RESTAURANT REVIEW: REDS TRUE BARBECUE

On the website for Reds True Barbecue, it reads "Step through the imposing wooden doors of the former Shipping Agent’s Building and be transported into a twisted fairground of worship". This house of worship is for those with a belief in meat & quality barbecueing!

The first thing that strikes you upon entering is the glorious smell of the grill! That chargrill heavenly BBQ odor making you salivate and wanting to get stuck in to a mighty feast.

The ambiance is warm, lively, with a hint of junkyard-chic & neon, and a cracking soundtrack (some quality rockin tunes are playing whilst the grill sizzles away.

The food we ate was really enjoyable (but don't go here if you are a health-nut). I went for the Donut Burger - a couple of juicy flame grilled steak patties, with bacon, cheese & onions served between 2 sweet glazed donuts! Oh gosh - the salt and the sweet really worked and was tasty as hell. I had this with sweet potato fries and homemade slaw. It was everything I expected and some more and left me a very satisfied customer.

My fellow Greedy Mancunian opted for the rack of ribs (KC-Wet Baby Backs) - its gotta be done in a BBQ joint! Again they were superb, with an unholy BBQ sauce & sides of barbecue greens & cornbread. We washed down our meals with a couple of Red's own brew - Idle Hands Craft Lager. 

All in all a tasty feast that left us stuffed and satisfied (and a reasonable price for the amount and quality of the food). I now have a faith in Reds True Barbecue - I believe!

Details of the Manchester Reds True Barbecue (and its other branches - Headingly, Leeds & Nottingham) along with its menus can be found here: http://truebarbecue.com

Amen.

TWO GREEDY MANCUNIANS AT NANDOS

Well the Two Greedy Mancunians were out again on Thursday the 31^st July, We had been invited to a evening at Nandos (Arndale) to sample a new menu.

A new menu I hear you say at Nandos surely not!!!

The evening started with a stroll through the Andale which I must admit I hadn’t ventured in for years, because it always had that pants reputation, but what a shock I had there was many restaurants and clothes stores and i will certainly be going back.

When we arrived the Two Greedy Mancunians seemed to be in a Arndale daze as it took us 10 min to realise we were standing outside Bella Italia, eventually we found Nandos which was next door & we were greeted by a lovely member of staff who guided us upstairs to where we were all to meet.

To my suprise there were many foodies & bloggers invited & there was a good atmosphere (could it have been the offer of free beer and wine that did the trick)

There was one couple who arrived late & sat down for all of 10 minutes then left because they were sat next to the toilets.  I'm sure people do this for the attention, just get over it please you are not at a Michelin starred restaurant, you are at Nandos. Just enjoy the company and the atmosphere (and on  behalf of Nandos the toilets were clean and there were no bad smells)

So the manger gave us a brief introduction of the history of Nandos and it was clear she really did enjoy her job which is great to see.

The food we had was a sample of the new menu we were first given a plate of olives, toasted pitta bread, a red pepper dip & a lovely hummous. Then out came our first lot of chicken, we had bonless chicken thighs which i really enjoyed. The chicken was really moist and very tasty,  there was also sweet potato wedges (nice big chunky wedges too) which again were really very good.

More chicken was piled upon us and being Two Greedy Mancunians we did our best to help eat it all up.  They also did a chicken roullette, different chicken in different strength sauces, you had to pick one, and one could have been extremely hot, it was all fun.

Then all of a sudden a giant cock came out of the back, people seemed to be having their photo taken with the cock and some were touching the cock, then I realised it was the Nandos mascot 'Barci'.

There isn’t much more i can say we both had a really good evening, Nandos put on a really good feast, and some people don’t like Nandos, but I do. I have been a few times and always enjoyed it.

I’m not saying I go all the time but if you want a quick lunch or quick evening meal (and you like chicken) then you really can’t go wrong, the food is good, staff are always pleasant and it is all at a reasonable price. And you know Nandos must be doing something right because the restaurants are always busy, which to me is always a great sign.

The night wasnt just about Nandos, it was also in aid of promoting the Arndale's "Get Your Eat On" campaign. Basically for the whole of August you can download or pick up a booklet of vouchers for most of the food places in the Arndale, so what are you waiting for, go get your eat on!

