A Gooood Friday

As all good Christians know, on Good Friday, meat is off the menu. But for athiests, it's a very different story. So where better to start the bank holiday than Manchester's latest meat Valhalla, Friday Food Fight?

Friday Food Fight is a new event set up by B.Eat Street, which brings together 10 of Manchester's top independent eateries and street vendors in Upper Campfield Market Hall (just opposite the Hilton). With a 12-week schedule, each week a different group of vendors from the likes of Red's True BBQ, SoLiTa and Lucha Lubre, plus smaller indies like The Hip Hop Chip Shop, set up shop with four or five dishes each.

With the sun poking through the old roof windows of the market hall, the smell of the smokers that hits you as you walk in is mouth-wateringly good. Combine that with a DJ setup, a couple of pop up bars serving draught ales and you're in for a good night.

The best thing about Friday Food Fight is the choice. We've all been in that situation where the menu in a restaurant is so good that it's almost too hard to pick just one. Everything at Food Fight is designed not to bust your gut, so you can get involved with as many of the stands as you can handle. My cohorts and I tackled everything from Piggy Smalls' Amy Swinehouse to the Diamond Dogs Chilli Cheese number, plus there was room for some SoLiTa wings. For those of you with a sweeter tooth, Sugar Rush are in residency for the full 12 weeks, if you can handle cake after a meat overload.

For added entertainment, there's also eating contests a la Man vs. Food to get the inebriated stag and office parties going. Once you're full to the brim yourself, there's not much more enjoyable than watching an obnoxious meathead (no pun intended) crumble under the heat of a last man standing hot wing contest.

FFF is B.Eat Street's debut event so is only running until mid-May, but expect more to come. With each vendor covering half of the events, it's one to make the most of. Blink and you'll miss it.