#AD / Sauce and the City tour in conjunction with Meat Lust

Meat Lust sauces are something that suddenly appeared in my fridge one day, care of the other half. I think he got them as presents one Christmas or birthday and they have ended up in my fridge. When I learnt that the Sauce and the City tour was run by this same brand, it piqued my interest, more so when I found out that Adam Richman of Man vs Food fame is sponsoring the tour! I went to trial the Meat Lust bus ahead of their scheduled tour starting on the 20th July! Look away, vegetarians! *

Sauce and the City tour

Meat Lust sauces

Sauce and the City bus

The tour starts outside B.EAT STREET at Great Northern on Deansgate and lasts 3 hours, travelling across Manchester city centre to different venues serving up food with Meat Lust sauces. The Meat Lust range comprises six sauces but the tour largely showcases the Katsu sauce and the Ghost Chilli sauce.

The Katsu sauce had a nice curry flavour with more of a fruity sweetness than conventional katsu sauce. It goes well with chicken, pork, or cheese but I also imagine it goes nicely with vegetables like broccoli or carrots.

The Ghost Chilli sauce has such a nice spice to it, it’s a true kicker! Perfect for spicing up meals. The heat is fiery at the beginning but if you can stand the heat, initially, you can handle this sauce. It’s one that grows on you the more you eat it.

Adam Richman

Sauce and the City are sponsored by Adam Richman of Man vs Food fame, and he’s been fully enjoying the Manchester experience: riding the Meat Lust bus, eating the food at different establishments, visiting local breweries and chatting to the people behind them.

Inside the tour bus

Aboard the Meat Lust bus is a near infinite amount of booze. There are three choices, all local to Manchester: Tickety Brew’s Jasmine Green Tea, Brewdog Punk IPA and ShinDigger’s Session. (There is also bottled water!) My favourite out of the three is ShinDigger’s Session, but they are all very nice beers.

Beastro

On the top deck of the bus, the trio that is Beastro were cooking up a BBQ and serving 5 things in between your restaurant pit stops.

• It’s Nacho Beef: soft tender beef on top of regular and blue corn tortilla chips. This was gorgeous but quite messy to eat as they were served in a paper bag without cutlery (hence no photo!). Brewdog’s Punk IPA went well with this.
• The Chinese Lamb Juan: lamb served with pickled onions and popcorn on top blue corn tortillas. This stuff is goooooood.
• Katsu’n’dogz: a mini hot dog served with Meat Lust’s katsu sauce and topped with bonito flakes. I love bonito flakes and the katsu goes well with it. This went well with Tickety Brew’s Jasmine Green Tea.
• Bunny in the Buff: Blackpudding wrapped in parma ham and topped with cheese. I didn’t actually try this one as I was so stuffed, but a few comments from the bus gave this one negative points. Everyone preferred Bury Black Pudding Co’s version over this. ShinDigger’s Session accompanied this dish.
• Ghost Peppa’d Pig: Somehow I managed to take a couple of bites of this. The bao was really nice and the Ghost Pepper sauce was good with the pork. It’s a shame that the pork itself was quite dry, though!

Northern Soul Grilled Cheese

Northern Soul Grilled Cheese menu

Chicken Katsu Grilled Cheese Sandwich

First stop was at Northern Soul Grilled Cheese and we were given a portion of their Meat Lust Katsu sandwich to try.  I’ve been meaning to try this place and I was not disappointed! There was a good amount of cheese, fried chicken and pickled veg to bread ratio. The sauce worked well in this combination without being overpowering. It was by far my favourite dish of the evening. If this is only a portion of a sandwich, imagine the size of a full one! I best bring a friend along next time I’m here so we can share one, I think!

Crazy Pedro’s

Crazy Pedro’s

Katsu pizza

Next stop on the bus was Crazy Pedro’s! By this point, I’ve had 2 dishes from Beastro’s BBQ and a portion of Grilled Cheese, so was feeling fairly full.

The Katsu pizza arrived and you can really taste the Katsu sauce on this as it was generously put on. The pizza itself was quite sweet though, and I succumbed after a few bites. A look around sees many slices lying around uneaten; I guess it wasn’t just me that was already full.

Crooked alcoholic drinks

There were also buckets of ice containing Crooked alcoholic drinks. These are perfect if you prefer cocktails, as they essentially that in a can. There were two flavours to choose from on the night: Midnight Stage: Blood Orange and Passion fruit and  Dayglo Skies: Raspberry and Lime. My preference was for the former as I found the other.too sugary.

BrewDog

The third stop was to BrewDog where we were given a beer tasting session. The manager came up to talk to us all about the company and how to drink the beer in front of us, first by smelling it, then a few sips before downing the rest (in a lot more detail, I assure you!)

Due to a number of people talking, I failed to actually hear much of what was said. The manager did, however, seem passionate about BrewDog beers and had quite a lengthy discussion with a few people after the beer tasting.

Sugar Rays

Sugar Rays

Ghost Chilli hot dog

The last stop was at Sugar Rays. At this point, I think everyone was pretty much done for the evening. Sugar Rays, unfortunately, informed us that drinks are not provided as part of the tour, so we had to pay. We also waited a while for the hot dogs to arrive. This compounded with the fact that I visited their rather unclean bathroom, it didn’t make for a good experience overall.

The Ghost Chilli hot dog, however, was a beast to consume and was actually very nice. It is difficult to eat as the fillings far outnumbered what the bun can hold, so I felt a knife and fork would have been appreciated at this point. It was a good hot dog if a very messy one.

Overall comments

At this point, we were transported back to B.EAT STREET for an after party with more Crazy Pedro’s pizza, local DJs and Adam Richman himself. Overall, the evening was a fun one and everyone organising and running the tour was really friendly and helpful. It’s a bit of fun for £30, (£32.14 inc. booking fee) and a good way of embracing Manchester’s varied cuisines and brewing talent. The Meat Lust sauces are all vegetarian, with everything being vegan apart from the Buffalo and Katsu sauce as they contain milk.

Other reviews of the same event by other people. Please read for a more rounded review of the experience:

• Miss Pond

Information

Sauce and the City tickets: https://www.sauceandthecity.co.uk/
Meat Lust website: https://www.meatlust.com/

Breweries:

• BrewDog
• ShinDigger
• Tickety Brew

Eateries:

• Beastro
• Crazy Pedro’s
• Northern Soul Grilled Cheese
• Sugar Ray’s

*I was invited to this early tour and thus did not have to pay for my experience. All words and photos my own.