Carlisi Allerton Road - Lunch

Went for lunch today at Carlisi on Allerton Road with Danielle. It only opened in May and they have another one on Dale Street. The menu and Instagram looked good and I only stumbled on them when I was Googling for an Italian in Liverpool and this came up. It was where Maray was on the corner further up Allerton Road opposite where Home Bargains is.

We got there just after 12pm and all the tables were full and think upstairs either had a party or was also open as people were going up there.

Focaccia Pistacchiosa - Fresh pistachio pesto from Sicily, pistachio Mortadella ham, grilled aubergines, burrata cheese & pistachio sauce - £8

Salmone - Fresh smoked Scottish salmon, burrata cheese, pesto Genovese, avocado, beef tomatoes - £8.50

They didn't have focaccia so we had sourdough instead. We shared and had half of each other's sandwich. They were both really good. Loved the pistachio sauce that was drizzled on top of Danielle's sandwich. It was nice and sweet. I love pistachio so the one Danielle got was going to be a winner. The burrata with the smoked salmon tasted like creamy egg and not like cheese. 

They do all different brunch food - Belgian waffles, smoked salmon bagel and salads. 

Definitely would come back from brunch and will be coming back for dinner as the pasta looks good. Nice little find for sure. I also got a Strawberry, Banana Matcha Smoothie that was nice. A place that does Matcha is usually a good sign so I would recommend here for brunch. They also do cocktails which sounds nice. I'll get back to you on dinner but I think it should be good and have high hopes which makes a change on my reviews!

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Manchester International Festival

After seeing Bastille last Friday night we spontaneously met up with Kelly and Josh who were at Manchester International Festival in Festival Square at the Factory International which was on the way back to Salford where my car was parked at Kelly and Josh's flat. We were only staying for a bit for 1 drink but didn't get home till just before 2am. It only took just over 30 mins to drive home so wasn't too bad. If we did leave straight after the gig we would have been stuck in traffic. 

The weather was still warm so it was nice to be outside. It was really busy as there was live music, bars and food. We didn't know anything about it but it's a festival they have on every year but a new location this year.

It's a really big space and outside the Aviva Studios which currently has the You, Me and the Balloons - Yayoi Kusama exhibition which Kelly had been to earlier on in the night. It's a good place to have a night out especially in the summer. The festival is running from the end of June till 16 July - tonorrow is the last day. You can see what's happening here. Worth going if you're in Manchester.

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Unagi Street Food & Sushi

Kelly and Josh have moved back up north to Salford from London. They moved back in March and I finally got to visit and stayed with them on Thursday night before seeing Bastille on Friday. I met up with Kelly after work and we tried this new street food sushi place called Unagi which is up the road from the AO arena. It's just a shipping container at the end of a road next to a car park.

Duck Gyoza (5 pcs) - £8

These were deep fried - I definitely prefer the steam and fried ones. Not a fan of deep fried stuff.

Rainbow - Avocado, tuna, salmon, cucumber, mango, kaiso, takuan, sesame seeds, kanpyo - £14

California - Crab meat, avocado, mayonnaise, sesame seeds - £13

I was disappointed with the sushi as it wasn't that good. When it came the rice just didn't look right even though they do look nice especially the rainbow one. Don't know what the ingredients are in the rainbow other than the avo, fish, cucumber, mango and seeds!

We got there before 6pm and there was just a table with a group of 4 people then a few people came as we were there and quite a few Deliveroo take outs. It's all outside with just a cover on the top and it was really windy. Wouldn't work in the winter so not sure if it's just a pop up for the summer. They have got some other pop ups around Manchester. I would still prefer to go to Wazuzhi in Chinatown for sushi in Manchester which is what I had before I seen Bastille. 

When we got back to Kelly's flat she'd booked the cinema room in the building complex and we watched Everything Everywhere All at Once which is the maddest film ever. Didn't know what was going literally felt like I'd been on drugs or something. It was clever how much was going on and Michelle Yeoh is SO good in it and definitely deserved her Oscar and Ke Huy Quan. Jamie Lee Curtis must have had about 2 minutes worth of screen time and didn't do anything special so don't know why she got an Oscar for it. It's a long mad film and worth a watch and is on Amazon Prime. Josh came to join us and watched the last 45 minutes which was a bad time to join but then again even watching it from the start we didn't really know what was happening!

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Bastille Bad Blood X

BASTILLE - Bad Blood X Tour
Manchester - Castlefield Bowl

Friday 7th July 2023

Yesterday I went to see Bastille for the 5th time with Holly at Castlefield Bowl Manchester for the Bad Blood X tour - celebrating 10 years since they released their first album Bad Blood. When they first came out 10 years ago I didn't follow them so didn't get to see them for their first tour and only seen them when they toured their 2nd album Wild World in Manchester arena in 2016. So it was good to be able to hear this album live and actually know every song word for word as it has been out that long.

It was probably the best Bastille gig I've been to and was basically on the barrier with just the one person in front. Wasn't the best Dan vocally though as he was struggling with his voice and said he was losing it. They've played quite a few nights already of the tour and were supporting Duran Duran in America. They were still amazing and can't fault them.

 I was already in the Manchester for the day as I stayed with Kelly and Josh the night before. Doors were at 5:30pm and I got there just before 4pm to queue. Holly was working from home and getting the train down so had to come find me inside but found me really easily as she got there for 6:15pm.

Pre gig dinner from Wazuzhi (formerly Wasabi) in Chinatown

Salmon nigiri, salmon maki, salmon California, Katsu chicken California and salmon and avocado California - £9.90

Was good I enjoyed it.

They had a DJ set when we got in then the first support was a guy called Michael Aldag at 6:45pm. He's from West Kirby which is over the water from Liverpool.

Michael Aldag

He was good but I wouldn't be listening to his music. He had good stage presence.

The second support was at 7:45pm - Irish singer song writer Orla Gartland

Orla Gartland

She wasn't as good and the music was too loud so couldn't actually hear her.

Then it was Bastille at 9pm... 258 photos and 10 videos later... I don't know why I do this to myself as I have to go through them all, delete loads and pick the best for the blogpost!

Bastille 

He didn't stand on here enough when this was directly in front of us!

Happier - close but not close enough to be touching!

The guy behind me threw his phone to Dan to get a BeReal!

Even with Dan losing his voice he gives it everything! We really liked the venue it was small and it was nice to be outside and it wasn't that hot. Would go back to the venue and can't wait to see Bastille again! 

They played the whole of Bad Blood - threw me off starting with Pompeii as that's usually the finisher but it happens to be the very first song on the album. There was intervals between songs where they played videos that they recorded when they were on the road from the very start.

They did a Instagram story vote earlier on in the day to vote what song we wanted to hear out of The Draw, Send Them Off  the 3rd option I can't remember. I voted for The Draw which won. They also did No Angels, What You Gonna Do??? Happier, Million Pieces and Of The Night and finished with Shut Off The Lights. You can see the setlist here. Did so much jumping I'm surprised I managed it as I have bad knees. They did feel a bit sore this morning and I trained legs in the morning!

Need to get next year's gig booked in..

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