Lifestyle
With that in mind we thought you might like to get to know a few of them a little better and so in this issue we had a chat with a few friendly locals you may have spotted around town…
Shaun Moffat
From Edinburgh Castle
Manchester may be home to several of the finest cocktail bars in the UK (and the world, for that matter) and a whole new crop of the craft brewery taprooms, but among the mixture and the IPAs, the humble pub has seen a resurgence, in the form of Edinburgh Castle.
Sat on the corner of Blossom Street, the red bricks of Edinburgh Castle stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of the original Rudy’s Pizza, beloved neighbourhood cocktail and small plates spot Jane Eyre and Michelin starred Mana in Ancoats’ Cutting Room Square. But with a history that dates back to 1811, EC is far from being left in the past by its more contemporary neighbours. In fact one of Manchester’s most historic establishments is thriving under a new lease of life since reopening in 2019.
And this recent revival is in no small part down to the locally sourced mastery in the kitchen of head chef Shaun Moffat.
Shaun made the journey North from Manteca in Shoreditch, in 2022, and, having been immersed in nose-to-tail-open-flamed Italian cooking during his time I the East End, quickly set about further elevating the offerings at EC, with staunch focus on the best British produce.
But with the Victorian boozer already winning Pub of The Year at the 2021 Manchester Food and Drink Awards, and boasting previous kitchen line ups including the likes of Another Hand’s Julian Pizer and The Pearl’s Iain Thomas, did the former Berber & Q boy feel any added pressure stepping up to the stove in Ancoats?
“Not particularly, I knew there would be a challenge to get another offering going, but it’s seemingly paying off” Shaun says, although ‘paying off’ may be understating things ever so slightly. In roughly 18 months, there has been the rave review from Jay Rayner, a top 25 ranking in the Top 50 Gastropub Awards and the Chef of The Year gong at this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Awards.
The aforementioned focus on British produce has seen Shaun’s offerings in both the upstairs and bar area of EC’s cosy, candlelit corner spot rapidly become the talk of the town since he took over the kitchen in October 2022. Ham hock terrines, wild garlic porridge, bone marrow on sourdough toast, veal loin chops and crab doughnuts have astounded upstairs diners, while downstairs, drinkers have wildly enthused over THAT chip butty, beef tartare, seaweed mayo, runny egg yolk and all.
Yet, even with British produce being among some of the finest in the world, and Shaun having a host of incredible local suppliers on-hand (we see you, Littlewoods Butchers and Pollen Bakery), there are times when his menu philosophy can prove a little restrictive.
“In the depths of winter, where the preserves have run out and there’s no fruit or greens in sight,” Shaun laments when asked when is the most stifling time, produce-wise. But if he absolutely had to break his own rule, the South African born chef knows exactly what he would add to his pantry.
“Fortunately there’s a lot of options to replace or supplement things but personally it would be lemons, chocolate and olive oil. Mainly because they’re just great.”
In the years before it shuttered its doors, Edinburgh Castle was not said to be the most inviting of establishments, but following its 2019 rebirth, thanks to the team behind the former Cottonopolis (now Shaun’s other Mancunian outpost, the Lamb of Tartary on Newton Street in the Northern Quarter), it has seen nicotine stained walls and downtrodden, grotty carpets replaced with a lowkey grandeur - tan leather and parquet floors upstairs, almost Parisian candlelight downstairs. The award winning boozer has proven to be arguably the biggest beneficiary of Ancoats’ revival over the last decade.
But what is it that makes EC so special for Shaun? Especially in a city where historic boltholes are in very decent supply (here’s looking at you Tom and Sam’s Chophouses, Crown and Kettle and The Castle Hotel).
“There’s a familiarity with all of it. We all grew up seeing and going to pubs like it. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel with it. There’s a certain amount of preserving what’s good about pubs in our offering I feel.”
And what of Manchester as a whole? With his years in the capital and the south west, what does Shaun make of life in the 0161 and the city’s burgeoning hospitality scene?
“I thoroughly enjoy the Manchester scene, there’s a great pool of talent, produce and output. There’s a warmth and a great support surrounding the hospitality scene here that really makes it. London is far more saturated than Manchester so the ability to make an impact without encroaching onto what others are establishing is a lot easier. There’s more room to breathe in a lot of ways.”
