TASTE of Manchester recently unearthed (chanced upon in Google actually) a decade-old review of food in the city by our own Neil Sowerby, now greyer if no wiser. Astonishing is the fact that none of the chefs, except Robert Owen Brown – pre-Mark Addy and many stop-offs since – is around these days. Indeed, many of the restaurants are long gone, too.
All of which puts into perspective the current culinary merry go round, which makes trimming the 2017 Manchester Food and Drink Festival ‘Newcomer of the Year’ shortlist down to six such a tough job. And with a raft of London operations, spearheaded by Soho seafood specialists Randall and Aubin, galloping towards us, the Manchester scene is obviously ripe for exploitation.
On the flip side, London Busaba Thai has announced it is quitting the Printworks after under a year, while last year fellow metropolitan arrivals Burger and Lobster announced they planned to downsize from their huge Ship Canal House premises (mind, they are still there).
It’s all part of a steady trickle of recent closures – veteran Chinese Kwok Man on Cross Street (blaming Metrolink works blight), Ning on Oldham Street (repossessed). Or reinventions – Beef and Pudding on Booth Street (under different ownership, now a sports bar) and Damson Heaton Moor (same owners but fine dining abandoned for rotisserie, wood-fired pizza and craft beer).
Meanwhile, it’s good to see street food minnows making the move to permanent. Beastro, winners of the Kitchens Traders competition at Spinningfields Leftbank, have finally moved into custom-built permanent premises there, while fellow contenders, Chaat Chart, are set to bring their authentic Indian small plates to 13-15 Derby Way Marple, previously Italian restaurant La Romantica, by early May.
Both are symptomatic of a public urge to eat more casually. Preferably, it seems, in the company of lots of other folk. Check the success of Makers Markets and GRUB Food Fairs at Alphabet or, on a more branded, corporate level, in the Corn Exchange.
And, of course, where nationally Altrincham Market House leads… Our new Altrincham Taste Top 10 is testimony to its impact. Their new project, restoring the derelict Mackie Mayor Building on Swan Street into a similar destination dining hall with a variety of indie food and drink operators has just moved a step closer with an application for an alcohol licence.
The council has also approved the initial stage of development for the vast Mayfield Depot close to Piccadilly Station. It’s a temporary four-storey structure of timber, scaffold and shipping containers to the south of the former station off Baring Street. Street food start-ups and market stalls are expected to figure. Well, we were talking casual.