Food and Drink

  • Last Saturday saw me striding in and (not quite) crawling out of this year’s Manchester Rum Festival. New year, new location; New Century Hall! me It’s been three years since my last foray into this very fine festival which is incredibly into its 8th year, and yet still, STILL, so many rums to try! The

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  • If you’re heading to Manchester Rum Festival this weekend [Saturday 28th August] you’re in for a very exclusive treat. Festival owner Dave Marsland and The City of Manchester Distillery have created an entirely unique, never-tasted-before rum solely for ticket holders. Just 100 bottles of The Double Distillery Pot Limited Edition Column Still Rum will be available

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  • My Dad was a professional museum, which led to him being away on tour a fair bit when I was growing up. ‘Gigs and digs’ were oft heard words in our house. And it’s all very rock and roll and glamorous, isn’t it? Well like everything, dig (not always deep) below the surface and there

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  • 2020…events…pandemic…cancellations and so on and so forth. Stick a pin in that. It’s 2021, it’s the August bank holiday weekend and the Manchester Rum Festival is on! Bringing with it over 30 rum brands from around the world, this year’s festival takes place in the 4-star Mercure Hotel on Saturday 28 August, at the heart

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  • I was going to use a terrible title for this blog post – Purezza: Vegan Sparkle – a very terrible play on words involving Meghan Markle. But given I’ve had to explain it and it’s beyond cheesy, I haven’t. Speaking of cheese, and I so often do, when invited to the soft launch of Purezza,

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  • You will be familiar with Manchester’s very own People’s Choice Wine Awards, an annual event where we, the happy, passionate consumers get to lend our opinions, alongside the professionals of the wine world, in order to crown the year’s top tipples. You can read more about my own experience of being a judge and attending

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  • Gourmet pizza restaurant Croma and I have two things in common. The first is that pizza is an incredibly important part of our lives. The second is that this year marks our 20th year living in Manchester! To celebrate, I’ll be justifying ever single trip out and drink drunk with ‘it’s my 20th anniversary’. For

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  • It probably won’t have escaped your notice that I wasn’t born and bred in Manchester (and surrounding areas). I mean, the clue’s in the name. Growing up on the Fylde Coast until moving to Manchester in 2000, I was excited to find my two worlds colliding in the form of a fabulous fish restaurant. Marple

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  • It is here where I would love to show off about my travels around Japan, the food I’ve eaten, the sights I’ve seen, the cherry blossom I’ve been beguiled by… But I have not been. But I have this, and it’s mine… My late father was a musician and musical director. Amongst those he musically

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  • ‘Twas a Monday in October when a woman who was still recovering from her (cough)th birthday party two nights before, did approach a table laden with 30 wines. 30. What craziness is this? I hear you cry. Get this woman an intervention. Or Graham from Jeremy Kyle. Or…just something. But you see it was ok.

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  • It was back to school for me this week. I wish I was young enough for that to be true in the traditional sense but for every realisation that you’re not getting any younger, there is a silver lining. To be over the age of 18 is to have your name on a more important

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  • To get an invitation to try the new menu at Malmaison Manchester is to be filled with trepidation and anticipation. Trepidation because how could it match up to previous experiences: Fall fork first into autumn at Malmaison Malmaison brings the Millennial touch to Afternoon Tea  It did and it was fabulous. Tried and tested for

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  • I’ve been a member of a number of clubs in my life. Chess club, book club, netball club, Never has my enthusiasm been so strong, my interest piqued so much, my commitment been so absolute than for this particular club I’m proud to be a member of. That of course is Fizz Club, as brought

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  • It’s a rare day I pick up when my phone rings. It’s a hell freezes over day I call someone else. I’m not a monster, a social pariah, arrogance personified. I guess you could call me the ultimate screener. But it’s not through a sense of selecting who I want to talk to. It’s more

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  • Dear old Rabbi Burns Chivas Regal celebrated Burns Night at Paul Smith on Cathedral Street this year. Whisky never tasted so stylish…

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  • The highs, the lows and the love that stemmed. Beautiful Manchester. .

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  • After a summer of outdoor activities, beer gardens and sun terraces (yes, even in Manchester, naysayers), October heralds a time for taking it back indoors . Personally happy to see the back of light summer salads, all I can see ahead is a series of extended Sunday lunches with friends and family and delicious decadent dinners. Autumn

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  • Sunday, Bloody Sunday.  You wake up in the morning, you’ve got to read all the papers, the kids are running around, you’ve got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think  Sunday. Bloody Sunday With a few adjustments to the woes listed by Alan Partridge , I often do think the same. They’re

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  • It was on a balmy night in Manchester when Brasserie Abode threw open its doors, banged on its bongos and welcomed Manchester into its loving, refurbished arms. If the recently rebranded bar and restaurant is anything like its welcome party, us mancs (born and honorary) are in for a treat. Last Thursday I got a

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  • When I was young, I had two major concerns about getting older: I wouldn’t be allowed to wear my hair in a ponytail anymore; and  What would I do about coffee mornings – I hated coffee and indeed tea. What world I was living in where the latter was a real worry, I don’t know.

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