Last weekend we were up in Manchester to visit our younger daughter, on what might turn out to be our last trip anywhere for quite a while. We'd originally intended visiting this coming weekend but with corona virus taking hold we decided to pre-empt any lockdown and go while we still could.
This weekend is, of course, Mother's Day (here in the UK) but in addition my daughter would be at a craft fair selling her synaesthesia art*, and we wanted to go along, support her and see the venue, which she's talked about many times - obviously we couldn't. But, while the 'Stall' craft event is only held once a month, every weekend the venue in Manchester's Green Quarter is home to a street food event, 'Grub'.
So we went along in search of food. I wanted to try something new (who knows when I'll next get a chance?), so while my husband tried Pie and Mash stall for (you guessed) pie and mash, I looked at the neighbouring Mediterranean/Turkish influenced food from The Otto-men. Looking down the menu board, I was overwhelmed with choice! Seeing my confusion the stall-holder talked me through the options and then, as I was still obviously undecided, gave me a sample of just about everything on offer - a wonderful tasting-menu style minifeast.
The food stalls were outside, but it was too cold to sit there, so we went inside to the bar where again I tried something new - a pink sour ale, Raspberry Tart from Fierce beer; great colour, great taste and perfect with my plate of hummus, falafels and 'sexy pie'.
It wasn't quite as empty as it seems from the photo - behind us a there was a fully occupied table, and more people were at the downstairs bar - but it was obvious that numbers were less than they would have been on a 'normal' weekend.
This area is further north than I've visited before, but still had that mix of old and new, that I've come to expect - even an olde worlde pub!
I'm glad we went because virus-related things have changed rapidly in this last week, and now we're in semi-isolation. I'm glad to have one last enjoyable day out.
* you can see examples here on her Instagram feed
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