Bangers & Bacon chefs table

For a while now I've been keen to try Bangers and Bacon food! I've seen them at numerous events and always missed trying their food. Having told them this numerous times, they said I should attend one of their chefs tables at Guerrilla Eats. 

Bangers and Bacon have been a resident every week at the latest series of Guerrilla Eats events. Although Gurrilla Eats is free entry and pay for food at each of the vendors, advanced tickets should be bought for a place at the Bangers and Bacon chefs table as they sell out! Luckily we had our place booked for the 6pm sitting this Saturday and we were keen to discover for ourselves why these events are selling out. 

Guerrilla Eats has relocated to Sudehill just by the bus station for its latest run of events and arriving around 6pm on a sunny Saturday meant it was fairly quiet on arrival. We grabbed a drink at the well stocked bar and headed upstairs in the redundant wholesalers building which has been cleverly used to host Guerrilla Eats food events. 

Guerrilla Eats

Umbrellas and lights to decorate the redundant wholesale building

At the top of the stairs, Bangers and Bacon occupy a large area out of the way of the music with 3 large tables, enough to seat around 30 people. At the far end is their kitchen area. Open to the viewing of the dining audience, allowing them to see how the menu is put together from start to finish. 

Bangers and Bacon Chefs Table

Arriving early we had free choice of seats so sat right up against the kitchen and immediately got talking to the Bangers and Bacon team. 

Simple decorations to create a friendly, sociable setting within the first floor

Open kitchen for diners to view

The team aim to bring a different menu each week. Every week they develop 5 courses, with every course containing pork, from starter to dessert.

Having no idea of the menu before hand left me grabbing the first 1 I saw to see what pork filled creations would be in store tonight. 

The menu explained the dishes perfectly while leaving your imagination open to try dream what the flavours will taste like as each course arrives. 

Chefs Table - Week 11 Menu

As the tables filled up and the first course was almost ready, Richard introduced himself to the diners with a warm welcome, introduced the rest of the kitchen staff/chefs and set the evening going. He explained that although the menu is as they planned, there are occasions when the menus change slightly.  

First course; Pig Pickle and Pate

This first course consist of a Wellington, made with their award winning sausage meat, would be combined with bacon jam. On the side would be some bacon pate and homemade chutney. 

Having watched all these being created I couldn't wait to try them! 

Course 1 in preperation

As the little slates of Wellington were brought to the tables they were accompanied by crackers in the centre of the table. 

Richard explained to the diners that this course brought the first change to the menu. The Wellington had been replaced with more of a sausage infused swirl. 

Wellington Swirl with bacon Pate

Crackers to accompany the starter

The first bite of cracker with the swirl and chutney brought a fantastic taste! I'm a bit of a sausage snob and like to think I recognise good sausage meat when I try it. It was immediately obvious why the sausage meat was award winning! I could have eaten an unlimited number of these swirls! 

Richard later explained that they do make full sausages with this meat, and can be found under their sausage retailer name of Bobby's Bangers, so I'll have my eye out for these as soon as I can!! 

The chutney accompanied the swirl and sausage meat perfectly. The bacon pate was smooth and had a perfect bacon hit! 

If every course was to taste like this, we were in for a treat!! 

Second course; It's Pho Simple

The second course was a traditional Pho (traditional Vietnamese noodle soup) infused with Asian flavours and filled with cured, sticky, charred pork. 

Pho, noodle soup topped with pork cracker

The generous pork slices within this soup were well cooked and just as described on the menu. They had a slight sticky texture to them but were well cured to give a fantastic taste. The pork flavours were transferred into the noodles and the soup meaning I enjoyed every last drop. 

Each Pho portion had been topped with a very lightly fried crackling type piece. Asking Richard what exactly these were, he explained that they were a type of pork flavoured prawn cracker. I'd describe them as a cross between a prawn cracking and pork scratchings. 

Third course; Oriental Spicy Swine

Chinese steamed buns, kimchee slaw and wasabi mayo. 

