INCA Pop Ups presents Robert Owen Brown's 5 course menu at Chapter One Books: Locals Rejoice whilst Animals Quake

If I were forced to pick my two greatest passions in life, I would choose food and books. My house is filled with books (I reckon I have around 3000) and I spend my working day pontificating pompously on another dozen or so - stopping only to come home and investigate one of my two fridges in order to find out what's for tea. It would therefore be something of a dream come true to go to a pop-up supper club hosted by one of my favourite chefs in a bookshop - and yet miraculously, this admittedly rather specific vision of utopia is now within my reach as former Mark Addy chef Robert Owen Brown sets up stall next month at Chapter One in the Northern Quarter to bring us a spectacular five course menu.

Rob is the master of the five or six course menu - I used to eat all sorts of unusual animal parts on a monthly basis at his Gourmet Nights at the Mark Addy, and I've also attended a couple of pop-up events he's done with Bangers and Bacon that have been pretty special (again, as long as you don't think too deeply about what part of Larry, Percy et al you might be eating at any one time). The menu for the Inca Pop Ups events on Saturday November 14th looks amazing, running as follows:

Welcome Drink (not sure what this will be but presume it will be something suitably stiff to brace us for what is to follow)

Wild Rabbit Consommé with thyme dumplings (brilliant - LOVE rabbit)

Tea smoked Wood Pigeon breast with sweet chestnut & crispy parsnip salad (can find no fault with this - nice, seasonal ingredients, perfectly autumnal)

Roast grey leg Partridge with wild mushrooms & caramelised baby orbs of joy (yep, sounds good...oh, wait. Orbs of joy? Remember advice re: not thinking too deeply)

Bitter dark Chocolate tart with ginger nut ice cream (back on safe ground here)

White port soaked Garstang cheese (yep - lots of this one for me please)

Espresso or Loose leaf White Tea (to help prevent accidental napping on the way home).

This looks to me like a proper, classic Rob menu - and excellent value at £40 a head (including a £20 deposit). I've already booked my places and you can do likewise (insert your own sophisticated punnage here about booking/books etc - you're welcome) via eventbrite. Animals, it's time to hold on to your privates again!

PLY Manchester - Bringing Italy to the Northern Quarter

I need to start by holding my hands up and admitting to being several miles behind the curve on this one, because I'm going to tell you how good PLY in the Northern Quarter is. You of course already know this - you've been posting photos of their sourdough pizzas all over social media for months, and like it so much you voted it Bar of the Year in the recent Manchester Food & Drink Awards - and last weekend I finally got round to trying it for myself. Rest assured I have been posting photos of sourdough pizza ever since.

We went last Sunday evening when it was quietish and we could appreciate the impressive nature of the space they've got here - it's an open, capacious affair but has been skillfully carved up into separate sections so that it feels cosy rather than stark. Despite it being a Sunday night, the small raised eating area was pretty full and apparently they'd been rammed all weekend - so much so that they'd run out of a few items. This is always disappointing but fortunately they had everything we wanted (although to be fair, I wanted everything), and we liked the straightforward nature of the menu - they sell satisfyingly Italian-sounding antipasti, and pizzas, and that's about it. I had the Aubergine and Burrata antipasti as a starter, and it was exactly as promised (but better) - marinated and chargrilled slices of aubergine, a whole fat creamy burrata, rocket and chilli flakes. It was a masterclass in understated simplicity, as was the Bresaola and Rocket across the table; thinly sliced bresaola piled high with rocket, radicchio, parmesan and caperberries tossed in a simple lemon dressing. This was some of the nicest food I've eaten outside of Italy - just good ingredients served with respect and integrity by people who know what they're doing.

