ONLY a month to go before Hatch trebles in size, so we thought we’d check out the current offering from its pop-up food traders.
We were particularly impressed with newcomers Get Chucked, already a big hit in Urmston and eyeing one of the larger new units coming on stream this June in the award-winning indie food (and craft) haven off Oxford Road.
Owners Scott Power and Sean Robinson launched Dirty Dogs before moving on from hot dogs to burgers and BBQ with Get Chucked in upwardly mobile Urmston. After a year in their original 26 cover venue, they moved to a bigger two-floor 78 cover site at 42 Flixton Road.
At Hatch they’re serving up a menu of 100% freshly-ground, secret-blend beef burgers. They use only the best burger and BBQ cuts around with an emphasis throughout on freshness. Which showed in their Chuck ’n cheese burger on a sesame seeded brioche bun with lettuce pickle, ketchup, mustard and, naturally, a secret sauce.
The burger came accompanied by a sharing platter of various seasoned fries from new Hatch neighbours, Seasoned: Nothing But Fries, who have created playful flavour combos such as Chicken Katsu Curry fries (with natural yoghurt, honey and coriander and Caribbean Prawn Fries (with spiced mango, spring onion and red chilli dip).
Loved their fries even if we can’t get around the team’s motto: “Doing for fries what Walkers did for crisps”. Really? Would that be a good thing?
Hatch’s other two current traders mine their Mediterranean heritage. We’ve long been familiar with the arancini (filled rice balls) from Sicilian brothers Riccardo and Romeo, who trade under the name T’Arricrri. On this visit we sampled their traditional cannolo (above, cannoli is the plural) where a crisp biscuit waffle is filled with ricotta and garnished with pistachio and Modica chocolate and candied fruit. It’s a hefty dessert – we’ve sampled more delicate specimens on Sicily proper – but it did come at the end of a comprehensive evening of eating, which kicked off with a busy platter of starters from the final Hatch trader, Cyprus Kouzina.
Another family-run business, it fuses fresh local produce with fine Cyprus-imported ingredients to create an authentic, Cyprian menu. Deconstructed mixed souvlaki and dolmades set the bar high but star of the platter was the grilled halloumi (you’d never want to buy the commercial stuff in a supermarket again).
Couldn’t begin to enjoy he sweetish Cypriot wine that accompanied all this. Rescue came from the resident Ol Nano Brewery & Bar. Their on-site micro-brewery came up with the best Black IPA we’ve encountered – spookily called ‘Directions To See A Ghost’. Which, as we recall, was an album from Austin Texas band Black Angels a decade ago. This beer rocked!