Review: Soup Kitchen

At around £6.50 per dish, Soup Kitchen is a little pricey for something that takes its name from a concept based on providing free nourishing food, but this is made up for by the generous portions and vibrant, quality ingredients pleasantly un-reminiscent of a school canteen. Begrudging dinner ladies are replaced by bubbly staff, stinginess exchanged for extra helpings.

Soup Kitchen have a relatively fixed menu with daily changing soups. This works well for variety as each time you can expect to find something  new and enticing  on the menu, with reassuring knowledge that the fail-safe jerk chicken, Caribbean dumplings with jack fruit  and sweet yam curry will be present and steaming away in their industrial sized steel buckets.

Everything is served with the option of jumbo purple coleslaw, chickpea salad, fresh herby tomatoes and help-yourself bread rolls. Water is available in thick swing-top glass bottles on the bar which is perfect if you're the type to drink at least 3 pints with every meal and feel embarrassed to continually nag the waiter (I hate being served a half pint - of anything).

Vegan stew

The serving counter also doubles up as a bar which comes fully stocked with the usual NQ-style craft beers, quirky bottled brews and range of tasty liqueurs. It's worth mentioning that SK has a downstairs club so it's theoretically somewhere you could spend the whole night. Long trestle tables make this a good spot for large parties for evening drinks, though the music is a little loud even in the day so be prepared to raise your voice for a decent conversation. Or just resign to enjoy your food in silence and save your talking topics for later.

That being said, the restaurant is cosy and friendly and perfect for a lunch that's guaranteed to be delicious. Being able to walk through the door and be comfortably sat down with a ceramic bowl of hot food in the space of five minutes is a blessing that the Northern Quarter would struggle without. There's no waiting for a table, no risk that it might not be right, and no gamble on how long it will take for the food to arrive.

The atmosphere is warm, wholesome and the embodiment of what its name derives from with extra funding, which I suppose is exactly what it is - apart from its customers are not homeless, though they may dress like they are (guilty).

31-33 Spear Street
Manchester
M1 1DF

http://soup-kitchen.co.uk/

Creamy Thai Satay Soup

Inspired by Half Baked Harvest

Often in the shadow of their starchy distant relative the potato, sweet potatoes are just as cheap, versatile and delicious as the mighty jacketed staple food. I use them in cooking all the time because I love the flavour that erupts from them, especially when roasted. They're also incredibly healthy. As I've bought a bag this week I'll be posting updates on what I decide to make with them, here is the first creation:

Ingredients:

- 2 large sweet potatoes. I get mine from Lidl so they are huge and vary in size every time. On average two big ones cost me 79p.

-knob of butter/glug of oil

-3 tbsp Thai red curry paste

-1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter

-Can of coconut milk (can be bought cheaply in foreign shops, look for non-branded options)

-1 onion

-1 tsp minced garlic

-Nutmeg & paprika – use according to taste/about 1/2 tsp each

-1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 500ml hot water

-handful of chopped coriander (worth buying a plant if you have space on a windowsill, they’re normally a pound or less)

Directions: 

Oven to 200C, chop and roast the sweet potatoes in oil/butter for about 25 mins, sprinkled with the spices. While waiting, finely chop the onion and fry in a saucepan on low, adding in the garlic and curry paste when the onions have softened. Add the roasted sweet potatoes to the pan and cover with the stock and can of coconut milk, bring to the boil then simmer as you plug in the liquidiser/blender, or chop the coriander. Add all ingredients (don’t forget the peanut butter) except fresh coriander to the blender until smooth. If you don’t have a blender this soup is still delicious with chunks, but if you want a smooth consistency you could roast the potato whole, mash the insides and then add it to the onion mix. Top with a spoonful of natural yoghurt and sprinkle with coriander.

 Warning: This is DELICIOUS, you will probably struggle to restrain yourself from drinking the entire thing from the saucepan. It tastes like a soup version of satay dipping sauce. And it’s healthy!