As the 2009 Manchester Food and Drink festival comes to a close it occurs to me that Manchester truly is a great choice for Stags and Hens when it comes to getting some top notch food and drink at whatever prices you can afford. No longer is Manchester a place for just meat pies and gravy!

This twelve day festival has been graced by the cream (no pun intended) of the region's top chefs including, as featured on BBC 2's Great British Menu, Michael Caines - head chef at the Michael Caines Restaurant and Champagne Bar and Paul Heathcote - head chef at the hugely popular Grado near to Spinningfields. Other celebrity chefs included Clarissa Dickson Wright, one half of Two Fat Ladies and the youngest chef ever to get a Michellin star - Aiden Byrne.

There were numerous other Manchester City Centre restaurants represented with chefs providing cookery demonstrations from The River Restaurant, Shilma Pinks, Room, Tampopo, Wings, Sapporo Teppanyaki, Opus Bar and the Soup kitchen to name but a few. All are very much within a Stag and Hen Party's budget and conveniently located - for example Opus Bar is situated in the Printworks a prime Stag and Hen Nightlife hotspot.

St Ann's Square in front of Manchester Town hall and close to Deansgate has for the last twelve days been the beating heart of the festival with a host of local producers and culinary traders descending on the food village. It is well worth taking your time to go along and talk to the traders and sample what they have to offer.

Then there has been of course this past weekend the Stag favourite of Oktoberfest and many have enjoyed the sights, sounds and tastes of Bavaria brought to St Ann's Square. Not forgetting as well the other Stag favourite the 2nd Greater Manchester Ale Festival in Albert Square where the Greater Manchester People's Pint and best beer brewed in Manchester are chosen.

Stag and Hen Manchester will be the first to let you know when the 2010 event dates are finalised and in the meantime should you have any queries about the best places to eat and for what budget do let us know and we will tell you what we think are the best stag and hen friendly Manchester restaurants to visit. Always remember to book in advance for large parties to avoid disappointment.

A couple of additional helpful websites to be aware of:-
http://www.tasteofmanchester.com
http://www.foodloversbritain.com/

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