WHAT price happiness? Another all day drinking and dining experience in the Northern Quarter? Foundry Project will open in place of Thomas Street stalwart Bluu on November 23 with a predictable menu ranging from smashed avocado for brunch to night cap cocktails.
And, of course, it comes with a carefully branded storyline: “Hudson Orly and his lady, Sadie Scout are about to celebrate the opening of the happiest place in Manchester.” The pair are pictured below riding the FP’s ‘Fizz-anator’. For more of this stuff read check out the website.
The transformation of the unit inside the Old Smithfield Market is costing £500,000 to create the third Foundry Project in Britain after Harrogate and Edinburgh and follows a well-trodden path of paying homage to our industrial past. So a stripped back interior, making use of exposed beams and polished concrete, softened by plush leather booths, to copper ceiling features and tiles. Our main image is of the Harrogate bar.
There’s a beer tank, too, but not serving Czech pils but Estrella Spanish lager – the first such installation in the UK. Cocktail lovers get to pick from 16 house creations from the tropical vibes of ‘Fill A Watermelon with Rum’ (Wray and Nephew mixed with Gifford Watermelon and Velvet Falernum and apple juice) to the ‘Gin Fashionista’, involving Hayman’s Sloe Gin, brown sugar and rose water.
Burgers are the backbone of the food offering plus pizzas including ‘signature Foundry Project inventions’ such as spiced lamb and aubergine and peri peri king prawn. Or you can snack on nacos, nachos, wings and halloumi fries. The venue also promises bottomless brunches, live music and pub quizzes hosted by local drag queens.
