The Manchester Food & Drink Festival is back for its 25th year, but with so much going on for the next two weeks in Cathedral Gardens, how will you decide what to hurl yourself into? It's OK, we've got you...
The festival ‘fire pit’
Happening at the festival’s central hub in Cathedral Gardens, the fire pit will be a fantastic focal point for this year’s festivities. Best of all, some great chefs will be taking it on, performing elemental cooking with a flourish of theatre to it. It will be up and smoking over both the festival weekends, and will find Francisco Martinez from Fazenda and Robert Owen Brown all stoking up the coals, with Caroline Martins, founder of the Sao Paolo project, kicking things off on September 24.
Cookbook Confidential
The Cookbook Confidential event is a must-do for MFDF visitors this year, with a whole day of talks from top publisher Octopus Books and its stable of writers. Countryfile presenter Kate Humble will be talking about her first cookbook, Home Cooked, while Pip Payne and Nick Corbishley will be providing tips and hacks to putting great food on the table every night without breaking the bank. It happens at the Festival’s Hub Kitchen from 12.30pm on September 24, and is hosted by Guardian food writer Felicity Cloake.
The Artisan Market
Every year, the MFDF artisan market is a feast for the senses, with some of the best local producers hitting the main festival square at Cathedral Gardens. Pitching their stalls for the 25th anniversary event will be British rum from Two Lasses, Elliot Eastwick’s World Famous Hot Sauce, Small Farmers Coffee and The Flat Baker.
The ultimate street food
Before food courts were even a thing, the MFDF was bringing together street food vendors in one place. The first weekend will see spectacularly good Eritrean and Ethiopian food from House of Habesha, the bar-raising Hip Hop Chip Shop, award-winning Vietnamese Mi & Pho, packed gyros from Cyprus Kouzina and fluffy buns from Super Bao. The second weekend then features the likes of Grandad’s Sausages, I Knead Pizza, burgers from What’s Your Beef and peerless parmos from Parmogeddon.
Coffee ‘Rave’
Food and Drink Festival coffee shop of the year nominees Factory Coffee will be pulling out their most caffeinated beverages, and giving them away free, gratis and for nowt at the Festival Hub on September 30 from 12pm to 3pm. There will be flat whites, there will be DJs, there will be tunes, and thanks to Rogue Artisan ice cream, some affogato too.
Leftovers Kitchen
As belts tighten, any and all money saving tips are greatly received. This initiative from Recycle For Greater Manchester and Open Kitchen MCR is a full day event on October 1 from 12pm, and will see a host of demonstrations on how to curtail food waste and make the most of the food you buy, transforming fridge leftovers into amazing meals.
Manchester Beer Bar
The Manchester Beer Bar, right in the thick of things on Cathedral Gardens, will be serving ‘25 beers for 25 years’, to help celebrate the MFDF quarter century. So that will include offering from the likes of Brightside Brewery, First Chop, Burton Road Brewery and Thirst Class Brewery.
Meet a Bake Off winner
Mild mannered Rahul was the winner of the ninth series of The Great British Bake Off in 2021, beating Ruby and Kim-Joy to the coveted title. Since then, Dr Mandal (he’s a research scientist in the field of nuclear power when not covered in flour) has become a published cookbook writer and appears at the Festival’s Hub Kitchen on September 24 at 2,30pm, discussing his love of puddings with fellow writer Edd Kimber.c
Sunday Masterclasses
On September 25 and October 2, from 12pm, you’ll be able to ease into your Sunday with some masterclasses from some of the city’s best restaurants, with the Manchester Masterclass Kitchen events, featuring the likes of South East Asian masters Tampopo and Ancoats Coffee, who will be sharing secrets and knowledge.
25 for 25
Outside of the festival itself, a host of Manchester’s best restaurants are offering up special menus for £25, as a doff of the cap to the MFDF’s 25th anniversary. 20 Stories will be doing three courses and a glass of wine for £25, Embankment Kitchen will be offering various dishes plus wine for £25, while Mi & Pho in Northenden will be serving up two starters and two main courses for £25 per person.
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