I have a friend. Let’s call him Beer (no I’m not metaphorically telling you I have a drinking problem, Beer is an actual man). Beer, I said (typed), give me three words to sum up your thoughts on The Blue Pig.
I like it.
Thanks, Beer, I said.
Beer wanted to expand on this and I allowed him to.
Parisian beer tent
Even better, Beer, I said.
Why are you called Beer, I said.
Beer was gone. He hadn’t died, just gone offline.
The first thing to say about The Blue Pig, in the Northern Quarter, is that inside it does give good Parisian bar. Parisian bar in ‘the old days’.
The actual bar area itself is something to behold and for those who haven’t stepped through the blue hue (or heu bleu), you’ll be surprised at how much more compact it is than my picture below suggests. And by that I mean it is ostensibly grand for its size, in quite a marvellous way.
The fixtures and fittings, are iron, in general and both impressive and a little unnerving.
Let us look at these meat hooks…
Can’t see them? You’re perhaps distracted by the events and promotions on the boards (more on these later – see how I tease). A closer look…
A nod to the pig, I guess. At pains not to embarrass myself by misinterpreting the various styles, nods, homages and raison d’etre of The Blue Pig, I turned to the bar’s website to see if I could quote a summary of its wondrous usp. I’ve lifted this…
…an illustrious drinking hole situated right in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Along with Beer’s summing up of the bar…
I like it
No, the other one
Parisian beer tent
…my own summing up is Pigs in Paris. Swine on the Seine. Erm Hogs in Hermes?
Anyway the heavily scribed ceiling is pig-heavy and fun to read, twisting your neck to a variety of angles in the process.
Drinks. Great cocktails. Current rival to Lost In Tokyo for great, good value (not, in this case, code for cheap and nasty) cocktails which are Happy Houred up until 7pm.
My favourite of those tried, both feature on the House Creations page – the exotic Madame and the Quincy, which I sampled only yesterday (bang upto date, this blog, you know).
I was seduced by its promise of vanilla vodka, honey and lime. Only once had the process started did I read the ingredients properly and did CHILLI jump off the page at me.
As I turned white, my partner in crime (let’s once again, call him the Rabid Mime), whispered the comforting words…
It might be alright
It turned out it was alright. Mostly down to the excellent customer care which came from the bartender who either noticed my pallid complexion, heard the reassuring…
It might be alright
or, more likely, is good at his job, and took the time to ask how soft I am (my words) to which I replied very and so bespoke me my own mild version. He even checked in on me a few minutes later.
The Quincy was delicious and made me feel daring. Kind of the same effect that diverting from Beef Monster Munch to Pickled Onion Monster Munch has on me.
The bar also prides itself on its craft beers and my two friends, the Rabid Mime and Beer both bear testament to this.
On a final note, The Blue Pig is red hot on its events. A few weeks ago I found myself late to the party, when I walked in on the climax to a loud, lively game of Oink! Punk Bingo.
Mental Bingo, as I like to call it, is really taking off and popping up all over Manchester.
In this case, the general premise is your bingo card contains band names or singers, not numbers. Bursts of songs are belted out, not numbers, and it’s a race to identify the artist and cross them off your card, if present.
Not numbers.
I arrived just in time to see my friend victorious, but not before she had danced in a dance off to a dancey tune for reasons I’m still not entirely clear on, but did lead her to walk away with free wine and this…
And so there we have it.
The Blue Pig, the Parisian Beer Tent, is stylish in appearance, fun and extensive in its drinks, its food, according to its website;meaty and luscious (it smells good) and its events calendar lively, loud and on point.
To paraphrase The Thick of It‘s Julius Nicholson, The Blue Pig is positively hoggish.
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