Society — Restaurant in Manchester

On previous visits to Manchester I had seen Society before, I had even gone in there to see what it was like, but I had never actually eaten there. So, on this walk around the centre, and having looked around a few places, I ended up at Society.

A fresh addition to the city’s vibrant cultural space, Society is a hub of street food, craft beer, wine and cocktails and boasts an impressive line-up of talented independent traders. Society features four independently-owned kitchens, from the towering burgers of Slap & Pickle, pan-Asian specialists Manzoku Street Food, flavoursome Indian street food from Chaat Cart and experts in Korean street food, Yoki Social Table. Society also houses a cocktail bar and specialist taproom by craft brewery Vocation.

The process is quite simple, take a seat, note your table number, scan in the QR code, place your order on your phone and wait for your food. With some of the traders you can order at the counter if you want to.

I did first peruse the different (phyiscal) menus and noted that Manzoku had a January special of bao buns. Now I quite like a good bao bun, so this was quite tempting.

I sat down at a table with a glass of water from the bar and looked over the menu. I decided to have the crispy chicken bao buns with a portion of crispy squid.

The January Special Bao Chicken was two fluffy bao buns filled with ginger and garlic chicken thigh in a crispy coating, with Japanese pickled slaw.

They looked great. The chicken was a little dry and overcooked for me, but did have a nice flavour. The rest of the dish was great, fresh and flavoursome.

Alongside I had the Spicy Salt & Pepper Squid. This was deep fried marinated crispy salt & pepper squid with a kick, chilli mayo, and togarashi spice.

When eating this I was reminded of the chilli squid I have eaten at Wagamama. It was crispy on the outside, tender squid on the inside. Nice spicing and I enjoyed the chilli mayo.

Overall I did like both dishes and really enjoyed them. It was a little more than I would normally pay for lunch, but I do think it was value for money. I would certainly have a night out at Society, having a beer and a few dishes from the different street...

I liked the vibe of the place and at the time we went it was very quiet so the service wasn't bad, but the food was only average to me. Between me and a friend we ordered a Korean Fried Chicken (Sweet and Spicy) meal deal which came with two sides (I chose Jasmine sticky rice and some kimchi mandu), from Yoki Social Table. He ordered a double cheeseburger from Slap and Pickle Burgers and we decided to share a Tiffin from Chaat Cart - this consisted of a lamb curry, a portion of South Indian Fried Chicken, portion of rainbow slaw and a flatbread.

I think the portion sizes overall from the vendors weren't bad - the Korean meal was generous with the chicken, although the sesame oil and vinegar dip with the mandu was barely worth providing. The sauce or glaze covering the chicken tasted average, akin to a shop bought low heat sweet chilli sauce, and I thought the batter covering the chicken pieces were a bit on the thick side, but nevertheless it was all decent. The manchu were nice, although the app stated that only the kimchi version was available, I honestly thought it was pork or chicken!

My friend liked his cheeseburger - it looked ok and considering the price (think it was £8.50) the quality of the meat meant it was a better option than going to some of the other major burger chains.

We both enjoyed the tiffin from Chaat Cart although the flavour in the lamb curry seemed a bit "generic" and needed a bit more seasoning. Probably the best part of it was the South Indian Fried Chicken - the crunch of the coating with the juicy soft meat was delicious and left us wanting more. The flatbread was quite a large size and the only negative was the dry 'slaw which was provided, almost as an afterthought we felt.

With Brexit, pandemic, inflation etc, I don't think I can comment on value for money anymore - the places charge what they want to and we have to decide whether it's worth it for ourselves. I thought the prices were good, I'd come here again and try other meals (we didn't order from Dokes Pizzeria or Manzoku).

Pics below, I nearly forgot...

The concept of this multi-food and drink behemoth in South Manchester is brilliant.... on paper... In reality, it's chaotic, noisy and shamelessly brash and after a somewhat disappointing visit, we were both glad to hit the chilly Manchester air and find a quiet pub. Bear in mind this was a Thursday evening at 6pm, the place was heaving with folk of all ages, some drinking, some eating, some both but ALL trying to shout above the ridiculously loud DJ set being piped out across the venue. Maybe it was all linked to having the 6 Music Festival on just down the road? We were sat on the mezzanine above the main floor where the speakers were right in our firing line. I'd suggest turning them off to create a chill-out zone and a place to enjoy the food. The food options looked great - we chose Cart Chaat who managed to mishear the order taken, overcharged and then refunded the difference after a bit of a faff. The food was just OK - bhajis greasy, salad lacking imagination. Huge portions though. I'd give them another try, maybe. The beers covered all bases (mostly Vocation Brewery) and were decent enough but we agreed that we would have tried more if only we could hear each other. I couldn't hear the guys behind the bar either. One chap seemed to be on a cocktail production line all evening so I wonder if beers are the main pull (sorry) here. Loos were clean enough. Location's good, near the old GMex...