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Blue Pig Opens This Week - 8 August
Cleo Farman's Odd Departure For Established Bar Group
CLEO Farman has already made her name for herself in the North West food and drink scene with the Odd bars – a mini-Manc group of idiosyncratic operations. Many readers will be very familiar with her Odd, Odder and Oddest outlets.
Now she’s making a pig of herself, a blue one.
We want this one to be different - our 333 menu is a short seasonal menu of exceptional quality that will change every single week,
The Blue Pig, as the new venture is called, is situated in the old Seven Oaks Hifi shop site on High Street, over the road from Oklahoma’s crazy retail offering, and round the corner from the original Odd Bar. It opens on Wednesday 8 August and will be a restaurant and bar.
Cleo FarmanOccupying what used to be an old bank, most of the site is dominated by large windows down the sides of the building. The building apparently still retains many original features such as the full height mahogany bank doors at the side of the building and the panelling recovered from the site which now forms part of the zinc-topped bar.
For food Blue Pig will be offering a deli menu featuring a fat selection of meats and cheeses as well as home-made terrines, pates, home smoked and cured fish, dips, oils, sauces and so on. The main menu is called the ‘333 Menu’ featuring three starters, three mains and three puddings that changes weekly.
Certainly wild rabbit ravioli and confit sea trout and tempura oysters seem intriguing dishes. Mouthwatering to read.
Blue Pig Menu
The bread will be home-made and there’s a full breakfast menu serving continental breakfasts with stuffed croissants and churros for chocolate dipping – is this the first range of the Spanish sweet in Manchester?
Drinks include spirits, wines and draught ales and beers plus a cocktail menu. There are masses of rums, whiskies, vodkas and liqueurs.
The Blue PigFarman says: “We want this one to be different - our 333 menu is a short seasonal menu of exceptional quality that will change every single week, headed by Dan Barber. The bar, we hope, looks quite different to anything else in Manchester. To top it all I have had a huge Blue Pig made which was scaled up from a doorstop my Mum had in her garden, it is a metre long and will be proudly hanging outside the venue.”
Blue Pig - High Street
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I thought that this place was going to be a French cafe bar? I'm sure I read that, on here if I'm not mistaken.
Old bank: It was a home entertainment center for as long as I can remember.
You're thinking of Currys at White City.
Yet another bar the entice the Printworks crowd to the Northern Quarter. And then call it the Blue Pig?. Seriously now, you might as well throw in menu that claims to be the next best thing in food...oh wait. Zzzz, there is nothing new or exciting about this place. Would have been nice to see something a tad more original than a bar pop up in the Northern Quarter. It seems to have lost its day time buzz of a few years ago. No doubt Back Turner Street will be full of piss at 1am on a Friday too. Thanks.
That seems a little unfair Dan. Ms Farman has a pretty good track record.
O'Toole by name.....
Thanks Richard, but no where have I said anything about this place not being a success, or Ms Farmans success for that matter. I think you may have read my comment wrong. I was ranting about originality. Which is something I feel is missing here.
And what would you do to make it 'original'? I'd say a menu that changes weekly is a pretty bloody good start for a bar... most don't change their menus more than once a year, or even less frequently in the case of some places I've worked at.
Hi Ali, I think you miss my point too. I don't want to make Blue Pig original. It is what it is and will be a success.
Dan if you want to set up something original in the northern quarter you go right ahead - we're all waiting...
Ahhh the joys of the ManCon "clique". Watch yourself Dan.....they're after you!!!!
Sing us a song, Bethany.
Nobody seems to do any decent vegetarian menus or options. Why is there only ever one option, or pasta or risotto which i hate.................grrrrr. No change there then with all these places opening.
Ahhh Hesketh.....how refreshing you are!
According to Man Con, as vegetarians, we should stay in Chorlton. Failing that, we should put up or shut up. Tread carefully amongst the cavemen.
Let me get this straight. You have made the choice to not eat meat, and the restaurants have to bend over backwards to accommodate you and what is just a food preference. I am allergic to nuts, so a complaint about the lack of dishes without nuts would be justified. I am not keen on eating mushrooms, a complaint about the lack of mushroom-free dishes is just whiney.
Please refer to my earlier "cavemen" comment.
And for the record, I also have food allergies.
Come on.... they have 3 main courses. One is veg, one is sea-food and one meat. Same with the starters.. seems like a well balanced menu to me.
