Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2021

Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2021, 16–27 September 2021 - Book now

The much-loved Manchester Food and Drink Festival ended up being postponed last year due to you-know-what, but now it’s back and bigger than ever with a host of exciting food-related events designed to showcase Manchester’s diverse and resilient hospitality industry.

This year it’s running from 16 – 27 September and taking place at Cathedral Gardens and other locations all across the city, promising to bring a much-needed celebration of Manchester’s famous food and drink scene. And this time they’ve gone digital – search for the official app on your smartphone’s app store using ‘Mcr Food and Drink Festival’ to see the full festival programme. You can also reserve a table at the Festival Hub and vote in the MFDF awards.

The free-to-enter Festival Hub in Cathedral Gardens will be at the heart of the MFDF action, hosting an eclectic array of bars and street food vendors throughout the festival. This will be open from 16 – 19 September and then again from 22 – 26 September. Some tables in The Hub will be available to book over these two weekends, but fear not, there’ll also be plenty of opportunities for walk-ins.

So what’s on offer? Here’s a list of highlights, but be sure to get hold of the app to see what else might tickle your fancy.

Monday 20 September, The Bull & Bear Festival Hub Takeover

Tom Kerridge’s The Bull and Bear will be taking over the Cathedral Gardens Festival Hub for one night only to create their own very special take on street food with a pub grub feast and a live music soundtrack to provide an unmatched ‘pub at the hub’ atmosphere.

The three-course supper menu designed especially for MFDF includes potted Loch Duart salmon with apple jelly and cucumber chutney, braised beef and blue cheese pie with English mustard mash and Seven Brothers ale gravy, and banana custard with dates, pistachio and honeycomb. A vegetarian option is also available. Tickets cost £55 per person which includes the three-course menu.

Wednesday 22 September, Manchester’s Biggest Chippy Tea

The city’s best-loved restaurants, chefs, chip shops and food traders are coming together to create a mammoth chippy tea feast in homage to one of the region’s best-loved meals. The Festival Chippy Tea takeover will see each local hero serving their own take on this classic Northern staple. There will be fish, chips, fizz and beers plus vegan fish and chips, and pies too.
This event is free to enter, and walks in are welcome, but a limited number of tables are available for pre-booking.

 Thursday 23 September, Schlosstoberfest

It may not be quite October but Albert’s Schloss will be getting in the mood with Schlosstoberfest at the Hub. Expect an Oktoberfest Takeover bringing brats, pretzels and lederhosen. Free to attend and no need to book – Schloss will be taking over the MFDF street kitchen serving up Bavarian street food throughout the evening and programming a lively night of Schloss-style entertainment.

Other happenings at the Festival Hub will include:

MFDF Street Kitchen Takeovers, 16 –  19 September

MFDF has its own street food kitchen trailer on-site at the Hub which will be taken over by some of the city’s best-loved restaurants and chefs over the four days including Evuna, Jackie Kearney and Tast Catala.

The Just Eat Street Food Chalets, 16 – 19 September and 23 – 26 September

The sponsors of MFDF, Just Eat will be bringing some of their top Manchester restaurant partners to the Just Eat Street Food Chalets.

Plus plenty of great live music across the entire length of the festival, a huge number of street food vendors, a wealth of plant-based food producers, plus some amazing bars including the Manchester Beer Bar, which will be celebrating many of the region’s finest brewers of beer and cider.

There’s also the MFDF Artisan Food Market, which will also be open from 16 – 19 September, and 23 – 26 September. This is open from midday until 7pm and is a free-to-enter fine food and drink shopping experience. This next-level market will feature some of the region’s best independent food and drink producers, makers and businesses.

But there’s much much more going on this year at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival, see the app for the full details and prepare to celebrate the return of Manchester’s food and drink scene. Mine’s a pina colada.