Manchester Picnic

Another weekend, another food festival in Manchester it seems. This time a one off weekend long festival, the Manchester Picnic.
A number of street food traders and restaurants were due to set up stalls on the Friday, Saturday & Sunday between noon and 7pm. As you basically walk past Piccadilly Gardens to get wherever you want to go in Manchester it was difficult to avoid stopping off to sample a few bites. So arriving around lunch time we made sure our plans took us through the gardens. 

There have been a number of food festivals over the past year or so in Manchester (and more are planned in the near future), yet they still seem to be very popular so can't have lost their appeal just yet. 
This one seems to appeal more to the passing public though and not rely as much on social media advertising etc. 

The food stalls at the Manchester Picnic seemed to have been selected from far and wide, with a number coming over the boarder from Leeds. 

Al's BBQ Shack

The list of stalls included:
Als' BBQ Shack - @AlsBBQShack
Cantina Latina
Chaat Cart - @ChaatCart
Chiquito
Choccy Churros - @ChoccyChurros
Cowboy Burgers - @CowBoysBurgers
Fire & Salt BBQ - @FireandSaltBBQ
Fire & Slice Pizza - @pizzafireslice
Fish& - @NoFishyBusiness
Ginger's Comfort Emporium
Lulabelles - @VWLulabelle
Martins Craft Bakery
Matildas
Papa G's
Piggie Smalls - @PIGGIESMALLSYO
Puddin5 Love
Tio's Barbecue - @tiobbq
Wasabi Sushi

There was a small tent for live music and DJs also, but as we know, this visit was for the food. 

The majority of these street food gatherings bring the usual BBQ, burger and pizza stalls. It's not often you find Fish and Chips at these events, but when there are they usually make a great change from the usual heavy, greasy battered fish you get at the local chippy. Fish& therefore seemed like the first choice to go to. Especially as they were located right at the entrance to the picnic area. 

Fish&

Calamari being a favorite was the initial choice but the tasting cone would offer the opportunity to compare Fish& with the usual grease, while hopefully allowing the stomach room for something else after.

Fish& Tasting Cone

The three portions of battered fish came in three different types of batter. A traditional batter, a lemon & chilli batter and sea salt & pepper. The flavoured batters were subtle yet noticeable. The pepper overpowering the salt in the salt & pepper batter a bit. The lemon and chilli batter had a slight kick to it, and the traditional batter was light. Real light in fact! In fact they were all very light! Not too greasy either! 
Biting into them you find a fish surprise inside. The fish was so juicy it was literally still dripping. Not like the dry, overcooked fish you often find in the middle of batter. 

The chips had a great crunch to the bite and inside the potato was fluffy and soft. 

Well that's those demolished. What's next?

Cakes and cookies from Lulabelles?
 

Lulabelles

Bread and pastries from Martins Craft Bakery?

Various Breads from Martins Craft Bakery

Brownies, cakes, buns, flapjacks

It was impossible to walk past this stall. There were bread samples to taste (you can't beat fresh bread) and a bag was filled with brownies, flapjack and this sexy looking pesto & cheese focaccia for later. These have now been sampled, the focaccia being a favourite in the house!   

Pesto & Cheese Focaccia (with dried tomatoes) 

Continue around the square....

Cantina Latina

Chaat Cart were serving up vegetarian delights. A special apology is needed here as I promised I'd go back to their stall for more photographs and I ran out of time. Next time they're in town though I'll be buying from them as an apology, and a full write up will of course follow.

Chaat Cart

Piggie Smalls hotdogs

Piggie Smalls Menu

The Piggie Smalls menu has some fairly extravagant (I think that's the best way to describe them) hot dog inventions. The "man vs food dog" being the choice which stands out most! (Smoked Dog, all the toppings then DEEP FRIED!)

Tio's barbecue was the next stop where I was able to sample a couple of menu items:

The wings (BBQ) and chicken sub were in order here. The BBQ chicken wings were basically just BBQ wings with some generic BBQ sauce poured too heavily over the top. Nothing to shout to the memoirs about:

Tio's BBQ wings

The chicken sub took chicken straight off the barbecue skewers onto the bread. This was more impressive, the chicken had a lot more natural flavour to it and wasn't doused in sauce:

Tio's BBQ chicken skewers

Tio's Chicken Sub

The last stop before we finished for lunch was to try Fire&Salt. Having seen their stall at numerous events before this was another meal I'd been keen for. 

Fire & Salt

Fire&Salt menu

A tough decision was made but the choice was the Beef Brisket BBQ sandwich. 

A lot of the stalls were cooking their meats there and then, unfortunately as brisket isn't really a cut for this the meat came off a hot plate. It was still hot though, and the beef was juicy and delicious. The cola BBQ sauce made the brisket though, the sugar from the cola really added a sweet taste to the beef as you took a mouth full. The serving of slaw was a little excessive though, it was almost more slaw than beef. 

Fire & Salt Beef BBQ Brisket sandwich

Fire & Salt Beef BBQ Brisket Sandwich (open)

Some of the other stalls included:

Al's BBQ Shack

Matildas

Matildas Menu

Matildas stuffed Loaf

Martins Craft Bakery

Fire & Slice Pizza

Fire & Slice in the making

Fire & Slice Margherita

Cowboys Burgers

Conclusion

Overall the Manchester Picnic seemed like a success, although for a Saturday lunch time it seemed a little quiet. Perhaps a little more advertisement or pushing on the social media could have brought a bigger audience. This is comparing it to other one day food festivals though so spread out over a weekend it probably attracted quite a large crowd. 