Richard/Justin, I think the point that Hesketh/Bethany are making is that for the past 10 years, whilst veggies have been offered an option, it is always either mushroom risotto or filo wrapped cheese. I can see how it could get tedious. It's about originality and forward thinking chefs. If Blue Pig can churn out decent options for all requirements (allergies included) then they could be on to a winner. Only time will tell I suppose.
I do find it rather odd that the accepted diet is that of meat, and to have a dish that doesn't have a dead animal in it is considered "bending over backwards".
Maybe some Justins should have a more open mind.
Couldn't agree more Hesketh...
as the anarchists used to say .......too much analysis leads to paralysis.
... stop shit talking and go and eat drink there before the post mortems begin . its not even opened yet......
hell hath no fury like a keyboard warrior scorned.
you couldnt make this shit up....oh hang on...you could spinal tap meets monty python in a netto carpark.
With Dan on the state of Northern Quarter nowadays, it's like the 'contents' of Norwegian Blue all got lost!
It's true, and it seems to be getting worse with each passing weekend.
Go luke una... at least it'll be easier to find than the one in hebden bridge, im sure that place is a myth :-)
Come on Bethany Kelly, sing us a song!
I'm building up to it.....;-)
Well i say Blue Pig sounds amazing and original. Where else bakes fresh bread, changes a fabulous menu weekly and serves churros at breakfast? I will certainly be visiting when back in Manchester. well done Cleo and Dan.
I love being compared to a caveman. Thanks to their perseverance, ingenuity, courage and sheer bloody-mindedness the people of Chorlton can enjoy their meat-free enclave (tofu and chickpea pasties from the Unicorn - taste-free yum!). They battled ice ages and not being top of the food chain, whilst most of you seem to be stymied by restaurants with a menu you don't like.
If you think that ordering meat from a menu, or picking up a tray of chicken from a supermarket shelf is 'top of the food chain', then that is very cute.
The irony is that best food in chorlton are the turkish delight kebabs.
I eat meat but not sure why that makes me a caveman? presumbly because anyone not sharing Bethney's point of veiw must be some relic of the past?
I would say Panicos' kebabs are better but that's just splitting hairs!
Point missed entirely it seems.
Suggesting vegetarians should not have decent options in restaurants, because they made a choice not to eat meat, is an opinion of a "caveman".
Vegetarians now make up a large percentage of the population. Their custom should be welcomed and encouraged, along side everyone else's!
No, the point is not missed.
A menu is an offer to do business. Not liking what is on the menu is surely a signal to move on. The vegetarian is choosing not to eat what is there on the menu. Not that they can't have what is on the menu, but they won't have what is on the menu. Because I am not really keen on Thai food I don't go to Thai restaurants, and don't post on Thai restaurant articles saying us Thai food dislikers are being ignored.
Why waste time shouting because it is dark, light your own candle.(thanks to Linus for that one)
PS. Complaining on a forum of a puff-piece before the place has opened- seriously!!
Get back in your cave Justin.
Does bethany then think that all resataurants should stock both Halal and Kosher meat with seperate kitchens for each so that the significant Muslim and Jewish parts of our communities can all have a good range of choices everywhere?
It's not a religious debate anon. What a
stupid comparison to make.
It's exactly the same principle a person makes a dietary choice because of their religion or beliefs. It doesn't follow that a commercial restaurant has to provide for them.
Nothing stupid in the comparison at all.
Im sure it must be hard for vegetarians. But a third of the menu is for vegetarians, a third of the menu is meat...mmm, something tells me Bethany is a bit of a moaner.
After looking in from the outside of this place on passing one day I was really pleasantly surprised by it decor. You can picture this as a very quirky French Bistro in Paris.
Went in for drinks the other night, had one spirit mixer, one beer, them ordered a bottle of nicely priced fizz.
Those that had come from the fridge were completely WARM. We cooled the fizz down ourselves and had a great time.
Upon paying it happened to be the manager giving us our bill and we very politely explained that the drinks were warm, to which he replied (ha! makes me chuckle even now!) "what do you expect, its summer"
Need I say more. I think its weird that they have fridges which are based on the weather outside, hmmm has this guy ever been abroad? has he got one of these weird fridges at home?Wont be going back and they obviously dont know about word of mouth.
Went there last night to eat with two friends. Wine came immediately, but it took three reminders to get some water. We ordered food from the three courses for £20 menu. Twenty minutes later we were told that all the food listed had run out. Even allowing for a new place settling in, this was shoddy. And we won't be going back either.