Tim Raue - Two Star Michelin Dining in Berlin

I fancied a treat in Berlin so hit the Michelin star list for inspiration. I'm a big fan of detective fiction including Philip Kerr and his Berlin Noir trilogy which often includes the famous Adlon Hotel as a backdrop. I fancied checking that out for myself and soaking in the history but it was inevitably booked up for months in advance sadly. Out of the other options available for bookings Tim Raue and his 2 Michelin Star take on Asian cuisine definitely seemed interesting so I decided to give it a spin. A decision that ended up working out fantastically. 

The outside was weird as hell, a bit of carpet and a few Chinese lion statues in the corner of a car park marked the entrance and in all honesty was pretty off-putting. Fortunately once inside I could immediately tell this was a place right up my street, the fun little sofa in the lobby scattered with animal shaped cushions immediately set the mood for an incredibly laid back evening - the serving staff decked out in crisp white converse looked stylish and all spoke absolutely impeccable English which helped put me at immediate ease.

After ordering drinks, a selection of snacks was presented to start and were a nod to the meal to follow, they were numerous and included cashews in curry paste, pickled radish, sashimi style salmon and quails egg. A broad range of flavours, textures and the Asian flavours that would be the theme throughout the courses to follow.

There was a choice of two menus, the seasonal which seemed very heavy on shellfish but I was in the mood for something more substantial and interesting and the Unique menu seemed to cover a lot more ground so I went for that. Having seen some of the seasonal courses on tables around me, I feel I made the best choice.

"Imperial Caviar with Sprat and Yuzu"

This coursen followed the snacks in really setting the scene for the meal to come, and came across as a chef really teasing the flavours and imaginative food that was to follow. A generous portion of caviar (sufficient to actually enjoy the flavour) sat upon a lettuce and combava (from the lime family) base which offered a real blast of citrus. An unexpected highlight for me here was the dots of preserved peel, which were like the most intensely bitter and chewiest fruit pastille you've never tasted.

"Turbot no. 219 with Chinese Broccoli and Tamarind"

Three meaty chunks of turbot with light tempura style batter all served in a ginger and garlic sauce and dotted with pickled ginger which all worked together to be wonderfully warming. The broccoli was perfectly tender, retaining the flavour and adding a gentle texture to compliment the fish.

"Langoustine with Wasabi, Cantonese style"

This went immediately into my top 10 courses of the year. A giant lightly battered langoustine in a creamy wasabi sauce and covered in deep fried green rice which were like rice crispies. Each mouthful was a combination of the langoustine, the crispy rice, the warming and soft fruity mango, crunchy carrot and fish sauce that the crustacean was sat upon. Tiny wasabi marshmallows at the sides of the plate were just as fun as they sound, delicate and with a little chew but retaining that wasabi flavour that hits your sinuses. A perfect plate of food.

"Suckling pig - Sweet and Sour"

The main element of note was the centre piece of the fried suckling pig belly with a side of the most delicate pineapple I've ever experienced, it was dotted with pineapple jelly which enhanced the flavour and cutting into it was exactly like the sensation of a hot knife into butter and inside it was filled with tiny cubes of tomato. The sweet and sour gravy was gently spiced with the same warming sensation as previous courses and everything was finished with a tiny pork scratching which was curled like a pigs tail. 

"Manny's Beef with Watermelon and Coriander". Served as two courses simultaneously.

a) The first dish consisted of dry aged beef shoulder, served in the beefiest beef tea which was flavoured with a hint of coriander. Tiny squares of watermelon were presented to the sides of the dish, decorated with tiny soy sprouts and a dash of coconut-coriander cream. Another perfectly cooked piece of meat here, the meat was so incredibly tender I could almost have gone at it with a spoon rather than a knife. 

b) The second element was made up of a wafer thin slice of cured tongue, rolled and stuffed with steak tartare, and the rest of  the dish contained flavours of watermelon, green thai vinaigrette and leek.

