00:00 Because everyone's standing up, you're mixing your mind, because you're sharing plates,
00:03 because you're sharing drinks together, you find yourself speaking to other people in the group.
00:06 So you might well go along with a couple of your own friends, but before you know it,
00:09 you're mixed with a bunch of strangers that are your new best friends that evening.
00:12 A restaurant removed its tables and chairs last week in Manchester for a unique Italian
00:18 event to get customers out of their seats. On Wednesday, the 13th of September, Haunt in
00:23 Manchester's city centre became the venue for an Italian-inspired apericena evening
00:29 hosted by brewing company Menabrea. Diners were on their feet for the whole two-hour experience,
00:35 and three courses of food were served. Apericena has seen a huge rise in popularity across Italy
00:42 in recent years, and is thought to encourage customers to feel more confident and connected
00:47 with an up-tempo and more social dining-out experience. Italian restaurants in Manchester,
00:53 London and Glasgow have recently removed low tables and chairs to allow diners to experience
00:59 apericena in a unique restaurant setting. The evening in Manchester was predominantly focused
01:04 on food, using the finest quality ingredients from the northern Italian region, and Menabrea
01:10 partnered with chef and food writer Nina Parker to craft the bespoke menus.
01:15 Now everyone knows aperitivo, it's well established, and it promotes more of a social first
01:21 approach to dining. Apericena, so apera meaning aperitivo, with cena meaning dinner. It's a
01:26 casual, smaller-plate style affair where friends and family, colleagues and even strangers get
01:30 together and share stories and food and drink in a more convivial space. And the key to the
01:35 experience is everyone stood up. So that's what makes it even more sociable and makes everyone
01:39 mingle with each other. And I think we've all been out for dinner and perhaps been sitting next to
01:44 maybe not the most interesting diner at the table. Now that doesn't happen with apericena,
01:49 because of course you can move around and socialise with different people and you don't
01:52 have to stay in the same place all the time. The one in Manchester last week was fantastic at Haunt,
01:56 really great evening, fully sold out as all the events have been. And people had a fantastic
02:01 evening coming along, drinking of course Menabrea beer, which is obviously the finest Italian beer,
02:07 and as well as that, enjoying these small plates that come out during the evening and everyone
02:11 would dine and share. And this elevated alpine experience is a great way to socialise, mingle,
02:17 mix and enjoy people. So it was a fantastic night, folk really enjoyed it. The first course was a
02:22 selection of cured meats and cheese, garnished with caper berries, grapes and gherkins and served
02:28 with focaccia. The second course was wild mushroom arancini and bruschetta with prosciutto and cheese.
02:34 And the final course of this three-course Italian-inspired meal was meatballs in a
02:38 marinara sauce and mixed fried fish. And again it's all about the small plates, all about dishes
02:43 from that region as well, because as you know Italy, although it's one country, it does very
02:49 much feel like lots of different regions have their own specialities and their own ways of doing
02:52 things. And that menu, I see Nina created it and it was inspired by the Piedmont region and also
02:58 inspired by Menabrea's light, slightly citrusy flavour as well.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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