Sarah-Clare Conlon does her shopping without visiting any supermarkets in Chorlton-cum-Hardy â and has a great time while sheâs at itâ¦
Chorltonites are fiercely proud of their suburbâs high concentration of independent businesses, and, if thereâs an unusual ingredient or right-on product you need for your latest Guardian recipe, you can pretty much guarantee youâll be able to pick it up without having to even sniff a chain. This week, Iâve decided to rustle up Ottolenghiâs multi-vegetable paella (natch), along with jerk chicken and sweet potato mash, some kind of autumnal soup plus Egyptian fouls medames. The fact that I can even consider making some of this stuff is down to having such good outlets on my doorstep, and the weekly shop doesnât take all that much longer than going to a supermarket as everything is so close together and the queues are much smaller.
I grab my hemp bag and make an early beeline for the popular, award-winning (most recently a Manchester Food & Drink Festival gong) co-operative grocery Unicorn (89 Albany Road, M21 0BN) for Calasparra rice, a tin of smoked paprika and some of the punchiest salad leaves, complete with nasturcium flowers, youâll ever try. The all-organic veg here is much cheaper than even the standard stuff at Morrisons further up Albany Road (and it still has a free carpark as well as plenty of bicycle hoops), but as itâs largely locally sourced, sometimes they donât have everything you need.
The rest I get at the Khawaja Brothers (63-65 Manchester Road, M21 9PW) back along Manchester Road (next to the famous Barbakan deli), where Iâm going anyway for my Scotch bonnets to make the jerk; saffron and Kalamata olives for the paella; and fava beans, feta and harissa for the fouls medames. New season chestnuts also catch my eye and, along with some lovely field mushrooms, banana shallots and a giant bunch of flat-leaf parsley for 79p, my soup has practically made itself. As well as stocking every conceivable vegetable, there is an enormous selection of inexpensive fruit (Cox apples and Williams pears end up in my basket), plus loads of fresh herbs and spices, including kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass stems.
Next I need chicken legs so, as the new food market isnât on outside the library this week (itâs the third Saturday of the month, selling everything from meat to macaroons), I swing by the precinct, and Frostâs the butchers (12-14 Chorlton Place, M21 9AQ). Like Wild At Heart (1 Railway Terrace, M21 0RQ), this stocks local organic and free-range fayre, and some bloody good bangers. Just round the corner on Wilbraham Road, the friendly fishmongers Out Of The Blue (484 Wilbraham Road, M21 9AS) does a good line in game and eggs (including duck eggs), while if itâs cooked meats and smelly cheese youâre after, try the hugely knowledgeable Hickson & Blackâs (559A Barlow Moor Road, M21 8AN); you can even treat yourself to a bacon butty after all that hard work.
Sarah-Clare Conlon is a freelance writer and editor living in Chorlton. Her blog Words and Fixtures won Best New Blog at the Manchester Blog Awards 2009.
