Why Will Mancunians Be Living In A Food Paradise This Week?
| 28th September 2017
Fast becoming Britain’s second gastro city, Manchester foodies will be living the dream this week as Manchester Food and Drink Festival celebrate its 20th anniversary with a packed programme of mouthwatering events.
Starting TODAY (Thursday, September 28) here’s the lowdown on the foodie fest which has helped put our city firmly on the culinary map and lasts until next Monday (Oct 9), giving you plenty of time to check out the wares of some of the best cooks and eateries around (not forgetting the booze obvs).
A staggering 252 partners are joining in the fun, including chefs, brewers, authors, street food traders, wine merchants, restaurants, cafes, art galleries, forgotten railways (WTF), community groups, pubs, bars and food foragers.
What’s more there will be a massivo one HUNDRED events happening across the city and ‘burbs, with food heroes descending on us from all over the UK.
Highlights include Ella Mills’ first pop up outside London to Altrincham’s fabulous Sugo (both pitching up in the city centre especially for MFDF) and fabulous cocktails from the M.A.D team, the northern quarter independent bar and restaurant group, set to launch the Ibiza-based Lazy Lizard superclub this December.
The heart of the fun will be the Festival Hub on Albert Square, where the biggest and best-ever, FREE, pop up food village has been built. This will become the city’s very own heavenly food and drink neighbourhood for 11 jam-packed days.
Open from Hub 12noon – 11pm daily, it and will feature street food, an indie beer festival, gin, wine, chefs, masterclasses, pop up restaurants, live music and more.
As well as the Hub happenings, there’s banquets in forgotten railway arches; fine dining extravaganzas in some of the city’s most glamourous restaurants; wine festivals; cocktail safaris; gin trails; food entrepreneur workshops; rustic basque banquets; ‘Manchester Tart-Offs’; craft beer tastings; cakes; ‘octogenarian cookery’; mushroom foraging… and of course the MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards.
You can download the festival brochure with full deets HERE.
Founder Phil Jones told VIVA:
“We hope Manchester is hungry! This is without a doubt our biggest and best programme yet – there is something fantastic happening every day throughout this Festival! We’d like to say a big thank you to all the brilliant chefs, partners and restaurants who have come together to make this such a special celebration of Manchester’s food culture. Happy Birthday MFDF and all and we’ll see you at the Festival Hub!”
VIVA will be bringing you highlights and putting on a lot of weight over the next week. To find out more visit WWW.FOODANDDRINKFESTIVAL.COM.
Let the Mancunian hunger games begin!