New Years Eve at Guerrilla Eats

With little planned for New Years eve, my plans were suddenly arranged for me after winning a twitter competition for tickets to Guerrilla Eats New Years Eve party. 

The party was due to run from the late evening right through into the early hours of New Years day. With this being one of our favourite food events of the year I was more than happy to accept and so we got dressed up and headed into town. 

Still in the unused commercial space just beyond the Northern Quarter, this would be the last Guerrilla Eats in this location, and the last of their events for the time being. 

With just 4 different food vendors for this event, it left a bit more spare room in the building. Guerrilla had cleverly filled the extra space with furniture to create a mock living room, kitchen and bedroom to give a house party theme to the event. It also left more room for tables and dancing for the guests.

Make shift living room

Kitchen/Dining Room

The food lineup included:
Big Grillie Style (@BigGrillieStyle)
Dirty Food Revolution (@dirty_food)
Rudy's Neapolitan Pizza (@RudysPizzaMcr)
Bangers and Bacon (@bangersandbacon)

As well as the food stalls, there was the usual bar set up in the corner of the room, a cocktail shed hidden around the corner with deck chairs to sit around, and in another corner half a black cab housing the DJ who was providing a great variation of music throughout the night. 

As regular readers are probably aware, the meat memoirs have covered half of the line up before and so I was keen to try the food I hadn't covered before. I'd therefore arrived with the intention of trying both Big Grillie Style and Bangers and Bacon as soon as possible. 

Big Grillie Style

First stop therefore was the Big Grillie Style. Until earlier this week this name was new to me but the pictures of their grilled sandwiches on their twitter had me heading straight to their stall on arrival. 

Big Gillie Style

All items on the menu had been named after characters from the hit TV show "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and included a varied selection of grilled sandwich fillings or loaded nachos. The grilled sandwich fillings included, 4 cheese and onion (The Jazzy Jeff), chocolate and banana (The Ashley Banks), or a combination of pulled pork and macaroni and cheese (The Fresh Prince). The Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince were served on freshly made cornbread which was great to see, as it's not the most common type of bread to use but has a great taste. 
The chocolate and banana grilled sandwich would be served on a brioche instead of the corn bread. 

Big Grillie Style Menu

Being the meat memoirs we couldn't avoid the opportunity to try the Fresh Prince. The photographs I'd seen previously looked amazing and I had to see it for my self. Mac 'n' cheese is one of my favourite pasta dishes, but pulled pork can be hit and miss in my experience. To go with it, I thought I'd try "The Carlton," pulled pork loaded onto nachos with sour cream and salsa. 

While we waited for the food to be prepared the chefs were more than happy enough to have a chat and introduce themselves. It all adds to the experience of these small events I find, as you get to know the chefs and see the real enthusiasm they hold for their food. 

It wasn't long before the Fresh Prince was ready though and it looked just as delicious as the photographs I'd seen before did. 

The Fresh Prince - £5.00

Taking a bite the first thing that stood out was the mac 'n' cheese. Soft creamy cheese melted around perfectly cooked macaroni, a personal favourite done very well. The pulled pork was also fantastic. Not too saucy as can often be the case. There were big chunks of pork to be found within the sandwich and they all had a great barbecue taste to them. I was highly impressed at the grilling of the cornbread loaf too. As you'd expect from a vendor specialising in grilled sandwiches, they'd grilled the bread perfectly, giving a crispy outer texture, without burning the outside, yet remain fresh and flavourful in the middle. Grilled sandwiches are often overdone or more commonly under cooked and soft. Big Grillie Style were perfect though. 

It was also obvious that the cornbread had been freshly made. It gives a slightly sweeter taste compared to plain bread and was a welcomed addition to a grilled sandwich. 

It was then onto The Carlton. More of the delicious, chunky, yet soft pulled pork on top of cheesy nachos, topped with sour cream and salsa. The portion size was generous, as was the pulled pork topping. The big chunks of meat fell apart in the mouth and tasted great. The cooling sour cream helped counter the heat from the salsa and the jalapenos. 

The Carlton - £5.00

The nachos were a good side dish to the grilled sandwich but if I'm honest, if I were to return to Big Grillie Style (which I'm sure I will), I'd opt for another grilled sandwich over the nachos. 

Getting ahead of the curve!

Overall Big Grillie Style lived up to my expectations and surpassed them. I hope to see them around more often as both myself and my partner can't wait to have another Fresh Prince again soon!

