It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

Not had much chance to post as had Paul from Bristol staying for the week . . . he’s been up here on work sorting out some council offices Exchange Server installation, so been out most nights enjoying meals and beer all on his expense account

So far we’ve had a nice Chinese meal at the Pond Quay in Urmston, where the staff complimented me on my chop-stick skills, then there was Corn on the Cob drenched in Welsh butter and followed up by a 7oz Home made Burger at the Horse & Jockey in Chorlton and tonight was Banger and Mash courtesy of Electrik Bar also in Chorlton, we didn’t have to pay for the this one as we went there on Tuesday night and came 2nd in the Quiz night and won the food as a prize (getinnnn !).

It’s been quite a gastronomical journey this week and I can recommend all of the above as good places to eat, especially the Pond Quay, very good Chinese indeed, shall most definitely be visiting there again.

We’ll be sad to see Paul go, well my stomach will anyways . . seriously though its been good to see Paul, don’t get to see him enough to be honest, but when mates live far apart that happens I suppose, just gotta try and make a better effort next year to get down to Bristol more . .

Also must try and get to the Quiz night at Electriks more as well, as we had a real good night down there and hey we came 2nd, so definatly got to go back and try and come 1st  . .

Getting late now so best be saying good night to you all and for anyone who reads this from my hometown of Market Weighton, I might see you at the weekend as popping across hopefully for a 40th . .

Just had a feast of a tea from electriks, Bangers & Mustard Mash with a grand helping of gravy, comfort food if ever there was, and its all being slowly washed down with a couple of pints of Vedett, never had Vedett before tonight and I’m certainly liking it, seems they’ve ran out of Hoeggarden, so I’ll be on this for the rest of the night.

Anyway while I’m in here I’ll be uploading some videos to YouTube that I should of uploaded ages ago to be honest, so expect quite a few listed in my next post.

Now what can i tell you about the bar I’m in apart from the fact it sells good beer and good food, well its the brainchild of 2 of Manchesters finest . . .  Luke Cowdry & Justin Crawford, put togeather these 2 gents make up the Unabombers who together run The Electric Chair (Home of The Unabombers / Electric Chair nightclub).

They’ve turned what used to be the Revise bar into there Chorlton adventure “Electrik’s Bar”, its situated on the main road opposite the legendary 24hr off-licence A & S Booze and it’s certainly seems to have been embraced by the locals, as can be seem Friday and Saturday nights when it’s fairly rammed with people enjoying themselves.

They’ve certainy got a good selection of beers and spirits to keep everyone happy and to add to it all they’ve got a free jukebox, so no more looking for pound coins to put in it, though don’t expect to find anything commercial on it, its a bit of an eclectic mix of tunes from all styles and periods of music.

But for me the best thing is its a dog friendly bar and they definatly make Blue welcome, she’s even donated a dogbowl to them so she’s always got something to drink ouut of when she visits.

Well I’ve lived in Manchester for over 10yrs now and in all that time I’d never heard of this before, but it seems theres a Farmers Market held the 2nd and 4th weekend of every month.

Think me and Mel will be checking this out tomorrow to see if we can pick up any nice food without having to pay a supermarkets running costs at the same time, I’m hoping they have lots of cheese’s, mmmmm cheese.

Will attempt to post from twitter while were there tomorrow and twitpic some photo’s of the place.

Its situated near the  fountain and the statue of Queen Victoria at Piccadilly Gardens, in Manchester city centre, so if you see some guy texting on his mobile while trying to control a rather large  dog and at the same time being harrased by a woman, that’ll be me, so come say Hi and maybe buy me some cheese

P.s. must thank the twitter/blogger  Manchesteriace for pointing this out to me as otherwise I’d have never come across it thank you

Just got back from walking Blue, then onto Orlando’s for a all day breakfast, closely followed by a beer at The Nook, what more could a man and his dog wish for on a Saturday afternoon

Discovered at the weekend that theres a place in Chorlton that sells everything PieMinister, so whats PieMinister you ask well click on the word and you’ll be whisked away to a place where PIE rulz, a place of wonder, somewhere that knows what pies are all about.

By now you should have seen the wonders that are PIE! and will no doubt want to visit Chorltons very own PIE! establishment Pi Chorlton , it seems a very friendly place to sit and eat your PIE! and has many beers to wash them down with, but be warned don’t overdo your PIE! unless you wish to be a little bit fatter then me

Well I’ve spent most of this evening uploading new videos to you YouTube, been a while since I’ve put any up, so there’s quite a few for your viewing pleasure, as usual there’s going to be quite a lot of our dog Blue, but hey she’s the best looking Cane Corso in Manchester, hell she’s the only Cane Corso in Manchester

Also stuck one up there for all those you who are curious about what Orlando’s our usual weekend breakfast haunt is like, should give you an idea of the general look of the place, if you haven’t been to Orlando’s, you should really go, its a very friendly relaxed laid back sort of place with good food, good people and probably the nicest bar staff in Chorlton.

I think between me, Mel and Blue we’ve been there every weekend for at least the last 4-5 months having breakfast, that’s how much we like the place, we’re probably heading there over X-mas for one of there Caribbean Christmas Dinners as well (Christmas Dinner Menu  here) .

Anyway these videos are just for starters got alot more stuff still not uploaded yet so hopefully do those tonight.

is the place  . . . we’ll be tomorrow if all goes according to plan, the idea is we’ll take Blue for her usual Saturday morning walk round Ivy Green, have breakfast at Orlando’s and then head into town and see the delights on offer at the German Market, this will be only my 3rd visit to it in the 10yrs I’ve lived in Manchester, don’t know why I never bothered going before, just never seemed to get around to it, think its not living near the city centre I expect.

