Who Ya Gonna Call? Derphusky!

[lupestripe]

Yesterday, Wolfie and I had an enjoyable day cruising around Manchester, checking out the many bars and restaurants which are not on Canal Street. We met up with Patter, Enteirah, Wolfybaby, Baloki and Enteirah's partner for this wonderful endeavour.

There are a great many fantastic places to drink in Manchester that the meets don't cover, places which are far better than the generally poor efforts in 'The Village'. These days I prefer a good pint above anything else so yesterday we sampled a range of different ales and beers in the bohemian Northern Quarter, before going to the Black Dog Bar for a wonderful burger.

We tried to play pool here but sadly all the tables were booked, while the karaoke bar later on was too expensive to consider. It was also full of tanned trendy people - my favourite. In the interim, we enjoyed more drinks at Apothecary and The Bank, and visited Mr Ho's Chinese bakery which did a wonderful range of sweet and savoury produce. The snausage in sweet bun and the marshmallow polar bear were particular favourites of mine although I do wish I had bought the mallow bunny wearing a carrot dress. The mallow was a little tougher than the fluffy kind to which I am accustomed.

We ended the day in one of our favourite bars which serves flavoursome real ales and eclectic cheese and meat boards. We tried nine different English and continental cheeses and four meats from Poland and Spain. A wide variety of bread and crackers was also on the table, along with chutney and olives. The staff were very attentive and knowledgeable about what they were selling - a level of service you rarely get in a mainstream establishment.

It was a nice way to end the day as we chatted some more and watched Wolfie beat Baloki at chess. We even got a 750ml bottle of beer to drink on the train, which was delayed due to a jumper at Rochdale. We went home via a freezing cold Huddersfield in the end, waiting in nithering conditions while our train was parked at the platform simply to increase the length of time it was delayed. Suffice to say I was not happy but sharing the beer with Patter and Wolfie on the train to Huddersfield had calmed me somewhat. It was a rather wonderful day and very relaxing. Hopefully we can repeat it again soon.

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Comments

[shep-shepherd.livejournal.com]

It's a real shame that most furs don't like go beyond Canal Street (which I consider to be nothing special at all), as there are indeed some fab places to eat and drink in the city, especially the curry places near the Science Museum.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

It is a real shame but what can you do? I just choose not to go and go somewhere else instead. I prefer small meetings with good friends these days anyway.

[shep-shepherd.livejournal.com]

The way you do things is the best way nowadays - I'm happy to leave furmeets to the kids, drama queens, 'tards with tails and popusheep :)

[sil-wolfdragon.livejournal.com]

Oh thanks a bunch :P I still go... when I can be bothered >.>

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I'll still go to Leeds and Sheffield as I enjoy both meets - not sure about Manchester really. And of course we could always arrange a smaller gathering one weekend :)

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I agree - I rarely feel relaxed at furmeets as they are frequented by people with whom I have little in common. Some meets like Leeds and Sheffield are great but I have little desire to go elsewhere.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I do like the sound of meat & cheese boards - seems like ideal fare to share, in an unhurried manner, over a few good pints. It's encouraging that there's been something of a renaissance of British cooking too, alongside the rise of real ales becoming readily available, with even some chains offering decent fare, such as Greene King - their local seems to operate effectively as a free house, with a good selection of beers and ciders, and quite decent food, even if not up to their Bath Ales competitors.

A mallow bunny? I'm not sure I could've brought myself to eat her. ^_^;

Meets often do seem to be rather dull in their venues - in the South Bay, the ones I was nearby we always at places like coffeehouses, with food pretty much always being the chains, like Spoons or The Outback. *sigh* Always seemed odd to me, when there was such a fantastic variety to be found. On the other paw, at least what was Cluck U seemed to offer pretty decent stuff, and there's also Revenge of Pizza Naughm, at a reasonable pizza joint. (Not that I'd be likely to persuade myself to make it along anyway, but now, I find myself without any local meet at all. Oddly, the ones in Brighton seemed to die off just before I moved into the area, too. eep!)

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Are there no meets in Brighton at all now? I have only been to the city once so don't know it that well.

Yep I like the revival of British cuisine too - there is some excellent bar food these days along with real ales. Must try the Greene King bars sometime but we are too far north for such exclusivity.

The mallow bunny was cute but it made me drool. Eating was the only option :P

[startide.livejournal.com]

You sure do find the neatest places. All the bars in my town only play country music and gangsta rap, it seems, and attracts a rough clientele. There is a place nearby that calls itself an English-style Pub, but it's just a chain restaurant with a generic overpriced bar serving the same crap every chain restaurant bar serves.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Where is your home town? And aren't there nice places nearby? I am sure one bar would be okay.

[startide.livejournal.com]

I'm in Denison, TX. Kind of a redneck area. I did discover a gay club the other night in a google map search though, but you have to purchase an annual membership to even get in?

[startide.livejournal.com]

Ignore that odd question mark. Overzealous autocomplete. XD

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

No worries lols. Why don't you purchase a membership?

I know a fair bit about Deep South tendencies, it must be quite difficult being gay there.

[startide.livejournal.com]

I might be willing to buy a membership if I had someone to go with. I have. A huge fear of going into any strange, unfamiliar place without a friend.

[skawinski.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you had fun over there! As a diverse bunch I would expect furs to fancy trying out new places, which is why I wonder what is it with sticking to said Canal Street all the time?

My Manchester cherry still has to be popped. I haven't been there besides the airport :P

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Sadly furs aren't that diverse. You would think they were but this is not the case. Canal Street is popular for the gay culture and the fact it's reasonably easy to book a room for a large number of people there. Sadly there are far better places in Manchester and this is where I'd rather be.

[enteirah]

Those who know about the good places in the city don't want to take the largely immature groups of furs there for an obvious reason - You don't want to get yourself banned from good places due to the behaviour of others!

Anyone with sense in Manchester really doesn't care less about the places on Canal Street, so we're quite happy to keep the masses there! =:P

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

This is a very good point :)

[enteirah]

I had a really good time out at the weekend. I wish I could have stopped out a bit longer really!

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I wish I could have stopped longer too - perhaps we should make a weekend of it sometime and do a variety of different things :)