology rather than animals.
According to the Government, this means treatments for conditions like cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could be developed ‘faster’ and ‘more precisely’ to not only help patients but crucially also move science away from traditional animal testing.
At the heart of the plans is a new Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub – based in Cambridge and backed by £20 million in Government funding, which will work to build and share models of human tissue, grown from NHS patients, to test new treatments.
The new hub will accelerate the development of testing on ‘organoids’ – tiny, simplified versions of a human gut, tumour or brain, using cells donated by patients.
From beating heart cells in a dish to AI that can predict how drugs move through the body, exciting alternatives to animal testing are transforming medical research.
We're investing £22m to help scientists develop the next generation of life-saving treatments. pic.twitter.com/1EWRQvwySa
— Dept. for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (@biztradegovuk) August 12, 2026
Because these ‘organoids’ retain crucial features of a patient’s own biology, they will help researchers learn how a real person may respond to a drug and provide additional insights that can complement information that is currently obtained from animals.
Scientists will then be able to use these cutting-edge techniques in their own labs to work out which medicines are worth pursuing.
Overall, it’s hoped that the move will slash the time it takes to get ‘potentially life-changing’ treatments to market.
Alongside the funding for the new Hub, nine cutting-edge projects aimed at identifying new methods of animal-free scientific testing – from beating heart cells in a dish, to lab-grown human ear models, and AI that predicts how medicines move through the body – are being funded.
Sadly, many of these still rely on testing on dogs and monkeys, as it stands.
“This marks another significant step forward in the UK’s move away from animal testing in science and research,” commented Science Minister Chris McDonald.
“This is all about backing our world-leading researchers and innovators to improve lives, giving them the tools they need to deliver more effective treatments for horrendous diseases like cancer, while also preventing the need for animal testing wherever possible.
“It’s also a boost for our life sciences sector, fuelling opportunities for new investment and new jobs, and ensuring Britain is better off.”
Elbow get behind campaign to save Jodrell Bank from closure
Danny Jones
Manc band Elbow are among the latest to get behind the campaign to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from closing permanently.
The Greater Manchester natives famously played a sold-out gig at the important scientific and cultural landmark for a very special live album recording well over a decade ago, and know all too well the site’s national and, indeed, global heritage.
Choosing the Observatory and the rare chance to perform a show in the shadow of the world-renowned James Lovell Telescope, it probably remains one of their most significant standalone UK date ever.
With that in mind, the local lads have been left just as worried by the news of its impending closure as everyone else, and have therefore issued a fresh appeal to help keep it open.
Posting a timely statement on social media, the group wrote: “Jodrell Bank has long been close to elbow’s heart. In 2012, the band played beneath the Lovell Telescope for one of the most memorable shows in our history.
“The recent news that funding for the e-MERLIN radio telescope network is set to end in 2028 puts the future of the scientific work at Jodrell Bank under serious threat. It is a remarkable place, with an extraordinary history, and one that continues to play an important role in science, culture and education.”
In addition to reliving clips and images from the historic live set all the years later, they also pointed people towards their ‘elbow – Live at Jodrell Bank‘ album documentary, which has now been made available online for the very first time as part of wider efforts to raise awareness around the cause.
Directing people to key online resources shared by the institution and astrophysics centre itself following their unfortunate update late last month, the push to not only find the funding but sustain support for the facility continues to ramp up throughout the world of science, arts and industry.
For anyone who somehow missed the news – 2028 being the current deadline handed down as per budget cuts across the sector – concerned parties here in the North West and all over the country have since started petitioning to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from shutting down for good.
In addition to being described as a “huge blow” to the field by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), some have even gone so far as to describe the decision as a form of “vandalism” when it comes to research and British culture as a whole.
Having also served as the host venue for the annual bluedot Festival since 2016, the multi-genre science and arts celebration could soon be forced to find a new home.
The battle is far from over yet, and the community has time to rescue Jodrell Bank Observatory from its fate, but it will take lots of money and more notable public figures to make it happen.
Once again, you can do your bit by signing the petition mentioned above right HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
5th October 2021 
