Thursday 12 November 2015

North East England embraces spice, and will love Mannys Sauces

North East England has its ups and downs in terms of food. We go from the High Street masses of Greggs to several Michelin-starred restaurants. But one thing that I have experienced in the North East that I perhaps didn't expect was an addiction to spice. For a part of the country that hasn't experienced the same amount of immigration as London or The Midlands but the people here have embraced food from all over the world.

The people of the North East and its surrounds have taken spicy food to their heart, from Chinatown in Newcastle to Bradford winning curry capital 5 years in a row-


And if spicy food is something that you are interested in then you need look no further than Mannys Sauces. They have a variety of options for the discerning customer and were set up by Manny. Here is his story-



“As any other person in the world, I had a huge dream - to open the first Piri-Piri Chicken Restaurant in the world, and then spread this dream to every corner of the planet. It wouldn’t be easy to achieve, but neither was it impossible. I had the will, the courage, the faith and family support to make it come true. Early in 1985, I sold my home to open the first piri-piri chicken restaurant outside of Mozambique. CHICKENLAND was the chosen name and Johannesburg, South Africa was the birth place of my dream! After a short while, I was making, bottling and selling a range of 5 different Piri-Piri Sauces and Marinades. After a slow start, the business was a stunning success! The name quickly spread across the city and everyone was talking about this new food place that was taking the food industry by storm.

The business success was proven! The next step was expansion to other parts of the city, country and abroad, and many people tried to get financially involved. Expansion included a need for capital and people, and so in 1987, I sold some of my business shares to two young men: one of Portuguese origin and the other, a South African of Jewish origin. Shortly after they joined, the business name was changed to NANDOS. Chickenland was a nice name, but according to marketing experts at the time, it was felt that the business should be backed by a personal name before the expansion took place. Between MANNYS and NANDOS, I was out-voted two to one, and the latter name was chosen. Despite a few initial problems, the expansion started taking off and now more than ever, the success was tremendous!

A few years later, the rug was pulled out from under my feet and I was forced to leave my business. I lost my dream; one of the best things in my life after my family. After this happened, I opened a few other restaurants including Chickenland in Portugal, but these weren’t my dream. It was a way to make a living, but it wasn’t my passion. It took me a long time to recover from what happened, but I was determined and pushed through until another dream emerged; to make the best sauces and speciality food products in the world! MANNYS SAUCES is now my new dream! Once again I can see this new dream taking shape and growing strong all the way to the TOP! The passion is back and I again have the will, the faith, the support of my family, and the support of so many loyal customers that know and appreciate the high quality products that we make. I am forever grateful to my family and my customers for their support and the divine forces for showing me the way.
Manny x”

There are three of Mannys Sauces that I’d recommend for those with more discerning tastebuds-

The Original Piri-Piri Sauce
This is the classic - and you don't mess with a classic! It's a taste that has to be tried to be believed. It mixes the heat of the chilli with the depth of flavour that you require from a sauce or marinade. In fact, Manny guarantees that it is the tastiest Piri-Piri in the land. Try it and you won’t be disappointed.



Curry Sauce
Make the most delicious and healthy curry in your own home, without any hard work or effort! Whether you use beef, lamb, chicken, fish or seafood, add this sauce to create the most delicious and flavoursome curry.

Meat Marinade
Excellent marinade created to marinate any meat, but can also be used with fish or seafood. Make the best BBQs, roasts, or stews. The contents of a 250ml bottle will marinate 3kg of meat.

And don't forget the selection of cured meats. One of these is presunt, a very tasy and popular Portuguese-style parma ham and is great for any occasion.



The North East hasn’t seen anything quite like it before. Try the whole collection, they are delicious. Mannys Sauces can be contacted in various ways, which is befitting modern business. If you want to contact them, follow them or just find out more then you can try-






Wednesday 14 October 2015

See why wearing a coat will probably mark you out as an outsider

No blog on the North East of England would be complete without a mention of the weather. Yes, it's colder, wetter and windier than most of the rest of the United Kingdom and definitely more so than the rest of England, although the North West may challenge it on the rain front.

