FOODWISE Electrik has always been in the shadow of sibling South Manchester bar Volta. That may be about to change as co-owners Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford shake up the menu, bringing in Phil Cook; original senior sous chef from Volta to head a summer kitchen takeover called Yadda Yadda.
The name gives it away, consolidating the love for eastern Mediterranean and Persian food that consumed them during their globetrotting days as the Unabomber DJ duo. This leaning is already obvious in last year’s eye-catching project, The Refuge, inside the city centre Principal hotel. Now at more homespun Electrik in downtown Chorlton they are taking it one step further.
So expect handmade flatbreads made fresh every day with slow cooked meats, fresh fish, vegan delights and mezze plates. They promise “disruptive cooking with a no rules approach”. Read this as smoked almond dahl, biryani arancini balls, Korean steak, kofta cheeseburger and Keralan fried chicken with lime leaf mayo. Well, we did say the boys were globetrotters.
Sourcing looks as strong as elsewhere in the empire; they are using premium butchers Taste Tradition and local fishmongers Out Of The Blue.
In Unabomber style, a host of events will run alongside the kitchen takeover. The opening week alone sees Eastern Bloc’s Jim Banes’s 1-Deck Wednesday birthday soiree, Thursday’s exhibition launch ‘Saturday’s Kids – Ten Years of UK Subculture Influences’ complete with pop-up shop and Gipsy Hill Brewing Co tap takeover and on Friday the first of the weekly ‘Yadda Yadda Friday People’s Club’.
Each Friday, 5pm-9pm, YYFPC will take place at the Wilbraham Road bar, aimed at the after-work crowd, fusing a food and drink offering (2 x Flatz kababs and 4 beers, or a bottle of prosecco, for just £20) with a specially curated line-up of DJs.
Each DJ selected to offer something a little different from the norm, delivering sounds such as world music, middle eastern, afro, reggae, 1930’s swing, soul and much more. More events information on the website.
Electrik, 559 Wilbraham Rd, Manchester M21 0AE. 0161 881 3315.