Next up, PIZZA. These actually came while we were still tackling the giant antipasti, something that tends to annoy me in restaurants, as I'm quite a slow eater and like to linger over each course before the next one shows up. Our waitress explained that this is all part of the bid for authenticity; the antipasti are not designed as starters and thus the pizza will come whenever it is ready - fair enough, perhaps, and the pizzas were excellent. The bases are homemade sourdough and a little on the thick side for me, but then I do like my pizza insanely thin; otherwise, they are perfect, with generous toppings and just the right amount of smoky charring from 90 seconds in the wood-fired oven imported from Napoli (goodness only knows what the Italians would make of its cheery disco-ball facade). I chose the Artichoke and Pig's Cheek and loved it - nicely fatty cubes of smoked pig along with good chunks of artichoke, tomato, mozzarella and a sprinkling of chilli flakes. My date had the Salami of the Week and was impressed by the number of slices of proper, tasty salami along with tomato, mozzarella, basil and parmesan; he ate the lot, and then managed the last slice of mine too. We washed all this down with a couple of pints of Dortmunder (the only draught beer they had left) and had a quick browse of some of the artwork - the current Doodle Wall display is by Myro Doodles and is suitably Mancunian in theme; in fact, we thought it did a great job of summing up what's so good about PLY - this is real Italian food served up in a venue that's undeniably Manchester in mood and style. PLY is a clever fusion and I love it - it'll certainly do me until I can get back to Italy again.

- PLY is at 26 Lever Street, Manchester M1 1DW. We were invited in to review and did not pay for our food or drinks but I will be back as a paying customer; in fact, next time I'm meeting someone in town I'm going to be deliberately early so I can wait here, in Book Corner.

The Spinningfields Rotating Menu: Five Restaurants, Five Courses

When the new Michelin stars were announced last week, it was no great surprise that once again there were none for Manchester. Equally unsurprising was the Mancunian reaction, which was predictably defiant and can largely be summed up by "you can keep your poxy stars - we have an amazing restaurant scene and we're perfectly happy as we are, thanks". It's certainly true that Manchester has a wealth of great restaurants and that some nights it's difficult to decide where to go - hence the genius of last Sunday's Rotating Menu event at Spinningfields. Part of Manchester Food & Drink Festival, this promised to be a culinary roadtrip around some of Manchester's best venues, with a different course in each of Manchester House, Ibérica, Australasia, Fazenda and The Alchemist - an ambitious plan, made all the more so by the fact that there were five sittings from 1pm onwards.

We were booked on the final one at 5pm, which began at one of my favourite restaurants - Manchester House, which is normally closed on a Sunday but had opened specially for this event. Here we were plied with sparkling rosé and had our first course of the night - the Squab pigeon with cherries, pistachio and violet mustard. This dish has been on the menu right from the beginning and is probably their signature dish; the foie gras cherry is still a very splendid thing no matter how many times you've had it.

By this point we were all enjoying a game of "guess which restaurant is next", and many of us were correct by anticipating a fish course at Iberica. I reviewed here a few weeks ago and loved it, so was excited to go back; even more excited when this course turned out to be octopus. Served very traditionally with potatoes and a very garlicky pimenton mayonnaise, this dish initially caused some consternation at table - many had never had octopus before, and were a little startled by the suckers (a few even cut them off). I love octopus and would order this dish every time - and even the doubters ate and enjoyed it.

For the main course it was always going to be Fazenda. I am wildly partial to this meat lover's paradise and eat here regularly - the staff are utterly welcoming and charming, the unlimited salad bar is spectacular and the all-you-can-eat meat is of the very highest quality and always perfectly cooked. For this event, they'd selected four of their signature cuts - the rump steak, the chicken hearts (to which I am utterly addicted), the pork belly with honey sauce and the minted leg of lamb - and essentially kept bringing them round until we could eat no more. They let us have unlimited runs at the salad bar, and kept topping our wine glasses up, and chatting with us about Portugal, and bringing us extra chips; we didn't really want to leave. Reckon I'll be back here again within the week.

Dessert had to be at Australasia - the puddings here are exquisite, and the one they'd chosen for us was no exception. The Chocolate Dome with Salted Caramel and Blackberries was a show stopper, brought to the table as a round chocolate ball over which the staff then poured hot caramel sauce, melting away one side to reveal a beautiful nutty ice cream in the middle. Unfortunately our time here was marred by an issue over a nut allergy that could have had the most serious of consequences and which was badly handled by one of the members of staff; luckily all ended well but it did rather take the gloss over what would have been a really lovely course. We also had one of their excellent lychee martinis, which I often have here in lieu of a dessert, thereby giving me a pleasing feeling of having had not one but TWO puddings.