Anyway this year Mel’s actually going to come into town with me to visit the Market, we’re going to take Blue as well as we think that the crowds might help her with her socialisation skills, though then again she might just be the normal little shy girl she is and just be a little confused by all the 2 legs rushing by her, but once she gets everyone saying what a beautiful girl she is, she’ll be fine.

Thing I’m most looking forward to at the Market is the German Sausages and Mulled wine, top notch both of them, think I managed 3 sausages last year and boy where they big sausages

The Market turns St Ann’s Square into a little piece of wintery German traditional Market with its brightly lit wooden chalets selling everything from Sausages, Mulled Wine, Cheese, unusal presents and just about anything that could be associated with food and Christmas

The Market Runs from:

18th Nov – 21st Dec 2008 at St Ann’s Square and its open dailey from 10am-8pm (9pm in Albert Square)

But don’t just be drawn to St Ann’s Square as there are parts of the Market dotted all around the ajoining streets and roads, so go check them all out and enjoy it, I know we will

No doubt I’ll post a few videos of what we did and ate

turned out well, met Zoe and her partner who are the proud owners of this new live music venue in Stretford and have to say myself and John had a very good time indeed, got to see 2 of the bands who played that night before we headed to Chorlton for a few, though it would seem we obviously enjoyed the Green Windmill a lot more then we thought, because after just 2 drinks in Chorlton we were soon making our way back there.

The Green Windmill is’nt just a place to see live bands it’s also a good place to meet up with friends as it has 2 bars, one situated on the ground floor where the you can arrange to meet your mates and have a chat and a few beer’s and then you can head up to the 1st floor bar where the stage is situated and then just kickback and watch the bands play while enjoying the numerous beers, lagers and spirits the venue has to offer, I’ve also heard they may even be starting to serve food in the not to distant future, but this is just a rumour so don’t hold me to it.

I must say that the joint owners of The Green Windmill and the staff who work there are indeed an enthusiastic group of people who through there love of live music taken on the ghost that was the Moulin Rouge bar and turned it into the place it is now . . . a very good live music venue and a very friendly bar, I can only see things getting better for this place and will definitely be visiting again and be telling my friends and anyone who’ll listen to check this place out.

Below you’ll find the link to some of the photo’s I took of the night, quite a few are blurry so bear with me ( I was a little bit pissed I’m afraid).

The GreenWindmill
Originally uploaded by BagRat

is by far the best meal I’ve had in ages, could have eaten it twice over and probably will one day, but in the mean time I’m going to recommend that if your ever in Chorlton you check this bar out, my first impressions of Orlando’s when it first opened where to say the least a little harsh, but this bars definitely grown one me and Mel, as for Blue she loves it, but that could be down to the bar staff of Martin and Marcus feeding her sausages all the time (Blue say thxs by the way).

The menu at Orlando’s is very extensive at present but it seems to be growing as the weeks progress and if the past few times we’ve eaten there is anything to go by, anything else they put on the menu is bound to be good.

Definitely think this bar’s going to grow on the Chorlton crowd as it has done with us and we live in Urmston so it must be good.

Should also recommend you check out the Curried Goat as well, both this and the Jerk chicken are marinated overnight in the spiciest sauces I’ve ever tasted.

They’ve now got a website up and running and you can check out there menu’s here

Anyway make sure you check the place out and say Blue recommended it

For my birthday I was taken to the new bar in Chorlton Orlando’s where we feasted on Sausages

Mmmmm Wild Boar Sausage ciabatta for your birthday tea, what more could a man want, well I’d suggest 2 Wild Boar Sausage ciabatta for tea, as though they are very filling, you end up wanting more after tasting the first.

So where is Orlando’s ? I hear you scream

Where can one sample the sausage delights that are on offer ?

Well as is usually the case there no where near where we live so its a trek to Chorlton to sample these delights, its just at the junction of Sandy Lane and Barlow Moor Road, in the building that used to be the car stereo shop, though looking at it now you wouldn’t think so, they’ve done a very good job of tidying the place up and making look like a bar worth visiting and there not just serving food, they’ve also branched out into entertainment as well, as on the 27th May they’ve got the legendary Mr Nice aka Howard Marks providing the assembled

crowd with no doubt numerous anecdotes of his life as one of the worlds biggest and most successful dope smuggler’s, though he’s not doing it for free, it’ll cost you about £20 for the evening and is limited to only £70 places, though the £20 does include a meal, though whether this is sausage I can not confirm at this time.

They’ve also got other speakers/comedians lined up for future events including Felix Dexter, who’s going to be on some time in June.

Anyway as for Orlando’s itself, well the inside is painted a brilliant white with a swarf of chairs and table located at one end of the small interior and the layout reminds me a little of some Spanish/Ibiza bar, to make up for the small interior they’ve created a sort of terrace outside with tables, chairs and to be honest a bit of a tacky water feature, which would be best suited in you grandmothers garden, though in general this does not detract from the general feeling of a rather good bar in the making.

I’ve also got to say the the staff in general where very friendly and were more then accommodating when it came to us bringing Blue our dog with us, they were even kind enough to give Blue her very own Wild Boar, which as is usually the case, was devoured with gusto and at a very fast speed.

Anyway check the place out for yourself and let me know what you thought ?