Celebrate Manchester Food & Drink Festival with a special dinner at the city’s highest restaurant

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival is now an established and nationally-acclaimed event in the foodie calendar, and 2019 will see its 22nd annual take-over of the city.

And this Autumn, Manchester’s highest restaurant, 20 Stories, will be celebrating the festival with an exceptional menu curated by head chef Brian Hughson.

Brian, who has more than 25 years of culinary experience, took the position of head chef at the 19th floor restaurant at No 1 Spinningfields earlier this year following Aiden Byrne’s departure.

Brian’s first steps in the kitchens of Manchester began shortly after the opening of Mash and Air in 1997, and he quickly worked his way up through some prestigious establishments.

The chef has worked at high-profile London restaurants with the likes of Henri Brosi at The Grill at The Dorchester, Gary Rhodes at Rhodes W1, The Savoy Grill with Gordon Ramsay and The Belvedere with Marco Pierre White. He has even catered for Her Majesty The Queen and The Prince of Wales.

On 3rd October, 20 Stories will be hosting a special three-course set menu with paired wines to showcase the best of Brian’s culinary skills.

Guests will start the evening with an arrival drink on the beautiful terrace overlooking the city centre before sitting down to eat.

The dinner will start with a succulent salmon ballotine with a crème fraiche and sweet lemon dressing, followed by a loin of Dingley Dell pork with smoked pancetta and butternut squash risotto.

For pudding, diners can get stuck into a tasty salted caramel tart and ginger stem ice cream. There will be matched wines for each course picked by the 20 Stories sommeliers.

Conceived and developed by Phil Jones in 1998, the Manchester Food & Drink Festival originated as a means of showing the rest of the nation that there was more to Manchester than meat pies and gravy.

In the 21 festivals that have taken place over that time, Manchester’s dining scene has been completely transformed.

This year, festival events will take place between 26th September and 7th October in venues across the city. Over the years, names as diverse as Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Fergus Henderson, Michel Roux, John Torode and even Bill Wyman have been involved.

This year, in addition to the special dinner, 20 Stories chef Brian will also be taking to the stage for a cooking demonstration at the festival.

“Manchester is rightly regarded as one of the best destinations in the UK for dining in 2019,” said Becky Wilkes from 20 Stories.

“We aim to help that reputation grow by doing everything we can at 20 Stories to raise the culinary bar.”

Tickets for the 20 Stories Festival Dinner on 3rd October cost £60 per person, and further information is available from the 20 Stories events team on 0161 204 3343.

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