Visit: https://www.manchesterarndale.com/getyoureaton for further details and to download the vouchers.

Thank you to Nandos and the Arndale for putting on a great, fun evening.

Greedy Mancuinan (Alex)

STAY TUNED FOR REVIEWS OF A NEW BOOK I HAVE DISCOVERED CALLED DEATH BY BORRITTO WHICH IS FULL OF RESCIPES FOR MEXICAN STREET FOOD....COMING SOON

RESTAURANT REVIEW: FALLOW

Despite not wearing ironic spectacles & skinny jeans, being students, or being a fans of the Foals, we found ourselves in Fallowfield after an invite to try the new menu at Fallow (formerly Trof). Fallow certainly cater for the local market with its American Diner style menu, but fear not - this isnt nasty greasy fast food though - its well presented and high quality food. 

My fellow Greedy Mancunian ordered a burger from the menu with cheese and bacon - it came neatly stacked with some wonderfully chunky chips that were perfectly seasoned & the burger meat itself was a quality home made meaty patty. "a very tasty burger" that left him feeling happily stuffed!

I had already made up my mind before I even read the menu when earlier in the day I had a look at the website (www.fallowcafe.com) and saw a picture of the rack of ribs on there. All i will say about them is that they did not dissapoint in the slightest! A nice big rack of juicy ribs generously covered in a delicious sticky barbecue suace, served with a token patch of greenery and coleslaw - and some more of those chunky chips. You'd be hard pushed to find such a bloody good feed elswhere for under a tenner!

After a breather we contemplated pudding for a while and ordered a triple chocolate brownie (with ice cream and berry sauce) & an Oreo cookie milkshake - both were rather delicious and left us most satisfied!

All in all a very splendid feed with good quality well cooked/well presented food, in a bar with a good ambience and decor served by very pleasant staff. Thank you Fallow - we certainly recommend any Two Greedy Mancunians readers to bob in for a beer and a bite from you!

Huzzah!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: LIVEBAIT

On a chilly winters eve (and after a few gentle pints in the Town Hall Tavern - a highly recommended drinking establishment) the Two Greedy Mancunians were back in action for 2013 with our first restaurant review of the year (incidentally Happy New Year to you all!). This honor fell to the seafood restaurant and bar "Livebait". Upon entering we noticed that for a Saturday night it wasn't overly busy, but put this down to it being freezing and also the ol' January money blues.

We were given the menus and ordered 2 Morretti's (one of our favourite Italian beers). For Starters, Alex ordered the salt & pepper squid with chilli dipping sauce (above). The squid was beautifully battered and not too greasy and not just your average squid rings, as it also had little baby ones and tentacles & the dipping sauce had just the right kick!  I opted for the crispy whitebait with aioli. The whitebait actually tasted of fish which makes a nice change from the deep fried slivers of crunch you normally get with whitebait - having said that they could have done with a fraction more crunch to them, but this didn't detract from the dish overall. They were presented nicely in a small frying pot and served with the aioli mayonnaise and a wedge of lemon.

We thoroughly enjoyed our starters and were looking forward to the main event ("two more Morretti's please"). For our mains Alex ordered the line caught cod with a mushroom and bacon risotto, and I ordered the Goan fish, clam and mussel curry. Alex thought his fish was cooked perfectly with the skin nice and crispy as this was devoured also. The risotto it was served with was an utter delight as many places can get risotto terribly wrong - it was rich and creamy and in Alex's words was..... "BELISSIMO!!!". We also shared a side of cabbage and bacon - which was very tasty.

My Goan curry came bursting with colour and smelling great. Not being a particular fan of salmon, i was surprised to find that it was really tasty and worked well with the curry - I think a white fish might have been lost with all the other flavours. The curry sauce was rich and there were flavours of coconut, mango & coriander and it had a nice (but not too hot) blend of spices. All of the mussels and clams were fully open and had been properly prepared & cleaned. The dish was served with a nice sized portion of rice and some lovely cumin flavoured poppadoms.

After a 5 minute breather and another couple of Morretti's we asked to see the desert menu. Feeling nicely full we both ordered lighter deserts. Alex had a trio of sorbet and ice cream, and was persuaded to accompany it with a glass of sherry which was described as winter in a glass. The trio consisted of a blood orange sorbet, a pistachio ice cream and a vanilla ice cream. All were pleasant and sherry was sweet and tasted of christmas pudding - living up to the claims of it being "winter in a glass".

