The Northern Quarter, Manchester is looking very slick in this video from Charlie Watts

The Quarter from charlie watts on Vimeo.

All new everything

You know The Circus Tavern, that teeny tiny pub on Portland Street? I don’t think I’ve ever been in there. I’ve definitely never eaten in The Rose Garden, which is a few hundred metres from my front door. Three quarters of Chinatown is a mystery to me. I’ve never been to Urmston Books or Cloud 23 or Trove in Levenshulme. It’s ridiculous. So, 2014 is all about things new (to me).

First stop, Lucha Libre at Great Northern Warehouse. We’d been to the Liverpool original and the one in Manchester proves equally fun, the veggie street food medley is such a top dish and there are too many tempting sides to go with. Drink a Michelada made of beer, lime, tabasco and sangrita all mixed up.

Obviously with the ‘all new’ policy some cheating has to happen. We head to Manchester Art Gallery to see the Jeremy Deller and Grayson Perry exhibitions. Venue, not new; content, new! Both are concerned with class and class mobility, the former curates various artefacts to chart threads of British working class culture from the Industrial Revolution on, the latter is a now-famous sequence of huge, gawdy and incredibly detailed tapestries that re-tell The Rake’s Progress with contemporary characters and multiple other allusions. The Deller is patchy, I think all his output is really, and oil paintings of the smelting process can’t compete with Brian Ferry’s family tree. The photograph of wrestler Adrian Street that advertises the exhibition had reached its zenith as the cover of Black Box Recorder’s England Made Me album (1998), which covers roughly the same territory as the Deller, only better.

Experienced with the Grayson Perry though, a good long think about the class system and its cultural ephemera is prompted. This dovetails nicely with the Alan Bennett passage I have just read regarding the word ‘common’ (his mother’s favoured put-down), the meaning of which I recognise immediately as both ‘something that everybody does and is therefore the lowest common denominator’, and conversely, ‘something that is not the done thing.’ Class. It’s complicated. I should know. I have working class parents, two degrees, no mortgage, no savings, no driving license and I was retweeted by Middle Class Problems this morning.

The next new thing is V Revolution on Oldham Street. This place is a godsend, serving honest-to-badness junk food that’s all vegan. The reason it’s a godsend is that in Melbourne we became addicted to a fast-food chain called Lord Of The Fries. They serve all vegetarian fast food. Burgers, fries, shakes, that kind of junk. I dreamed this place into existence, I know I did. And now we have our own version right there in the Northern Quarter. Chicken and cheeseburger and a coke float twice please and whatever he’s having. V Revolution serves truly scrummy food, laid back and completely chilled (someone was watching a penguin documentary while we were there). If that’s not your thing you can admire the amazing range of tattoos on the friendly staff instead. I have a feeling this place will count as ‘new’ for a good while yet …

The Imogen Styles

‘It’s Johnny Depp Pop, Dark Pop, English Pop, Perfect Pop, it’s Lit Pop, Clit Pop, Dick Pop, Electro Pop, it’s New Wave, Nu Rave, Short Wave, Dance Phase …’

If I were doing promo (look, I am!) I would signpost this band for you thusly:

Black Box Recorder / Ladytron / Pet Shop Boys / (We Are) Performance / Stock, Aitken & Waterman

Electro never died, it just turned into POP. Come celebrate this healthy transition with The Imogen Styles live and in the flesh at Dry Bar this Friday. The beautiful people are using it as their pre-Homoelectric party, and you should too. The Imogen Styles will get you in the digital disco mood good and proper.

This is my current favourite track…

… and here is THAT darkly genius Stock, Aitken & Waterman cover version you might have heard about...

The Imogen Styles, Live at Dry Bar

Oldham St, Northern Quarter, Mcr, Friday 2^nd December, 9.30 pm

Ning

A birthday treat was required for Young Neil, one that would impress but could be done affordably given there were more treats to come later in the month … Ning it is. Great name. Great location too at the rickety Frog & Bucket end of Oldham Street. I love this bit of the street, much more than the other crowded end with boring old shops and things. There’s nothing here but the Big Issue office, the City Inn spilling onto the street, and broken up building fronts. No doubt gentrification will fill in the space soon enough, particularly in the wake of this excellent restaurant.

Lured by the two courses for a tenner deal, this place was such a good find. Starter, main course and sundry all included in the cover charge, three quid for a beer, nothing spared on the quality or quantity. Great veggie options for me and fleshatarian stuff for Neil. Not every dish comes under the deal but what they do offer is veggie versions of almost any dish where it’s feasible to do so. I liked them already.

Neil had Peppercorn Calamari to start, which bowled him over. I had the Gado Gado, one of those gorgeous Indonesian salads stuffed with bean sprouts, peppers and fresh, crunchy vegetables, warmed through in temperature and also in spiciness with touches of red chilli. The whole thing was smothered in a gorgeous sweet satay dressing. It was a generous helping to boot, one that could easily do for a work lunch.


Main course menu is split into Malay and Thai and the variety is just enough to make you agonise pleasantly over your choice. I plumped for the Nyonya Lime Curry which was rich and sour and filling and sweet and everything I like in South East Asian cuisine in another generous dish. Neil had the Masak Merah, a simple flavoursome chicken dish that he raved about. Even the plain sticky rice smelled amazing. Great quality all round.

We didn’t have desserts but some sexy coconut ice-cream affair was on offer the night we were there. Confession time: I felt a heel for not tipping, our waiter was lovely too, and I’m normally born-again about that kind of thing, but the purse strings were quite literally throttling me. I will be back though for a full price feast with friends to make up for it. Plus they now do takeaway for city folk. The menu is on my table just waiting …