The 23rd Manchester Food and Drink Festival will take place this year from 24th September - 5th October and today (Wednesday 2nd September) the full Festival programme has been announced. It will be the city’s first COVID-safe major outdoor event. This year’s event is headline sponsored by food delivery service Just Eat.
The free to enter Festival Hub will be at the heart of the MFDF action as usual, with a new layout and operational systems designed to ensure the event is COVID-safe and secure
The programme for the very first time is available via a brand new MFDF App - bringing the Festival to your fingertips like never before. The app is a new digital ‘on the go’festival programme designed especially for the 2020 event and with ease of use, convenience, and safety in mind. MFDF are urging all festival fans to download the free app ahead of the Festival in order to participate in this year’s event. App users will be able to browse the full festival programme, order food to their table at the Festival Hub and vote in the MFDF awards too. The app can be downloaded in the apple and android app stores by searching ‘Mcr Food and Drink Festival’.
The Festival Hub will be open from Thursday 24th – Sunday 27th September and then again from Thursday 1st – Sunday 4th October, whilst a programme of offers and events happening in partnership with the city’s restaurants, bars, cafes and chefs will run throughout the full 12 days.
It’s all designed to celebrate Manchester’s wonderful, diverse and resilient hospitality industry… and here’s the Full Festival Programme…
THE FESTIVAL HUB The free to enter Festival Hub on Cathedral Gardens will be the foodie destination of the Autumn this year with incredible street food, markets, live music and more. It will operate with a limited capacity in place to ensure that visitors can enjoy the Festival and maintain an appropriate physical distance from others. This will be carefully managed by the Festival team.
The site will be made up of two key areas – The Feasting Quarter and the Festival Market.
THE FEASTING QUARTER…
The Feasting Quarter is the space that is all about coming together with friends safely to eat, drink and be dazzled by a huge range of street food, beers, cocktails and music. It’s a food lover’s paradise and guests can ensure they are at the centre of it by reserving a table here:
https://manchesterfoodanddrinkfestival.nutickets.com/tablereservation20
The Feasting Quarter will be undercover this year with enough seating for guests to eat and drink at tables, and there’ll be no more queuing for your favourite food experience as the Festival will be operating table service across the site to reduce contact. All the street food menus, beers, wines and cocktails will be available to order via the new MFDF app and dishes will be brought to the table.
The Eat Well Mcr Street Kitchen Takeover
Eat Well Mcr - the inspiring new charity, born out of the COVID-19 crisis, provides good food to vulnerable people through COVID and beyond.
Founded by food and drink star Mary-Ellen McTague, Eat Well MCR will be taking over their very own street food kitchen at the Hub across both weekends all to raise money for the charity. A different Eat Well restaurant partner will be taking over the kitchen daily, serving up their own special Eat Well menu for festival goers with all profits raised from the stall going to the charity including a £1 voluntary fee added to orders.
Special guest restaurants taking over the Eat Well Kitchen at the Hub include….
Beehive Food
Little Window
Blackbird Pantry
Elite Bistros
ARMR store
Tampopo
Erst
The Creameries
Street food Stars in the Feasting Quarter:
Session 1: 24TH – 27th September
What’s Your Beef
Grandad's Sausages
Wallace and Sons
The Spinn
Maison BREiZH
Bundobust
Session 2: 1st – 4th October
Parmogeddon
Patty and Press
I Knead Pizza
Hanoi 75
Ginger's Comfort Emporium
Booze at the Feasting Quarter…
The Manchester Beer Bar
A banquet of brews await at the famous MFDF beer bar.
Taking in beers from Greater Manchester’s breath-taking range of incredible breweries, ale fans can expect the best celebration of regional beers yet at this year’s special 2020 celebration. A special cider showcase bar will be part of the Manchester Beer Bar offering too.
Salvi’s Aperitif Bar
Brand new for the Festival (and an extra special treat for all those who sorely missed the cancelled Festa Italiana this year) – authentic, Neapolitan restaurant group, Salvi’s will be hosting a traditional Italian aperitif bar. Customers can expect a special, authentic slice of Italian life at the Hub as the team serve up a menu of fabulous Italian drinks including Aperol Spritz, Limoncello Spritz, Meloncello spritz, Negronis, Espresso Martinis, fine Italian wine and Prosecco. It will all be served alongside Salvi’s famous, authentic deli sharing boards featuring their incredible Bufalo Mozzarella and artisan charcuterie.