Sam Pullan
Chef Patron at Empire Café
Nip down an unassuming alleyway near Kirkgate Market in Leeds, and within twenty minutes you could be tucking into a plate of skate wing caught on the Yorkshire coastline, swimming in Café de Paris butter, cooked over coals. Outside, black and white chequered tablecloths give a nod to the bistro style offering, now reignited on a pavement corner which has been feeding the city for over one-hundred years.
When Chef Patron Sam Pullan, and his partner Nicole Deighton, signed a 15 year lease on a new venture, little did they know of the heritage they’d uncover. On the corner of this narrow ginnel, which once formed the sluice yard for Leeds Shambles, then a passageway to The Empire Palace Theatre, Fish Street Dining Rooms fed everyone; from butchers and traders, to famous faces from the world of entertainment.
Today the venue is once again open eight till late, serving up candlelit dinners and cups of Yorkshire Tea. Where whole rotisserie chickens spin on chains in the window. Where chefs sip Negronis at the end of a long shift. Where a unique blend of old school hospitality and new-wave gastronomy has taken the neighbourhood by storm. Now, a year on from reviving this historic institution, Sam shares what it means to belong to the fabric of the city.
“We’ve been really lucky. We were relatively unknown as a team, and we just did exactly what we wanted to do. People loved it from the off."
We knew we had to keep the essence of a being a Café at the heart. So that transcends, not just with it being breakfast through to evening, but the service style as well. It has to be a very Leeds welcome.”
Whether it’s tradesmen from a nearby building site, a pack of LUFC fans enjoying a fry up before a match, or a group of friends popping in for a glass of Txakoli after a trip to Harvey Nicks, that ‘Leeds welcome’ is palpable, and extended with open arms.
“Everybody says thank you to the bus driver. It doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world,” Sam remarks.
“I think if you’re from here, you’re built like that. It’s p’s and q’s. We’ve hired on personality rather than skillset, and it’s worked for us."
That service is consistent, it doesn’t matter who you are, or what you use this place for. You don’t feel anonymous when you here, but it’s hidden enough for you to feel like you’re away from it.”
A relaxed charm that goes hand in hand with homecooked classics.
A recipe for international attention. It’s no wonder Alan Richman recently chose The Empire Café to discover the ‘secrets of famous local fayre’ for his new Food Network series. Having sprayed the Man V Food star with a spuma gun full of Yorkshire Tea foam whilst making their iconic waffle dessert, Sam ponders on the resurgence of more nostalgic flavours on restaurant menus.
“It’s got everything to do with lockdown. People were making pies who had never made a pie before… adding butter to their mash when they’d previously bought it in a packet.” Fittingly, it was a retro buffet of pork pie, scotch eggs, and stew that weighed down tables for the Empire’s first birthday party, where the staff celebrated in style with loyal customers, friends, and family.
As a child growing up in Leeds, the culinary landscape looked very different to how it does today. Sam remembers Nash’s fish and chips, Whitakers Eggs, and Anthony’s Restaurant.
We are culturally diverse as a city, with very strong Northern roots… you can have eight pints of bitter in some really old traditional pubs, and then go for something straight out of Bangkok for your tea.
Blessed to be able to call the markets his larder, it’s the availability of hyper local produce that have shaped him as a chef.
“It forces you to be creative, you can see your ingredients laid out on a stall, it’s like Ready Steady, Cook… all there for the picking.”
Whilst the weekly changing menu of seasonal small plates keeps the kitchen on its toes, the demographic of Leeds is demonstrated in dishes of desi chana chickpeas with a tamarind rich sauce, piled on top of flaky paratha bread, black and blistered from the fire.
Does he feel a unique weight of responsibility, for the Empire Café to act to as an advert for the neighbourhood? To please a habitual population? “Not really because no one really knew about it. What we’ve done is discovered it, and because Leeds have taken it to the bosom, I don’t think they’ll ever let it change…If people don’t visit independents, they go out of business. We just have to produce great hospitality and good food, which we enjoy doing.”
Danielle Close
Founder of My Skin Feels
Nothing clears your head quite like a dip in the sea. It’s got a magical power of being able to completely turn your day around. You go in feeling one way and come out feeling totally different.
It’s this idea of washing off the day, or kickstarting a new one, that was the starting point for Brighton-based skincare brand, My Skin Feels, which uses rescued food ingredients such as tomatoes, olive oil, oats and oranges to create luxury, sustainable and effective products.
