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 doomful. It’s a whole day off work, but laced with doom and tedium. Not to be dramatic.
However, my fellow mancs, honorary and by birth, yesterday was a different animal altogether.
Imagine the scene.
A bus that drives you around Manchester, dropping you off at various locations for meat treats (it rhymes, you see).
Yeah, bit odd, but yeah…
…I hear you murmur.
But wait.
Imagine that bus but with the addition of a team of chefs cooking up a storm up top, to provide you with mouth watering meaty morsels (alliteration) as you ride between stops.
That can’t be real, that’s insane…
I hear you mutter.
It is. But wait.
Imagine all that, all of that, with a saucy side of beers, beats and bantz! Can’t can you?! I knew it.
It happened and it happened to me one Sunday not too long ago (basically yesterday).
The good people at Meat Lust invited me to board their bus, and enjoy their Sauce & the City tour, round some of Manchester’s foodie favourites.
The ‘dirty food’ revolution is showing no signs of slowing and an integral ingredient of any dirty dish worth its salt is its sauce.
And us lucky carnivorous commuters couldn’t move for it on board.
It is at this point in proceedings that I should point out that all food and drink consumed was of a normal food colour. You can’t have a meat bus (it’s a bus of meat innit) without flashing lights and strobes so don’t be alarmed.
Before we’d even set off to our first destination on the tour, we were handed an amuse bouche of beer and pulled pork nachos.
Despite the disco light disclaimer, this dish really was as pretty as it looks.
One wet wipe later and we pulled up to Crazy Pedro’s.
Braving oncoming traffic, we all bounded across Bridge Street and through the doors, for a slice of the action…
Cashew nuts, chillis and curry sauce were the stars of the show. Eye-watering for some poor, soft souls (i.e. me), the slices were hot to trot but tasty all the same.
Before we got on the bus and caused no fuss…well basically nothing, but it’s good to paraphrase an Oasis lyric in a Manchester blog, despite the passing decades.
Anyway, fuss free, back on the bus we were handed our next meaty morsel:
Forgive my vagueness but there was a lot of meat going down that fateful Sunday (yesterday) and so I will describe it as thus – sausage, brioche, sauces and loveliness.
Paired with this delightful morsel, we were handed a Punk IPA as a teaser for our next stop – beer tasting at Brewdog:
Our hops host, Seb? took us through the unique history of the brewer and taught us how to taste beer.
Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniiiiiiiff and then gulp
Naturally my gulp was more of a sip and a choke (I can’t take instruction) but I did get notes of lemons and limes, I’ll have you know.
Also have you heard of mouthfeel? Mouthfeel.
I don’t want to talk about it. I put that word up there with foodbaby and moist.
I’m going to admit bowing out of our beer tasting meat chaser. It’s not Meat Lust, it’s me. Parked up in Stevenson Square, even if I had got past the rabbit and black pudding (albeit wrapped in pancetta), the whipped cream would have sent me and my mouthfeel under.
However, it has to be said that I heard a number of my fellow meatbusers that it was the best yet. More fool me.
My photography skills of said dish matched my adventurous approach to it – woeful…
Apologies to all concerned in the making of this dish.
It was time to move on with a lamb fajita (secret ingredient popcorn which weirdly and seriously worked) and a Tickety Brew set against a delightful denim backdrop…
Like a more civilised, less terrifying, and altogether fun version of the 192 nightbus home, spirits were high and we came to our final stop on our tour, Sugar Ray’s in the Northern Quarter.
Ray and his people specialise in dogs and waffles. Hotdogs. ‘Franks’. It took me longer than decent to work out what a frank was, it has to be said.
All this set against a Studio 54 soundtrack, it’s a great place to visit even when not being taken there on a meat bus.
Back on the bus (despite our high spirits, we caused no fuss), we made our way back to the depot (B.EAT St on Deansgate), it was time for our pudding. That is, a savoury pudding.
Now I had an amazing pun all lined up for this last tasting. One of my better ones. Alas, today I realised that my original play on words is the tagline for one of Manchester’s newest food outlets.
Still I’m going with it (good work Taberu).
This last saucy surprise was a fluffy steamed bun, filled with pork and spicy sauce.
Final foodstuff? Take a bao.
To sum up my saucy Sunday, Meat Lust served up a top three hour tour filled with mouthwatering meat, fine Manchester beats, a generous serving of bus beers and plenty of onboard laughs along the way.
Sticky fingers crossed, the tour returns to Manchester again soon.
For now, enjoy all the saucy deets