Franklin & Sons Gin & Tonic Bar
Official Premium Tonic Partner Franklin and Sons will be serving up G&T’s at the Hub. Discover some creative new fusions as they team up with some of our local Manchester gins for a wide range of delicious flavoured tonic. Never compromising on quality, as a Great Taste producer Franklin & Sons uses 100% natural ingredients, with British sugar and high levels of carbonation across the range to bring out the best in spirits and lift the most delicate botanicals.
Music at the Feasting Quarter
Citylife Stage
Live Music The City Life stage will be the location for a laid back music experience to provide the perfect soundtrack to your Festival.
Starting on Thursday 24th, the Festival will kick off with live music from Mr Wilson’s Second Liners & a DJ set from Manchester legend Clint Boon.
Other names taking to the stage confirmed include…
Mike Joyce playing a DJ Set
Freya Beer
Dave Fidler
Lily-Jo
For the full music programme see the Festival website.
THE MARKET PLACE
Complementing the Feasting Quarter, the other half of the Festival Hub will be home to The Market Place – a fine food and drink shopping experience.
Free to attend this bountiful food and drink market will feature some of Manchester’s best independent food and drink producers, makers and businesses.
There will be two separate line ups across the two weekends, which will include:
·Chorlton Cheese Mongers
·Companio Bakery
·Great North Pie Co
·Manchester Cheesecake Company
·HM Pasties
·Samosa Shack
·Café Cannoli
·The Gourmet Brownie Company
·DevilDog Sauces
·The Sunrise Patisserie
·Eat Well Mcr Market Place
The Just Eat Kitchen
As proud sponsors of MFDF, the Just Eat Kitchen will be bringing some of the city’s best bites to the Hub via four of Just Eat’s top Manchester restaurants who will be taking turns to host Just Eat’s very own Festival Street Food Huts
Thursday 24 September - Sunday 27 September
Buttermilk-fried, and seasoned to perfection make these succulent wings unmissable.
Pizzas the Napoli way, saucy and on sourdough. Plus great pasta dishes.
Thursday 1 October - Sunday 4 October
A feast from the east, tantalising your taste buds with authentic Indian and Pakistani dishes.
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but delicious food does. Amazing flavours everyone will love.
And to give a bit back, 10% of the money spent at the Just Eat kitchen will be donated to charity FoodCycle, to help feed the vulnerable.
Meatless Farm
24TH – 27TH Sept & 1st – 4th Oct
Plant-based meat alternative makers of the moment, Meatless Farm will be serving up samples of their excellent vegan cooking products as well as a full, eat on-site street food menu of Meatless Farm Burgers.
MFDF ACROSS THE CITY
In addition to all the fun of the Hub, MFDF has collaborated with some of the city’s amazing restaurants, bars and cafes to curate a programme showcasing our amazing dining community. The Festival is a perfect time to venture out and support our local hospitality industry with deals, special menus and offers all designed to showcase the best talent in the city. The programme includes…
Moda + Higher Ground: Manchester’s Highest Dining Venue
25th and 26th September
For a limited time only, the penthouse apartments at the newly opened Moda Angel Gardens will play host to a very special series of supper clubs as Higher Ground take residency especially for the Festival. At 100m high, the pop up will be Manchester’s highest dining venue with stunning views across the city and beyond. With just four dates available, the pop-up gives guests a one-off chance to dine in this stunning setting and capture one of the most iconic shots of Manchester.
Guests will enjoy welcome drinks with a view, as the sun sets over the city, before sitting down for a four course meal served using fresh north west produce with paired wines to accompany.
Moda Angel Gardens is Manchester’s next generation neighbourhood, bringing together stunning apartments, hotel-style services and enviable amenities, including a roof top sports pitch and cinema room.
Higher Ground, led by Joseph Otway and Richard Cossins, brings together North West ingredients, Manchester brewed beer and natural wines in a chilled out setting. Joseph, ex-Head Chef of Where The Light Gets In in Stockport and ex-Relæ in Copenhagen, will be in the open plan penthouse kitchen creating a daily changing menu, using fresh local ingredients sourced from handpicked Northwest famers and producers.
