EVERY major event needs to kick off with a fanfare. OK, the opening of the 21st Manchester Food and Drink Festival was never going to compete with Danny Boyle’s send-off for the London Olympics but Thursday, September 27 2018 was one helluva party.
First at Albert’s Schloss then in the Festival Hub bar marquee the fun never stopped. The Peter Street venue is nominated for Bar of the Year in this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Awards to be announced on Monday, October 8. Part of its appeal lies in the ‘Showtime’ evenings, hosted by creatives, burlesque artistes and singers. Plus a cast of actors who love to dress up for nights such as Back to Mein, Haus Boheme and Kunst Cabaret.
All this was in evidence at the Winter Wunderbar inspired launch, fuelled by the Schloss’s Pilsener Urquell tank beer, Winter Pornstar cocktails and a cavalcade of canapes.
Cut to the other Albert – the Square where the Festival’s street food stalls and bars were in full swing. In no small part due to the infectious sounds of revolutionary genre-bashers Mr Wilson’s Second Liners. ‘New Orleans brass band meets 90s club classics’ is their upbeat calling card and they smashed it on the night,
Meanwhile inside the Hub’s new Dome some equally sensational entertainment was underway with the first of two consecutive ‘Battle Royale’ Secret Supper Clubs, organised in collaboration with the Northern Quarter’s Cottonopolis, another 2018 Bar of the Year contender. You can sample their ‘Japanese Junk Food’ on their Hub stall until Tuesday October 2.
For full details of MFDF check out our special preview.
