Its great being a short 10minute walk away from the MEN Arena because we get to meet all the stars that perform at the MEN Arena. I feel faint as the gorgeous Usher is coming to Manchester! If you are going to scream your lungs out at Usher’s concert, be sure to get your energy boost by booking your pre-concert dinner at Sweet Mandarin (click here).
Usher concert tickets sold out in hours…..are you one of the lucky ones? The R&B superstar returns to the Manchester venue for the first of a ten night UK arena tour on Wednesday 26 January – and again on 20th February 2011 – to celebrate the release of his latest album Raymond vs. Raymond.
The OMG Tour will see the US singer and actor perform tracks from Raymond vs. Raymond – his sixth studio album – alongside hits from his 20 year R&B back catalogue.
Usher Raymond IV rose to fame in the late 1990′s with the release of his second album My Way which spawned the R&B classic U Make Me Wanna. His 2001 follow up, 8701, produced the number one hits U Remind Me and U Got It Bad.
Usher’s success continued with his 2004 album Confessions which went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide making it the best selling R&B album of the decade.
Ok, I hear you so here’s a little youtube video of Usher to wet your appetite. See you at Sweet Mandarin Usherites!
When we received the news that we had made it to the Final of the F Word’s Best Chinese Restaurant Competition we were estatic (Watch us battle it out here). Thanks to our wonderful customers who nominated us, we were on the map a la Gordon. However, before Gordon, we were and still are are the third generation of women restaurateurs and have always had great families follow us generation after generation. Their gran knew our gran (who set up her restaurant before Chinatown was established), their mum knows our mum and now the third generation visit Sweet Mandarin.
Nothing had quite sunk in even when a black car picked us up at our home to drive us to the studios in London. Having not slept the night before didn’t help when we were faced with 50 chicken breasts and about 100 pieces of squid to cut in the F Word kitchen – and we had an hour’s prep time to get through the mountains of ingredients.
I was cutting away in my own little world when suddenly this voice said ‘Hello Lisa!’ It was Gordon Ramsay. He was so tall and I was so shocked that it was the man himself that I nearly cut my hand. It was at that moment that it finally sunk – I was in the competition headed up by Gordon Ramsay to find the UK’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant and after three generations who have endured rollercoaster after rollercoaster it was a chance for me to restore the family name. Then I got nervous. I finally realised that this competition was real and was shocked that Gordon knew my name. I’ve seen him on the TV, but for him to know and praise me was a chef’s dream come true. It was a true honour to cook with him and a huge accolade to get 82/100 mark for the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken (my mother’s recipe which we serve at Sweet Mandarin). When we won the Best Local Chinese Restaurant Award 2009-2010 I had tears in my eyes. To my dear customers and to all of Manchester, this trophy is for you.
If you want to pop over for my mum’s claypot chicken, please book a table here
#989 Sweet Nothing – Skype to Australia
One of my oldest and dearest friends has uprooted herself and gone to Australia. I miss her dearly but one thing that has helped us keep in touch is Skype. Its free, its reliable and most importantly she doesn’t feel like shes miles away. Gone are the days when I’d have to buy three or four phone cards and conversations were arbitarily cut off as the credit dripped to zero. Gone are the days when I’d have to dial those phone card numbers that lasted 20 digits and often got them wrong. Now, with Skype, I can just sit at the computer and even see her and she can see me video-to-video. Its incredible how technology has really helped keep people around the world in touch. We’ve had some really deep conversations on Skype and its been a lifesaver in many respects – which makes Skyping to Australia my #989 Sweet Nothing.
