In this edition: Industrial feasts, crabby weekends, welcome refuges

KOSMOKRAB

(30/08) After many successful pop-up appearances and brunches at Kosmonaut (main image), Holy Crab, purveyor of sustainable sea snacks such as crab balls, popcorn from the sea and Hail Mary oysters, will be taking over their basement from Thursday 8th September.

They will be singing sea shanties and serving pescetarian treats in the Northern Quarter hangout every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You might be familiar with their work at their regular stall on Altrincham market, market stalls, pop up events and ‘all kinds of other sea parties’.

@holycrab_uk

INDUSTRIAL WAFFLE

(28/08) DAN Doherty, the executive chef behind London's hottest (and highest) 24 hour restaurant, Duck and Waffle, will be bringing his playful gourmet style to Manchester this October, hosting a special one-off banquet at this year's Manchester Food and Drink Festival.

The feast for 175 people, designed around the theme of 'industry', is set to celebrate one of most integral aspect of Manchester’s heritage and will be held at the historic Bonded Warehouse at Old Granada Studios - a former Victorian goods warehouse turned TV studio and high-end mixed-use development.

Writer, Blue Badge Guide and Confidential Editor-at-Large, Jonathan Schofield, will set the historical scene throughout dinner by bringing the building’s past to life, whilst Doherty - recently voted amongst London's 1000 most influential people - mans the pans.

Tickets for the banquet are priced at £75, with all profits going towards Action Against Hunger, a charity which aids malnourished children in countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Nigeria, Nepal and Somalia.

More here

NEW APPOINTMENT

(26/08) Chef Mike Jennings has been appointed head chef of Prestbury’s Bacchus Restaurant, following a short-lived spell at Spinningfields celeb haunt, Neighbourhood.

Jennings – a former pupil of chefs Gary Rhodes, Nigel Haworth and Shaun Rankin – will take the reins at the Modern British restaurant, following the collapse of his two AA-Rosette restaurant, Grenache, in Walkden earlier this year.

Jennings told The Caterer: “I am full of excitement and aim to bring some accolades to the already popular venue.”

In between jobs, Mike clawed out a career in crab ventriloquy

LEFTBANK

(25/08) We've just had a sneak peak of new plans for Leftbank. The victors of The Kitchens street food start-up project, Bangers & Bacon, are to relaunch next month with their first standalone restaurant, BEASTro – a meaty all-day bistro serving dishes such as short rib bonbons, bacon swirls and oxtail risotto. Whilst waiting for a full English wedged between two pancakes, we got the first look at designs for the new gaff. Is that a chef's table we see? Nice. But we reckon that kitchen will need some kit.

Oh, and while we’re that way, we see the unit opposite is beginning to stir once more, with the imminent arrival of a bloke named Carl and his healthy soups, salads and sarnies. More here.

ENZO GROW

(22/08) We see Nantwich-based pizza, coffee and cake outfit, Enzo, have put in for a property on Manchester’s Fountain Street – near to The Shakespeare boozer and, awkwardly, Pizza Hut.

Inspired by a particularly chirpy Italian bus driver with a passion for beans and dough, Enzo’s specialities include the Lasagne Pizza, the Breakfast Calzone and the ‘Spiked Hot Chocolate’ – which sounds a little ominous.

Enzo’s licence application will go to council consultation on 15 September.

CRAFTY PAIR UNITE

(22/08) The co-founder of Manchester’s Cloudwater Brewery has teamed up with the owner of Northern Quarter’s Common bar and Port Street Beer House to form All Our Yesterdays – the collective trusted with the running of Manchester’s new community-built pub, The Pilcrow.

Since its inception early last year, the project has seen dozens of professional makers, creators and tradespeople lead hundreds of volunteers in workshops ranging from tile glazing to cooperage, conduit laying to coppicing. From the bar stools to the crisp flavourings, the 3D printed washers to the ‘Manchester log end’ dart board, every element of the new boozer has been knocked together using traditional techniques and local graft.

The ‘safe hands’ will take charge of the venture - located in Sadler’s Yard within Manchester’s emerging £800m NOMA district – when it opens in September.

More here

TAKE REFUGE

(21/08) Confidential's just been for a sniff behind the scenes of The Refuge, the new lounge, bar and restaurant project from the DJs-turned-restaurateurs behind the award-winning Volta in West Didsbury and Chorlton local Electrik.

Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford have been brought in by new owners Starwood to ‘curate’ the food and drink side of The Palace Hotel's wider £25m revamp… and by the small plates we snaffled during our tour, they’re doing a fine job indeed.

