Food & Adventures

Thursday 17 May 2018

Road Trip to Manchester


Last weekend I attended a Bloggers conference, BlogOn, in Manchester. Mrs. Cool has been to it a few times before but this was the first time I've been. We decided to travel down with our friends Catherine and Alan from Here Come The Hoopers and have a road trip.
Alan and Catherine picked us up at around 10.30 and we headed off down the A1. It was a glorious day so we all had our sunnies on and were just chatting shit about any old bollocks on our way to our first stop off at Wetherby. I've only ever been to Wetherby services before and who knew Wetherby was such a nice little town. We went for lunch at Don't Tell the Duke a Bar and Grill that Mrs. Cool had suggested and Catherine and Alan had already tried before and recommended. We found a little outdoor nook and ordered our drinks while we perused the menu.
Well, let me tell you this place is right up my street. The menu all sounded great and I was struggling to choose but in the end I went for the the Runny Scotch Duck Egg on Toast. Duck Eggs are my favourite egg (they're like 90% yolk). I've never had one as a scotch egg before and it was amazing with the yolk still runny inside. It was served with Pancetta and peas shoots on a piece of toasted artisan bread (probably a sourdough), I will make a bold statement here and say this is the best scotch egg I've ever had.  I ordered a side of triple cooked chips and these were incredible, crispy on the outside but fluffy inside, absolute perfection.
Mrs. Cool ordered the BLT with Truffle fries. The bacon was cooked very crispy but not dried out which is what Mrs. Cool likes. There was a good portion of fries and the distinct truffle flavour really made the meal stand out. I did notice that she had removed the lettuce and tomato so really she just wanted a bacon sarnie. Mrs. Cool also shared a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (£18) with Catherine.
Alan was so impressed with the scotch eggs last time he was here he decided to have one as a side along with his Crispy Beef sandwich (I don't know where he puts it). Catherine had the amazingly named Ey Up Lassi which is a chicken burger.
After finishing our meal I swigged off the last of my 2nd pint of Amazing Haze a real ale available here and decided to head to the nearest convenience before we got back in the car. Men's toilets are not renowned for being memorable but this one did leave an impression as on the ceiling you are presented with this dizzying display of faux graffiti/advertising.
Well the 2nd leg of our road trip ended up being a bit rubbish. There was a fire on the M62 (you may have seen it on the news as a tanker was literally ablaze). so we had to take another route and although very picturesque it took soooooo long and what should have been a 1hour and 10 minute journey ended up lasting over 3 hours. Eventually we ended up in Manchester and checked into Hotel Football which is right next door to Old Trafford and we headed to Cafe Football to meet up with our other friends Katie from Katie Jane Online and Chloe from New Girl in Toon.

As good as our Lunch was our Dinner turned out to be very disappointing. I had The Wizard which is a Lamb and Harissa Burger with Pickled Cucumber and Feta and it came with fries. The Burger was tasty but a bit on the small side and the fries were very forgettable and for £13 this was not good value for money.
Mrs. Cool had the Mara-Doner which is a Pizza topped with Shredded Lamb, Red Onion, Tomato, Lettuce and Mint Aioli. Again Mrs. Cool was very disappointed with her meal and at £14.50 it was a bit of a piss take.
After our meal we headed back to the room to freshen up and it was off to the pre-conference party in Heaven (the rooftop function room at Hotel Football). The views up there are great one side is a view of Old Trafford and the other side is a panoramic view of Manchester. We got a free cocktail on arrival either red or blue (obviously, it is Manchester). I went for the red one and it was... different. A few of us had this one and in the end we decided it tasted like bile. Not the best flavour for a cocktail.
Next up was an impromptu pub quiz from quiz master Alan and his Glamorous Assistant Katie. I smashed the world flags round (thank you Mr Laws for my year 6 geography lessons).
After the quiz was over and we had got through a few bottles of beer me and Alan decided to try a few of the games that were set up at the party. There was a pig toss, Jenga, Beer Pong and Unicorn Hoopla. You could win tokens, like at a an arcade to trade in for prizes. Alan just edged our competition as he won 3 games to my 2. But by the time we cashed in our tokens all the best prizes had had gone and we ended up with a few keyrings for all our efforts.
After a few more bottles of beer it was time to head back to our rooms as we had an early morning at the conference the next day. Despite all of us being fairly sozzled none of us had a hangover the next day and could attend the conference sessions we wanted without the aid of a sick bucket.


Well, that's all for now.

S

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2 comments

  1. Talking shit!! I think you find it was all deep and meaningful....ha ha! Great post...happy memories. Glad you enjoyed Don’t tell the duke

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loving the look of your scotch egg! WOW!

    ReplyDelete

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