Manchester

• 

Manchester Food and Drink Festival

If you have heard a few rumbling sounds of late it’s no cause for alarm, it’s just an army of empty stomachs rumbling because it’s been a year since the last instalment of the Manchester Food and Drink Festival

The main event
This year’s festival which runs from October 3-13 will be the eleventh in total and promises to go even further than last year’s tenth anniversary celebrations which attracted 300,000 visitors. The biggest change for this year’s festival is that as well as utilising the familiar venues of St Ann’s Square, the festival will also be making use of the new Spinningfields’ Pavilion site.

So what can dedicated foodies look forward to over the course of the fortnight? One of the most popular aspects of the festival is the local produce market that sets up in St Ann’s Square; this year it returns, giving city folk a chance to taste the freshest cheese, meat and veg from some of the North West’s best producers. Other returning regular events include the chef demonstrations with the likes of Michel Roux and Simon Rimmer already signed up.  

This year’s event promises to have the first Urban Harvest Festival, showing people the full range of produce that can come from even the smallest of window-boxes and giving tips and advice on how to produce your own food.

There are plenty of opportunities to stock up on samples in The Pavilion which hosts the Greater Manchester Real Ale Festival, wine tastings, chef demonstrations and master classes and will even give you a chance to get your hands on some great freebies.
Manchester Food and Drink Festival, various venues (www.foodanddrinkfestival.com).

Going for Gold
One of the most important aspects of the calendar of events that the food and drink festival produces is the awards. As the festival has gradually built its reputation throughout the North West, so the importance of the awards has grown among chefs and restaurateurs.

As usual the most hotly-contested categories will be restaurant of the year and the chef of the year, with heavyweight entries such as Ithaca and ABode, pitted against firm favourites like Ramsons, Room, Punjab and Greens. It seems a safe bet that the smart money is on the big-hitters, but both Room and Greens have popular followings and so it’s anyone’s guess where the award will be heading.

As you would expect there’s some crossover for the chef of the year category with Ian Matfin (ABode) and Nasser Laziri (Ithaca) both nominated.  It’s great to see Kevin Whiteford from Malmaison making the list as well as David Bright from Luso – both would make worthy winners, although for sheer consistency, our money is on Bright.  

In a city that’s serious about its drinking, there’s also hot competition for the title of Best Bar and Best Pub – Bar of the Year is being fought between The Deaf Institute, Walrus, Big Hands, Ithaca, Dulcimers and The Modern. If there’s any justice it will go to The Modern which is a brilliant addition to the city’s drinking establishments. The running for Best Pub is between The Castle on Swan Street, bottled beer experts Bar Fringe, The Marble Arch, The Arden Arms and two versions of The Crown – the one from Worthington and the one from Stockport.

With more awards for Best Food and Drink outlet and the award for Healthy and Sustainable Eating giving a good coverage of all the food industry, the awards promise to provide a barometer of what’s hot and what’s not in the city. The competition will be announced at the awards ceremony at the Palace Hotel on October 13 and the only certainty is that the winners, losers and all foodie attendees will be sleeping off hangovers until well into the next day. 

Partner Festivals
Manchester Food and Drink Festival isn’t averse to sharing the limelight with other foodie jamborees in the region. As well as boosting the profile of the smaller events, it also creates the impression that wherever you are in the North West during October you can find something delicious. This year festivals from Salford to Stockport and from Tameside to Trafford are included under the MFDF umbrella. All ten districts of Greater Manchester now participate, making the event one of the largest food events in Europe.

Highlights of these spin-off events include Salford’s Young Chef of the Year competition where aspiring Gordon Ramseys can win the chance to take over a major Manchester restaurant for a night. The Beer Bash at The Crown Inn in Stockport (winner of CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year) will be hosting up to 16 guest ales with free music, and Wigan centre will be taken over by chefs with five days of demonstrations and tastings on offer. 

Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2008 Oct 3-13 2008. www.foodanddrinkfestival.com

• Did you find this useful? Yes No
• 

---