Being a cheese obsessed fanatic (see my other blog: www.themightycheeseboard.blogspot.com) I went for 2 of the 4 cheeses on offer (I was too full to go for the full selection). I went for the Stilton which was a nice strong Stilton and paired with a beetroot chutney that worked marvelously together. The other cheese I went for was one of my all time favourites - the Spanish cheese Manchego - this was served with quince. I liked the fact that each cheese was individually paired with a different chutney/jam as all too often with a cheeseboard you get a selection of cheeses and then one dollop of a generic chutney to accompany all the cheeses - thought had obviously gone into this restaurants cheese menu.

The waiting staff were all very pleasant and we had a lovely chinwag about all things food with the manager after our meal, but the only complaint we had was that they need to get the green neon sign behind the bar sorted out as it currently reads "LIVEBA.." - aside from that minor quibble, it was a good evening and a really excellent meal, and for the quality of the food reasonably priced. I would fully recommend it to anyone who likes seafood and (if the table behind us is anything to go by), anyone who doesn't like seafood also!

To see sample menus and find out more about Livebait then check out their website: www.livebaitmanchester.com

RESTAURANT REVIEW: PANCAKE CORNER

Yes - as the name suggests the Pancake corner mainly seves pancakes and is on a corner! This pancake house can be found on Gloucester Road in Urmston (Greater Manchester).

On a recent Saturday afternoon, we decided to stop off in here to make a change from afternoon tea and cake, and afterall who doesnt like pancakes (and I had heard about their marvellous milkshakes!)
It was empty when we arrived but we didnt let that put us off. It is located on a bit of a back street, so I imagine they might struggle for passing trade, but I would happily say if you happen to find yourself in Urmston - then its certainly worth heading down for a pancake. As you can see on the menu - the prices are all very reasonable and there are plenty of varieties of both savoury and sweet pancakes.

 

I went for a savoury pancake - the Breakfast - which was filled with Cheese, Mushroom, Tomatoes and a fried egg. The pancake was just the right thickness to contain the filling without falling apart and despite a measly token gesture of salad on the corner of the plate was simply presented. It was pretty damn tasty too! It didnt take long to wolf the whole thing down.

 

 

Sadly, my partner in crime and fellow Greedy Manc Alex wasnt present at this particular outing. But my friends (and stand-in Greedy Mancs for the day) both went for sweet pancakes - one opting for the classic Original (sugar and lemon) and the other going for 'the Good, the Bad & the Spicy' (apple, nutella and cinnamon) - both came presented with a lovely star in the icing sugar.

 

 

Needless to say I managed to sneak a taste from both! The original Lemon and Sugar one - I felt could have done with a little more lemon juice, but as a classic pancake it was absolutly fine. The Good the Bad and the Spicy one was very nice and I think with out the apple it would have been a bit sickly, but was spot on with all its 3 ingredients combined! All in all 3 lovely pancakes!

 

On to the aforementioned 'legendary' milkshakes - as you can see from the menu - you can have pretty much any of your favourite chocolate bars in milkshake form! I am a big fan of dark chocolate and decided to go for the Lindt Dark Chocolate milkshake - it really did not dissapoint - one of the nicest milkshakes I've had in a long time. It was rich and creamy with that lovely frothy icecreamyness of a good milkshake with the delicious bitter taste of quality dark chocolate! Mmmmmmmm! Even if you dont want a pancake, you should definateley stop by for a milkshake!

 

 

So all in all - it really was a nice alternative to afternoon tea & cake. The pancakes were very nice and very reasonably priced - and although I probably wouldnt trek across Manchester just to go here, I would fully recommend anyone who finds themselves in Urmston to seek out the pancake corner and stop off for a bite to eat..... and of course a milkshake!

 

RESTAURANT OPENING: NEIGHBOURHOOD

Myself and my fellow Greedy Mancucian , had the pleasure of atteneding the grand opening of a new, New York vibe restaurant in the Spinningfields area of Manchester called Neighbourhood, at Avenue North. I always love events like this as it gives a chance to but my best fragrance and clothes on for the evening (as you can see from the above photos I came dressed as Inspector Cluzo & John came dressed as Compo from Last of the Summer Wine).

