NISHA Katona may soon have no room left on her mantelpiece as the awards continue to come her way. The founder of the Mowgli street food brand has followed her MBE in the last honours list with a special achievement award at the Northern Restaurant Bar show.
Her first Manchester restaurant was in the Corn Exchange, followed recently by an impressive second in Manchester’s University Green development with sites confirmed in Sheffield, Cardiff and Leicester and more expansion plans in the pipeline.
Two other special achievement awards were handed out at the announcement of the Kuits NRB Top Fifty power list of the North’s most significant and influential hospitality operators:
- Chris Hill of Knutsford-based New World Trading Company (The Botanist, The Oast House and more), which has rolled out six new sites int he past year.
- John Gyngell & Christian Townsley, of North Brew Co in Leeds.
The six new entries on the Kuits list included Jane Dowler of Spanish restaurant/wine merchants Evuna, which has just expanded into Altrincham, and Adam and Drew Jones, the brothers behind Tattu. Gusto and Revolution Bars re-entered. Full list here.
The Top Fifty reception took place in the heart of Manchester Central, packed to the rafters for two days of the UK’s biggest hospitality trade show outside London.
An early attendee was ToM editor Neil Sowerby, fresh (or maybe not so fresh) from scooping ‘Best Dish’ and ‘Best Cocktail’ at the Too Many Critics Dinner at Dishoom, which raised £22,076 for Action Against Hunger. (Ruth Allan of Manchester Wire, in action below, won the People’s Choice award).
At NRB Neil sat in on the Chef’s Table for the first demo on the Chef Live stage and sampled an amazing endive salad prepared by Alastair Brooke-Taylor of the Moorcock Norland. This newcomer to the show was part of a chef line-up never bettered NRB – including Mark Birchall (Moor Hall), Adam Reid (The French) and Stosie Madi (Parkers Arms). One stellar superstar, Jason Atherton wasn’t cooking – he was headline interviewee in the Bruntwood Debate (NRB is not just about necking gin and buying equipment).
Meanwhile, down at the Market Kitchen stage the team from Beastro, Spinningfields showed how breakfast should be done (below).
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