B.Eat Street - Friday Food Fight

B.Eat Street's Friday Food Fight started out, as you can probably guess, as a Friday evening event featuring a large selection of Manchester street food traders and unique restaurants serving up sample menus. They also offer up a big selection of cocktails and drinks on their bar.

The event has moved through 3 locations over the past year but is now currently residing within an unused space of the Great Northern Warehouse just off Manchester's Deansgate. It became so popular in its original location just over the road that they've started opening on both Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. This helps spread the number of visitor out as when it was just held on the Friday evening it was almost impossible to find a seat to sit down and eat. The queues for the food stalls could also be like queuing for a ride at Alton Towers during the school holidays! It also seemed that a lot of people would be there for the drinking more than the food too which never helped in getting a table. Because of this, I was little apprehensive about returning to the Friday Food Fight.

But with the promise of some old favourites, and some new names on the line up I figured it was about time B.Eat Street featured in the memoirs. 

Tonight's line up was due to feature the following names, not only from Manchester but from the length of the UK, with a special guest travelling up from Brighton. The line up included:
Piggie Smalls (@PIGGIESMALLSYO)
Viet Shack (@vietshack)
Coq o' The North (@CoqOtheNorth)
Dim Sum Su (@DimSumSU)
Lucha Libre (@LuchaManchester)
Diamond Dogs (@Diamondd0gs)
Dirty Food Revolution (@dirty_food)
Mei Mei's Street Cart (@mmStreetCart)
And Special Guest from Brighton - Fries Guys (@friesguysuk)

We arrived around 7pm which I expected to be the busiest time but entered via the manned door to the side of the Great Northern (next to the cinema entrance). You walk past the plywood tables and into a red tinted warehouse type space with a live DJ playing from a raised area. To one side of the hall is the bar, while opposite is a wall of food stalls from the various vendors. Between, the room is full of tables and benches with the odd oil drum dotted around forming a table or bin. It was good to see spaces at the tables and room to sit down and eat this time!

Seating Area

Drink & Cocktail Menu

B.eat street have improved the payment system opening a separate desk where you exchange money or pay on card to the value you wish to spend on food in exchange for poker chips. This seems to work well and it allows for card payment which wasn't possible at previous venues when you would pay the stalls individually. 

I was excited to see some new stalls to try and to revisit some past favourites. I'll admit I was very keen to try Fries Guys what with them having travelled all the way from Brighton, but it looked as though terrible traffic both around London and on the M6 had prevented them from arriving. 

Dirty Food Revolution

First stop was to a vendor we recently tried for the first time at another food event (See Previous Memoir Here), Dirty Food Revolution. I try not to visit the same places so soon after each visit but after winning a competition online for a free meal from Dirty Food Revolution I didn't need any more of an excuse to sample their burgers again. 

Dirty Food Revolution

Their menu was basically the same as at their last event, but at least it would give me the chance to test their consistency. There was a slight tweak to the fries being offered, still sweet potato fries but listed as having Dirty Seasoning and Vanilla Dusting on top. 

The burgers were the same mixes of sweet and savoury delights that I couldn't wait to sample again. 

Dirty Food Revolution Menu 1

Dirty Food Revolution Menu 2

As the fries were the only thing I didn't have last time I had to order them this time. 
I was a little apprehensive about fries with vanilla dusting, and I'd have to order to discover the surprise of the dirty seasoning. 

Dirty Fries - £3.00

The sweet potato fries were well cooked, crispy without being over done. They'd have been just like any other fries were it not for the dirty seasoning, icing sugar! Now I admitted at the time, if someone suggested putting icing sugar on my fries I'd tell them to get lost, but having tried these sweetened sweet potatoes I wouldn't need convincing again. Now, just to convince others that this is a suitable topping for fries. The vanilla topping I didn't notice though. 

As I engulfed the fries, I waited for the burgers to be cooked. In the background the thick patties on the grill looked delicious. I soon remembered the last time I tried these. 

Patties on the grill

For the burgers I opted for the Dirty Elvis burger, a chuck steak patty, american cheese, smoked streaky bacon, pork rind crumbs, maple syrup, sweet potato fries, all between a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Dirty Elvis Burger - £7.00

My girlfriend ordered the Dirty Swine burger, a chuck steak patty, mature cheese, smoked streaky bacon, frazzles, pork rind crumbs, dirty mayo, dirty BBQ sauce all between a brioche bun. 