Money for Meat: Paid in Full

Meat Rating: 9/10 

Bangers and Bacon

I'd hoped for my next stop to be to the bangers and bacon stall, however I hadn't realised until earlier that day that they were hosting a couple of private tables at Guerilla Eats with a set menu. Unfortunately without the additional ticket I was unable to sample their food and so will continue to wait to sample their cooking. Their menu sounded delicious though and so I'll be going out of my way soon to get to try their food. 

Bangers and Bacon

Bangers and Bacon Menu

I was therefore left with 2 remaining options which had been mentioned before. How to decide between the two? Well Dirty Food Revolution had been a favourite for both myself and my girlfriend throughout the year from various food events, although they had already been mentioned in the memoirs twice. However, they had brought a new special burger to their menu and what better way for the meat memoirs to bring in the new year than with one of our favourite meat filled burgers from the year?

So special apologies to Rudys pizza for not sampling their menu from last night. 

Dirty Food Revolution 

Becoming a bit of a regular on the meat memoirs, Dirty Food Revolution burgers have been one of our favourites from 2014 and so what better way to see out the year. 

Dirty Food Revolution

Having featured much of their menu before I was keen not to review the same burger again. Luckily they had brought a new special burger to the New Years event, the Ham Solo. 
In homage to this special they had a special guest, all the way from Mandalore, Boba Fett! 

Special Guest - Boba Fett

Dirty Food Revolution burger

Aside from their usual menu, they brought with them the Ham Solo, which as you can imagine includes a slab of roast ham, on top of a 6oz steak burger. As well as pepper jack cheese plum & port sauce all between a fresh brioche bun topped with pork rind crumbs and maple syrup. 

The Ham Solo

Having yet to try this burger, this was the clear choice to order, and to go with it, my girlfriend requested a side of the dirty sweet potato fries with their sugary dusting again. 

As with the other burgers we've had from Dirty Food in the past, the chuck steak patty was excellent quality. The thick slab of ham on top of the burger tasted fantastic. I was half expecting a thin slice of ham nearing bacon, but found more of a smoky gammon like steak. This great big slice of ham was fantastic and went really well with the burger. The plum and port sauce had a great sweet flavour to it which complemented the ham well. As their burgers in the past, the cheese was melted to perfection. What hadn't been explained on the menu was the addition of some lattice crisps beneath the burger, and dirty foods own, dirty mayo. 

Ham Solo - £7.00

As ever, the fresh brioche bun was soft and the topping of crispy pork pieces and maple syrup makes the dirty burger live up to its name, as it's almost impossible to eat with any dignity. Maple syrup must be one of the stickiest sauces available! 

Ham Solo - £7.00

Overall, it was clear that Dirty Food had succeeded in creating another masterpiece once again. At this point I was comfortably satisfied and set to enjoy some more beers and the music up to midnight. 

I then got talking to the staff of Dirty Food to compliment them on their latest creation. Once again the staff were very friendly and more than happy to have a chat. The family run organisation is clearly passionate about the food they're creating and it's great to see a family coming together and succeeding as they are. 

After a few minutes of talking the head chef explained that things had quietened down as we grew closer to midnight and people were enjoying more drink than food, yet he had a few burgers ready to go so asked if I'd like another on the house. Despite feeling pretty full, I couldn't turn it down and so opted for my favourite burger from their menu, the Dirty Swine burger. Steak patty, mature cheese, streaky bacon, dirty mayo, BBQ sauce and frazzles between a brioche bun, topped again with pork rind crumbs and maple syrup. 

Dirty Swine Burger - £7.00

I won't review this burger again as it has already featured twice in the memoirs (see the first Guerrilla eats review for one of these past reviews - Guerrilla Eats 11.10.14) and it was equally as delicious and to the same high quality as the previous times I've tried it. 

Overall, Dirty Food Revolution remains up there with some of the best burgers in Manchester. They continue to create high quality burgers time after time which are cooked to perfection, and they deserve to succeed in what they're doing! 

Money for Meat: Ham Solo, Paid in Full
                           Dirty Swine, Offered for free. 

Meat Rating: 10/10

Conclusion

Guerilla Eats New Years Eve party was an excellent way to bring in the new year. Offering great food to eat, a full bar of varied drinks to drink and a family friendly selection of music, I couldn't think of much of a better way to bring in a new year. 

