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Hail Caesar’s salad days in downtown Tijuana… but don’t spare the Roquefort and Parmegiano

Beware sweeping put-downs. “All border towns bring out the worst in people.” The words of Mexican detective Vargas, hero of Orson Welles’ classic film noir, A Touch of Evil, which is set (though not filmed there) in a widescreen approximation of Tijuana. Shadowy, seedy, violent, borderline – movie stereotypes stick. Chuck in the country’s more […]

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Wild about wasp yeast after a honeyed epiphany at Indy Man Beer Con

Ensō is an old Zen word meaning “a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create”.  That’s how I almost felt tasting beer with that name at the recent Indy Man Beer Con in Manchester. Brewed using wasp yeast […]

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What an Exhibition! Basque, Brazilian and Scandi fodder plus a beer offering to raise the dead

While we await the eventual unveiling of a Manchester Town Hall fit for 21st century purpose we can welcome Exhibition bar/food hall, a more modest repurposing of a nearby building on Museum Street that is part of the rich heritage of the city centre. Just look at the glorious Art Nouveau facade of St George’s […]

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Up close to the culinary alchemy of Eddie Shepherd, Chef of the Year

Is it fanciful to judge chefs from the books on their restaurant shelves? Obviously there to make a statement. True, what they put on the plate is paramount, but any committed artist is in part the sum of their influences. Take the wondrous Moorcock Inn at Norland. Among some hefty cookbooks in the bar you’ll […]

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All the 2022 Manchester Food & Drink Awards Winners – and my blurry green oasis

Back to normal, post-pandemic? Well, not quite. Manchester’s food drink scene faces further unprecedented pressures with the current cost of living and energy crises. Yet the daring, innovative flame still burns bright and hell, do they all know how to party. My morning after lifesaver was the recuperative vibe of the city’s glorious new Mayfield […]

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