The Manchester Food and Drink Festival returned yesterday celebrating its 25th anniversary with the unveiling of a programme of events lasting until 2 October.
Cathedral Gardens is the centre of the action with a free-to-enter pop-up food and drink village where you can expect plenty of booze bars, incredible street food and live music.
There’s also a Festival Masterclass Kitchen, which hosts some of Manchester’s hottest talent, chefs, and foodies from further afield.
We went to the launch night to try some of the tasty options available and give some great recommendations to our readers.
Highlights included some magnificent authentic Cypriot food from the Sale-based restaurant Cyprus Kouzina.
We went for a Chicken Gyro which consisted of flatbread topped with salad, tzatziki and fries. There were also a few vegetarian options which included the traditional grilled halloumi.
Next on our list was some tasty Mexican food courtesy of food stand Meksikan who were offering tacos, loaded fried and burritos.
We went for a grilled citrus chicken burrito which was marinated chicken thigh, pink onions, avocado, tomatillo and salsa.
It didn’t disappoint and there was so much more to choose from including a sweet potato and cauliflower burrito which sounds incredibly tasty.
As well as the food we tried there was also a selection of drinks on offer from the Manchester Beer Bar and some award-winning gin and tonic options from Lixir Drinks.
With a selection of flavoured tonics available we went for the Blood Orange and Cinnamon and the Pink Grapefruit.
They were refreshing options and offered something very different from your standard gin and tonic order.
As well the outlets we tried, there are many more popping up throughout the festival.
There’s also a big focus on budget cooking and how to spruce up any leftover food to get the most of your ingredients with Recycle for Greater Manchester.
Spread out over the next ten days there’s something for everyone and you can view the entire schedule on the Food and Drink Festival website.