The house party theme was simple yet effective and provided some fun settings which were enjoyed by the customers. A full bedroom, living room and kitchen provided some fun places to sit and enjoy the evening. Also some entertainment for some customers, I think I saw a pillow fight between a family at one point! 

As previous Guerrilla Eats events, it's great that they're willing to accept families, which is even more important for events such as New Years eve. 

Everyone at the event was very friendly and it felt like a more relaxed environment than the busy city centre. Everyone was up dancing singing and having a great time before midnight and through to the early hours!

Dancing the night away

Overall both my partner and I agreed it was a great way to bring in the new year and although we didn't stay long beyond midnight we were glad we'd attended the event rather than joining the crowds in the city centre. Being able to enjoy food, drink and great music all in one venue was fantastic. 

It's a shame that Guerrilla Eats has come to an end for the time being but I'll be looking forward to them returning later in the year hopefully. 

You can keep an eye out for their return on their twitter account, @Guerrilla_Eats, or on their Facebook page.


Apologies for some of the grainy photographs early in this memoir. 

Solita - Didsbury

Solita (or South of Little Italy) has become a cornerstone of Manchester's food scene, becoming famous for their use of expensive Inka charcoal grills, and their tactic of frying most foods, some you wouldn't think of frying. Their popularity is boosted by the heavy use of social media, word of mouth and not to mention some famous customers. 

Bright lights of Didsbury

The original restaurant is based in the Northern Quarter, just south of Ancoats (or little Italy), thus providing the name. The Northern Quarter restaurant isn't a huge venue though and so the increasing popularity has lead them to open a second premises in the ever popular Didsbury area of Manchester.

The Didsbury restaurant opened in September this year, and I'll admit I visited not long after opening to leave a little disappointed with the cooking skills. I'd heard the chef had changed though and a birthday gave the perfect excuse to give it another try.

We booked a table for early evening despite it being mid-week, but it's a good job we did as the restaurant was full before long, so booking is recommended.

Inka grill explained

The restaurant is decorated with a clash of colourful tiles, artwork of various film characters by local artist Stan Chow, all against rustic exposed brickwork and timber. There are huge chalk board displays hung around the building, showcasing their latest special dishes, or explaining some of their cooking techniques. It all works very well though to create a perfect balance of trendy and smart.

Artwork by Stan Chow

Overlooking Solita

We were seated at our table which was at first quite "cosy," but the waitress saw how cramped it looked and gladly offered us a larger alternative table.

She handed us some menus and explained the process of ordering at Solita, all burgers come with a side of fries, which can be upgraded for an additional cost to cheese fries, sweet potato fries, chilli fries or their current special side of pizza fries, and she then left us to dwell on the menu for a good while. We needed some time though, as there's so much choice to pick from. 

Wall display of Solita's bacon double cheeseburger

Solita have recently overhauled their menu to include some new items which were already becoming famous throughout Manchester.

Solita Menu

There has been a lot of talk about a particular new starter they have included, cheeseburger spring rolls. These traditional spring roll exteriors contain a traditional burger ingredients of minced steak, cheese and gherkins.With so much talk about this latest menu item I had to give them a go.

Starters

The other item I was keen to try was a burger that had only been released that day, but had already become famous throughout the UK (thanks to a mention by the national news and a national supermarket on social media). This burger wasn't on the standard menu though, as this was their Christmas special, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Solita's burger options

The burger choices are huge, with a whopping 14 burgers to pick from on the menu. These include traditional cheeseburgers with funky twists (how about some candied bacon stuck in the top, and 2oz of cheese?), or remakes of well known burgers such as their Big Manc (a much larger, fresher, all round better recreation of a Big Mac which tastes just the same, just a lot better). You'll be spoilt for choice if you're here for a burger. 

For those who prefer steak to burgers, Solita serve a up a range from a simple 10oz steak right through to a whopping 1.2kg on the bone rib eye steak cooked directly on charcoal. Or if you prefer the sea to land, there's a number of fish steaks to pick from. Failing that, there's chicken wings or hot dogs (including a 24" long widow maker!). 

There's even a selection for the vegetarians, not just the single halloumi dish usually found in restaurants. 

Once we'd all finally decided the waitress returned and we placed our orders. Then before long the starters arrived.

The cheeseburger spring rolls immediately lived up to the hype surrounding them. WOW. The soft contents of moist mince, melted cheese and diced gherkins give the cheeseburger taste we're all familiar with, yet it's all encased within a not so familiar pastry wrapping.

