The starters were very mediocre especially for the price. However my main issue was with the main,…read moreit was burnt and when I asked for a refund I only got half back but then later realised they only actually refunded the service charge, which was £10 and not even entitled to pay as they never even mentioned a service charge, and my meal alone was £19.99. the rest of my party didn't like the meals either not even opting to take the food home. DONT EAT HERE there are plenty of other places in the Trafford center leagues better. Don't waist your money on this place and go else where, I know I will be. Id give it 0/5 if I could. Our total bill was £90 for 3 people for 3 starters and 4 mains. Be aware they DO NOT tell you about the service charge they just add it onto the bill

This place is great! They serve fresh street food from as Far East as China and Bangkok, to…read moreAmerican Deep South and New Orleans classics. This is a new fast food stall in the orient at the intu Trafford centre, next door but one to McDonalds so easy to locate. There's plenty of variety on the menu and the dish I had was delicious! 3 seizable satay chicken pieces for £3.99, and the satay sauce had chunky peanuts with a bit of a kick! All food is prepared fresh so it's not the fastest 'fast food' outlet, but well worth the wait! (And they so have a sign disclosing this!)

I had the pleasure of finally trying dim sum su's vegetarian bao buns during Chinese New Year…read moreweekend and I was not disappointed! My husband loved his chicken version too. I've wanted to try bao buns for a long while now but the majority of places do pork versions and as I don't eat pork that left me out to dry. Luckily Su caters to all and the crispy aubergine and sweet pepper vege bao buns are utterly delightful. Packed full of flavour and dangerously moorish. At around 3.50 each they aren't badly priced either. I'd need two for lunch but one is perfect for a quick snack. We went to the event stall on St Anne's Square but we're delighted to hear she's got a place on deansgate. I genuinely can't wait to try these again. Su herself is such a lovely, bubbly person. She clearly loves what she does and you can taste that in the lovely homemade food she sells.

I popped in to The Kitchens the other day to catch up with Jimmy (Nasi Lemak) and got chatting to…read moreSue who runs Dim Sum Su. Her passion and energy for what she does is amazing and extremely contagious! I'd already got some Fried Chicken to go from Jimmy but looking at the food Sue was making and hearing her tell me all about it, I couldn't not have some, so I opted to go for something I've never tasted before as appose to my usual Dumplings that I get all the time from anywhere that will do them! I went for a Pan-Fried Duck Bao - honestly, go and get one for lunch, you won't regret it! In fact, speaking of lunch, Dim Sum Su do a great £5 meal deal which gets you a Bao, Fries and a Drink - amazing!

Our city's favourite indie street food events company has now moved into a much larger venue, after…read morea successful regular stint at Runaway Brewery. To be held weekly, every Saturday from noon until 10pm, the space at Alphabet Brewery has the advantage of being completely covered over - so as the wintry days approach, both traders and punters will be kept dry! North Western Street is in the grittier part of the city, shall we say, running alongside the impressive railway arches leading to Piccadilly station. The front area outside the brewery is where you'll find the street food traders every week (there'll be 5-6 with some firm favourites on regular rotation along with guest traders appearing too). Inside the brewery itself (which is double height and spacious) you have the newly-built cash-only bar, serving Alphabet's beery wares - and soon to have guest breweries and tap takeovers. Unisex toilets and sinks are upstairs (there's a disabled toilet next to the bar). The vibrant murals on the walls are by local artist Hammo (who's also designed all of their beer cans) - check out his website: http://www.thehammo.com/ Two long rows of bench seating along with smaller tables means there's plenty of room to sit down if you get down here early enough! By mid afternoon it was truly bustling. Less than a 10 minute walk from the station, this is a must visit for locals and visitors alike.

A really great new location for GRUB and one that I hope to be hitting regularly now that it's on…read more'my side' of Manchester at Alphabet Brewery. Yes - at first you might come out of the back of Piccadilly station and wonder quite where you're headed (this area was/is the red light area of Manchester but with HS2 coming soon and this area marked for redev it is probably gonna be a trendy part of town in a decade from now) As with all the GRUB events there was great food, drink and music. Plus the atmosphere always kicks ass. On this occasion the gyoza stall and MacDaddies (mac n' cheese) went down well with our table. The Alphabet session pale at 4% and £4 a pint went down just as good. Looking like a regular place we'll be heading to now it's on each Saturday and only 5 mins walk from the station.