"Peking Duck - Tim Raue Interpretation" was offered as an extra course (and certainly made a difference from the usual cheese thrown in) and given the standard of the food on offer to this stage I couldn't resist.

a) "Breast, Five-Spice-Waffle, Apple and Leek, Jus of Duck Feet"

The waffle was extremely soft which was initially a bit confusing as I'd expected it to have a bit of give. The duck breast was fantastic, with a fine perfectly cooked crispy skin and the whole dish came served in a thick jus which was appropriately rich to sit with the very slightly sweet waffle.

b) "Brew, Tongue-Heart-Stomach, Winter Melon, Bamboo Mushroom"

There were some slightly dubious looking pieces of duck floating in the brew (which given the description shouldn't have been a surprise) but I got stuck in all the same. Given the combination of duck tongue, heart and stomach that were in the consomme brew it came as no surprise that the flavour was incredibly rich but didn't overpower the entire dish or make it too heavy. Another dish with the warming flavours that appeared throughout this menu. 

c) "Duck Liver Terrine, Pickled Cucumber, Ginger-Leek-Cream"

The duck terrine came covered with a thin layer of tender duck leg meat and three dollops of foie gras cream. The other elements dotted around the plate included Chinese barbecue sauce and leek and ginger puree to the right. Another rich dish to round off this extra course, this was balanced perfectly by the slice of pickled cucumber which was a fresh light companion to the dense terrine. 

"Apricot with Passion Fruit and Dulcey Chocolate"

Two spoonfuls of apricot sorbet, which were dotted with passion fruit. The chocolate had a really unusual consistency, it was hard but not entirely crispy and held it's shape well so some magic had clearly been going on in the kitchen. The chocolate itself "Valrhona Dulcey" which is a 'world first' blond chocolate. The crisp biscuits sat on top added some crunch to the dish which was fantastic for a dessert. I've  mentioned before I don't go crazy for sweets and this was sufficiently toned down for me, loved it. 

The final selection of desserts that appeared just before coffee were very finely sliced perfectly ripe mango sprinkled with violet salt, a bite size mango sorbet lolly with a violet chocolate outer later and a box of

violet infused truffle style chocolates which melted in the mouth and were incredibly moreish. Suffice to say none of this lived to see another day.

In all, the meal took 2.5 hours for 7 "courses" (which to be fair consisted of several smaller dishes at various stages) plus snacks at either end. Pacing throughout was perfect, the meal built slowly with the snacks and smaller / lighter early dishes through the meatier main courses and wrapping up with fabulous desserts. The service was faultless throughout, as I mentioned earlier the smart casual (horrible term I know) dress for the serving staff gave a really laid back atmosphere, with tables sufficiently spaced that you couldn't overhear nearby conversations but there was a definite bubbly vibe which made for a great overall experience definitely worthy of the 2 stars they hold. 

The evening ended on a comedy high as I held the door for a couple to allow them to leave ahead of me (I have good manners, shocking I know). The woman was out of her mind drunk and turned to thank me for a fantastic meal, swayed down the alley ahead of me and then got her heel stuck in something in the pavement and absolutely decked it head first in a heap. I did quickly check if she was OK but her partner replied with something along the lines of "Don't worry, she always gets like this". Unbelievable scenes.

Katz Orange - Berlin

It's always a slightly daunting but enjoyable challenge planning meals for a trip abroad. I attempted the usual lines of research ahead of a few days in Berlin but it's clear the blog culture out there is not as rich as over here (for better or worse). I found endless coffee blogs (not surprising as Berlin does dominate coffee) and lifestyle blogs but very few reliable food blogs, in fact a lot of the food reviews were UK based bloggers that had written up meals post-holiday. Honestly, i'm not a massive fan of TripAdvisor (aside from reading 'Terrible' reviews for fun) as the results often seem to offer no reflection of the actual situation in a given city. Despite having lived here for 9 months now, I haven't heard any mention of at least half of the top 20 restaurants in Manchester suggesting a severely lacking degree of taste in the population that post reviews.  

