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Manchester - Bonbon Chocolate Boutique

Posted by Unknown Sunday, March 30, 2014 0 comments

I first heard about Bonbon Chocolate Boutique in Manchester Confidential, and decided I ought to pay them a visit. Their shop:

is situated in Manchester's now highly fashionable Northern Quarter, not far from Piccadilly Gardens. You can get hot chocolate made with 56% dark chocolate (which is dairy free), with or without Aztec spice, chilli, cinnamon, mocha, orange or salted caramel. There's also freshly baked cakes from the Teacup Kitchen.

There's an interesting selection of the finest chocolate:

There's artisan chocolate bars made by Rick & Michael Mast in Brooklyn. I bought a bar of their Papua New Guinea chocolate. This chocolate is made with smoked beans for an interesting flavour - "think hickory smoked bacon and aged Scotch"!

There's also Rococo chocolate bars with flavours like Arabic spices, cardamon or violet.

They sell Booja-Booja chocolate truffles, made with organic dairy-free chocolate in Norfolk:

Last, but not least, there's Sharon's own chocolates made on the premises. A quick straw poll amongst the regulars told me I should buy some pink salted caramels:

The pecan and hazelnut salted pralines looked good. I'd heard their chocolate coconut bar was very good - but they'd just sold the last one. So, as a consolation, I bought my wife some chai latte, coconut and lemongrass, orange and chilli, rose and cardamom, stilton and caramel chocolates:

Bonbon Chocolate Boutique
9 John Street
Manchester
M4 1EQ

Tel: 0161 839 4416

Web: www.bonbonchocolate.co.uk

Cantonese Cookery Classes

Posted by Unknown Sunday, February 9, 2014 0 comments

One of the great things about British food is that it comes from a melting pot of different cultures.

Even Fish and Chips has its origins from overseas - with chips coming from either Belgium or France and the idea of fried fish was introduced from Jewish refugees.

A colleague at work asked me what he could do for a treat for his daughter's 21st birthday. He mentioned she liked Chinese food, so I asked if he'd taken her to a proper Chinese restaurant - like the Yang Sing in Manchester's China Town.

I went online, to get him some details, - and that's how I discovered that they now offer Cantonese Cookery Classes. I quickly booked my son and myself on the next one...

Many say that Harry Yeung is the finest Cantonese chef in the UK, and we were shown around by his daughter Bonnie - who shares his passion for good food:

Bonnie introduced us to different chefs, the one above specialised in roasting (like crispy aromatic duck or roast suckling pig).

Another chef specialised in Dim Sum:

and, as this was a cookery class, we all had a hand in it:

There was also a chef who specialised in stir-frying

- but sadly I don't think they said "这人是个伟大的厨师" about me!

It was fascinating seeing how a busy kitchen works:

Proper Cantonese food is amazing and much healthier than some of the take-away stuff I've had.

After our duck and pig had gone in the oven:

and it had got steamy in the Dim Sum area:

Our food was cooked.

Here's some of the the Dim Sum that we made:

We had a fantastic experience. I've learnt to add iceberg lettuce to my stir-fries in future and that I'll never make a good Dim Sum chef!

My thanks to Bonnie, and all the hardworking chefs, for sharing with us what they do so well. They were all friendly and helpful, it was an amazing experience.

Yang Sing

34 Princess Street

Manchester

M1 4JY

Tel: 0161 236 2200

Web: www.yang-sing.com

Manchester - Ginger’s Comfort Emporium

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, December 17, 2013 0 comments

A sign at Ginger's Comfort Emporium says it's all about the ice cream - and that's exactly right!

Claire Kelsey has won best dessert in the British Street Food Awards three years in a row, and until recently was selling them from this lovely vintage style van:

Sorry about the poor photo (it was taken at this year's Nantwich Food Festival), it was just beginning to rain and it's hard to take a good photo when one hand is holding a 'Chorlton crack’ (peanut butter and salted caramel) ice cream that needs eating...

My personal view is that winter is the best time to eat ice cream - it's less likely to melt whilst your taking photos! However for those of you who are not 100% serious about ice cream, and don't want to eat it in the street in December, Ginger's Comfort Emporium has moved indoors into the weird and wonderful Afflecks in Manchester city centre.

My regular readers may recognise this area was previously occupied by the Cocoa Emporium - do you have to be called an Emporium to be here?

A board displays some of the flavours - like Marmalade on Toast (yes we're still talking about ice cream), which was the winner in last year's British Street Food awards. It's made with marmalade and caramelised breadcrumbs and an orange blossom tea sorbet.

I asked Claire which was "the best" flavour, and I could tell she was appalled by the question! She told me "they're all my favourites".

In the end I went for the plum gin and juniper ice-cream:

Whilst enjoying my ice cream, I noticed copies of her book for sale:

Melt - Ice cream sensations to make at home.

The book is stylish, and written with passion.

The book would make a great Christmas present - if you can bear to be parted with it.

Ginger’s Comfort Emporium
Afflecks 1st Floor
52 Church Street
Northern Quarter
Manchester
M4 1PW

Web: www.gingerscomfortemporium.com

The Hungry Gecko

Posted by Unknown Sunday, October 20, 2013 0 comments

As a child my mother warned me away from street food! With beef burgers that tasted like cardboard (and were made from god knows what), and sold by some vendors - who you wondered how often they washed their hands, I think she was probably right. However it's amazing how Street Food has moved on since then.

Today I've come to the Beech Inn, situated in a bohemian part of Chorlton-cum-Hardy:

It's the sort of pub where could bring your dog (if you've got one) and read the paper and enjoy a pint of real ale. At the back you'll find Street Food from the Hungry Gecko:

The Hungry Gecko is run by Jackie Kearney, who you may remember as a finalist in BBC One's MasterChef in 2011. Jackie has a Joi de Vivre that's infectious, and specialises in Asian street food (everything from everything from Japanese to Indonesian, to Sri Lankan and Tibetan) like the Pani Puri at the top of this post.

