Upper Campfield Market Hall — Attraction in Manchester

Competition Review for MCR, sponsored by Google: B.Eat Street's Friday Food Fight held at the Campfield Market Hall venue.

B.Eat Street's Friday Food Fight is a 12-week free event, involving a variety of MCR's enterprising eateries laying on sapid street food for the city's swanky and stylish socialites, accompanied by fashionable beats from some of the MCR's well-known DJs, all washed down with craft(-ily expensive) beers and cocktails...

Of course, as with all of the city's newest food fabrications, there's a slight whiff of affectation - moody red lighting, chipboard signage, rustic picnic tables and chairs, an understated advertising campaign, and a secretive entrance, a la Almost Famous. Set in the elegant 1870s vaulted Victorian Upper Campfield Market Hall, Friday Food Fight is actually accessed on Deansgate, Liverpool Street, in the brick Campfield Arcade that houses Dimitris, and Don Marco's and the Instituto Cervantes. Although an elegant structure in itself, the Arcade hides customers from the magnificent Market Hall's fifty shades of grey, steel and stone, as you are directed by a solitary sign down the dark and dingy internal corridor of the Arcade, past bags of rubbish from the restaurants. It felt like New York, with an added air of manufactured secrecy.

Inside was the imposing stone columned and steel strutted interior, eerily enhanced with the red and white lighting around the food stalls and ceiling.

The clientele were a consequence of the confidentiality - straight fringes, topknots, piercings, big spectacles, Brogues, beanies, and fishermen's bob-hats, interspersed by Spinningfields suits, pencil skirts, and pointy shoes. Rosie the Riveter meets The Apprentice. The atmosphere was pleasant, with the hum of sociable jabbering, and music from Juicy, including O. P. P. by Naughty by Nature, befitting that U.S. feel.

Sticking with the American vibe (now so in vogue in MCR), it was cocktails in customary red cups - I chose a sweet but tangy pomegranate daiquiri with blood orange. My partner had 'Welcome to Jamrock', based on bourbon, and topped with a soggy Jammy Dodger biscuit, a surprisingly neat innovation. The bar was busy but service was quick enough. For food we stayed Stateside with MCR's recent arrival, Reds True BBQ. There was also the choice of British, Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian food, with established restaurants like Ning and Alams, and less well-known street vendors like Hip Hop Chip Shop and Fair Game. Due to the variety, queues were small and service quick.

I took the pulled pork sandwich with slaw, my partner the baby back ribs also with slaw, though other sides were available. The ribs could have had a touch more meat and smokiness, but they were still stickily sumptuous.

The homemade BBQ and ketchup sauces were all exceptional, cut through with a satisfying touch of heat. The accompanying mayo-free slaw was refreshingly healthy, with chunky white and red cabbage, and sweet apple. Not too dry, yet definitively crunchy, it robustly complemented the ribs. It also worked perfectly with the pulled pork sandwich, inducing a bodily sag of satisfaction, eyes drooping as your teeth sunk into the succulent meat, hunky bread and crispy sweet cabbage and apple.

Despite the predictability, B.Eat Street's venture can therefore be seen as a solid success. Being a carnivorous lover of American BBQ, I had wanted a taste of Reds for weeks, but feared disappointment. At £5 for a dish Reds was affordable, and I was given the means to court calamity by B. Eat Street without bashing the bank. And all this in a decent atmosphere, with plenty of choice, in one of historic Manchester's heyday developments - a fusion of a proud past and a present on the pulse of modern culture. Only one issue nearly derailed my delight - those tatty gold chairs at the Briska cider bottle bar. Poor renditions of farmhouse pine, they remind me of everything that isn't on the pulse of modern culture - classless hotels, conference halls, and wedding venues.

Verdict: Food: 9/10 Service:...

This is a great space for events. I attended the Friday Food Fight here a few months ago and absolutely loved the surrounding building, I couldn't stop looking up at the rafters to try and spot some of the small details - a crest in the centre of the ceiling for example. There's plenty of regular events going on each month - be sure to check out their twitter feed...

Attended the Friday Food Fight which is running for 12 weeks. Fantastic pop-up concept which combines local favourite eateries with themed music evenings. The venue feels rustic with elements of an old farmer market therefore ideal for quirky large scale events. Only downside was that there were little places to sit but the food made up for it. Highly...