To cut a long story short, the name Katz Orange kept turning up and piqued my interest, especially after a browse of the menus on the website. They offered a selection that changed often and with tasty sounding specials – usually the sign of a confident and capable chef handling fresh ingredients, the menus I checked out certainly seemed to offer plenty that I would enjoy.

Ambience and first impressions are a big deal to me and often make or break a meal - walking through the large archway in the row of buildings and seeing the church like building at the end of the courtyard looked fantastic and really set the scene well. The restaurant itself is in a very imposing building which on a bright early summer day cast the entire courtyard into shadow, creating an almost eerie short walk to the entrance.

The restaurant itself was very homely once I was safely inside, with a two tier main room and a mix of small intimate tables and a short lower table at the end of the room that was being used for a family meal and all looked extremely relaxed under a backdrop of a huge and impressive tapestry.

As with a lot of restaurants in Berlin I came across a mix of ultra professional American and German serving staff, who all spoke impeccable English and were comfortable covering any questions I had about the menu.

I opened with a turkish coffee martini, I could defintitely taste cardamon and the turkish coffee flavour was distinct enough to seperate it from a standard espresso martini.

For my starter I had the free range beef tartar, green bean, veal tongue, shallot and sour cream. One of the things about beef tartar that is usually frustrating is that portions are small but this could comfortably have been served up as a main with no complaint. The meat was exceptionally flavoured and left to do it's work, with just a sprinkling of sea salt on top to enhance the flavour. The tartar was sat on top of various slices of mushrooms used as a base and a sprinkling of freshly picked herbs scattered over the top.

I was feeling in a meaty mood and for my main had the Flank steak on a bed of creamy potato with wild garlic and celeriac with a side of freshly cut fries in goose fat. Lovely thick chunks of meat, with a lovely flavour and a rich meaty gravy to mix in with the mash.

Proper chips fried in goose fat like a big bowl of perfect Sunday afternoon roasties. Lathered in salt. Crispy bits at the bottom were to die for, almost certainly taking days off my life expectancy with each nibble.

For dessert I went with the Rhubarb and yogurt option. Unsurprisingly given the quality of the previous dishes this was also very impressive. The rhubarb had been used as an Alan Partridge style breakwater to contain the yogurt and had been decorated with sugared caramel walnuts and biscuit crumbs. The tartness of the rhubarb and neutral yogurt taste with the extreme sweetness of the sugared walnuts and biscuit was just mindblowing.

I can't claim to be an expert on the restaurant scene in Berlin but if you're researching ahead of a trip I would thoroughly recommend Katz Orange without hesitation. A meal that was of an exceptional standard from start to finish.

The Bird - Berlin

The Bird is a steak house and burger joint tucked away on a leafy street in the quiet neighbourhood of Prenzlauerberg in Berlin and do the whole 'Dirty Burger' thing better than 99% of the burger bars in the UK. The place is hugely popular with locals (always a major positive) and when I popped in early on a Wednesday evening it was fortunate I had a reservation as they were already turning people away at the door as they were so heaving.

Things got off to an immediate good start on this visit as I ordered a pint of SchneiderWeisse only to be told it was ANGRY HOUR and so another free one would be following once i'd sunk it. Is there anything better than free beer? My first insight into how a blagger must feel every time they eat out, each gulp of the free pint tasting of guilt and shame (not really).

They have a range of almost 20 burgers including some unnecessary sounding nonsense (inc fried eggs and shots of vodka) which I completely side-stepped and instead went with their Big Crack which is their version of the classic McDonalds Big Mac. It came served with a mountain of hand cut chips in lots of wonderful shapes and sizes – a lot more enjoyable to pick away at then a generic portion of french fries. The burger came served in a toasted English muffin which is a twist I haven't seen before but that worked perfectly, perfectly toasted and giving some added crunch. The best thing about the burger (as you would hope but which often isn't the case) is the meat which is "ground daily from premium german beef" and the patties are served pink giving the meat it's opportunity to shine. It was essentially a Big Mac with the flavour dials cranked to 11, the meat lathered in American burger cheese and a version of Ronald's secret sauce. The burger was huge and at times I felt like I was having to eat around it like a melting ice cream to keep things from collapsing, I refused to give in to the easy option of a knife and fork and nibbled from all angles.