By this point some of us (me) were definitely waddling, not least due to the cute but cumbersone gift of a plant potted up by David Wayman (who has a lovely shop on The Avenue) that had been waiting for each of us on arrival at Australasia. Fortunately we had to walk only as far as The Alchemist, where our final course consisted of our choice of cocktail from their ridiculously extensive menu. My raspberry Mojito was excellent, although the venue was a bit on the busy side for me (on a Sunday night too - clearly the whole of Manchester had last Monday off) and I'd in truth have liked perhaps a sliver or ten of cheese to properly consider this a course; still, they were probably just saving me from myself.

I ended up booking on to this event quite late, as I'd originally been put off by the price tag - at £80 a head this was not a cheap night out. I consider it was worth every penny though - the food was all pretty flawless, and each venue was generous with the booze (particularly Manchester House and Fazenda). I really hope the idea catches on - it's a great idea to be able to visit several different places in one night without committing to a full meal in any one of them, and it was also nice to sit on communal tables and chat with like-minded people. Roll on the next Rotating Menu; in the meantime, you'll find me at the salad bar in Fazenda with my extra large plate.

Beauty Personal Shopping at Selfridges, Manchester - Help for the Hopeless

Whilst food is undoubtedly my biggest passion, I also have a slightly shameful fondness for make-up counters, which I view as the adult equivalent of the pick and mix sweet selections I used to lust after as a child - row after row of seductively packaged goodies calling to me to empty my coffers so I might take some of them home. Unfortunately though, I'm a complete dunce with make up, and thus have a whole house full of incorrect purchases - nasty sticky glosses whose sole purpose in life is to entice all of my hair to stick to my lips within two minutes of leaving the house, and garish lipsticks that make me look like a clown face crayoned by an untalented child.

Thankfully, help is now here for the incompetent shopper in the shape of the new Beauty Personal Shopping service at Selfridges Exchange Square. I was a little nervous about meeting beauty expert Charlotte Ingram when I went to try out the service on Sunday afternoon - after an accidental night out the previous evening the black bags under my eyes were looking at their most spectacular, and my fringe was doing its favourite party trick of pointing in several different directions at once. She is lovely though (even if her fringe is perfect), and has her own little room (pictured below, along with her box of favourite products) where she chats with you about what exactly you're after - whether this be how to get rid of black bags (my query), how to wear an orange lip without looking ridiculous (mine again), or just "oh my god, what can I buy my wife for her birthday PLEASE HELP ME" (not mine, although apparently a common one).

Having discussed the pitfalls involved in sporting a bold lip, Charlotte led me round the beauty hall making a recommendation here, a suggestion there - she works for Selfridges rather than any one beauty counter, and is on a wage rather than on commission. Her choices were spot on - a sexy burnt orange lipstick by MAC and a lovely brick red lip crayon by NARS are two of the items I will be back to purchase after payday (she put absolutely no pressure on me to buy anything at the time). Her focus is on building relationships and on repeat business rather than forcing a quick sale - pretty refreshing when you consider that most make up brands are not cheap and that even a lipstick represents something of an investment. She also made me aware of some products I've not heard of before, and was just as enthusiastic (if not more so) about the less expensive brands.

I tried this service free of charge, but it's free for everyone - anyone can book an appointment and Charlotte will allocate different lengths of time depending on what you want to discuss (I was with her about an hour). The service has been running about six weeks and is apparently just as popular with men as with women - I will definitely be back after payday and for another appointment if - IF - I get any birthday money come November. I think this is a great idea - the Selfridges Beauty Hall houses over 50 brands, and Charlotte knows them ALL. She can also walk at speed in five inch heels as well as having a perfect fringe, but I liked her so much I'm willing not to hold this against her.

- You can book an appointment with Charlotte by calling 0161 8380610, and you can also chat with her via Instagram at Selfridges_Beauty. Even better, Selfridges are also hosting a week-long celebration of the shoe (another of my weaknesses) at the moment - it's called Sole of the Party and includes a visit from author Camilla Morton on Wednesday 23rd Sept as well as other shoe-themed activities - full details can be found on the Selfridges website (selfridges.com).

