Everyone meet James, James meet everyone!
Many of you will have seen James behind the counter at BQ, advising customers on wine pairings, pouring a sake, or plating up one of our cheese and charcuterie boards. He also chooses our wine and cheese of the month that you see on our social media and website, so we thought it was time he introduced himself properly…
How long have you been with BQ?
I started at the Butcher’s Quarter in March 2024 after having only been in Manchester since the beginning of February. I was a bit skeptical at first as I didn’t have any butchery experience, but thought I’d apply as I’m a bit of a foodie, and here we are nearly 18 months later!
What did you do before?
I was a bar manager at a boutique hotel in the Cotswolds, where I designed cocktails, wine pairing lists and sake flights to pair with meals across our 3 restaurants! I loved working there and the creativity of the job, whilst also having some amazing food – but after visiting Manchester more and more frequently, I knew my heart was set on moving here.
What do you love most about working at BQ?
I get to be around people that care about food, flavour, and sourcing, both working with them and serving! Also, the access to superb high quality ingredients without having to go out of my way is a huge perk!
What do you like to cook?
I cook such a range of foods, a lot of Asian inspired stuff – mostly because of my experience of working with the chefs at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel. But I also like to experiment (much to my boyfriend’s dismay) with unusual cuts and recipes, like ox tongue curry, as you might have realised from some of the more unique sausage flavours we do!
If you’re going out – what is your favourite food?
That very much depends if I’m going out for food, or if I’m going ‘out out’… because if it’s the latter I regretfully say that it’s a dirty pizza from wherever is open and nearby. But if I’m going for a meal, I’ve started to eat a lot more fish, as a lot of the time I’m disappointed if I get a steak at a restaurant, as it’s not as good as ours!
Favourite place to eat in Manchester currently?
Rustica is my lunchtime staple, but for a proper meal I’ve really been enjoying the Black Friar in Salford, arguably the best “proper” pub in the city, with a really good range of options without being super expensive!
Wine or beer or something else?
90% of the time my go-to drink is a Negroni, but I pretty much drink everything bar tequila! I love a nice whisky, or a decent bottle of wine, and in the warmer weather a crisp lager is wonderful, but in my mind nothing beats a good cocktail in the sun!
Top 5 people (alive or dead) you would invite to a dinner party?
I’m very fortunate to have interacted with quite a few celebrities at my last job, so a lot of the awe and shock factor has gone, but I would still have to say Freddie Mercury, as a music lover and a person in the queer community I just think he would be an amazing person to talk to! I am really struggling to think of anyone else famous, aside from people like Stephen Hawking, but I’d think I’d want something a bit more fun. I’m also not religious in the slightest, but it would be very interesting to see if Jesus was available, and I mean, drinks would be cheap if he was there too! I would also definitely invite Nathan, my boyfriend, and probably invite Neil Newbon (an actor), possibly Nathan’s favourite person to exist, which means I get some brownie points with him!
So now you know and next time you are in the shop, say hi!