The dessert menu doesn't mess about - there was just a single option of home made cheesecake which I couldn't refuse and my god it was just as over the top of the burger. Just a text book slice of New York cheesecake, served up as a massive wedge – still cold and with sweet creamy cheese body and a thick layer of crunchy biscuit crust that needs real pressure to break up.

I do regret never having dug into the steaks and the few that I saw being served looked suitably impressive, i'll definitely head back and eat my own body weight in steak at some point but knowing that the burgers are so great makes it a tough decision to make. I look forward to heading back on my next trip to Berlin.

Review round-up - April / May / June 2014

As i'm sure is the case for most people, I find myself eating out several times a week - often just a quick check in at places to prioritise whether they're worth going back to for a full review or should be written off altogether. Some of these quick bites don't warrant a full blog post but are still worth discussing, so below is a journey through various smaller meals or snacks out i've had over the past few months.

Fu-Schnickens - Street food from Leeds
Popped down to the northern heats of the British Street Food Awards at the back of Granada Studios which was pleasantly busy early evening. A well laid out venue for this type of event, with traders spaced out around the courtyard outside and an indoor bar area. I'd eaten from most of the vendors before and was in a rush so headed straight for Fu-Schnickens as there'd been a fair bit of hype about their steamed buns on Twitter ahead of the event. I tried a couple of the pressed pork belly pork steamed buns - the buns themselves were fairly disappointing in all honesty, they were very small and too doughy for me. Size wise they were certainly smaller than similar style buns i've had from Yum Bun and Bao before in the UK. In terms of filling the pork was good and sufficiently tender and the carrot and mooli added some needed crunch but the sauce was so incredibly salty it almost completely overwhelmed the flavours.
Yum Bun and Bao have been successful in London for a while now and in a straight comparison this was a smaller portion of worse quality food for a higher price. I'm used to waiting on street food but over 15 minutes for these buns was really pushing it, I saw a guy that'd cracked a book open to start reading he'd been waiting so long. Pretty underwhelming stuff overall.

Yuzu - China Town, Manchester
I popped into Yuzu for lunch on a miserable Friday needing some hot food to pep me up for the afternoon and immediately knew I'd made a good choice - the room is fairly small, with space for around 40 covers and it's a great looking place, retaining a Japanese theme throughout decorated with bottles of sake and with wooden benches and seats at different angles to make the best possible use of the space. I started with the chicken kara-age - deep fried chicken thighs, still piping hot and just full of flavour. The ponzu sauce on the side added a lovely light citrus edge. Definitely no exaggeration to say these went straight into the top 10 things I've eaten this year.
For my main I had the prawn goyza lunch which came with rice, miso and cucumber. All accompanied with a Hitcahino Nest Ginger Brew from Kiuchi Brewery, an 8%er that was worryingly potent for a lunch hour! I can't recall the last time I went in with little to no expectations like this and was so utterly impressed by a place - i've been raving about it ever since to anyone that'll listen to my ramblings. I've already been back to dig into their offering further and the quality of food across the menu seems to be similarly high, Yuzu is definitely one of the finest restaurants i've been to in Manchester and is wholeheartedly recommended.

Panchos Burritos - Arndale Market, Manchester
The Arndale market is a hidden gem for street food type fare for lunches, whilst not the most visually appealing place to spend time there are some solid food options tucked away if you take the time to investigate. The one place I find myself going back to time and time again is Pancho's Burritos. It's very difficult to miss in the Arndale as despite the food court having around 20 food stalls, Pancho's actually occupies two. It does confuse me slightly why you'd ever have two of the same still in spitting distance of each other but I'd imagine this is down to the good reputation they've build up and the popularity they always seem to have small queues at most times of the day. On this occasion I had the new lamb burrito to take away, and as ever it was all prepared with the same attention as usual - generously stuffed with meat, cheese, guacamole and beans. It's cracking value for lunch - with a main, tortillas and drink for £6.

