Theatre, Food & Chinese New Year

Last weekend (not Valentine's, but the weekend before) I had a jam packed weekend which was one big food fest as my mum came down to visit me and we went to see Lee Nelson too. I tried some new restaurants/cafes as well as returning to some of my old favourites and we even managed to squeeze in watching the Chinese New Year parade too!

So let's start with Saturday's lunch. Me and my friend Caya decided to head to town and go to Las Iguanas (mainly because our other friend Jane works there and we thought it would be hilarious to go see her at work!). I'd never been before however the food was so tasty and I absolutely adored it. We decided to get a tapas style lunch and got Nachos, chicken quesadillas, brie and mango empanadas and sweet potato fries and then we shared churros for dessert which came with chocolate dipping sauce and then this caramel sauce which is so hard to describe but it is seriously the most delicious, un sickly sauce and if you ever go to Las Iguanas you need to try it because words do not do it justice. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the empanadas but everything else was so tasty and I can't wait to go and eat there again!! 

So my mum came that evening and where else would we go apart from Pizza Express. I actually forgot to take a photo of my pizza but I tried a new one (new for me anyways) called the Soho which had mozzarella and olives on and it was really nice and light. For pudding, me and mum love getting the little ones which come with a coffee and my favourite ones are these salted caramel profiteroles which taste so good! (can you see a caramel theme here??) Three is definitely enough though because they can get a little sickly but they're great if you dip them into a cappuccino.

On Sunday there was the big chinese new year parade and whilst it was freezing, we went to china town to watch the dragon parade which was pretty cool. China town and the route of the dragon was absolutely packed and there was even a fairground type thing set up there with lots of rides and games which added to the festival atmosphere.

Me and mum warmed up by heading to Walrus in the Northern Quarter which has a really nice lunch menu. I'm a sucker for sliders (I mean what's better than three mini burgers really??) and curly fries so it was a lunch made in heaven. Between us we had all the chicken ones (there was a spicy one and a mint one I think) both of which were really nice and the spicy one wasn't too spicy either. I had a normal burger and mum had a falafel one and a pulled pork. I had a taste of the falafel one and really liked it and kind of wished I had ordered it myself.

We had a coffee stop of course on our shopping trip and tried somewhere I hadn't been before called Pot Kettle Black which is in the arcade on Deansgate. I had the most delicious hot chocolate there and what was even better was that it came with a glass of water too (all the hot drinks did) which is great because I always want water when we stop places! 

After finishing up our shopping,we headed back to my flat for a quick rest before heading out to The Lowery in Salford as I was doing my first review for North West End! However, before we actually went to the theatre, we had to go get our tea so we went to Cafe Rouge.

There's a really good deal at Cafe Rouge where you can get two courses for about £12 and then you can add a pudding for a little bit more. I had the soup, which was quite nice but a little too salty for me, Mussles and chips which is one of my favourites and I absolutely loved these ones; the sauce was really delicious and then the creme brûlée which again was really nice however I wasn't a massive fan of the sorbet.

We then headed off to see Lee Nelson's Suited and Booted tour which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a barrel of laughs! I won't tell you too much about it as I wrote a full review of it over on North West End which you can all read!

The weekend was finished off with breakfast at North Tea Power, also in the Northern Quarter, before mum headed home. We had a nice cup of tea and ham and cheese croissants which were both super yummy! I really need to head back there because they had an extensive tea selection which I need to try!

And that was my weekend! Let me know in the comments below of any good cafes/restaurants to try in Manchester!