Disclaimer: As always, this is not a review - it's just a write up of my experience. Even so, It's only fair to say that I ate this food as the guest of Franco
who was feeling in a festive mood. In exchange for the feast, Franco got the
pleasure of my company, feedback on the dishes and new menu ideas but no
promise to say anything nice.
Last year is started my post about
Manchester Christmas Markets by saying that each year there are three things
that tell me Christmas is on its way: the Coca-Cola ‘Holidays are coming!’
advert; hearing Fairytale Of New York on the radio and the opening of
Manchester’s Christmas Markets… one thing that I’m sure is set to be added to
that list is the arrival of SoLiTa’s
“Christmas Burger”.
This year, (mainly on Twitter) I
have seen a shift in negativity towards the Christmas Markets, of which the
Mancs were once proud – although bigger than ever, the general consensus does
not necessarily rate them as ‘better’ – the food and drink offerings
especially have been heavily criticised as being overpriced and poor quality.
Also, restaurants have ‘complained’
of a drop in customers – a sad state of affairs at a time of year when more
people than ever visit the city’s streets. The thought being ‘we’ should be
supporting local businesses as opposed to lining the pockets of visiting
traders.
As if a bright star was shining
overhead, one fashionably ‘Inn’ place that still seems to be attracting the
wise amongst us is SoLiTa where their very own pantomime dame, Franco (and his
elves) continue to roll out an interesting succession of specials to support
the main cast.
Whilst much of SoLiTa’s food may be
bad for your health (See how I resisted the ‘Elf pun?), I’ve never been one to
care about the naughty list – at the top of which is undoubtedly their towering
burgers:
SoLiTa’s, as
yet unnamed, “Christmas Burger” features their signature 6oz chuck steak &
bone marrow patty, topped with buttermilk fried turkey and all the trimmings –
namely: cranberry & port sauce, panko fried stuffing, sprouts tops and
festive mayo topped with, the crowing glory… a candied pig in blanket!
Although I found the sauce a little
too sweet for my taste, this is still one of SoLiTa’s finest creations. Super
Christmassy and has kick started my festive festivities! The candied pig in
blanket was a stroke of genius… they may be making an appearance in the Hoss
household on Christmas day.
As well as the burger I was keen to
try some of the new ‘Wing’ section on the menu. I ‘sampled’ the BMW (Bacon, Maple, Wing), Kiev (Garlic butter Parsley), Bourbon (Woodford Reserve sauce) and Sticky Lime (Louisiana Hot Sauce with
fresh lime dressing) flavours.
I generally preferred the milder end
of the menu with the sweet sticky maple and classic chicken Kiev combinations
but the Sticky Lime ribs were also very pleasant. I felt the Bourbon ones could
have done with a thicker sauce and more of it (this was fed back to the kitchen).
We also ate the Loaded Baked Potato Soup with cheese and crispy bacon pieces, which
was a great winter warmer (once the seasoning had been adjusted at the table).
And the SoLiTa Sampler of Mac n
Cheese Balls, Jalapeño Poppers, Buttermilk Popcorn Shrimp, BBQ Wings, Beer Battered Onion Rings – it may all ‘look a little Iceland’ (aka
beige) but I do love the mac n cheese balls and the jalapeño poppers. The
shrimp were particularly moreish too.
The best thing about this food? You do not have
to wait until 25th December to enjoy it!
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I am very tempted by this burger, however it looks like a knife and fork job!
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