Are you a Chef or Restaurant owner?
….Then we’d love to know if you are up to the challenge
TheGastroclub.com is a 400+ group of serious food lovers based in and around Manchester. We’re just over a year old and are hell-bent on shaking up the Manchester food scene. We visit Manchester restaurants, ask that they give us the best, most adventurous food they are capable of producing and then we report back to our foodie followers on Twitter, via blogs, photos and produce TheGastroclub verdict on our website.
Why invite us to review your restaurant?
We bring your restaurant business
TheGastroclub is held on a Tuesday night, a quite night for most restaurants – we usually bring a good crowd of 25-35 customers. However the lure of a truly exceptional menu and evening means we have brought 50 – 80+ members in the past. They are usually a well-behaved and appreciative lot as well.
“You’ve done more than anyone else has for businesses like mine when you bring 50+ full paying guests on Tuesday”
Choice Restaurant Manchester 2011
We’re an influential bunch
We’re Manchester’s largest foodie group and winners of the Manchester Food & Drink Awards 2011. Many of our members are professional journalists, food writers, bloggers and tweeters.
We’ve been featured in The Guardian, BBC Radio Manchester, MEN, City Life and Manchester Confidential to name a few.
We spread the word
Our members are food lovers. Their friends are often food lovers. They love to eat good food, and importantly they love to talk about good food. They will name-check your establishment, so it is advisable to have a Social Networking presence in anticipation.
The venue’s we have visited have benefited from having TheGastroclub foodies come to review their restaurant, and spread the word to audiences around Manchester. Most venues have asked the club to return after benefiting from the recommendations by influential Tweeters and bloggers and commercial benefits of our visit.
We like to think that our reactions will be considered, positive and well-informed. We want local restaurants to deliver great food – and are happy to be able to play a part in that process.
How we work
We invite restaurants in and around Manchester to send us a set menu (with a vegetarian option) of between 3 – 6 courses. The menu must consist of dishes not usually offered in your restaurant.
Our members are adventurous eaters. They want to sample dishes that use unusual ingredients or combinations, something a bit challenging, long-forgotten-now-reborn dishes, an unusual technique, or even a recipe that may be a little risky to put on a normal menu. We are happy to give it a try – and have faith in the chef to show what he/she can do.
It’s not just the food; we’ll be reviewing the level on innovation in the presentation as well.
If we like your menu we’ll arrange a date. We visit restaurants on the second Tuesday of each month. Our members arrive for 7pm to be seated for 7:30. Two weeks before the event we’ll email our member’s your menu. We ask members to pay a booking fee which goes to TheGastroclub to secure their place. On the night our members will turn up and pay you directly for their set menu plus their drinks.
Think you’re up to the challenge?
Drop us a line to Manchester@thegastroclub.com and we’ll send over some more information about what is need in terms of menu and details about your restaurant.