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls - £5.50

I can understand some people's hesitation about this dish, but Solita have got it spot on, and those willing to give it a go will be left craving another plate of these!

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls - perfection in filo pastry

After the starters there was a bit of a wait for the mains but the restaurant was busy so this was forgiveable. All the other mains arrived at the same time, except mine, which took at least another 5 minutes to arrive which was a bit disappointing. It arrived hot and fresh though.

So, onto the main.

For Christmas, Solita have come up with their Christmas burger (they ran a competition to try find a better name but I think they've just settled for this title). Between and atop a single brioche bun they have managed to include a whopping 8 different meats!

They start with a 6oz Angus beef & venison patty. This is laid on top of a patty of panko fried stuffing and cranberry and port sauce. On top of the beef and venison patty then goes a slice of Aldi's 5 bird roast. This on it's own consists of turkey, duck, goose, chicken, and pheasant, layered with more stuffing. If that wasn't enough, then on top of that goes deep fried sprouts.
To finish the burger off (and you thought that was it!) they skewer a caramelised pig in a blanket to put some pork into the mix.

Solita Christmas Burger - £14.50

I started with the caramalised pig in a blanket from the top of the burger. The sticky, sweet sugary glaze doesn't overpower the pork contents within, so you get just the right mix of sweet and savory.

There are some ingredients between the bread that even I was hesitant about. I'm one of those odd people who actually likes sprouts, but deep frying them just seemed outrageous to me, but Solita so far has excelled at outrageous so I had to trust them on this too. They don't batter the sprouts, they just dip them in the fryer and the frying process adds an extra sweet taste to the flavour of the sprouts, not how I imagined they'd taste at all.

Christmas Burger

Fried Sprouts

The beef and venison patty was very generous. A great thick patty full of high quality minced beef and venison tasted fantastic. There was a good amount of venison in there too, I didn't have to search my mouth for the taste of it. 

Fried sprouts on a 5 bird roast, on a thick beef & venison patty, on cranberry & port sauce, on Panko fried stuffing, on bread

The slice of Aldi's five bird roast tasted more of turkey than anything else, but the flavours of the other birds may be being lost within the rest of this burger. I believe Solita tested numerous 5 bird roasts and found this to be their favorite so at least they did the research for the best one.

The real flavour hit came from the panko fried stuffing. The crumbly fried coating around traditional stuffing was excellent. The stuffing was the herb packed explosion of taste you'd expect from any good stuffing. 

For the side I'd opted to upgrade to another special, pizza fries. 

Pizza Fries - £2.00 supplement

It was great to see whole slices of pepperoni on top of fries, combined with cheese and tomato sauce gave a real pizza look to the fries. If you got all the ingredients together they tasted similar to a pizza (as they should). My only criticisms were that the fries could have been a bit crispier for my liking, although this probably wasn't helped by the heavy dousing of cheese on them. May be a little less cheese would have gone just as far with the taste.

My partner opted for the plain cheese fries and the cheese on those was a lot better than the cheese on the pizza fries I thought. Apparently they use a combination of brie and a a traditional white sauce which creates an amazing soft cheese when melted with a fantastic taste. Next time I'd opt for these as a side.

Conclusion

Despite some early teething troubles at their new location, Solita have managed to open a restaurant that's at least on par with their Northern Quarter restaurant. 

They've managed to take their quirky Northern Quarter attitude and fit it into the trendy Didsbury location, combining the smart building exterior with trendy decorations within. 

Their specialist Inka grill (mixing roasting and grilling over charcoal) manages to serve up meats and fish with unrivaled taste. While their burger inventions and daring frying techniques intrigue customers and keep them coming back for more. It's easy to see why they had outgrown the little Northern Quarter location. The Didsbury restaurant also seems to expand their client base even further. 

Solita burgers are arguably Manchester's best, they're certainly make Manchester's biggest. The special Inka grill is worth the huge up front cost as it creates amazing smokey charcoal flavours while allowing food to be cooked to perfection. 

The food delivery was the only criticism on this visit really, as it's a shame my main was brought out so much later than all the others on the table. The fries could also have been a little crispier for my liking but that's personal choice. If it wasn't for the delay in the main it would have been an easy 10/10 for Solita. Safe to say though it hasn't put me off coming back and I'll be returning to introduce yet more people to Solita Didsbury. 

Now I wonder if I can sneak another of their Christmas specials in before they take it off their menu after Christmas! 

@SolitaNQ 

Solita on Facebook

Meat Rating: 9/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full