 

Myself and John met at a very cold Picadilly train station and made the short walk accross to the venue. Upon our arival into the venue we were greeted at the door by two pleasent bouncers (which can be rare these days), as we went in the place was all ready busy, with the young business types that tend to frequent Spinningfields, the sound of of modern tech house music was playing, this didnt spoil the atmosphere at all and I think it probably added to the vibe and the style i think the venue is looking for. At the desk we were greeted by two very attractive young ladies, infact the whole team were young and good looking (including the men) with a set uniform of braces, bow ties and coverse trainers for most of the staff - again this fitted in with the vibe of the place.

 

The decor & layout of the venue to me fitted in with what the owners were looking for - it did look like a lower east side bar in Manhattan, and it gave me the feeling that the great Andy Worhol was just about to enter followed by David Bowie - it just gave me that feeling. The bar was well stocked with good quality spirits which is always good to see behind any bar, and all the bar staff were pleasent and new what they were doing. Myself and John were given two free vouchers for drinks with which you could have a bottle of beer or the house cocktail, which was a passion fruit flavoured cocktail, but they always go down a bit to quick! We were also told that a selection of the menu would soon be comming round. We were hopeing to sample a good selection of the menu, but due to it being busy and it being opening night, we only got to try 2 of the canopees. This is the only bit of the night i was slightly dissapointed by, I say only a little, because we were fully enjoying the vibe of the place and the good time i was having with John took the edge of it. But the two selections we did get to try were both very good, the first was chicken on the bone (the only problem with serving chicken on the bone nibbles was that nobody knew what to do with their bones afterwards, so we quickly polished off our cocktails and popped the bones in the empties!) The chicken however was nice and had a lovely sauce in it, but there was a bit to much skin on for my liking, the second was a mini burger which was delicious, the taste of the burger was spot on, cooked well and well seasoned.

 

And that is all i can tell you about the food, because thats all we had, but while you are reading this, dont let that bit but you off, it was a opening night of the venue afterall & I think it went very well for the owners as everyone was having a great time & we met some top people and had a really good laugh - although after Neighbourhood our evening ending in Mojos on copious Brandy Alexanders was great fun at the time, but not good for the head the next morning (you know who you are!!!). Would I go back to Neighbourhood? The answer is yes, I would definately go back in the evening for drinks before moving on, & would i go back to eat? The answer is also yes, but personally i would like to go back to eat one leisurely afternoon, because i would love to have a proper taste of the menu, and try all the different foods they have availble (the full menu looked fantastic). And finally would i recommend to friends? Yes i would - i really enjoyed the atmosphere ,the music and the people that were there. So if you're reading this make sure you swing by Neighbourhood next time you're in the.......... neighbourhood! 

RESTAURANT REVIEW: THE RESTAURANT BAR & GRILL

Two Greedy Mancunians were recently invited to check out and have lunch at the new addition of The Terrace (opened in August) at Manchester Restaurant Bar & Grill. Upon our arrival the staff were very friendly and welcoming, took our coats & led us upstairs to the terrace to be seated. Kenny our waiter for the afternoon gave us our menus and took our drinks order - we ordered a delightful bottle of Fluerie (a French red that was lovely & light - perfect for lunch). We were also bought out some home made bread balls with chilli vinagarette dipping sauce as an appetiser. The vinagarette was fresh and zingy and it gave us something to nibble on whilst we made up our minds on what to order.


 For starters I had the Iberico Ham & my fellow honourary Greedy Manc for the day Yasmin (sadly Alex couldnt make it) ordered the Chicken Liver Parfait. The Iberico Ham came with toasted sourdough bread and was sereved with a simple heirloom tomato salad which had green, yellow & red tomatos. The ham was really light, thinly (freshly) sliced and was melt in your mouth. Nothing further was required or provided with the ham as a good quality Iberico Ham speaks for itself.... and it did!

The Chicken Liver Parfait was cased in clarified butter and also came with toasted sourdough bread, but was also served with a spiced apricot & pear compot. The parfait was rich, creamy and garlicy and was certainly not skimped on in quality terms. The addition of the spiced apricot and pear compot worked so well, the chef clearly knows how to balance flavours, and it gave this dish the feel of an adventurous take on a classic chicken liver parfait. All in all we thouroughly enjoyed our starters.

