Manchester Gin Festival and Tibits: Preparing for Summer in the City

Manchester Gin Festival and Tibits: Preparing for Summer in the City

With summer seemingly creeping up on us out of no where, its time to start prepping. That means embracing everything that summer brings with it, hot weather, late nights and obviously, a heap load of gin. With that in mind, there was only one destination in mind for last weekend’s wind down: Manchester Gin Festival. Spanning over two weekends from the 24-26th and the 31st-1st, the festival offered Manchester six days of heavenly gin drinking. With over 100 gins to try served with the perfect garnish and just the right tonic, the festival was the perfect way to cater to both gin experts and novices alike.

With tasting rooms to get to know the brands, masterclasses, food, photobooths, live music, the main bars and more, our five hour slot flew by and the tickets were absolutely worth every penny. And anyway, with every flavour from rose to rhubarb, the gins themselves do all the talking.

‘So, why would all this gin drinking in the north west matter to you, just a humble urban student dwelling in the capital?’, I hear you say. A very good question indeed. ‘Aha!’, I slur back in response, slamming down my G&T on the table. ‘The Gin Festival move across the UK, visiting a huge range of towns and cities and of course, the Gin Festival is back in our lovely capital this summer to satisfy our every gin-based craving!’. You can catch their next London stops from the 25th to 27th of August in the lovely East End. This is undoubtedly the perfect plan for the height of the metropolitan summer.

With your city summer tipples perfectly planned, there’s only one thing left to sort, of course, and that’s the food. And the perfect place for good, light, summery food is undoubtedly Tibits. Originally a Swiss standalone veggie restaurant, Tibits went on to expand to eight restaurants across Switzerland and London with another spot opening in each country later this year. And once you’ve visited their lovely restaurant on Heddon Street (just off Regent Street), it’s not hard to see how the restaurant got so successful since its first opening in 2000.

With a range a deliciously prepared hot and cold salads and dishes, Tibits is the right way to source a colourful sunny meal. It’s also super easy to cater to a light summer appetite (should you be lucky to know anything about one of those) as you pay for the amount of food you’ll eat rather than what. So fill up that plate with all the best bits and take it to the bar to pay. The Swiss really know what they’re doing.

And once you’ve fallen in love with their beautiful smoothies, organic wines and incredible range of vegan and veggie food, you’ll find it hard to ever eat anywhere else again. But FEAR NOT – they also have a beautiful cookbook. Sectioned into seasons, the book will help you cater straight to the summer season with everything from aubergine antipasto to tofu and honey melons salad. Your summer menu is sorted, whether you’re in the restaurant or saving those student pennies at home.