The arctic wind off the North Sea is what changes everything for me. It literally transforms whatever other weather conditions already present. For example, a cold winters day of around 5 or 6 degrees centigrade feels like minus 5 or 6 when the wind factor is added. On a cold wintry day the wind does feel as though it is blowing straight through you. Even in the Summer, when the wind off the North Sea is present it can quickly become coat weather.

But this is where the people of the North East differ from everywhere else I've been  in this country, indeed everywhere else I've been in the world. What you or I would consider cost weather barely raises a jacket in North East England. Walk through the local town centre on one of these minus-5-or-6-feeling days and many of the men will be wearing just a t-shirt and maybe a pair of shorts; the women often in a short-sleeved top. You definitely feel and look like the visitor from Outer Space as you walk around in a coat.



The next level is a trip to a football match for one of the local teams - Sunderland, Middlesbrough or Newcastle United. There will be thousands upon thousands of fans at the stadiums throughout the winter months wearing only the shirt of their favoured team. The weather can be frightful, the fans can have walked miles to get to the match but week in, week out the required outfit is a football shirt.

I went to university in another northern town, North West this time, and in my halls of residence I became friendly with 2 guys from the North East. One was from Newcastle and the other from a small town near Northallerton. We walked a long a cold, rainy and windy January seafront one night, about two miles to a pool bar further into the town centre. Being North Easterners, my friends wore their standard uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. When we got to the pool bar there were bouncers on the door (it was that type of town) and they stopped us.

"Not really dressed for it, are we boys!"
"Oh. We didn't realise there was a dress code."
"There isn't. It's just that it's bloody freezing and you two are wearing t-shirts."

And for me, this exchange sums up the North East, weather and clothing.

Temperature figures
The North East of England is noted for it's weather, usually as some sort of insult from those that live in the South. The temperature figures show a few differences but nothing life-altering. I've taken these figures from the Met Office website (what else have they to do now the BBC won't be using them) and you can search your own UK places here - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate/

I've used London and Newcastle as being indicative of the South East and the North East, although London figures will always be slightly skewed due to the size of the city and the activity levels.

London
MonthMax. temp
(°C)
Min. temp
(°C)
Days of air frost (days)Sunshine (hours)Rainfall (mm)Days of rainfall >= 1 mm (days)
Jan8.13.16.644.741.611.4
Feb8.62.77.665.436.38.5
Mar11.64.62.8101.740.39.8
Apr14.65.90.8148.340.19.0
May18.18.90.1170.944.99.2
Jun21.011.80.0171.447.47.4
Jul23.413.70.0176.734.66.3
Aug23.113.80.0186.154.38.1
Sep20.011.40.0133.951.08.6
Oct15.58.80.4105.461.110.9
Nov11.35.82.759.657.510.9
Dec8.43.47.645.848.49.5
Annual15.37.828.61410.0557.4109.4


Newcastle
MonthMax. temp
(°C)
Min. temp
(°C)
Days of air frost (days)Sunshine (hours)Rainfall (mm)Days of rainfall >= 1 mm (days)
Jan7.22.25.961.145.59.8
Feb7.32.26.181.637.87.6
Mar9.03.32.6117.743.98.7
Apr10.34.80.7149.945.48.2
May12.77.20.1191.743.28.3
Jun15.610.00.0183.051.98.7
Jul18.112.30.0185.747.68.6
Aug18.112.30.0174.959.69.2
Sep16.110.40.0141.153.08.1
Oct13.27.70.1106.253.610.7
Nov9.74.91.770.462.811.6
Dec7.42.56.551.952.910.1
Annual12.16.723.61515.0597.2109.5


There are differences, but they are subtle. Annual Average Maximum temperatures (daytime) are 3.2 degrees warmer in London, and Average Minimum Temperatures (nighttime) are 1.1 degrees warmer. Over the course of a year, London receives 105 hours more sunshine than Newcastle but only 0.1 days less of rain. One areas of real surprise was that Londoners experience 5 days a year more air frost than the inhabitants of Newcastle-upon-Tyne - which may well explain the t-shirts that Geordies insist on wearing all year round.

Wear what you feel you need to keep warm, but be aware on a visit to the North East of England that if you wear a coat then you'll probably be in the minority.