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/

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