Chinese steamed buns with wasabi sauce and slaw

Perhaps the course I was most apprehensive about from the menu description, not being the biggest fan of wasabi. However combining the steamed parcel with a little of the wasabi made for a great little hit following the pasta filled pork flavours. 

The side portion of fresh slaw cleansed the pallet well if the wasabi was too much. 

We'd been able to watch each parcel lovingly prepared by hand as we'd sat right next to the pasta preparation area. Inside each parcel was a great little portion of seasoned minced pork. 

Preparation of the steamed parcels

Fourth course; "Hungary" Like a Pig

Ravioli of Paprikash, warm Italian salad, and basil emulsion

A couple of soft parcels of freshly made pasta ravioli filled with minced pork, seasoned with onions, sided with a tomato salad and drizzled with a basin sauce. 

Pork filled, freshly made ravioli parcels with Italian Salad and Basil Emulsion

I think the staff had underestimated the preparation time for the ravioli and so this course was perhaps a little rushed. The parcels were a little undercooked, however the minced pork inside each ravioli packet tasted great. 

Minced pork filled Ravioli

The combination of the tomato salad and basin sauce worked very well to create a fresh flavour with the ravioli. 

This course took a while longer than all the other to be served and so I wondered if it had been a little rushed in the cooking of the ravioli. Perhaps a little more patience in the cooking and serving it a little later may have perfected it. 

Fifth Course; Bloody, Bitter & Bacon

Bitter chocolate, blood, orange pot, with bacon thins

A bitter, dark chocolate orange mousse, with pigs blood. This mouse was served with a cookie which should have contained bacon pieces. Here came the second change to the menu for the evening as it would seem the bacon pieces were omitted from the side biscuit. 

Cream topped, blood, chocolate and orange mousse accompanied by a biscuit. 

Everyone seemed a little apprehensive about this course when they were told that the chocolate mousse contained pigs blood. I dug in undeterred and instantly enjoyed the thick, rich chocolate flavour. The orange was an obvious follow on flavour while the pigs blood gave the mousse a thicker consistency. I couldn't find it at all in the taste. I think the dark chocolate and orange flavours may have overpowered any pigs blood taste, but it was obvious in the consistency. It made the mousse very thick and what I could only describe as a slight gritty texture. This doesn't give it much credit in the description, but I promise it was a delightful end to a fantastic meal!

Bacon infused biscuit

The pots were only small but with the rich chocolate it was just enough. As the chocolate got overpowering, the biscuit would help to take the edge off. 

Conclusion

After a long wait I was glad I'd finally been able to attend one of Bangers and Bacon's chefs tables. 

The Bangers and Bacon team are extremely friendly and their pork inspired menus are incredible. To make so many dishes, all containing pork, and to be able to create different dishes week after week, all of which taste so great is no easy achievement. It also intrigues me to return as each week would be different! 

Due to this weeks menu I think a lot more preparation was required for some of the courses as they usually have, and so I think this created my only criticism. The fourth course of ravioli could perhaps have done with a little more prep before the event and a little more cooking at the event. But then I suppose this would take away the spectacle of creating each dish live in front of the dining audience. 

Overall myself and the group I was with, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! If you like your pork tastes and you're in the search of something different then I highly recommend Bangers and Bacon. If you're into your sausages then keep your eye out for Bobby's bangers! If their sausages taste like the swirls from the first course, you'll be in for a treat with these well seasoned pork sausages! 

Bangers and Bacon are also set to open a restaurant as part of "The Kitchens" in Spinningfields some time around mid June! Expect them to feature in the memoirs again when we check out the restaurants there. 

In the mean time, you can book a place at the chefs tables at Guerrilla Eats here:
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bangers-and-bacon-chefs-table-guerrilla-eats-week-12-tickets-16306774000?aff=eac2

@bangersandbacon

Bangers and Bacon Facebook Page

http://bangersandbacon.co.uk/


Meat Rating: 9/10

Money for meat: Paid in Full

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!