THE news that Mary Ellen McTague had abandoned plans to launch a successor to her acclaimed Aumbry restaurant in the former Roadhouse on Newton Street saddened those of us who are fans of her finely-honed cooking.
This was tempered by the surprise announcement she was going to become head chef at The Real Junk Food Project – you read it here first on Taste of Manchester. She told us: "I'm doing because I love the whole project; ethically and creatively it works for me, Wherever I've cooked I've always been uncomfortable with the amount of food wasted, always tried to make the absolute most of whatever produce we had, but this takes it to a new level.
Post Aumbry (the Prestwich site now occupied by Solita) Mary-Ellen has engaged ina variety of side-projects with the Manchester International Festival and the Manchester Food and Drink Festival among others. Her latest collaboration, The Devil’s Supper was at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on Cambridge Street to cook a literary-themed meal of the great Mancunian’s favourite dishes – hot pot for main and trifle for dessert.
More leftfield was TOM’s Dish of the Week – a glorious Red cabbage Gazpacho, served cold naturally with aioli on sourdough (neither of which featured much in the 1930s Manchester of the author’s youth). Let’s hope a glut of red cabbage comes into the Real Junk Food Project!
Meanwhile, following the Devil's Supper meal, an exhibition at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation will explore food and its resonance in the life and work of Burgess. The exhibition will launch on Wednesday March, 23 6-8pm.