Pleasuredome to be centre of food and drink festival
IGLOO STYLE POP-UP VENUE WILL BE THE FOCUS OF EVENTS AS FEST RETURNS WITH MORE HAPPENING IN ALBERT SQUARE
MANCHESTER Food and Drink Festival has announced the first highlights from this year’s programme, with more events than ever before in Albert Square.
The pop-up foodie village in front of the town hall is being revamped this year, with a huge igloo-style dining dome at its heart.
The dome will host events including a caviar and champagne tasting with TV chef Ed Baines and his seafood restaurant Randall & Aubin (October 2); an Ayurvedic supper club with wellness guru Jasmine Hemsley and Levenshulme cafe Trove (September 29); a futuristic feast from Rabbit in the Moon (October 1); a Brazilian banquet from Fazenda (October 3); and two Battle Royalethemed dystopian dinners from Cottonopolis (September 27 and 28).
Baratxuri, Lunya and Evuna will also be joining forces to take foodlovers on a culinary journey through Spain, Catalunya and the Basque country (October 5) while street food haven Hatch will be bringing its traders over from Oxford Road to cook a course each at a special supper club featuring paired beers and coffees from onsite nano brewery Öl and coffee shop Takk (October 4).
The new and improved festival hub will also feature a doubledecker beer bus from Brooklyn Brewery and a shipping container gin bar from Double Dutch alongside a newly-designed Festival Bar space showcasing Manchester’s best breweries.
CityLife’s live music stage will also be back and better than ever with a line-up of musicians and DJs to set the soundtrack to the 11-day event.
Once again there’ll be a huge selection of street food stalls in the square as well as pop-up operations from some of the region’s most exciting restaurants, including Baratxuri and Bundobust.
The festival hub will also host a free, family food fest (September 30), featuring a kid-friendly disco from Inspiral Carpets legend Clint Boon in the bar marquee and pizza-making, arts and crafts in the dining dome. Founding director Phil Jones said: “Our beloved hub has come to embody the heart and soul of MFDF and is its own little foodie neighbourhood, popping up once a year as a place that food lovers can hang out for 11 wonderful gastronomic days.
“It is a melting pot of everything that is fantastic about Manchester and its food scene.
“This year we’re giving the hub a makeover and bringing even more of our greatest events there, whilst still taking in some of the city’s most spectacular venues too.”
Elsewhere across the city, the smorgasbord of events includes the return of the Big Indie Wine Fest, this time spread across three days at Manchester Hall (October 5, 6 and 7).
Guardian food critic Jay Rayner will also be returning to one of his most raved-about Manchester restaurants, Albert’s Schloss, to perform with his jazz quartet (October 7).
The festival opens on Thursday September 27, culminating in the MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards at Gorton Monastery on Monday October 8, when the region’s best restaurants and bars will be recognised with a raft of prizes.
The festival hub in Albert Square will be open from September 27 to October 7, from noon to 11pm, with free entry except to ticketed events in the dome.
For the full programme so far and ticket information visit foodanddrinkfestival.com.