Gordo’s currently thrashing out the write-up, but in the meantime take a look at the pre-opening menu and the gorgeous morsels below.

The Refuge by Volta launches at The Palace Hotel next month.

Aubergine fritters

Radicchio, pomegranate, orange blossom

Tuna tartare

'NAM NUMS

(20/08) Just the three bits of Vietnamese food and booze news today.

Firstly, we see Oldham Road's small indie Vietnamese cafe, Ca Phe Viet, have just opened a second venue at 520 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton. PhoBowl Cholton promise to bring 'traditional Vietnamese dishes right to the heart' of the suburb, such as the eponymous Pho bone broth, Bahn Mi Vietnamese baguettes and Bun rice noodles. Open 12-9pm weekdays and 12-10pm weekends (closed Mondays). @PhoBowlChorlton

Elsewhere, within the Manchester penny-pincher's palace of Arndale Markets, award-winning Vietnamese street food traders ViET Shack are preparing to launch 'Manchester's first healthy bakery'. Simone's will offer a range of guilt-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, flour-free, butter-free desserts. Sounds like a riot, eh? Simone's opens later this week.

Lastly, to celebrate their first birthday in the Corn Exchange, Vietnamese restaurant Pho are throwing a super-awesome 'Snapchat Birthday Party', in which everybody, presumably, stays sat at home on their arse sending their regrets using a rainbow-spewing catface filter. We joke. What they're actually doing is offering 2-4-1 on booze (between 4pm and closing on Sun 28 Aug) when you add 'PhoRestaurant' on Snapchat and send them a birthday snap. There'll whip you a snap back containing a voucher code and off you pop. You'll also have chance to win a meal for four by using their special birthday filter, pouring a full bowl of Pho down your kecks and sticking a summer roll up your schnoz.

CUBAN-OH MY LORD THAT'S GOOD

(20/08) If you’ve ever watched Chef, the now-cult American movie about a gifted LA chef who gets spanked by a restaurant critic, goes (unknowingly) bat-shit on social media, quits his job, buys a food truck, travels across the States and ultimately rediscovers his love for both food and his neglected son, then you’ll know that a proper Cubano sandwich can bring a strapping, hairy-arsed Latino construction worker to his knees.

Now, in tribute to Chef and their own take on the Cubano (one of Confidential’s Top 9 Sarnies in Manchester), everywhere street foodsters Bangers & Bacon are to launch the first in a series of ‘Cinefeasts’ this weekend, serving dishes inspired by the film as you watch the story unfold on the giant projector screen above.

Choose the three course ‘street truck’ menu for £15, or the seven course ‘El Jefe’ menu for £45.

Fri 26 Aug, 7pm, Cork & Bull, Old Granada Studios - tickets here

ON YOUR MARKS

(18/08) Marks & Spencer are to launch a new upmarket food hall on the ground floor of Allied London’s new £73m No.1 Spinningfields tower – which is due to complete next year. The developer says the space will be ‘home to exclusive ingredients and dishes’ and include an in-store bakery, cheese and olive counters, alongside an extensive beer and wine selection.

The new food hall adds to a growing food and drink mix within the 19-storey Ian Simpson-designed office block, which will also include a champagne/oyster bar and a coffee shop on the ground floor, as well as a high-end rooftop restaurant by the D&D Group – which operate 35 restaurants in cities such as London, New York and Tokyo, including two Michelin-starred restaurants (Launceston Place and Angler) in London.

MICHELIN GOES LIVE

(17/08) For the past few years, it’s been harder to prevent news from leaking before the official Michelin Awards announcement, so for the first time in the UK and Ireland, restaurants being awarded prestigious new Michelin Stars will be revealed at a live event in October. This will be the first time the selection has been announced at a live event since the first Michelin Guide to the British Isles appeared in 1911.

The presentation will coincide with the publication of the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2017 which recommends more than 3,300 places to eat and sleep - including those restaurants and pubs awarded Michelin Stars for the quality of their food, and it is expected to attract top chefs and key food industry figures.

Michael Ellis, International Director of the Michelin Guides, will break the news (of zilch for Manchester) at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Savoy Place, London on October 3. We’re just wondering who they’ve asked to do the catering...

BUCKLE UP, IT'S BOLTON FOOD FESTIVAL

(17/08) 25 free cookery demos with sixteen different chefs will take place this coming Bank Holiday weekend as part of Bolton Food and Drink Festival from August 26 -29. Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines, Aiden Byrne of Manchester House, Masterchef winner Simon Wood and celebrity chefs Andrew Nutter and James Martin are just some of exciting guests at this year’s event.