It was great to see some different food stalls featured here from outside of Manchester, and some different stalls from just the usual BBQ and burgers. 

Meat rating: 6/10

Money for meat: Paid in Full 

Ning, Manchester

Ning is a restaurant I've been keen to try after tasting a sample dish at a street food festival earlier in the year. Malaysian food isn't something you hear much about or see very often, but having sampled one dish I had to get down to their restaurant to learn more. 

Last night I finally got that chance, after being enticed by a recent 30% off "happy-hour" offer we headed out for an early evening meal. We made the walk through the Northern Quarter in the rain all the way up Oldham Street, to find Ning on the right as we neared Great Ancoates. 

The outside appearance may have been a little disappointing (no doubt the appearance hampered by the poor weather), but I'm glad to say inside was no let down. 

Inside it's a sea of deep pinks and purples, with flowing curtains and signature pattern wallpapers. Being early evening it was quiet when we arrived, but by the time we'd eaten it was a lively place which I can imagine gets very busy at peak times, so booking before is recommended. 

The Food

Once the three of us had sat at a table near the window our waiter was quick to offer us a drink from the menu and highlighted to us the specials and the fact that the "happy hour" was in effect, entitling us to 30% off our food. 

I ordered an Asian lager named Beerlao. This came in a small bottle, a little over half a pint for £4.50. At first a little disheartened at this, but I was please to find it a crisp refreshing beer which I'll have to source for the meat fridge. 

For starters I'd ordered Pad Thai fish cakes, while the other members of the party ordered Tiger Prawn Satay (Chargrilled lemongrass-marinated tiger prawn skewers with handmade spicy peanut sauce, rice 'cakes' & garnish) and Chicken Murtabak (Mamak style crispy pancake filled with chicken, onion, potato, egg, herbs & spices, served with sweet chilli dip). 

All were well presented on, what seems to be standard for restaurants these days, clean slates. The Thai fish cakes were excellent, with a light Thai flavour noticeable first, before the seafood flavours stood out, the taste then ending in a small kick from the spice. The side of sweet chilli dipping sauce wasn't overpowering with the chilli as can sometimes be the case. 

Pad Thai Fish Cakes with Sweet Chilli Dip (£6.95)

I sampled the Satay Tiger prawns which were a little difficult to de-shell left while on a skewer but the Malaysian seasoning really made these prawns different. The small rice cakes were an odd addition to this plate as it wasn't really clear if they were designed to be eaten with the prawns of the peanut dipping sauce. The sauce by the way only hinted at peanut, probably my least favourite nut taste, even I enjoyed this dip. 

Tiger Prawn Satay (£7.50)

The final starter, the Chicken Murtabak, were well wrapped inside their pancake sleeves. The pancake wasn't soft or overcooked, and the chicken worked well with the other fillings. 

Chicken Murtabak (£7.25)

For the main course, I'd chosen a Bihun Goreng Satay dish (Wok-fried vermicelli rice noodles cooked with Malay satay paste, egg & crisp vegetables), while the others chose Gulai (Classic Malay thick and spicy coconut milk-laced curry infused with Chef Norman's special blend of spices including cinnamon, star anise and pandan leaf) with a side of noodles, and the Pad Thai dish  that I'd sampled at the food festival months before (Classic wok-fried flat noodles with egg, vegetables & topped with ground peanut). 

My Satay dish was almost a combination between a stir fry and a egg noodle dish. What could be better? The chicken was buried well beneath the noodles but was juicy when I found it, if it was a little bland in taste. The noodles, vegetables and egg within the rest of the dish added to the flavour though and the satay flavours brought depth to the dish. The vegetables looked overcooked at first but upon tasting them they were still crispy which was a great surprise.

Bihun Goreng Satay (£12.95)

The Gulai dish was a mild, thick curry which really did need the side order of noodles or rice. This is apparently one of the more favourite dishes on the menu, and it spoke for itself. It wasn't overpowered with spices as is often the case. 

Gulai Curry with Rice Noodles (£10.95 + £2.20)

Finally, the Pad Thai was just as I remembered. This can be a vegetarian dish as it can be served without the meat or fish. The chicken in this Pad Thai tasted similar/the same as the Goreng Satay dish, but this is no criticism. The ground peanuts, as the peanut dip in the starter, wasn't over powering, it tops the dish off well. I highly recommend putting the slice of lemon to the side of this dish to good use. It really brings the dish to another level! It'd probably go even better with a prawn or seafood option. 

Pad Thai Noodles (£12.50)

Bihun Goreng Satay (£12.95)

Conclusion

Ning is a Malaysian restaurant co-founded by Norman Musa, a Malaysian chef who hopes to introduce the public to, and expand Malaysian food throughout the UK and the rest of the world. 
If Norman continues to make food with the fresh ingredients like this it shouldn't be hard for him to succeed in that mission. 
Now that I've tasted Malaysian food I'm wondering why there isn't already more of it around. 
The location may be letting Ning down a little, as it's sort of the wrong side of the Northern Quarter but it's still ideally placed for those that know about it. 
The food speaks volumes though, and will shout louder than the location over time I'm sure. The fresh ingredients and lesser known seasoned flavours make Malaysian food a new favourite.

The prices may be on the higher end of the average meal in Manchester but they seem to have numerous offers on at the moment which is always enticing, and the price is reflected by the great tasting foods and fresh ingredients.  

If you're looking to try something different over the normal Indian curry then I'd highly recommend the Ning restaurant. 
I'll definitely be back to experience more of what Malaysia has to offer. 

Meat Rating: 8/10

Money For Meat: 30% off food offer, paid in full