Next up was our main courses - I chose the 8oz Fillet Steak whilst Yasmin opted for the Tuna Au Poivre.

 

Our waiter Kenny, I should mention, was both friendly and seemed genuinley interested in the customers without being introusive. And it's to kenny I have to thank for suggesting the onion rings as a side to my main course - I'll come on to the steak shortly, but i do have to make a point of mentioning the onion rings - quite frankly they were bloody good! I will even go as far as saying they are the best onion rings I have ever tasted - lovely sweet onion in a light delicious batter (they were also arranged in a tower in size order - nice!). Anyway, back to the steak - I ordered the fillet steak (rare) with the Colton Bassett Stilton butter, and was served with a small bucket of chips. The steak was a little bit over cooked for rare coming more medium-rare, but due to the quality of the meat this did not make the slightest bit of difference as it was not at all tought and was just so tender and melted in the mouth. The blue cheese butter was also a nice addition to the steak as it didnt shy from the blue cheese flavour - a butter with intense Colton Bassett Stilton flavour to it.

 

Yasmin ordered the Tuna Au Poivre which was a sashimi grade tuna loin with a pepper crust and ordered "seared" - again it was the quality that spoke for itself - the quality of the fish was exeptional. It was perfectly cooked practically raw in the middle just nicely seared on the outside. In a moment of indecision between chips or salad as an accompaniment Kenny was happy to accomodate "a bit of both" - a nice fresh salad with vinagarette dressing went very well with the tuna. The tuna was also served with a light bearnaise sauce. Another nice touch was the lemon was served in a muslin bag so no stray pips ended up on your plate!

 

Anyway, by the time we had finished our main courses we were both feeling almost too greedy and needed five minutes before ordering desert. There was a good selection of cakes available and on display on the desert trolly that was wheeled over to our table, Yasmin ordered the fig and almond tarte with home made icecream - although tasty, there were not enough figs involved in the tarte and the icecream was superb, but having such a small serving of it only left you wanting a bit more. I, of course, ordered the cheeseboard (for those reading this who dont know of my fondness for cheese, you should check out the other blog I run www.themightycheeseboard.blogspot.com). It came with plenty of crackers, grapes, some of that lovely spiced apricot and pear compot, and a selection of 3 absolutly fantastic cheeses (a stilton, a goats cheese, and a mature cheddar).

 

To sum up the Restaurant Bar & Grill - we would say its food is a combination of simplicity and pure quality. Their menu has a main focus on the grill and the dishes are not over complicated or covered with heavy sauces. And yes it may be a bit more pricey than your average restaurant, but you certainly get what you pay for - an absolutly fantastic & well cooked meal! The service and staff are very friendly and unpretentious. Two Greedy Mancunians are more than happy to reccomend going to the Manchester Restaurant Bar & Grill.

To round up our lunch we had a couple of drinks to send us on our merry way - I had a cocktail from the selection of award winning cocktail menu - a "Bramble" - tasted like an alcoholic ribeana and had a blackberry and mint leaves on the top and was delicious - Yasmin ordered a sambucca which came with a couple of coffee beans floating in the top - very nice!

 

 

 

RESTAURANT REVIEW: BEM BRASIL (NORTHERN QUARTER)

Baically if you like meat then look no further than Bem Brasil. It quite literaly is a meat eaters heaven! On Friday night we arrived at Bem Brasil to find it busy, but they managed to find a table available for us. And seated us, the waitress gave us the rundown on how the restaurant works and took our drinks order - we went for a Brahma (Brasillian beer). Basically each table has cards that are red on one side and green on the other, when on green the servers come over with a big skewer of meat and carve directly at your table and just keep coming until you switch it back to red. Seemed silly not to have it permanently on green (and at times it did fee like a Man vs Food challenge to keep up with the meat arriving). Now its not just meat I should say. You get a plate and there is a salad bar with lots of tasty items to have as an accompanyment to your meat feast - I particularly enjoyed a good ladel of the bean and pulled pork sauce alongside my salad bits - but the star attraction is the meats - all are rotisary grilled over a flaming barbeque, and are cooked to perfection (the beef for example chargrilled nicely on the outside, and beautifully rare on the inside). We had various types of pork, chicken (both spicy & wrapped in bacon), lamb, spicey choritzo style sausages & lots of different beef cuts. You can also tell instantly that the meat is not only all cooked to perfection, but of the highest quality. A mighty feast and for £25 - you feel like you have had 3 or 4 main courses worth of food - Two Greedy Mancunians say keep your cards on green!!! & highly reccomend Bem Brasil to all meat eaters out there.