The Pani Puri reminded me of amazing Indian food walk in Southall that I did with Monisha Bharadwaj. The dish consisted of a crispy puri filled with spiced chickpea & potato, served with tamarind sherbet, daniya chitney pomegranate and yoghurt. You have to put all of it in your mouth at once!

For the main course, my wife chose Beef Rendang:

This dish was made with slow cooked Cheshire beef (supplied by Chorlton's excellent butcher W H Frost) lemongrass, chilli and coconut.

I was tempted to try the Indonesian fish curry (made with fish from Chorlton's amazing fishmonger Out of the Blue), but in the end settled on the Veggi Thali Plate:

What can I say about this? Wow! On my plate was aloo saaag methi, aubergine masala, kalidal, veg samosa, riche, chapati, cachumba salad hot pickle and mint raita. I'm not a vegetarian, but with food this good I could easily be converted.

To finish my wife had Rhubarb and Custard as you've never seen it before:

It consisted of a crispy rhubarb samosa with sticky rose glaze and a start anise vanilla custard, and was delicious. The cost for that was just £2!

The Hungry Gecko is currently at:

The Beech Inn

72 Beech Road

Manchester

M21 9EG‎

Web: www.thehungrygecko.com

Chorlton - Épicerie Ludo

Posted by Unknown Friday, October 11, 2013 0 comments

Épicerie Ludo is a little piece of France that's arrived in Chorlton-cum-Hardy! It's on Beech Road, just around the corner from Chorlton Green, and the Horse and Jockey. It's also just yards from the Beech Inn, where MasterChef 2011 finalist, Jackie Kearney (The Hungry Gecko) sells gourmet Asian street food.

As Ludo is from Paris, you'd expect the shop to sell croissants:

and baguettes:

although (bizarrely) I ended up buying some Hungarian bread (made with a light rye flour and a good caraway flavour):

To go with your bread there's cheese and olives, bacon and sausage and all manner of unusual delights - like Provençal dips and confiture made by aix&terra.

There's also a good selection of wine at the back of the shop.

In fact the longer you spend in this relatively small (but well packed) shop, the more things you'll find!

I wasn't expecting to find fresh pasta here (but I did). There's too many interesting finds for me to cover everything I found here (you'll just have to visit yourself)! Where else could you find Worcester sauce, next to Lancashire sauce, next to Hawkshead Relish Damson Vinegar, next to pizza oil?

Or Cornish sea salt alongside French salt with herbes de provence or truffles?

It's crazy mixture - que j'aime!

Épicerie Ludo
46 Beech Road
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Manchester
M21 9EG

Tel: 0161 861 0861

Web: http://twitter.com/EpicerieLudo

Chorlton - Horse & Jockey Farmers' Market

Posted by Unknown Thursday, September 26, 2013 0 comments

An element of bias may appear in this post - for I am a Chorlton boy! As a child I was fascinated by Chorlton Green, with the lovely Horse & Jockey pub - which reportedly dates back to 1512. I decided to revisit - taking advantage of the new tram service from Manchester to Chorlton. The last time I went to Chorlton Station I was about 4, and it was a steam train which scared me!

So after a visit to Hickson & Blacks, where they were doing a roaring trade with their bacon butties, I went back to the Horse and Jockey. The Farmers' Market doesn't start until 11:0am, which is more or less beer o'clock, so after a "swift half" or two of their own beer it was time to inspect the market on the Green:

There were one or two non-food stands inside and outside the pub, which I think helps to make it a more interesting market.

There was a stall with a nice selection of fruit and vegetables:

All About Pies were selling their old-fashioned hand raised pies:

including Chicken Hindle Wakes, Fidget and Homity varieties.

Bessy Beck Smokehouse were selling their delicious smoked trout pates and smoked fish and meat. Christine's Preserves were selling their amazing jams, marmalades and pickles. Another lady was selling delicious looking cakes:

Alam's were selling spicy Indian and south Asian food, like these pakoras and samosas:

I especially enjoyed my chat with Some Like It Hot:

who gave me good advice on keeping slugs and snails off my chillies!

The Farmers' Market is on the last Saturday of the month. This month it's also their Joktoberfest International Beer Festival, with live music, the Farmers' Market and kids entertainment.

Horse and Jockey

9 The Green

Chorlton

Manchester

M21 9HS

Tel: 0161 860 7794

Web: http://horseandjockeychorlton.com

Bramhall - Corry's Butcher

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, July 31, 2013 0 comments

Neil Corry is a 2nd generation butcher, and has been trading for over 20 years. Corry's are in the Q Guild - I've always found Q Guild members are first class butchers.

Corry's have a great range of meat and ready to cook dishes:

They sell free range chicken from Bryn Derw Farm and also free range duck.

For the barbecue, there's a wide range of kebabs and sausage:

and a good selection of beef and lamb chops, steaks and joints.

They recently were overall champion at the Q Guild Smithfield Awards for their delicious Porchetta, pictured at the top of this post. Porchetta is a beautifully moist boned shoulder of pork wrapped in a stuffing with garlic, rosemary, and fennel. I bought and roasted a piece for a special occasion, and was looking forward to having some of the leftovers cold on the next day. The problem was that, after we'd all had second helpings, there weren't any leftovers!

Corry's Butcher

1A Ack Lane East

Bramhall

Stockport

Cheshire

SK7 2BE

Tel: 0161 439 4026

Web: www.johnpenny.co.uk/posts/corrys-butchers-bramhall-80.html