The long-running festival will also incorporate a market with 150 food stalls spread across the town centre and a Mad Science Zone for children in Le Mans Crescent.

The festival is organised by Bolton Council in association with Aldi. For further details visit their website.

WEDDING DISTRESS

(17/08) Manchester-based Individual Restaurants hit the national headlines recently with a heart-warming story after coming to the aid of a wedding party let down by the sudden closure of Italian restaurant Avalanche. John and Jo Young, from Bolton, got married on Friday afternoon at Manchester Town Hall but were distraught when they turned up at Avalanche for their wedding breakfast with their family and 27 wedding guests to find it closed with a bailiffs notice on the door.

The best man and ushers stepped into action by looking for nearby restaurants that might be able to accommodate the wedding party at the last minute. Despite it being 7pm on a Friday evening, Piccolino on Clarence Street immediately arranged a Prosecco reception, while they prepared the private dining area in their sister venue, Restaurant Bar and Grill on John Dalton Street. Within an hour they had designed a three-course menu to give the happy couple a proper Italian wedding and the chefs even managed to knock up a wedding cake.

Piccolino to the rescue

REAL JUNK FOOD FOR 110TH BIRTHDAY DINNER

(17/08) Victoria Baths will be turning the grand old age of 110 this September and plan to celebrate with a birthday dinner on Thursday 8th by joining forces with Real Junk Food and their head chef Mary-Ellen McTague who will create a feast made entirely from perfectly edible ingredients that would otherwise have gone to waste.

The Real Junk Food Project Manchester is a not for profit community interest company which intercepts waste food from supermarkets, restaurants and a number of other sources, and turns it into healthy, nutritious meals. This family-style celebration meal will be served in the Males 2nd Class Hall. There will be music in the Turkish Baths Rest Room and the Gala Pool, which will be filled with water during the birthday week celebrations.

Tickets for the dinner and a pre-dinner drink are £45 each (+ booking fee). They are on sale at www.victoriabaths110.eventbrite.co.uk proceeds will help raise funds for the £3.5m restoration and re-opening of the beautiful, historic Turkish Baths suite.

HIP HOP PUB PLOT

(16/08) We caught a tweet the other day from Hip Hop Chip Shop, the ‘untraditional fish and chip shop inspired by the inventive and experimental ethos of hip hop culture.’ Now their residential at The Kitchens in Leftbank, Spinningfields, has finished, they’re ready to move to pastures new so have put out this shout, ‘We're looking for pub kitchens to take over on a short/long term basis #Manchester #Leeds #Liverpool Ideas?’.

Suggestions welcome. In the meantime, you’ll find their award-winning funky chippy truck parked at Media City, private events, Grub Beer Festival (Aug 27th) and Manchester Food and Drink Festival (from Oct 5th – 9th)

HOT FOOD TRENDS

(16/08) According to analysis by online restaurant booking service Quandoo UK, reservations for Caribbean food increased massively between 2015 and 2016. Manchester saw an increase of 297% and Liverpool a whopping 716%. It seems we just can’t get enough Jerk Chicken, Rice and Beans, Fried Plantain and Dumplings.

Manchester city centre is served by branches of Turtle Bay on Oldham Street and Oxford Road as well as Onje in the Arndale Centre, but arguably the best places can be found further afield such as Dougie’s and Sasa’s in Hulme, Chicken Run in Alexander Park, M&M’s Caribbean Spice in Old Trafford or Jerk Junction in Whalley Range. Everyone has their favourite, but don’t be surprised to find the queues getting longer.

GOLDEN TICKETS

(15/08) Manchester’s Corn Exchange is celebrating the first anniversary of its £30m transformation into a multi-dining option destination, by giving away spot prizes and surprise meal upgrades.

Over the past twelve months, over 785,000 guests have visited the thirteen new restaurants and public spaces, enjoying a range of globally inspired dining options including Indian, Mexican, Brazilian and Italian. KuPP and Alston Bar and Grill have both expressed an interest in becoming the final two operators.

Phase two of the scheme will see the upper floors developed into a 114 bedroom boutique aparthotel, managed by Roomzzz which is due to open in 2017.

To mark its first birthday, visitors between Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 August will be given the chance to win some golden tickets from a selection of restaurants. Prizes include free meals for two at Tampopo, vouchers for Pho, Wahaca and Cabana.

