My Manchester
Patrick Withington
PATRICK Withington is the chef and co-founder of Erst restaurant in Ancoats. After short stints in various cafes kitchens around the city, he joined Trove Cafe + Bakery and, after, showing his flair for flavour and presentation he swiftly rose to Head Chef, helping the business win multiple awards in the city and establishing Trove as destination for brunch. Patrick also launched his own Supper Club, Sirocco.
The foundations for Erst were laid and in March 2018, when Patrick opened Erst: Natural Wine Bar and Restaurant.
Erst is open 12pm-10.30pm Wednesday-Saturday and 12pm8pm Sunday.
My earliest memory of Manchester is…
I’d like to say my first game at Old Trafford, but I can’t actually remember much about it. Weirdly, the game I remember is watching United’s youth team play Tranmere at The Cliff with my dad and cousin, Ciaran. Beckham scored the winner with a free kick, I can even remember his celebration. We used to watch the youth team quite a lot back then. We’d get the bus to town (before the tram existed) and walk to The Cliff or Littleton Road. That same team went on to win the Youth Cup and most of them won the treble in ’99.
My favourite place to eat in Manchester is…
I work most evenings and weekends, so I tend to go to more casual places when I eat out and we have loads of good options for those kinds of places. I love food with bold flavours, so I’ll go to Siam Smiles for Thai, Jaffa in Rusholme for a shawarma and mezze and obviously all the rice and three gaffs in the Northern Quarter are great.
My favourite Manchester bar or nightclub is…
We have some great pubs in town, but my favourite has to be The Pev. There’s always a good atmosphere in there, they have a top jukebox and serve decent Guinness. It’s also a listed building so it looks the part. The club scene seems to have become a bit sanitised but it’s good to see the likes of Soup Kitchen and The White Hotel keeping the independent spirit going. I have to mention the original Cord bar on Tib Street which was my favourite bar when I first started going out. There’s too much crap opening in Northern Quarter now.
My favourite place to shop in Manchester is…
I lived opposite Venus Turkish Supermarket in Victoria Park when I first became a chef and it was a big influence on the food I like to cook. They have their own bakery, butchers and kebab shop on site where they cook over coals like we now do at Erst. There are whole aisles of pickles, spices, dates and over winter they have pomegranate and quince piled up outside. For clothes, most lads growing up in Manchester would say Oi Polloi which is one of the best in the country and for vintage clobber Bionic Seven is the best in town.
The last gig I saw in Manchester was…
Tinariwen at Manchester Cathedral. They’re nomads from the Sahara Desert and wear the traditional clothing. They were incredible live, and the crowd was going mad by the end.
My favourite hidden gem in Manchester is…
The Jolly Angler on Ducie Street. It feels a bit like walking back in time as it hasn’t been touched for years. It’s a favourite with musicians and they have live Irish and folk music on in there pretty regularly. I remember speaking to a lad from a band in London who said he’d slept on a table in there one night. They also do decent Guinness too.
The best Manchester band of all time is…
I could list all the Manchester bands I like but I couldn’t fit them all in. I don’t think anyone can beat Joy Division and New Order combined. I should probably mention Oasis as they were the band that first got me into music and were also my first gig at G-Mex in ’97.
Manchester has everything except…
An open space in the city. I thought the space where the old Ancoats retail park was could have been perfect for a park, but someone has decided the city needs a car park more. I also think we’re a bit short on art galleries if we want to be considered a top international city like we should be. So, a world class modern art gallery instead of more flats would be good.
People’s biggest misconception about Manchester is…
That everyone walks around with a feather cut and a parka and listens to lad-rock. We live in a massively diverse city with loads going on and I think embracing that is what it means to be a Mancunian.
The thing I love most about Manchester is…
The attitude to do things for ourselves. I think that’s probably why Manchester is a city of firsts and such a political city.