Neil Sowerby

3 weeks ago | confidentials.com | Neil Sowerby

Neil Sowerby rediscovers the delights of Denmark’s capital of cool DEEP in the bowels of Kronborg Castle Holger Danske fixes me with his warrior glare. Legend has it the great hero, asleep for a thousand years, will awake to brandish his broadsword if his native Denmark is in peril.

1 month ago | confidentials.com | Neil Sowerby

Neil Sowerby explores the cultural riches of Brits' favourite island THE ‘Silent City’ is not living up to its sobriquet. As Mdina’s limestone palaces glow in the noon sun we battle our way through the tourist hubbub, lamenting we couldn’t have arrived at dawn or dusk.

Nov 5, 2024 | neilsowerby.co.uk | Neil Sowerby

The shortlisted nominees for the 2024 Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards have been announced. The Awards are the most prestigious in the North West and celebrate the region’s outstanding hospitality talent, with winners to be revealed at the MFDF Gala Dinner at New Century Hall on Monday, January 27, 2025. There are 136 exceptional venues, traders, places and people nominated across 17 categories celebrating a resurgent year for Greater Manchester’s hospitality industry.

Mar 19, 2024 | neilsowerby.co.uk | Neil Sowerby

Standing your round goes back to ancient times. Beer was big in Ancient Mesopotamia. Who would have thought it? Witness the clay tablet above, dating back to 3,000 BC. Unearthed in what is now modern Iraq, it is in the custody of the British Museum. The cuneiform script details the allocation of a brew as payment to workers. Almost in the realm of Indiana Jones, this intoxicating breath of ale’s ancestry.

Feb 28, 2024 | neilsowerby.co.uk | Neil Sowerby

Consider the Rag Pudding? I never had until a decade ago when I was doing the words for chef Robert Owen Brown’s Crispy Squirrel and Vimto Trifle (MCR Books £12.99). Among 50 recipes celebrating the traditional food of the north, this speciality of Oldham millworkers was one of Rob’s less glamorous dishes. Just mince and onions in a suet crust steamed inside a ‘rag’. No need even for a pudding bowl, just freely available muslin or cotton cloth. Poor folk’s food, dispensing with even herbs or spices.