GOING FOR A BRAZILIAN

(15/08) Speaking of Cabana, the Olympics in Rio might inspire some to go to the gym, have a swim or even book in for a painful tidy of the lady garden, but it simply makes us want to put on an OTT headdress and samba over to the Corn Exchange for a flame grilled skewer and a Caipirinha.

This buzzing Brazilian bolthole will be serving the Menu of Champions until 19 September; which includes Chimichurri Cabana Steak, Cheesy Dough Balls, Biro-biro Rice and Rio Beans, all for £19.95. It’s also worth noting that kids eat free throughout August with every paying adult. To support their official charity Brazil’s Children’s Trust (part of Childreach International) they’ll be adding an optional £1 to every bill until 19 September with all proceeds protecting and empowering at-risk children in Brazil.

NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR CITY CENTRE PUBS

(15/08) Owners of The Crafty Pig in the Northern Quarter have taken over two more city centre pubs; Town Hall Tavern in Tib Lane and The Waldorf on Gore Street near Piccadilly. Both will be given a modern upgrade allowing for a ‘relaxed high quality feel’.

Bermondsey Pub Company, part of the Enterprise Inns empire, will close the traditional boozers during the refurbishment, with the Town Hall Tavern due to reopen on September 8, followed by The Waldorf on September 16.

WELL HUNG IN BOLTON

(15/08) James and Richard from Bangers and Bacon have temporarily moved out of The Kitchens in Spinningfields, while the whole of their side of the Leftbank canteen is being transformed into a permanent bistro. They will be taking their show out on the road and are off to Bolton for a collaboration with Inca Pop-Ups, for a two day takeover of the Chef’s Quarter at The Vaults in Bolton on 19 and 20 August.

The mighty meaty menu will include short rib bonbon with charred sweetcorn, sirloin tartare with traditional trimmings, asparagus and bone marrow 'salad', oxtail and pearl barley risotto with beetroot, with homemade pecan pie and vanilla crème to finish.

Tickets are priced at £30 and are available here, or by calling Richard on 07703455347. A licensed bar selling local ales and fine wines is located next to the Chef's Quarter.

HAWKSMOOR GIVE MORE

(15/08) If your idea of a good time is six courses of great food, cocktails, wine, whisky and a few mildly entertaining stories, this event might just be for you.

Enjoy a special feast in the private dining room at Hawksmoor Manchester with matched wines as part of an all-inclusive dinner to raise money for Action Against Hunger on Thursday 1 September.

The Hawksmoor Classics menu includes: Shortrib Nuggets with Kimchi Ketchup, Scallops with White Port & Garlic, Tamworth Pork Belly Ribs, Fillet or Rib-eye Steak with sides and sauces, Sticky Toffee Pudding with Clotted Cream and Salted Caramel ‘Tributes’ to take away.

Tickets cost £100, all of which will be directly donated to the international humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger, and are available here.

CHINESE SUMMER YUM FUN

(15/08) Tattu, the upmarket Chinese restaurant and bar will be embracing the final days of summer with an afternoon celebration on Sunday 28 August, with food, drink and live DJs providing uplifting vibes along with its unique Yum Cha dining experience.

Guests are invited to enjoy a special light three course menu of delicious dim sum, choice of small plates such as Peking duck pancakes and chilli salt baby squid as well as desserts, accompanied by unlimited Tattu mimosas.

Priced £40 per person, tables from 12pm – 4:45pm are available to book via reservations@tattu.co.uk or by calling 0161 819 2060

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

(15/08) News has reached us of an unexplained arson attempt on the new Cat Cafe in the Northern Quarter. Firefighters and police were called to the scene at 1.50am to discover a burning pile of rubbish outside the venue, which is on the ground level of an apartment block.

Owners, sisters Ellie and Sarah Close, believe that the culprits tried to smash a window near the High Street reception before setting fire to the rubbish outside, causing the glass window to crack. Fortunately none of the resident cats were harmed, as they were in a completely different room, but staff were badly shaken up by the incident. It is as yet unknown if this was a targeted act by animal rights activists against the enforced petting of house cats, or if it was a bit of tomcatfoolery.

FESTEJAR TAPAS BAR

(15/08) Now in its third year, Festejar, a celebration of all things Spanish, will be back in Albert Square for four-days from Thursday 1 to Sunday 5 September.

The festival, sponsored by a leading Rioja brand, will showcase authentic Spanish food from tapas to tortillas, alongside craft traders, and an array of activities and spectacles from Spanish dancing lessons to live bands, transforming the square into a 'Little Spanish Oasis' in the heart of a city being slowly invaded by quality Spanish restaurants and enriched by its people.

We've picked out some highlights here