ON MONDAY 18TH MARCH, Chef Naved enjoyed a well-deserved break from the kitchen. For this one very unusual evening, his chef’s whites remained pristine and pressed in his locker. Instead of steeling himself for a hectic dinner shift, he felt pleasantly calm and relaxed. An almost holiday-ish feeling overtook him. With a contented smile, he wandered into Dishoom Manchester’s grand Dining Hall, settled into a delightfully rickety bentwood chair, admired his surroundings and waited.
The Dining Hall soon filled with the North’s finest chefs and restaurateurs, all eagerly awaiting Action Against Hunger’s much-anticipated annual charity event, Too Many Critics.
EVENT PROCEEDINGS
Ruth Allen (Manchester Wire) and Matt White (XS Manchester) heroically kicked off proceedings with Mancunian cheese toast and crispy paneer served with Kairi chutney.
For mains, Emily Heward (Manchester Evening News) and Louise Rhind-Tutt (ILoveManchester) took to the grill and served up tandoori prawns and saffron lamb chops, whilst Neil Sowerby (Taste of Manchester) and Simon Binns (LadBible) took care of the curry dishes with Keralan fish moilee and a roasted cauliflower and aubergine korma. And to end things on a sweet note, Bill Knott (The Financial Times) served a cardamom pannacotta.
The critics were also asked to curate a special beer cocktail for the night, partnering with a local brewery. This included a Mango Shandy using Northern Monk, a Spiced Vanilla Black using North Brewing Co, a Cosmic Butter Brew with JW Lees, a Mang-chester Sour using Shindigger’s Mango Unchained, Bhangra Beatnikz using Beatniks, and a Manchester Union Manhattan using Manchester Union Lager.
Winners were announced at the end of the evening following votes from diners and chefs, with Neil proudly taking the prize for Chef’s choice as well as cocktail creation, and Ruth picking up the people’s choice. Thanks to all patrons who supported this worthy cause! And shabash to all critic-chefs, for your hard work – and thank you, kindly, for giving Naved a night off!
For those wanting to taste at home, cocktail creation winner Neil Sowerby has kindly shared the recipe for his Bhangra Beatnikz.
BHANGRA BEATNIKZ
15ml lime juice
10ml ginger syrup
15ml Kamm & Sons
25ml Plantation Pineapple
2 dash peach bitters
Beatniks IPA beer foam
METHOD
1. Add the above ingredients (minus the beer foam) into a shaker
2. Shake, hard
3. Top with whipped beer foam
4. Sip with relish
The sun is momentarily out again. Calendars are fast filling up. There’s many a thing to do and many a friend to meet. And if we may kindly add to the excitement and the plan-making, here’s our list of what we’re looking forward to in September.
While we were at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we caught Evening Conversations, an engaging show by Sudha Bhuchar. We caught up with her after the show to talk about her journey and her views on South Asian representation on screen, which you can read below. And for those who didn’t walk down the cobbled streets of the city or stumble into an impromptu performance this year, we highly recommend it for 2024.
Each year as August dawns, the streets and rooms and corners of Edinburgh fill with music, art, laughter and song. Wander into grand halls and pokey pubs, as the morning sun rises or in the dark of night, to see creations of every kind as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In honour of this wonderful celebration of the performing arts (and as a little treat), here’s a special edition Dishoom Loves, covering all the acts we’ve circled on our festival programme.
For anyone looking to learn or read more on Partition, this page holds a series of resources, for all ages, created by people knowledgeable and knowing about such matters. It is by no means definitive – we have simply found them to be useful, inspiring and accessible.