Manchester Food & Drink Festival 2015: Highlights So Far

So, it's September, and despite the general feeling of back-to-schoolness, the days are still sunny and - joy of joys - it's time for the annual Manchester Food & Drink Festival. I look forward to this celebration of all that is great and good in the world for pretty much the whole year; indeed, when each new brochure is released my natural inclination is to run at it with a giant marker pen and start drawing rings round things in much the same way as I do with the Christmas Radio Times. This year's festival has been on for less than a week, and I have already done the following extremely splendid things:

1. Launch Night. This took place at the newly re-opened Corn Exchange, and whilst, in truth, it's not quite finished yet, it's clear to see what a great space this will be once all the units are fully open. Already in residence are lovely newcomers such as Wahaca, Mowgli and Pho, as well as returning favourites like Salvi's and Tampopo - all of whom had set up inside the dome of the Corn Exchange and were handing out samples. After the opening speeches the party moved up to Albert Square which, as usual, is the home of the Festival Hub and which - less usually - was dry and mild for the start of the festival. Albert Square always has a great atmosphere for the Food & Drink Festival but seems bigger and better than ever this year, with a huge beer tent courtesy of the Wainwright Ale Trail Bar, a Fevertree gin & tonic bar, and plenty of street food traders lining the edges of the square. I had a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich from The Cheese Truck followed by an outstanding crab patty with avocado and samphire from Crabbieshack - both London-based vendors, but both worth overcoming some good old Northern parochialism for. A really great start to this year's festival; indeed, I only went home when it became physically impossible to consume any more gin.

2. Big Indie Wine Fest. I love a wine festival, and I love this one more than most, offering as it does the chance to try lots of interesting wines from small, independent producers and traders whilst nodding earnestly and pontificating pompously about mouthfeel. If you've not been to one of these before, essentially your entry fee earns you a wine glass which you then run excitedly about with, profferring it to anyone standing behind a table which bears wine you would like to try. The Town Hall is a perfect venue for this, being both spacious and gracious, and the exhibitors really had brought along some great wine to try. My favourite white was a lovely Albariño from Chorlton Oddbins, but I also sampled some great reds from West Didsbury's Reserve Wines and from Salut, itself nominated for "Bar of the Year" in this year's awards. We left just before the end and wandered into the Festival Hub for some food to soak up all that wine - this time I had some of Splendid's wondrous fried chicken, with another grilled cheese sandwich for afters.

3. Taste on Two at Harvey Nichols. This is another of my favourite annual events, at one of my favourite food retailers (with surely the best views from its food hall and restaurant). Taste on Two is a lovely evening where some of the producers whose food and drink graces the shelves at Harvey Nics come together throughout the Food Hall to offer samples and talk you through some of their products. It was great to see some old favourites there - Burt's Cheese, Woodall's Charcuterie - as well as some exciting new ones. Gin was particularly well represented - I sat in the Hendrick's gin chair and was sprayed with aromas of rose and cucumber (this earned me a gin and tonic, and was therefore time well spent), and also particularly enjoyed newcomers Forest Gin and Manchester-based Thomas Dakin. I left clutching a goodie bag and a cake from Jelly Tots & Dolly Mixtures Cupcake Company, still wearing my Harvey Nichols apron and altogether over-excited by the chance to talk to so many enthusiastic and totally dedicated producers.

It's all change tomorrow, with a whole new shift of street food traders taking up the mantle in the Festival Hub and events continuing until Monday's Gala Dinner and Awards. Still PLENTY of time for at least another three visits I'd say - for the full programme, have a look at the MFDF website (marker pen optional but recommended).

Tomfoolery at 34, Alderley Edge: Don't be Fooled by the Fun - this is Fantastic Food

I am not, by nature, an adventurous person, despite my wishes to the contrary. I would dearly love to be the type to spontaneously throw a few items into a bag and find myself in Paris two hours later, but I am not - and thus you shouldn't mock when I say that getting on a train and travelling to Alderley Edge last week was really quite an exciting turn of events. I was off to meet a friend (a seasoned Alderley Edger, adept at identifying various footballing WAGs out and about in their enormous cars) for dinner at Tomfoolery at 34, a new bar/restaurant on the main drag in Alderley headed up by chef Brice Moore, previously of Manchester House, Gidleigh Park (two Michelin stars) and Paul Ainsworth at No 6 in Padstow (one star). With such a pedigree, you'd be forgiven for expecting a grown up, sophisticated type of place, particularly considering its location - one imagines whippet-thin waifs idling delicately with a morsel of beautifully manicured lettuce and perhaps a couple of lightly steamed green beans.

