The Big Sunday Roast at We Invented The Weekend
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor
We Invented the Weekend is an exciting free festival taking place across the weekend of 10 and 11t September in Salford Quays and one of its standout event is a huge communal Sunday Roast.
Serving it all up will be Eat Well MCR, a well-known collective of Manchester-based chefs that provide meals to people living in challenging circumstances, led by Manchester-based chef Mary-Ellen McTague. Eat Well MCR will be celebrating one of the nation’s most famous dishes, the classic Sunday Roast. The Dock 10 Mezzanine will be transformed into the perfect Sunday setting, with fresh coffee, piles of newspapers and a bar offering Bloody Marys, special ‘Free Thyme’ cocktails, beers by Seven Bro7hers, as well as a selection of wines and soft drinks.
Soothingly soundtracked by Manchester vinyl reissue record label Be With Records, the communal feast will take place on long tables, family-style, and the Roast, cooked by Head Chef Mary-Ellen will include a roast rib of beef, Yorkshire puddings, gravy, roast potatoes, buttered carrots, cauliflower cheese for the meat eaters, and a celeriac nut roast version for the veggies, with gluten-free and vegan options available upon request.
Catering for 200 people across two sittings on Sun 11th Sept at 12-2pm and 3-5pm, every ticket bought contributes to the 50 meals being delivered at no cost to the people in the community that Eat Well regularly supports.
Tickets for the WITW x Eat Well MCR Sunday Roast are available at £30 for two courses, and £10 for those under the age of 14.
Wondering about the menu? Here’s what to expect: roast rib of beef, Yorkshire puddings, gravy, roast potatoes, buttered carrots, and cauliflower cheese (gluten-free option available). Or for vegans, the celeriac nut roast, with Yorkshire puddings, gravy, roast potatoes, buttered carrots, and vegan cauliflower cheese (contains nuts). And of course, the classic sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream ice cream (vegan option available).
But there’s more food-based delights on offer than this. We Invented the Weekend, is free and open to all, so visitors are also encouraged to bring their own picnics, which they can enjoy throughout the event. Box on the Docks residents Beigel, famous for their fresh bagels with delicious locally sourced fillings, will be putting together picnic boxes available to order over the course of the weekend.
Street food traders bringing food from across the world
There will be a whole host of other food and drink options on offer, with street food traders bringing food from across the world to the festival, from South American arepas to Afro-Caribbean curries.
Festival drinks partner Seven Bro7hers will be creating a Weekend Beer for the event and providing beers for the bars across the entire weekend, stocking them up with some of their classics including the crisp, aromatic Easy IPA and a Watermelon Wheat Beer.
In addition, Salford spirit specialists Four Sist4rs Distillery will be using their Lime & Thyme gin, a beautiful blend of botanicals, with a delicious infusion of lime and thyme, to create a Free Thyme cocktail exclusively for the Festival of Free Time.
Bringing traditional home-cooked Brazilian food, bursting with colour and flavour will be Carnival, and Desert Island Dumplings will be combining world-class vegan dishes into crispy deep-fried dumplings, while House of Habesha will be cooking tasty and traditional Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes and maybe even some special surprises in celebration of Ethiopian New Year on Sunday 11th.
Joining the line-up will be Mama Sue’s who will be slinging the finest home-spiced frankfurters in the North, as well as the brothers and sisters from Spuds and Bro on a quest to share their love of poutine, while the Paradiso team will be selling restaurant-quality, handmade Italian desserts.
An exciting free festival taking place in Salford Quays
Thief Street will be dishing out lovingly handmade potato waffles fully-loaded with globally inspired toppings, there will be perfect pizzas from Dagi Pizza, as well as the very best in smashed burgers and loaded fries from Salfordian actor Adam Thomas’ Patty and Press.
Also available will be 100% vegan doughnuts from Wild Soul, an assortment of plant-powered food from Panc Foods ranging from burgers, hot dogs, kebabs, wraps and desserts, and regional and international wraps, sandwiches, salads, and flatbreads by Wrap City.
Also, many of MediaCity and Quayside’s existing food operators, including Chapati Café, General Store, The Botanist, The Alchemist and the Quayside Food Court, will be offering festival specials over the weekend.