Dirty Swine Burger - £7.00

The Dirty Elvis was another mix of sweet and savoury, as well as a mix of soft and crunchy. The beef patty was about as thick as the doughnut and in the centre oozed out a huge dose of maple syrup. The iced Krispy Kreme added a huge sugary boost, while the prok cumbs add a crispy bite. This is still one of the messiest burgers I think I've eaten to date. The sticky icing on the doughnut, the thick american cheese and the way the sweet potato fries fall out of the burger means there's no dignified way to eat this. 

Dirty Elvis - £7.00

Those with a sweet tooth might prefer the Dirty Elvis over the Dirty Swine. The fans of a more traditional burger wouldn't be left disappointed by the Dirty Swine. The thick juicy steak patty, crispy bacon & frazzles still makes this one of my favourite burgers. The Dirty mayo and dirty BBQ sauce do get a little lost in all these flavours. 
It's also a little less messy to eat than the Dirty Elvis. 

Dirty Food Revolution are obviously a fan of both sweet and savoury and aren't scared to mix the two. I'm glad they're brave enough to offer this menu and run the risk of people turning their noses up at it, because those that don't obviously love it (they sold out by the end of the night). They're also putting together some of the best patties I've found in Manchester. Hugely thick and really well cooked! 

Money for Meat: Competition win

Meat Rating: 10/10

Mei Mei's Street Cart

This was one of the vendors I hadn't come across yet so was keen to try it. Their menu board gave a brief description and diagram of the Jian Bing's (or Chinese style crepes) they were serving. Not something I'd come across before. 

Mei Mei's Menu

Mei Mei's had 3 different filling options, fried chicken, shiitake mushrooms, or a Beijing veggie option.  

We opted for the fried chicken option. These large folded crepes were freshly prepared in front of us, sprinkled with spring onions, covered in a hoisin & chilli sauce, before being filled with the selected filling and folded into an easy to hold package. 

Jian Bing

Both my girlfriend and I agreed that these were very good. The mix of flavours from the egg crepe taste and the onions combined with the sliced chicken was fantastic. The hoisin sauce added a great little kick towards the end which the crepe helped cancel out preventing it from being too overpowering. 

Money For Meat: Paid in full

Meat Rating: 8/10


Coq o' the North

Coq o' the North have become a regular at the food fight recently. They offer up buttermilk fried chicken in fresh brioche buns. 

I used to say that no chicken burger could compete with a beef burger until I tried a certain Manchester street food vendor selling their take on a fried chicken burger, since then my mind has been opened to the fact that they can. So on this note Coq o' the North had to be tried. 

Coq o' the North Menu

I ordered their "lip tingler", a spicy buttermilk fried chicken breast on a toasted brioche and a bed of mayo, lettuce, onion & tomatoes. 

The price was one of the cheaper main dishes on the night. I waited for the chicken to be fried and saw the bed of large tomatoes and onion pieces being prepared. 

The Lip Tingler - £5.00

When the burger arrived it looked a bit salad heavy but I'd give it chance. Upon taking a bite my original theory was immediately restored. Although the salad and bun was fresh, the thin piece of fried chicken tasted a tad too salty. The batter was of a good breaded texture, and well cooked. The chicken breast was just too thin though, and after being fried was just too dry. The overall taste reminded me of a late night takeaway chicken burger. Too much salad, and an overwhelmingly spiced battered thin piece of chicken. 

Overall I was left disappointed in Coq o' the North. A real shame having had my mind opened previously to what a chicken burger can be.

Money for Meat: Paid in full

Meat Rating: 2/10

Dim Sum Su

The final choice of the evening was the other vendor I hadn't heard of before, Dim Sum Su. Dim Sum is a traditional Chinese style of food, and the menu seemed to offer some Chinese favourites. Sue and John run this little business and although Sue couldn't attend the Food Fight this weekend John offered us a warm welcome. 

Dim Sum Su menu

On the front of the desk they had a couple of sample dishes, one of their peking chicken wraps and a box of their wontons. 

Sample Dishes

We opted for a portion of the home made Wontons to share between us. John explained that they'd started to dish up some black bean chicken wontons as well as the pork, prawn & peking chicken wontons and offered us a mixed box which we happily accepted. 

Wontons - £6.00

These wontons were my partners favourite dish of the night and they were definitely up there for me. These crispy, fried little packages were packed full of great flavours. Having a little box like this with a mix of different flavours in added to the excitement as you never knew what flavour you were biting in to. 

Crispy fried wonton skins

The seasoned meats inside the peking wontons were delicious and the peking sauce added a fantastic hint of traditional Chinese flavour. The black bean chicken wontons were equally as great. A tingle of spice from the black bean sauce around the minced chicken was a perfect amount of spice. 

