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.