The Kitchens

A number of Manchester's best street food sellers have recently been given the opportunity to occupy a permanent location within Manchester's Spinningfields area. 6 restaurants are going head-to-head against each other, 7 days a week, to be given the chance to open their restaurant on a permanent basis in the same location, The Kitchens.

The Kitchens

Most of them will continue to travel around and showcase their food elsewhere but, with some having had difficulty recently in selling from their normal locations, it provides a great opportunity to settle down somewhere for at least 12 months. 

The 6 food vendors are:

1. Mumma Schnitzel - fried chicken 
2. Bangers and Bacon - pork based meals
3. Hip Hop Chip Shop - fish and chips like no other
4. Chaat Cart - Indian Street food
5. Wholesome and Raw - Fruit and veg in more ways than you can imagine
6. Yakumama - Latin American Street Food

We've reviewed some of these in the past and so most reviews here will be kept quite short, but with some of them going missing for a few months now we were keen to check them out again. 

So with Thursday evening being the opening night, the Meat Memoirs headed straight there after work to check it out. 

Set right beside the canal in Spinningfields, 3 restaurants occupy each side of the open Irwell Square, in the middle they are constructing decking and seating areas for those busier times. As it was opening night, the party atmosphere was in full swing, with a DJ playing and all the food sellers queued up. 

With Bangers and Bacon the most fresh the meat memory, having reviewed them quite recently after attending one of their chefs tables, (READ THE REVIEW HERE), we headed their first to see what they'd brought to the Kitchens. 

Bangers and Bacon seemed to have the most extensive menu of all the sellers, with a large selection of plates to choose from, each containing pork in one way or another. 

Bangers and Bacon Menu

Bangers and Bacon breakfast menu

Without much description on the menu, we opted for the Pig Mac. Unsure if we were going to receive some sort of pork based version of a Big Mac or Macaroni cheese containing pork we awaited the result patiently. The wait wasn't long before I was handed a tub of large pasta covered in cheese and mixed with huge chunks of gammon. 

Bangers and Bacon Pig Mac (£5.00)

Large chunks of pork mixed with thick cheesy pasta topped with
Bangers and Bacon own pork cracking type prawn cracker

The cheese certainly wasn't the main ingredient as can sometimes be the case with macaroni cheese. There was just enough to soften the pasta and create a smooth creamy sauce. The thick cut chunks of gammon/bacon could be found throughout the tub and tasted excellent.  A simple dish from the Bangers and Bacon team but excellent none the less. 

Bangers and Bacon are situated between the Hip Hop Chip Shop stall and Mumma Schnitzel stall. So it it made sense to try these next. 

Both Mumma Schnitzel and the Hip Hop Chip Shop have featured in the Meat Memoirs before from a previous visit to Guerrilla Eats (READ THE REVIEW HERE). 

Mumma Schnitzel used to attend the food festivals around Manchester and operated out of a van in the Spinningfields area during the week. However, they haven't been seen for some time and so their presence here was great to see. 

Mumma Schnitzel

Their menu still consists of breaded fried chicken portions used to create simple burgers topped with their own made sauces, and they're still creating fried halloumi options of a similar nature to go with the chicken. 

Mumma Schnitzel Menu

We opted for their simplest chicken schnitzel burger which contains a fried chicken potion, with salad and Mumma Schnitzels own mayo and sweet chilli sauce. 

Mumma Schnitzel - Chicken, Mayo & Sweet Chilli (£5.00)

Biting into these burgers still reveals one of the most moist chicken portions I've ever eaten. The light fried coating adds a crispy texture to compliment the moist chicken inside. 

Mumma Schintzel's sweet chilli sauce adds a firey hit and tastes incredible, while their own made mayo counters it with a cooling taste. The burger is contained within a soft brioche bun and finished with fresh salad. 

Then it was on to the Hip Hop Chip Shop. 

Hip Hop Chip Shop

Again, we've featured them before in the Meat Memoirs from Guerrilla Eats previously but we enjoyed their fish and chips so wanted to try them again. We chose the "Meat Junkie" box from their menu. 

Hip Hop Chip Shop Menu

The triple fried chips are still as crispy and delicious as previously, while their crispy battered onion rings were done in their glorious batter. 

I personally didn't sample the battered sausage as another member of the party ate this so I can't comment on this part of the box. 

Hip Hop Chip Shop - Meat Junkie (£7.00)

Hip Hop Chip shop seem to be another that tasted exactly as the meat memory remembered and they should be another strong name within the Kitchens. 

On the other side of the square, the remaining three restaurants can be found. Running out of time before our train we only had chance to try one more and so opted for Chaat Cart. 

Chaat Cart

Chaat Cart Full Menu

Unfortunately their full menu wasn't yet available on opening night but their most popular dishes were available. We opted to try the Puri Chaat. 

Chaat Cart Prawn Crackers

While we waited for this to be prepared, Chaat Cart had a wok filled with brightly coloured prawn crackers to snack on. These were crispy, fresh and flavourful! 

Puri Chaat (£4.50)

These turned out to be crispy parcels filled with cream, tomatos, onion and pomegranate seeds. These fresh flavour filled parcels would have made a great dessert after a spicy Indian meal.

I wish we'd opted for more of a main meal to really try what Chaat Cart has to offer. These parcels were fresh and tasty though, but when I return I shall sample more of their menu. 

The ones we didn't get to try:

Yakumama

Wholesome and Raw Main Menu

Wholesome and Raw Sushi Menu 

Conclusion

Unfortunately we'd run out of time to try the finial two restaurants in Yakumama and Wholesome and Raw. 

However, The Kitchens is set to be around for 12 months and with some of our favourite food vendors now available 7 days a week you can guarantee we'll be back to try the remaining restaurants as well as sample more of the menu from the others. 

The Kitchens should be a huge success. Set within the highly popular Spinningfields area it will appeal to early morning business folk, then again for lunch, and then draw in people frequenting the local bars in the evening. Despite it being set to the quiet end of Sprinningfields, the previous Spinningfield regulars and Manchester best known street food should attract a steady crowd. 

I for one will be back there before long to finish this review....

@_TheKitchens

http://thekitchensleftbank.com/

Kitchens Facebook page

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!