Ras El Hanout Lamb
FoodWell
Recently opened FoodWell at The New Baily is absolute Instagram GOALS. Beautiful and bright and filled with plants as well as a health deli, 30ft bar, yoga studio and 120-cover restaurant. It was at the latter where I delved into a delicious portion of pulled lamb peppered with ras el hanout ( which is a popular Middle Eastern spice). The lamb was so succulent it melted in the mouth and sat on an earthy Jerusalem artichoke puree with pickled onions, harissa and rose. It was all the flavours of North Africa in one bite and I couldn’t get enough. – Kate Tighe
Clotted Cream Mash
The Lowry Hotel
A little birdie has told us that The Lowry Hotel has a new menu on the way, and that little birdie is me because I’ve been lucky enough to go down to try it. All of it is lush, don’t get me wrong, but one small-but-mighty thing that blew me away was the clotted cream mash that came with the slow braised ox cheek. Honestly, it was one of the creamiest, dreamiest things I’ve ever had the pleasure of putting in my mouth and I cannot wait until I can get back in there to eat it again. – Kate Tighe
You Feta Believe It
Science & Industry
In my eternal quest to uncover new and unusual cocktails, I trekked the short distance from the Finest office to Science & Industry to give their rather special Feta cocktail a try. A cheese cocktail may sound like hell for some and heaven for others but let me put things straight – this is one of the best cocktails I’ve ever tasted and I’ve tasted A LOT. Just ask my poor liver. I’m not going to tell you what it tastes like – just go and bloody try it. – Ben Brown
Turkish Eggs
Another Heart to Feed
As a resident of West Didsbury, there is no better way to spend a weekend than sitting in Another Heart to Feed (preferably with some kind of small dog on your lap), drinking an artisanal coffee and tucking into one of their sublime brunch dishes. There’s a new one on the menu too – Turkish Eggs – which knocked my socks off. Creamy labneh, succulent chorizo, fragrant harissa oil, fresh dill and two poached eggs were the elements with some trove toast for dipping – it doesn’t get much better than that. – Kate Tighe
Bento Box
Cottonopolis
All-in-one lunches have never looked better than the adorable bento boxes served at lunchtime at Cottonopolis. Choose from a meat and a veggie option and get served little morsels of Cottons-classics. They change daily, but when we popped in this week, we enjoyed a delicious portion of Karaage fried chicken, tempura veg, pork belly bao bun and a couple of salmon-maki rolls just for good measure. A lunchtime treat and a complete microcosm of everything we love about Cottonopolis. – Kate Tighe
The Dirty Bird
Yard & Coop
Trying to choose a dish from the Yard and Coop menu is sort of like Sophie’s Choice – but more important. They have a packed selection of chicken goodness on offer and when we headed on down last Friday for a staff outing, it took me around 45 minutes just to pick something. The thing I picked was ‘The Dirty Bird’ a huge plate of chips topped with cheese sauce, fried chicken, crispy bacon, blue cheese sauce and BBQ sauce. It was messy but dirty – just how I like everything in life. – Ben Brown