If you hear the words 'Victorian Christmas' do you picture snowy scenes of chocolate-box houses,…read moreglowing gas lights and horse-drawn carriages with people wandering alongside in their finery? You do? Alas the organisers of this Market didn't appear to bother checking Google Images. Before I'm accused of being a complete Ebenezer Scrooge let me relay the scene for one and all after a wander round this lunchtime. With the main area in the plaza outside the Lowry Outlet and a second area of stalls on The Quays, there are a number of various food vendors. Apart from one selling pulled pork & apple sauce rolls which I was informed were very tasty and another selling Baileys hot chocolate, there was a distinct lack of Victoriana going on. It would have been nice to see a roast chestnut stall for instance, or ones selling Roman punch or fancy puddings/cakes. Churros? Deliciously indulgent as they are, don't shout Christmas to me, never mind Victorian Christmas. Pizza? An olives bar? C'mon people! The double decker bus which had been converted to a bar was a novel sight admittedly, though a horse-drawn omnibus would have been great to see. As for the non-food stalls, whilst there were a number selling more festive gifts such as fudge and trinkets, there was one which can only be described as a Betterware catalogue roadshow. "Why yes I'd love to buy one of those in-toaster toastie bags please." There were several people in period costume - top hats, bonnets etc. which helped a tiny bit to salvage some authenticity, but it just appeared very half-arsed to be brutally honest. If you're in Salford Quays anyway, by all means have a wander round; but personally I wouldn't set out with friends and family for a special trip here.

Apologies for the short notice, but you really should check out Manchester's Victorian Market at…read moreSalford Quays this weekend! It's a shame they're only around Thursday to Sunday, as this wonderful Christmas market outside the Lowry Outlet Mall, offers something quirkier than Manchester's soulless European Markets. There's a range of really unique old-fashioned stalls, selling personalised crafts (not a fan of crafts myself) old-English tea (don't drink tea) football-sized pies (now you're talking) and among the stalls, you'll meet an animated cast of Dickensian street performers, which help bring the market to life. There are Victorian carol singers and musicians playing what sounds like the Game of Thrones theme tune. There is mulled cider being sold by vendors in period costume, for £2.50 a cup and there's even a big red booze bus, where - after dodging all the stilt-walkers - you can flee the crowds and venture upstairs to escape the cold. This market has it all!

Really enjoyed the vegan Sunday event here. I was surprised to find it fairly warm inside (was…read moreprepared for the arctic conditions of its former home, Alphabet Brewery) and the space is beautiful, especially the giant arched window letting on gorgeous yellowy light as the sun set in the late afternoon. Food-wise, the offerings were impressive. Oh Mei Dumpling was great, the only bummer was they vastly under-budgeted and ran out while they still had a large queue some hours before closing. Luckily I got in there quickly! Ottomen was very popular too but had a very lengthy queue, apparently they take a long time explaining the offerings to each customer to make sure they get the ideal combo which is nice customer service except for the fact that customer has had to spend 30 minutes in a queue while their friends drink elsewhere - maybe some sort of explanatory blackboard or better labelling could speed things up. Macdaddies also did an impressive vegan offering - you def wouldn't know it's not cheese. Vendor wise, the vegan pies and arancini were both great, would definitely recommend those to take away for some tasty lunches post your Sunday come down. Drinks options include a decent variety of local beers, of course local doesn't necessarily mean good and it's mostly keg here but you'll find something drinkable. They also have some fancy soft drinks of varying quality, at least they are a bit different though!

TL;DR - New venue, still the same great food, drink and vibes…read more After a few years of moving back and forth between Mayfield in summer and Fairfield Street in winter, GRUB finally has a new year round home on Redbank. This should be their permanent home for the forseeable future, all year round. The new place has a bit of a different layout, since it's based in a two storey building - downstairs has an enlarged bar and seating area, a children's play area and the toilets; upstairs is a much larger seating area plus when we were there a wine bar, cakes and a DJ. Street food vendors are located outside, in the yard at the rear. Go out back and get some food, then head back inside to get some drinks and a seat. Other than the new venue though, this is still the same GRUB we know and love. Fantastic street food from an ever changing list of vendors, great local beers, great music and a relaxed vibe - and the whole place is family and dog friendly. Oh, and I nearly forgot - everything on Sundays is vegan!

Grillstock Festival completely lives up to its tagline: 'Meat. Music. Mayhem.' On a slightly…read moredrizzly and cool Saturday in Manchester the hordes swarmed to Albert Square and the stalls of carnivorous splendor. Entry was a very hefty £22.50 but you had to buy them online in advance and it had already sold out. You couldn't, therefore, just rock up there ticketless. I was fortunate and had a free ticket donated by a friend who couldn't make it - so I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay that much and not have at least a free burger, hotdog or couple of beers included. The range of options was pretty good, with the likes of Fire & Salt and Red's True BBQ joined with over 20 other vendors. Pretty much all the food was £4-6, with the smaller 'snacks' at around £3 each. The hotdogs from Street Dogs were huge and delicious (see pic). You could wash everything down with beer from Brooklyn Brewery and cloudy cider from Lazy Jacks (both were terrific) and if you had enough room after all that meat, you could get cheesecake or icecream. I failed miserably as I was too greedy after nailing a brisket burger. Rob Heron & The Teapad Orchestra kept us entertained from the main stage, then it was the crowd-pleasing chilli eating competition, with 10 challengers eating increasingly hot chillis that I'd never heard of. Most of them endured until quite far in, then all but two dropped like flies and reached for the milk (or sick bucket - nice). After eating a Trinidad Scorpion 'Butch T' from Australia which was 1.4 million on the Scoville scale of hotness, it ended somewhat anticlimactically with a 'fastest eater' round, much to the crowd's bemusement. The only downside I had, which is the same for every festival like this, is that there were too many people in there, not enough circulation space and only one entrance/exit. Other than that is was a great way to spend an afternoon and start your path towards a food coma!