http://www.bembrasilrestaurants.com/conteudo.php?caminho=bar_restaurants/12/northern-quarter.html

SRI LANKAN LUNCH: GODUMBA ROTIMEAL & DEVILLED POTATOS

 

Upon arrival, straight off the megabus (I can assure you there is nothing "mega" about it) to London Victoria I decided to grab myself some lunch.

Heading in the general direction of Buckingham Palace I passed several sandwich/deli style shops. My first thought was to stop in one of these for a grilled paninni - but with the average cost of around the £5 mark, I thought for just a few quid more I could stop for lunch in a nice looking Sri Lankan Restaurant I had passed on the coach just round the corner. About 5 minutes walk from victoria station I found it on Lower Grosvenor Place - the Sekara Sri Lankan Restaurant. A humble family run Sri Lankan and Indian cuisine curry house directly behind Buckingham Palace, with a reasonably priced lunch menu (average of £5 - £6 per dish).
I opted for the Godumba Rotimeal, which was 2 Sri Lankan flatbreads (one Plain and one egg) served with devilled potatoes.

The Roti were soft in the middle and crisper round the edges - the plain one was nice, but a bit bland. i much preferred the egg one (basically the same, but made with an egg inside), which was delicious. Both I had with the devilled potatos (potatos, onions, chili, curry leaves, and some spices) which provided a nice kick to accompany the flatbreads - all in all a very tasty and filling lunch. I had it in the restaurant with a nice pot of Sri Lankan tea - and ended up not costing much more than a quickly grilled paninni on the go. I ended up very stuffed and very happy with my lunch choice - most enjoyable!!!

please note the pictures of the food are not acually the food served as I didnt have my camera with me, but I took the time to find pretty identical looking photos of the food served to provide an idea of what it looked like.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: THE WHIM WHAM CAFE

For our first restaurant review, we decided to go to the Spanish restaurant El Rincon - just off Deansgate - which is why we are bringing you a review of the Whim Wham Cafe (long story, but it involved walking in the rain and a 2 hour wait for a table - so went here instead).
The Whim Wham Cafe is a delight - sat on one of the railway arches on Whitworth Street - it is an old fashioned Gin Saloon/cafe/restaurant/entertainment venue.
Upon entering we were approached by a friendly young lady who seated us & bought us beers! Alex had a Brooklyn Larger (actually brewed in Brooklyn) and John had a Beartown Bearskinfull Bitter (brewed in the more glamourous town of Congleton!)

After a ponder over the menu - we ordered our food. For Starters: Alex opted for the Pan fried chicken Livers with wild mushroom, spinach and cream sauce served on a date & rye bread. The sauce was spicey but delicious and the livers were not overcooked and lovely and pink inside. John (being a cheese addict) went for the deep fried Cheshire Cheese with beetroot chutney, the cheese was warm and creamy and the beetroot chutney gave a pleasant zing to the dish & was served with rocket & balsamic vinegar - 2 splendid starters!

For mains we both opted for pie & horseradish mash - Alex having Cheese & Onion, and John having the Steak & Ale pie - both served with some lovely minted peas & a small pot of gravy! The pies were pietastic! A light pastry with a moist tasty filling - a very tasty pair of pies!

A very reasonably priced meal with starters, mains and 2 beers each totalling just pennies over £40 (thats only £20 each) - for the price the food was outstanding. The ambiance and the service was a real treat - with even the owner Alix having a jolly chinwag with us and checking everything was ok.
After eating we stayed in there for a few of the gin themed cocktails (both were fresh and extreemly good!) and at 10pm the offensive magician provided some top entertainment to finish off the evening.
We highly reccomend this eatery for a good meal,service and entertainmet! GO TO THE WHIM WHAM!!!
https://www.facebook.com/TheWhimWhamCafe?rf=313354372075899#!/TheWhimWhamCafe