Bold Street Coffee - Liverpool

I feel a little bad for Bold Street Coffee as I went here after I'd been Baltic Bake so was on a high from finding a new favourite so it was up against it to impress me before I'd even wandered in. A fairly typical third wave coffee shop inside with the usual white walls, classic wood tables and art prints on the walls. As you'd hope, the coffee is taken ultra seriously and as a result it's definitely not a place to drop into if you're in a rush. I had a 10 minute wait for a coffee here and there was only a couple of people in the queue in front of me which pushed my patience slightly but I can't argue with the quality of the final product. I had a sandwich to takeaway for the train home and went with the vegan option of the day which was "garam masala hummus" with carrot, raisins and pea shoots. The masala was extremely mild but worked well with the savoury flavours from the hummus. The carrot and pea shoots added some much needed crunch. Overall a decent experience and if I found myself in Liverpool with some time to kill it'd be high on my list of places to sit off in.

Mughli - Manchester
This was my second time at Mughli and it definitely delivered on all fronts, no niggles with service at all on this occasion. I started with the sweet potato chips which seem to be popping up everywhere at the moment - these were flavoured with a hit of chilli and lemon though which worked really well with the sweetness of the potato. The deep fried Halloumi Menander on their own were fairly flavourless but the mild fruity dipping sauce bought everything together. Farfars were great, this time I was fully prepared for the chilli and enjoyed them all the more for that knowledge. The lamb keema samosas kept the high standard, perfectly formed crispy outer and lovely flavoured lamb tucked away inside.
Really this was all just build up to the main of the mixed grill which was just fantastic, the generous serving of mixed meats all sat on top of a lightly toasted pitta. The show stopper was the lamb chop, up there with Tayyabs in London for me. By the time I'd worked my way through the meats the bread was soaked with spice and fat and grease but held together so it was still edible and not just a big dish of mush. Such a great idea and whilst I dread to think how bad it was for me it was absolutely delicious.

Manchester Central Library
I visited the extremely impressive new Central Library on opening day (and on numerous occasions since) and immediately noticed the cafe just the other side of the main lobby. Needing a break from the office and somewhere peaceful to spend the afternoon, I headed down and took the opportunity to grab some lunch and see what the food offering was like.
It's a fairly standard cafe layout, collect a tray and grab whatever food you fancy from the counter - sandwiches are either in supermarket style triangle packets or larger ciabattas that come accompanied with a couple of sides. On this occasion I went for the cumbrian ham and smoked cheddar ciabatta with Lancashire tomato chutney and baby spinach which I had served with vegetable crisps and a 'crispy side salad'.
The sandwich was good, the ham and cheese were fine and the tomato chutney gave a real tang to the sandwich. I have a weakness for vegetable crisps and these were heavy on the parsnip and light on the beetroot but made sense as a side along with the slightly watery coleslaw side salad. The generous slab of carrot cake was also decent - the sponge was moist and packed with raisins and carrot and plenty of icing. The sandwich with sides plus the cake and a strong black coffee it came to a shade under £10 which i'd say was slightly pricey but the ambience in the cafe was pleasant and i'd definitely return.
I've also been in for breakfast and had the yogurt and granola which certainly didn't scrimp on the topping and was an enjoyable and filling way to start the day for a couple of quid.

Home Sweet Home - Manchester
Finally enjoyed the Home Sweet Home 'signature bake' - the apple pies baked inside a cake. The amount of calories this must contain is terrifying, The pie was a sweet pastry Mr Kipling style pie with those ultra sweet pieces of apple and the thick rich apple sauce all baked within a sponge cake baked to the usual high standards of Home Sweet Home. The thick red icing (just look at how much there is in the middle!) and various sweets on top all added to a pretty ultimately over the top brilliant cake. They tweeted me afterwards mentioning that they sell these cakes whole if you order in advance, what a treat that'd be.