This mission of helping people to feel good is what inspired founder, Danielle Clementina Close to create her own feelings-based and planet-friendly skincare line. Inspired by her own experience with anxiety and the importance of a skin care routine as a tool for improving mental health, she says:
“It’s about mindfulness, washing off the day and using water as a ritual. We’ve forgotten how to do that.” My Skin Feels works with Italian organic food manufacturers to harness the natural goodness and power of ingredients like sunshine-filled tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, oranges and oats that would otherwise have gone to waste.
“To create the products, we decided on the formulas and tracked back from there. So, we said, this is the efficacy that we want on the skin … The antioxidants, the vitamin C, the prebiotic factors, the things that actually make the benefits on the skin, we swapped them out for food waste, so we could become more sustainable.
“All the water in the products is from the orange juice industry. So we don’t use any new water, the water was one of the easiest swaps.
By using these quality ingredients, Danielle is hoping to change consumer mindsets, creating truly effective products that work wonders, are kind to the planet, and make you feel great. She pushes against the idea that you need hundreds of different products for your skin. Her own range is restrained, currently featuring only two products - a fruity foaming face wash and a glowy moisturiser.
“We’re marketed with so many products and it’s very confusing. It’s oversaturated. All the other products in the market are trying to change how you look and my whole thing is about changing how you feel. The more you feel better in the skin, the better you’re gonna look anyway, because you’re going to be happier. So we’ve got two products: a face wash ‘My Skin Feels Clean’ and a moisturiser ‘My Skin Feels Moisturised’, which literally does what it says on the tin. I also really love that we get mums buying it, and then her teenage daughter or son is using it. And the dad’s using it. It’s becoming a household product. So there’s one wash per household and it’s very universal.”
The products are suitable for people of all skin types including oily, sensitive and skin affected by pollution. There’s even been some great feedback from people with eczema. “There’s a real difference between natural products and chemical products,” says Danielle. “Your skin knows how to work with natural products and it knows how to work with food. So it works.”
There are plans to expand the range over the coming months, but in an intentional and meaningful way. For Danielle, this is all about connecting with customers and understanding what they want. “People have asked for a hand cream and a body cream, a face mask and a lip balm, so those will be next on the list,” says Danielle.
A make-up artist by trade with more than 15 years working in the beauty and wellness industries, including being one of the founding members of Charlotte Tilbury, Danielle was fed up with the confusing and negative messaging around skincare. She gets frustrated by larger brands that could be doing more.
“Sustainability is utter chaos. It’s like what you think it is but worse and I really um’d and ah’d about launching the brand for 3 years. I always wanted to launch my own product, but do we need another skincare brand in the world? No. But the industry is not doing anything and something has to change. So, I’m going to do something that makes it purposeful. And if I can do it better myself as a one woman team, then what is the industry doing? I’m doing it to prove a point.”
Danielle is constantly searching for ways she can make the brand more sustainable.
From her search for a UK food manufacturer who can provide the same high quality ingredients, and the aluminium packaging sourced in Germany. Much as she tried, as a small start up, she was unable to get away from using a plastic lid, but has managed to find one that can be easily recycled, and hopes one day to find a plastic-free alternative.
As well as rescuing ingredients, a share of profits goes back into the local community, supporting Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, a local non-profit helping people to learn to cook, eat a healthy diet, grow their own food and waste less. Contributions from every sale of My Skin Feels goes towards supporting a community compost scheme, with 55 sites across the city serving around 1500 people.
My Skin Feels products can be shipped across the UK and internationally, and they can also be found in various locations around Brighton and Hove, including Tidy Street General Store, Dowse, and Sutherland and Sadler, as well as Whole Foods stores in London. Plus, the products can be found in the showers at Saundelic, the wood-fired saunas at Hove Lagoon.
Having recently celebrated My Skin Feels’ 1st birthday, Danielle has now been able to dedicate herself to the brand full time. This summer, you can catch her at various events including at markets in London and Brighton, as well as the Happy Place Festival, where you can chat to Danielle, try the products and see how they make you feel.
Next month we’ll be heading out to meet some local faces in Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Know someone we simply must chat to? Drop us a DM on @livethemodalife
The NBHD V3 has landed.
Hear from some of the people that make Moda and get the latest on making the most out of (y)our cities.
Check it out here.