This is quite magnificently not the case. Tomfoolery at 34 is an astonishing place, full of mismatched chairs, and clashing wallpaper, and chandeliers, and upside-down lampshades, and old arcade machines, and Muppets serviettes, and menus just begging to be coloured in with the crayons helpfully provided for that very purpose. It sounds a little contrived, and indeed, I was wary as soon as I saw the rather studiously wacky website - I'm not always keen on things that purport to be "fun", and Tomfoolery looked as if it might be trying just a little too hard. In the flesh, however, it works: the effect is interesting and charming rather than off-putting, and I did find myself colouring in my menu before too much of the evening had passed, pausing every so often to admire my efforts.

It would be a shame if the decor overshadowed the food, so I will say no more about the interior and confirm that the food here is excellent. Everything is handmade in house, using locally sourced ingredients as far as possible, and whilst the menu is limited, this attention to detail and quality was apparent throughout our meal. We started with a dish we hadn't ordered - Brice sent us out the Truffled Baby Carrots from the Sides menu, and we were very glad he did as quite frankly, we'd never had such alluring veg. Tiny, dainty carrots roasted with truffle oil and toasted seeds and then topped with creamy, salty goats' cheese, these were so good that we practically scrapped over the last one, and I'm virtually certain I have never fought over a carrot before. Food at Tomfoolery comes out as and when it's ready, and the two sides we'd ordered as starters came out with our mains, creating a pleasing if impractically large smorgasbord of goodies; I'd have preferred them to come out first, but let's not pretend that I'm not perfectly capable of eating several different courses at once.

The starters/sides in question were the Totally Winging It chicken wings and the half rack of BBQ lamb ribs. The first dish was exemplary, a little bowl of meaty wings in a hot, spicy sauce and then drizzled with a piquant buttermilk and blue cheese dressing, whilst the latter was the only bum note of the whole meal. I'd never had lamb ribs before and would be wary of ordering them again - the taste was rich and hearty, but whilst one of lamb's great joys is the fattiness that creates this flavour, these were fatty to the point of flabbiness. We mentioned this to Brice at the end of the meal; he'd already had similar feedback from other diners and is looking at rectifying the situation.

Mains were excellent. The "Gone Fishin'" burger was my idea of a perfect dish - the meaty piece of delicately cooked cod served in a homemade squid ink bun with deep-fried calamari, salad and red pepper mayo was a great combination of flavours and textures, and I would happily eat it all day long. The "Swayze" burger was similarly well-received - a homemade steak patty served with beef bacon, Emmental cheese, dill pickle, onion, lettuce and tomato. The patty was fat and pink, the in-house sourdough-brioche bun as light as a feather, and we felt that Emmental was an unusual but good choice of cheese as it retained its texture rather than melting into a formless mass. Prices are very reasonable - each of these came served with a very generous portion of fries at £11 and £12 respectively; you can upgrade to Parmesan and truffle fries for an extra £2 (no-one will be surprised to see evidence of said fancy fries alongside my "Gone Fishin'").

We were too full for dessert, which on reflection may have been a mistake; I've since heard great things about their cakes and puddings. We did manage a bottle of truly lovely Jackalberry Sauvignon Blanc, and both agreed we haven't had many nicer £20 restaurant whites; we did have to pour it ourselves from time to time depending on which server was around, but on the whole service was very good throughout the night.

I really hope Tomfoolery wins over the good people of Alderley Edge - it was quietish for a Friday night, and based on my very limited first impressions of Alderley, this is something a little different for the area. They're still finding their feet however, tweaking the menu in response to customer feedback, full of enthusiasm for the new venture, and with a chef at the helm who really knows what he's doing and who has completely the right attitude towards food and cooking. I'm already looking forward to going back for tea and cake...and anyway, I've got some very tricky colouring in to finish.

- Tomfoolery at 34 is at 34 London Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire SK9 7DZ. We were invited to review and were not asked to pay for dinner or drinks, but we liked it so much we bought drinks in the downstairs bar after our meal.