Penelopes Kitchen - Media City, Manchester
I went over to the Imperial War Museum for the morning and had a quick wander around Media City to see what was about. I noticed a board advertising Penelope's and recognised the name from Twitter so decided to drop in and see what they could offer me for brunch. Easily up there with one of the finest decisions I made that week, the menu had plenty of great sounding food on it and I treated myself to their bacon pancakes. It came as a stack of four nicely sized light pancakes, with a rasher of bacon hidden in the middle all covered in lashings of maple syrup and with tiny crunchy bacon pieces covering the top - all held in place with a skewer to stop the mountain of food collapsing. It was a fantastic plate of food, all the individual parts were just as you'd want them and it worked together really really well - definitely up there with the best brunches in the city in my view. I also had a coffee, which was traditional diner style filter - I was given a cup and could have as many top ups as I wanted (a dangerous game to play).
Penelope's is fairly well hidden away but well worth tracking down, if this was my work canteen i'd be the size of a house by Christmas. There was nothing about Penelope's I didn't enjoy, it's a great place to sit and spend time - the canteen is decked out with all sorts of random props and lights that look like they've been donated by studios. There's even a huge map where they list the various ingredients and which local supplier they come from. I did see some chat recently about possibly opening on weekends, in the meantime i'll have to wait until my next trip to Media City in the week where I fully intend to eat my way through as much of the menu as possible.

Meatwagon - Trinity Kitchen, Leeds
Receiving a text message saying "The Meatwagon is in Leeds!" is a pretty great way to start any day. I've been having a not so secret love affair with MeatLiquour burgers since they opened their first temporary restaurant in New Cross and started this entire burger craze over the past few years.
They were serving a super stripped down menu with a choice of three burgers and no sides or drinks. I had a dead hippie and it was just as great as the first one I ever had, the mustard fried patties just heaving with flavour and fatty grease. I could honestly sit and eat these all day if my body would let me without giving in on itself and the good news is this was just a taster ahead of them opening a place in Leeds permanently so i'll soon have the chance to eat these magnificent burgers again on the regular. I foresee plenty of trips on the Trans-Pennine Express in my near future.

Duck and Waffle bar, Heron Tower - London
Despite the fact I was living in London when it opened, I have to shamefully admit that this was my first trip to Duck and Waffle. The bar and restaurant live on the top floors of the Heron Tower, I know someone that works there and constantly argues that it's the tallest building in London at 40 floors - the shard doesn't count as it's "south of the river". Londoners, sigh. The journey up to the 38th floor in a glass lift on the outside of the building is alone worth making a visit to Duck and Waffle - some of the views are just breathtaking.
This trip was sandwiched in between lunch at Antidote and an evening meal at A Wong so I didn't get stuck too heavily into the snack menu but did enjoy a tray of oysters and an ox's cheek doughnut as well as a Marmite black velvet (champagne, Guiness reduction plus Marmite). I'm an absolute fiend for Marmite so couldn't resist the latter, it was really odd drinking boozy Marmite at first but after the initial oddness it became really enjoyable. Oysters were generously sized and came with the typical sides to add flavour. The ox cheek doughnut was the real winner in all of this, a generous fat round ball of dough rolled in spicy paprika sugar and served with a pot of apricot jam for dunking. The ox cheek hidden away in the centre was juicy and tender with a little kick of heat to it, combined with the soft doughy body of the doughnut and warming outer sugar it all worked together perfectly.

