The Blue Pig, the latest outlet from the team behind Odd, Odder and Oddest, is a bohemian bar and restaurant on High Street. While many of the recent openings in the Northern Quarter cater for the Printworks overspill crowd, the Blue Pig reflects the individuality and creativity that made the areas name.
Owner Cleo Farman took inspiration from Toulouse Lautrec, 19th Century Paris and 1920s Berlin, and enlisted the help of artist and musician Kirsty Almeida to design the interior. The result is a bright, riotously colourful space, far removed from the hipster minimalism and generic uniform of exposed brickwork found in many of the neighbouring bars.
Entering through the ivy tunnel surrounding the doorway into the decadent interior, we were transported to a hidden corner of Montmartre, complete with live jazz band. We'd arrived just in time for Gin and Jazz, held every third Thursday and boasting its own gin-heavy cocktail menu.
The cocktails came highly recommended and didn't disappoint: their Old Fashioned was a well-balanced mix of heady Woodford Reserve and sweet maple syrup, and went down dangerously easily; even better was the smoky G'enfumé, an unusual mix of G'vine (a floral gin made with grapes rather than grain), apricot brandy and a splash of peaty Ardbeg whisky.
Inventive yet classic
As you might expect from the Odd family, the Blue Pig offers inventive twists on the classics. In place of the ubiquitous coffee martini, they offer an espresso daiquiri, made with rum rather than vodka: a silky smooth stunner of a drink, with none of the bitterness of the martini version.
The Blue Pig's menu offers high-end bar food at reasonable prices. We ordered a half pint of whitebait to start, a generous portion of fat little fishes, coated in a crispy crumb and served with two punchy garlic and chili mayos. 'Bread and zhoug' was a soft ciabatta served with a fresh, flavoursome Middle Eastern herb paste, perfect for nibbling on over a glass of wine.
The wine list is refreshingly reasonable, with every bottle available by the glass and all under £30. An 8oz hanger steak served rare was the best I've had in the area, a quality cut of meat cooked to mouth-melting perfection, served with a stack of caramelised onion rings, crispy fries and a wonderfully smoky tomato ketchup.
The 'Cut of the Week' was a meaty pork chop paired with soft nuggets of pig cheek, crunchy strips of skin and slender rashers of crisp bacon, set off with apple pureé and a mild courgette and rocket salad. Having resisted the dubious charms of crackling for years (the greasy pub version, complete with bristles of hair, has always put me off) a recent trip to Copenhagen turned my head, where it came spotted with blueberries and pearls of dark chocolate as an after-dinner petit four. The Blue Pig's offering made a card-carrying convert of me, and I was raving to anyone who would listen about that light, salty, intensely piggy crackling for days afterwards.
While busy with winers and diners during the week, Fridays and Saturdays see the Blue Pig transform into a lively spot for drinking and dancing, with DJs such as local favourites So Flute and Gimme Shelter playing soul, funk and tropical, creating a haven from the beery, blokey atmosphere outside. From laid-back bohemian bistro to late night weekend cocktail bar, this porker is a pig for all seasons.
Don't miss out on their exclusive Taste offer to give you a very special Friday Feeling. Buy 2 cocktails at the bar and get your 3rd cocktail FREE on Fridays. All night long - just show this article on your phone to claim. Ts and Cs apply.
The Blue Pig, 69 High Street, Northern Quarter, M4 1FS. Tel: 0161 832 0630, www.thebluepigmcr.co.uk