Meat packed wonton with sweet chilli dip

I'll be following Dim Sum Su on social media to keep up to date on the future events they're attending, as I can't wait to try more from their menu.

Money for Meat: Paid in full

Meat Rating: 10/10

Conclusion

B.eat Street's Friday Food Fight seems much improved, with its new location, the decision to split the event over 2 evenings and the ability to now take card really seems to have improved it. Oddly, it seems to have got quieter though. To me that's a bonus, as it just seemed too busy in the past. It's lively and atmospheric now, without having to spend half your evening queuing. 

There's a big list of food retailers attending each night, offering lots of different choice to customers. We were spoilt for choice. 

Overall, the Food Fight has become one of Manchester's biggest food events every week. It's easy to see why with their large bar menu, and even bigger selection of food on offer. I'll be back to the Food Fight before long no doubt, and we'll feature it in the Memoirs when we do. 

An apology to all those stalls we didn't get chance to sample on this visit. We just couldn't accommodate them all. There'll sure to be a memoir feature for you all in the future. 

Here are the menus from the other vendors from the night:

Diamond Dogs - Menu 1

Diamond Dogs - Menu 2

Lucha Libre Menu

Viet Shack

Piggie Smalls Menu

Piggie Smalls Signs

Guerrilla Eats

The second food festival to feature in the memoirs comes from Guerrilla Eats hidden away in Ancoats, Manchester. 

Guerrilla Eats

Guerrilla Eats has been running each Saturday evening since mid-September with famous names from Manchester's food scene taking residence there for 4 weeks at a time, including:

• Fire & Salt - @FireandSaltBBQ
• Mumma Schnitzel - @MummaSchnitzel
• Dirty Dogs - @dirtydogsarehot
• Cow Boys Burgers - @CowBoysBurgers
• Gingers Comfort Emporium - @GingersComfort
• Las Paelleras - @Las_Paelleras
• Chaat Cart - @ChaatCart
• Streetza - @streatza
• Shake, Moroc & Roll

Aside the resident food sellers there are guest food sellers making a special appearance each week. 

Last night the line up featured:

• Resident Mumma Schnitzel offering up some of the best schnitzel around
• Fair Game (@FairGameFood) serving up their special game
• Rudy's Neapolitan Pizza (@RudysPizzaMcr) serving fresh stone baked pizzas
• Madame Francoise (@FrancoiseManc) offering up fresh made crepes & galettes
• Smokin' Hot Tamals (@SmokinHotTamale) offering up traditional Mesoamerican Tamales
• Dirty Food Revolution (@dirty_food) dishing up some crazy burgers
• and finally the increasingly famous Hip Hop Chip Shop (@thehiphopchippy) who recently featured in the Guardian and won "best looking trailer in Britain" at the British Street Food Awards. Although it's not the trailer we're interested in here. It's the fish and chips they're offering up.

The venue makes use of some unused commercial space and is fairly industrial with the exposed concrete walls and pillars. It's nothing fancy inside, instead has a quirky style using sheds for bars and a black taxi as a DJ booth.  

Guerrilla Eats venue

Cocktail shed

Coloured lines on the floor and walls lead from the list of food stalls on the wall outside to direct you to wherever you're looking for.

Follow the yellow lines

Mumma Schnitzel

First stop was to the resident of the week, Mumma Schnitzel. Mumma Schnitzel have been a resident in the Spinningfields area of Manchester until recently, serving up their schnitzel chicken from their retro van. Weekend evenings they've been a common name at food festivals like Guerrilla Eats. 

Mumma Schnitzel

Schnitzel Menu

Their fried/schnitzel boneless chicken is cooked to perfection with moist white chicken meat inside a light breaded coating which is lightly fried. At Guerrilla Eats they were offering smaller sliders from the menu giving you the chance to sample more. I opted for one slider though topped with their signature home made fresh guacamole, smoky mayonnaise, thick cheddar slices, smoked bacon and chopped red onions. 

Mumma Schnitzel chicken, guacamole, smoky mayo, cheddar cheese, smoked bacon & red onion slider - £4.00

The fresh ingredients topping the two perfectly cooked pieces of schnitzel make this the best fried chicken I've tasted in Manchester yet. One of the chicken pieces was a little fatty, but this would be my only criticism, as the chicken is so well cooked, yet still so juicy. If you're a fan of schnitzel and want some in Manchester than look out for Mumma Schnitzel, and if you've never tried schnitzel but you're intrigued, then Mumma Schnitzel is defiantly the place to start. Here's hoping they're able to get back to their home in Spinningfields soon. 

