SHE IS best known as the ‘unlucky in love’ Sunita Alahan in Coronation Street.
But actress Shobna Gulati has now turned her attentions to the kitchen to spice up Chorlton’s Food and Drink festival.
Shobna has teamed up with the manager of Wild at Heart organic butchers, Veena Josh, to develop the unique concept of Indian tapas.
The pair believe it will not only bring a new slant to Britain's favourite imported cuisine, but will provide a new take on the traditional Spanish dishes.
Veena, who has worked at the shop since it opened on Chorlton’s Railway Terrace a year ago, said: “Shobna and I both take Indian food and cooking very seriously and, we will stick to the shop’s ethic of using organic and fair trade food wherever possible.
“We will be offering it throughout the fair and we believe it will be something that will attract the people who use our coffee shop throughout the year.”
The joint venture into the new world of Indian tapas will be just one of many food-related projects being staged as part of this year’s Chorlton Food and Drink fringe festival, which organisers say will be the biggest yet.
Eighty different events will be held at 34 different venues in the suburb over ten days beginning on October 5. The fringe event will run side-by-side with the tenth Manchester Food and Drink Festival.
The theme of this year’s festival will be 'From the ground to the table', celebrating the use of natural ingredients.
Victor Hyman, manager of the Barbakan deli on Manchester Road, said he had had a fantastic response to a recent appeal in the Reporter for more businesses to get involved.
He said: “This will be the biggest yet in the eight years we’ve been running the fringe festival. We have got double the amount of businesses taking part this time around and all but a handful of retailers have got involved.”
Victor believes that the food and drink scene in Chorlton has been boosted after the suburb took five of the six nominations in the Best Retail Outlet category at the Manchester Food and Drink Awards.
He said: “People have really taken notice of the quality that is on offer in Chorlton and we are hoping that the people who come to Manchester for the mother festival will be attracted to sample the fringe in Chorlton.
“There is often a feeling that food festivals are just for ‘foodies’ but we hope that this will be a festival for everyone.
“It is not just for the sun-dried tomato brigade.”
One of the highlights of the festival will be an interdependence day held at St Clement’s Church, on Edge Lane, Chorlton, on Sunday, October 14 at 2pm.
People are invited to bring their own dishes to the event for everyone to enjoy at a feast which will take place at 6pm.
n For a full list of events see next week’s Reporter.
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