Another year, another trip to Grillstock! Having been for the past two years, we couldn't resist…read morepurchasing the early bird tickets and signing up for another visit to BBQ heaven. Still located on Albert Square, the festival has expanded somewhat, meaning there was a shift around inside the square, with the main stage moving and appearing to provide much more space than previous years. The entrance (only one this time) was in a strange location and there was very little signage towards it, meaning I was slightly on the flustered side by the time we actually got in! We headed to the bar for a drink to walk around with and explore our options. Brewdog were the providers this years, meaning there were plenty of familiar options, the other half going for the Dead Pony Ale. The bar was also fully stocked with cider, wine and prosecco so we didn't have to bounce between bars - handy! There was also an 'I Heart Wine' van, separate Lazy Jack's bar, alcoholic iced tea, a spiced rum bar, plus a Jack Daniel's cocktail bar. So, something for all tastes! Probably my favourite thing about Grillstock is the opportunity to try food from some new vendors, many of which come from across the country. Ross&Ross were my first stop, serving up slow cooked lamb, which was absolutely delicious and the perfect thing to get the day going. We also had a burger from The Beefy Boys - great, very moist - and some hot wings from Lola's - personal favourite, and coming with some very handy wet wipes. Everything is around the £5-6 mark on top of your ticket price. Unfortunately all stalls serving ribs ran out very quickly - and by all stalls I mean the 2 that were actually serving them up. Shouldn't there be more? When you really take the stalls into account, burgers and hot dogs totally outweigh everything else. Probably says something about the UK's taste in BBQ... As ever, there was lots of entertainment in the form of music (Levi Roots and Grandmaster Flash, anyone?), circus performers, the grilling competition, hot dog/wing/chilli eat competitions, and the ever popular free photo booth, making it very family friendly and contributing to a very relaxed Saturday.

I have sampled food from Nasi Lemak plenty of times over the past 12 months, but more recently,…read moreduring their visits to Levenshulme Market hosted by The University of Manchester, occurring every Tuesday during the semester for anyone and everybody nearby to enjoy. Nasi Lemak offers unbelievably tasty Malaysian street food, and I recommend Satay Chicken. skewered chicken in a delicious spicy marinade. Also, the rempah chicken is a very popular fried chicken. Delicious!

I have previously tried the food from Nasi Lemak before my recent visit to Nasi Lemak, now in The…read moreKitchens. I was only recently at the Yelp event at The Kitchens and got to try the food from all the different vendors including Nasi Lemak. I had the rempah chicken (which is Malaysian spiced fried chicken) with noodles. The chicken is just so tasty - you can really taste the juicy chicken. And the sauce is lovely - nice spice to it. (Its worth just mentioning that if you are a vegetarian, you have some options such as the mock chicken. I have had mock chicken before - both from Nasi Lemak and other places - and its pretty hard to tell the difference - the taste and also the texture). I recommend checking out Nasi Lemak!

I am surprised this place has not been reviewed. Actually I thought I had written a review myself…read morebut clearly not - until now! I have been to Chaat Cart a few times. Most of the time having the chicken kati roll which is lovely. The first time I didn't realise it had coriander in it - too much good flavour from everything else? But noticed the 2nd time - luckily could easily pick it out. I did mention to them about coriander but it was already "in the mix" - although she remembered another time I went and did her best to remove the coriander. More recently, I tried the food at Chaat Cart at a recent Yelp event at The Kitchens. And even more recently, yesterday, I went and had the Chicken 65 burger with gunpowder fries. Lovely chicken burger and very slighty spicy fries - although I did mention how spicy it was so he may have put a bit less spice on. It came with an onion bhaji on top of the fries - usually its on top of the burger but no room in the takeaway box if it was! Will be going back again (and again) for sure. Good food, friendly people.

Came here on my lunch and to my amazement nobody was waiting to be served so I got my food very…read morequickly. I had the lentil dhal as I felt like trying something different. Wow. What an amazing lunch! It was very tasty and really moreish, I shall be returning to this place and have recommend it to lots of my friends! They do gluten free food too which is always good to know!