Meat Rating: 9/10

Fair Game

Fair Game

Fair Game is another famous name in Manchester's street food scene. They can be found offering up game in various ways at events like this. This week they were specialising in Pheasant, offering it up in both a burger format and as dippers within a spicy crumb with a paprika or garlic mayo dip. As well as the pheasant they had rare breed crackling with paprika mayo and sour dough pretzels. 

Fair Game menu

We opted for the breaded pheasant burger with BBQ sauce, onion marmalade, coleslaw all on a brioche bun. 

Pheasant Burger - £5.00

The pheasant was very well cooked and tasted great in a light breaded coating. The slices seemed a little thin though, but it's great to see something other than beef or chicken for a burger. The fresh coleslaw was crunchy and along with the marmalade onions really boosted the burger as a whole. 

Meat Rating: 7/10

Rudy's Neapolitan Pizza

Hidden in the corner of the room was a little stone baking oven beneath a sign for Rudy's pizzas. Available in a personal or larger sharing size we opted for an individual size to share. 

Rudy's Neapolitan Pizza

Rudy's Stone Baking Oven

The menu was clipped to the wall like a paper storyline with a good selection of pizza flavours to choose from. 

Rudy's Menu

Fresh ingredients, fresh out of the oven

We decided on a salami topped pizza which was topped onto a thin fresh crust. After a short wait our pizza was ready and fresh out of the oven. The pizza crust was fresh and crispy, and the high quality salami tasted great. 

Salami pizza

There wasn't really enough cheese on the pizza for my liking (this seems to be a common issue with these stone baked pizzas, they're more tomato sauce than cheese), and there wasn't really anything to make it stand out against some of the other stone baked pizza vendors that have begun to pop up at these types of events. The pizzas are always fresh and taste great, but none of them seem to stand out. 

Meat Rating: 4/10

Smokin' Hot Tamales

Smokin' Hot Tamales

Smokin' Hot Tamales Van

I'll be honest, I didn't know what a tamal was before this evening, but all the more reason to try one. I presume this is a common problem for Smokin' Hot Tamales, as they had a board in front of their stall explaining Tamales. 

Smokin' Hot Tamales Menu

What is a Tamal?

With the decoration of their van I figured it was a Mexican dish but with a small menu of either a vegetarian Tamal, or a chicken Tamal, I had to choose the latter. From a boiling dish they plucked a bundle wrapped inside a leaf and then topped it with cheese, salsa and hot sauce. 

Chicken and Sweet Potato Tamale - £5.00

The hot sauce was hot! Inside the soft shell was some marinated chicken which was soft and juicy. The sprinkling of cheese and freshly made salsa added some extra flavour. Whatever flavour the dumpling surrounding the chicken and sweet potato contents was supposed to have was unfortunately overpowered by the hot sauce. I'd like to try this again, perhaps without any hot sauce, as the fresh salsa and marinated chicken was inspiring. 

Meat Rating: 3/10

Madame Francoise

Madame Francoise, crepes and calettes

Madam Francoise is another name I hadn't come across to date, as desserts aren't always my first choice. Someone in the group I was with had a sweet tooth though so I gave them a try. 

Madam Francoise Menu

It was good to see crepes being offered with a combination of toppings instead of just nutella or similar spreads. My friend opted for the choconana which included bananas, chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, cream and coconut. 

The combination of flavours was great! And the thick fresh crepe was perfectly and evenly cooked and much thicker than I expected. The chocolate ice cream was full of chocolate flavour and really smooth. The cream unfortunately just seemed like canned cream. 

Choconana crepe - £6.00

Fresh ice-cream surrounded by cream and coconut flakes, doused in chocolate sauce

Meat Rating: 7/10

Dirty Food Revolution

Dirty Food Revolution

Dirty Food Revolution is a name I've heard around Manchester but yet to have the chance to try. I'd seen their creations pop up on social media leading up to Guerrilla Eats this week and couldn't wait to try them out. They'd been teasing creations which would include frazzles, matchstix and maple syrup on burgers, even a Krispy Kreme donut burger!

Dirty Food Revolution Menu 1

Dirty Food Revolution Menu 2

Their menu was more extensive than I thought it would be with 6 different burgers to choose from, but eventually I made my choice, choosing the Dirty Swine Burger - chuck steak patty, mature cheese, smoky streaky bacon, frazzles crisps, home made dirty mayo, dirty BBQ sauce, all inside a brioche bun topped with pork rind crumbs. 

