A round-up of foodie news and events from around the north this week:
* Fancy a meal cooked up by a chef and brought round your house? If youâre in Manchester a business doing just that is setting up in the city after running in the capital for the past year. Housebites.com says: âHousebitesâ unique model allows customers to browse daily menus created by local chefs at Housebites.com, place an order for a specific time slot and have high quality meals delivered to their door, often by the chef themselves. Because chefs are limited to serve their immediate vicinity, food is never delivered long distance and given the time to go cold.â If you try it out, please do let us know how you get on.
* A celebration of street food is on the cards for Newcastle folk with an Urban Night Feast at the end of September. Organisers say: “The smells of Thai, Spanish, Caribbean, Indian and British food will fill the air, along with music and laughter â so come with friends, grab a drink and enjoy!â The event runs from 6pm to mednight from 27-29 September.
* And more street food…..for the first time, the Bolton Food Festival (August 24 to 27) will include a designated al fresco dining area, called Gourmet Kitchen, featuring a variety of traders selling high-end international street food. Situated on the south side of Victoria Square (near Newport Street), the Gourmet Kitchen will include Harvey Nicholsâ Gastronomique van selling French cuisine and The Hungry Gecko, Asian street food by Masterchef 2011 finalist Jackie Kearney
* And finally on the topic of street food…… The Guardian takes a look at the tensions that arise between established traders and the fly-ins of the streets in this round-up of clashes from from Blackburn to Saltburn.
* Talking of thorny topics, the Liverpool food blog Food Fascination kicks off a debate about the responsibility food critics on local newspapers should take with keeping their reviews real. âLocal newspapers have a duty to provide high quality accurate criticism, itâs only to the benefit of the city and itâs readers,â he writes before taking the Liverpool Echo to task for a recent write up.
* Experienced north west restaurateur Jaf Siddiqi has promised his latest venture, premium Indian restaurant Malai, will help bring back the authenticity of the famous ‘Curry Mile’ area of south Manchester, the Big Hospitality website reports.
* Remember the announcement about the re-opening of the Wetherby Whaler? Well Leeds Grub has a guest blog trying out the famous old Harry Ramsdenâs – from the somewhat challenging viewpoint of someone who doesnât eat fish. Mel of Yummy in Yorkshire explains: âNow itâs important that I confess that as a âflexitarianâ I donât eat fish and so go to places like this for the chips instead â but I had a fish fan with me so I can comment on the quality of the fish!â
* A York pub only opened within the last nine months has already won a nationally recognised award by being chosen as the regional winner in the Best Cask Beer Pub section of the prestigious Great British Pub Awards. One and Other reports:
“The York Tap based on Platform 3 at York station is the brainchild of the owners of fellow beer emporiums Pivni and Sheffieldâs own Tap, and has been serving up a wide range of speciality and artisan beers and ales, as well as their Czech house beer Bernard, to thirsty commuters, tourists and keen locals willing to make the trip.”
* Liverpool-born celebrity chef Aiden Byrne has backed a campaign to promote food from Liverpool City Region.
Food Tourism Connect is funded by the Rural Development Programme for England. The initiative is a commitment to raising the profile of rurally produced food among visitors to Liverpool City Region and to drive demand by promoting it direct to consumers, buyers and wholesaler. Kirkby-born Aiden, formerly head chef at the Dorchester and the youngest ever chef to receive a Michelin Star, supports the campaign because of his own commitment to using locally grown, fresh ingredients. âThis region has a great deal to celebrate when it comes to food production. The food we produce is of the highest quality and it is about time we started creating a strong brand in the way other food producing regions have.’
* The exploits of food nut blog reports from the weekendâs Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival and finds a ginga ninja rather too hot to handle.
If you’ve some food news to share, feel free to add it via the comments below or drop me an email foodiesarah AT me.com or tweet @foodiesarah.