Kimchi Princess - Berlin
I'd had Kimchi Princess on a list of places to try in Berlin the last few times I'd visited but a;ways never made it somehow. I'm glad to have finally made the effort.
I had the Bibimbap for my main, which was the first time I'd enjoyed the Korean classic so I can't categorically state whether it was a strong example or not but I enjoyed it very much. A deep bowl filled with various elements including rice, marinated beef, various traditional vegetables and with a perfectly ripe to burst fried egg sat on top. There was chilli and kimchi also hidden away which added some deeper heat flavours to the whole dish.
I also had a side of 'Sexy Chicken' wings, which I felt like an idiot asking for but was worth that pain. 6 chicken wings in perfect crispy batter and with soy garlic sauce poured over, the remainder of the sauce pooled in the bottom of the bowl for dipping as I went along. The chicken was really well flavoured and this made a great side, great value for a few Euros.
Bizarrely the side of kimchi I ordered was probably the weakest part of the meal - I love kimchi and could sit and eat it all day with no fear for how much I'm going to stink later as a result. This was nowhere near as strong tasting or foul smelling as I'd hoped for, I still polished it off but wish it'd had more of a kick to it. 

Kosmonaut - Manchester
I ended up in Kosmonaut early evening on one of those "let's have a few drinks" days that turns into a right session and I'll be honest by the we left the bar and grabbed a table I needed carbs pretty badly so looked for the heaviest sounding item I could find on the many. I've read numerous negative comments about the pizzas in Manchester aside from Honest Crust, who have disappointingly decided to settle in Altrincham rather than the city (at least they'll be easier to track down now!). So I start this review with a disclaimer that I was 6-7 beers deep by this time but this Neopolitan pizza (with the traditional toppings of anchovies, capers and black olives) accompanied with a half of Brooklyn summer ale was absolutely banging. It came with a nice thin crust, charred on the edges and cooked well enough throughout that it held together and didn't get soggy in the middle. It was clearly less than a minute out of the oven as it was served as the cheese was still in that perfect moment whereby it's hotter than the sun and dribbles everywhere as you try to pull slices away from the pizza. I really enjoyed this and will definitely head back sober in the future to try again and check out the wider menu. As a quick side I also had one of my favourite beers so far of the year in here, Wu-Gang Chops the Tree by Pressure Drop. A pale, light and fresh herby wheat beer - absolutely cracking and worth hunting down if you're a beer fan.

North Tea Power - Manchester
I'd been craving cold press coffee since I had one at The Barn in Berlin early spring and as soon as NTP tweeted they were working on some I was watching closely for them to perfect the recipe and get them bottled. Their take on the cold brew was spot on, I was impressed that it came in what has to be one of the coolest looking bottles I've seen all year. It was served over ice and tasted exactly how I was hoping, like a chilled strong black coffee with well controlled sweetness so the proper coffee flavours were the focus. It was certainly a very intense hit of coffee. I also had a toasted reuben, I know I had a slight whinge about my experience last time with take out but I have no complaints at all this time, not even the wonky tables could get me down. Definitely my favourite spot to sit off on a summers day at the moment, I hope they keep the cold brews coming.

Beef and Pudding - Manchester
So I did it, I finally did it - I rounded up 3 unsuspecting friends and convinced them that we HAD to order and defeat the Manchester Meet head on. For those not in the know, the Manchester Meet  is a giant beef rib joint that weighs in at a 'minimum' of 7lb (approx 3.2kg) and comes served with sides of peas, carrots and beef dripping chips. I can definitely confirm that this was the first time my main has arrived accompanied with a full sized carving knife! Fortunately I had the common sense to be sat with an ex-chef who carved it pretty successfully and saved us having to hack away at it like Neanderthals. The best thing about this whole meal was that the meat was so well flavoured that at no point did it start to get bland - from the perfectly charred edges through to the beautiful red meat and fat in the middle it was a never-ending joy to eat. Aside from the ribs it was pretty much all meat with a perfect layer of fat throughout. I'll be honest, we almost broke towards the end and didn't manage to finish, the unexpected delivery of a top-up of chips half way through was pretty brutal but we powered through - the unlimited sauces (Béarnaise, au poivre and 'proper gravy') definitely helped me a whole lot. The plan was to go on for a night out afterwards but we were all utterly ruined and just needed to drink a lot of water and feel very sorry for ourselves.
The highlight was the waiter mentioning that we were the first table he'd seen that had actually finished one. On that basis I'm proud to report, that in the battle of Hunger Jams vs food: Hunger Jams won.