Matchstix and frazzles on burgers

Sometimes when you bite into a burger you're stopped dead in your tracks by the excitement that your taste buds are experiencing. This was one of those burgers. The huge thick steak patty was delicious, with top quality meat and cooked to perfection with a hint of pink to the centre of the patty. The frazzles and thick streaky bacon added a huge bacon hit. The mature cheese was melted to liquid over the patty and was much better than using typical american cheese slices. The pork rind crumbs on top of the burger literally topped it off, especially when combined with the maple syrup drizzled on top too. The burger is held together by a Dirty Food Revolution flag on a skewer.

Dirty Swine Burger - £6.50

The bacon was also really well cooked and of a decent depth, not like some cheap thin bacon slices. 

Section of the Dirty Swine Burger

Luckily I wasn't the only one in the group choosing a burger and so I was able to sample a few of the options. One of the party chose the Dirty Elvis Burger - chuck steak patty, american cheese, smoked streaky bacon, pork rind crumbs, american syrup, sweet potato fries and a Krispy Kreme iced donut bun. I've tried a burger with a donut instead of a bread bun before and found it a little bit confusing on the palette. The Dirty Food Revolution seemed to work a lot better. It's still a little confusing mixing the sweet with the savoury but the quality of all the ingredients used seems to show through as it tastes incredible. 

Dirty Elvis Burger

The donut, fries and thick patty mean the Dirty Elvis was piled high and a bit more difficult to eat with dignity. But when it tastes this good who needs dignity? 

Finally after sampling these two I had to go back for another! My last choice was the Dirty Sanchez Burger - chuck steak patty, mexicana cheese, maple chorizo and pancetta, matchstix crisps, home made dirty mayo, dirty BBQ sauce all inside a brioche bun. 

Dirty Sanchez Burger - £6.50

Just like the Dirty Swine burger, the patty was perfectly cooked and the cheese melted to liquid. It was great to get a completely different taste compared to the first burger, yet the same great meat quality and consistent cooking perfection between the two. This had a lot more sauce on it so was a bit messier but the dirty BBQ sauce had a great smoky flavour too it. The maple chorizo pieces were outstanding! 

A couple of weeks ago I searched London for the best burger possible, Dirty Food Revolution beats all I found in the capital. One of the best burgers I've eaten in a while! 

Meat Rating: 10/10

Hip Hop Chip Shop

Hip Hop Chip Shop

The final vendor of the evening was the Hip Hop Chip Shop. I expected there to be a big queue for this stall following their recent publicity, and after having tried their food before, I knew they could dish up something special. 

Award winning

Hip Hop Chip Shop Menu

There wasn't much of a queue though and so I ordered their Feastie Boys Box. A combination of fish, chips (note; not fries!), chilli onion blings (rings), and mushy peas. 

Feastie Boys Box - £7.00

The batter to the onion blings was crunchy without being too heavy. The chilli flavour comes through with a delayed subtle little kick. The mushy peas were sprinkled with that I think were fried onion pieces. 

Mushy Peas

The thick cut, skin on chips were fluffy in the middle with a thin crispy skin to the outside. The definition of a chip!

Onion Blings & Thick cut chips

Finally, the fish pieces are soft, moist pieces of fish in a light batter all which melts in the mouth. Usually fish and chips is a heavy, stodgy meal, Hip Hop Chip Shop take all the weight out of the batters, so you still feel like having more even after finishing a portion.

Fish Pieces

Fish Pieces

Easily the best fish and chips around! 

I spoke with staff here regarding their recent award for their van which has just won best looking street food trailer in Britain (it's shaped like a boom box), and he explained that they measured it up and found it wouldn't quite fit inside the venue which was a shame. I'm sure after this food though I'll be coming across Hip Hop Chip Shop again soon and hopefully I'll get some photos of their trailer then. 

Meat Rating: 10/10

Conclusion

Guerrilla Eats is a fantasic food festival which I'm disappointed I haven't sampled sooner. They have a great selection of food vendors represented within a great venue. It's a little out of the way from the city centre, but it's not so far to walk that it's off putting. The event is suitable for all ages (there were families with small children, young adults and OAPs all present last night). It also seemed a lot more food focused compared to some other food events which seem to be used more as an extra place to drink before a night out rather than for the food. 

So if you're looking to sample some of Manchesters smaller food vendors (but also some of the best), then whatever your age I highly recommend Guerrilla Eats!