Tickets for the Moda + Higher Ground Penthouse suppers are priced at £100pp. Ticket price includes a welcome drink, four courses and paired wines.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/moda-higher-ground-supper-club-tickets-119056427981
The MFDF Experience By Adam Reid At The French
Thursday 1st October - £140 per person(6.30pm - 8.30pm)
Friday 2nd & Saturday 3rd October - £180 per person
(5.30pm - 8.30pm Friday, 12noon - 1pm & 5.30pm - 9.30pm Saturday)
Join one of Manchester’s most talented and best-loved chefs as Adam Reid, star of Great British Menu, Exec Chef at The French, and huge supporter of independent, Manchester talent (and the MFDF) brings a very special food experience to the Festival programme.
The evening will include…
Glass of English Sparkling wine on arrival
Selection of snacks
Multi course menu with matched wines
Tea/Coffee with chocolates
LOVE URMSTON EVENTS
Throughout the Festival
New for this year’s Festival is a partnership with some of the best food and drink independents in Urmston who have come together under the Love Urmston banner to showcase the town’s diverse eating and drinking scene. Look out for festival offers, special menus, a mini food and drink pop up market on the M41 site on Railway Road on Saturday 26 September and an artisan market on Saturday 3 October. Enjoy a taste of Urmston’s award winning independent restaurants, traditional pubs, cocktail bars, coffee shops, wine bars and craft beer retailers by booking your place on one of a limited number of food tours taking place between 1-4 October. See Eventbrite for more details and to book your ticket.
MANCHESTER FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL AWARDS
5th October – venue to be announced.
The MFDF Awards 2020 will be live streamed at a venue to be announced by hosts BBC Radio Manchester’s Becky Want and BBC Radio 6 Music/Fodder’s Matt White.
Ceviche Masterclass and Feast at Peru Perdu
5th October
Manchester’s colourful & vibrant Peruvian-inspired residency restaurant brings a special ceviche masterclass to the Festival, offering the chance to gain a unique insight into the mechanics & flavourings of Peru's most famous dish – Ceviche (raw fish marinated in citrus). Start with a House Pisco Sours at the bar before moving on to the Ceviche station where the chef will talk guests through the history of the dish, preparation, flavouring and an authentic ceviche recipe that will be sure to impress your friends. After the masterclass, guests will then be seated for a full feasting menu including all the best of the Peruvian dishes + 1/2 bottle of wine per person!
FESTIVAL OFFERS FROM MANCHESTER’S BEST BARS AND RESTAURANTS THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL:
Fantastic Festival Menus and special offers have been created for MFDF by a host of the best restaurants, bars, cafes and even galleries around! Including…
20 Stories
Tampopo
Lily’s Indian
Northern Quarter Gallery
The Corn Exchange
Yard & Coop
Herbivourous
Coffee B
La Bandera
Just Eat
Festival headline sponsors, Just Eat, will be offering a 20% off voucher running throughout the duration of the festival, starting from Thursday 24th September - October 4th*. And remember, you don’t have to wait until the festival to get your taste buds tingling, check out what Just Eat has to offer here.
Roomzzz Aparthotels
Plus there’s a special Festival overnight offer at ROOMZZZ for those who want to make a night (or even weekend!) of it as they offer 20% off stays during Manchester Food & Drink Festival. Anyone looking for the ultimate home from home to explore Manchester’s top-notch food and drink scene should head to Roomzzz Aparthotels for stylish and spacious suites and apartments, slap-bang in the centre of the city – and a stone’s throw from the MFDF Hub in Cathedral Gardens.
MFDF AT HOME
MFDF have teamed up with some of the best chefs around to create DIY Delivery Kits to enjoy at home to ensure Festival fans can get involved in the Festival whether they are ready to get out and about yet or not.
Order your kits from the likes of:
Taste of Honey, Didsbury- ‘Stay Safe R’Kid MCR Picnic Box
Yao Yao Noodles – Ramen Kit
Blue Caribou Canteen - Poutine Meal Kit
Grandad’s Sausages – Hot dog kits