Eating & Drinking

The 16 best restaurants in Manchester

Here are our favourite places to eat in all of Mancunia
16 restaurants in Manchester to visit right now

Manchester’s restaurant scene has never been more vibrant, with an exciting mix of solid, down-to-earth, seasonal cooking, nods to the city’s proudly diverse population and fiercely innovative chefs. From bakeries to street food and small plates, restaurants in Manchester are really starting to make a name for themselves. And with a clutch of some of the UK's best hotels, buzzy bars and top spots for vegan bites, it's no wonder the Manchester restaurants are drawing in the crowds. To top it off, the streets are brimming with centuries-old architecture, contemporary art and plenty of other incredible things to do for every traveller.

Does Manchester have any Michelin-star restaurants?

Yes. Manchester is home to Mana – Simon Martin’s Michelin-star restaurant. This kitchen and its 13-course tasting menu (or eight-course reduced menu) won Manchester its first Michelin star in 42 years. If you're planning for a special occasion or just for a weekend break to Manchester, then make sure to book well in advance – bookings open at midday on the first of every month for four months in advance.

These are our picks of the best restaurants in Manchester

  • Pollen Bakery

    1. Pollen Bakery

    Best for: next-gen pastries
    Dish to order: the cruffin

    Manchester's restaurant scene is in rude health, and so too is its more casual food scene. Pollen Bakery's first proper premises in Ancoats came after several years of devoted customers queuing for up to an hour under a railway arch for its superior viennoiserie, notably the signature cruffin – a devastating cross between a croissant and a muffin filled with curd or crème patissière. Its success means that it’s opened a new second location – a bakery and café in the Kampus neighbourhood.

    Address: Pollen Bakery, Cotton Field Wharf, 8 New Union Street, Manchester M4 6FQ
    Website: pollenbakery.com

  • 2. Siop Shop

    Best for: breakfast bites
    Dish to order: a fresh doughnut

    If you're still not full, head to Siop Shop, the Northern Quarter café slinging out cult custard doughnuts from Blawd bakery and an oozing breakfast muffin that may one day have songs written about it.

    Address: Siop Shop, 53 Tib Street, Manchester M4 1LS
    Website: siopshop.co

    3. Nell’s New York Pizza & Bar

    Best for: pizza with a conscience
    Dish to order: eat your greens

    Manchester isn’t short of excellent pizza options. But Nell’s, which was launched in 2020 by husband and wife team Jonny and Charlotte Heyes from Northern Quarter favourite Common, is one to try. Head to its newest venue in the waterside Kampus neighbourhood, and order a showstopping 22-inch, thin and crispy New York-style pie (slices and 14-inch pizzas are available too). “Eat your greens” has a roast garlic cream base topped with seasonal leafy greens, smoked Lancashire cheese, roquito peppers, evoo, chilli and parmesan, while carnivores may prefer the spicy and sweet combination of “do you ‘roni honey?” which is topped with nduja and pepperoni and finished with chilli honey and parmesan. You can feel good about your slice too, as Nell’s aims to be more gentle on the environment by minimising waste, using less meat and power, and buying from responsible British suppliers.

    Address: Nell’s New York Pizza & Bar, 20 Minshull Street, Kampus, Manchester M1 3EF
    Website: nellspizza.co.uk

  • Rob Evans Photography Ltd/With Love

    4. Higher Ground

    Best for: local ingredients
    Dish to order: pea fritters with pitchfork cheddar

    Joseph Otway, Richard Cossins and Daniel Craig Martin – the team behind Ancoats’ popular neighbourhood wine bar and bottle shop, Flawd – opened their first permanent restaurant, Higher Ground, in February 2023 after stints doing pop-ups around the city. Sticking to their winning combination of seasonal dishes made from local ingredients, with natural wine, the 50-cover British bistro is tucked away on New York Street between Piccadilly Gardens and Chinatown. While tasting and a la carte menus change daily, dishes are reliably exceptional, thoughtfully combining interesting ingredients and bold flavours. Appetisers such as pea fritters covered with Pitchfork cheddar melt in the mouth and are incredibly moreish, while larger dishes can range from braised carrots and pink flamingo peas with rich Marfona potatoes wallowing in smoked butter, to acorn-reared pig with grain and mushroom porridge. Despite serving some of the best food in the city, the overall feel is laid back as you relax watching chefs in the open kitchen.

    Address: Higher Ground, Faulkner House, New York Street, Manchester M1 4DY
    Website: highergroundmcr.co.uk

    5. Mana

    Best for: special occasion dining

    Once Manchester’s Little Italy, hip Ancoats is now a go-to spot for food and drink. Natural wine bar and small plates restaurant Erst and the southern Italian Sud Pasta are both worth a visit but the poster child for this area is Michelin-starred Mana, by Simon Martin, which was awarded Manchester’s first star for 42 years in 2019. You’ll need to book well in advance to secure a table in this 24-seat minimalist space – bookings open at midday on the 1st of every month for four months in advance. You’ll be welcomed with a hot broth and a bouquet of now (think juniper, pine and rosemary). Then, sit back and watch chefs in the open kitchen preparing your 13+ course tasting menu using British produce, heavily featuring seafood dishes. Plates are attractive and playful.

    Address: Mana, 42 Blossom Street, Manchester M4 6BF
    Website: manarestaurant.co.uk

  • 6. Bundobust

    Best for: scorching street food
    Dish to order: bundo chaat

    Gujarati street food is the preserve of Bundobust, located in a basement off Piccadilly Gardens. It could not look more modest, but this may just be the best restaurant in Manchester. It’s not often you encounter a menu without a single duff element, but this pleasingly utilitarian canteen with its beautiful Victorian atrium, founded by two lads from Bradford, achieves just that. Rarer still, not a single dish costs more than £7.25. Devour every scrap of bhel puri, chaat and impossibly crisp okra fries from paper tubs, and wash it down with hefty IPAs from their own brewery as well as world-class local ones such as Cloudwater and Track. It's well-executed and sustainable. Every city should have one. Manchester now has a shiny second site too, Bundobust Brewery on Oxford Street, where you can eat next to stainless steel brewing tanks under another glass atrium.

    Address: Bundobust, 61 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 2AG
    Website: bundobust.com

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    7. Another Hand

    Best for: a memorable date night
    Dish to order: hay-roasted hasselback potato

    Another Hand is tucked away on the Great Northern Warehouse’s ‘hidden street’, Deansgate Mews. To reach it, you’ll need to climb a rainbow-painted staircase from the main road of Deansgate. Once you’ve found the neighbourhood-style restaurant, you’ll be welcomed into its small, cosy space by a convivial team who are passionate about the food and drink they are serving. And what a treat the small plates here are with local ingredients and punchy flavours. Its hay-roasted hasselback potatoes with black garlic, buttermilk and burnt butter is a dish of dreams, being deliciously crispy after four hours of cooking. As each plate is presented, you’ll hear about the source of the ingredients, such as lion’s mane mushrooms grown in nearby Altrincham and chocolate from award-winning neighbours, Dormouse. Book in advance.

    Address: Another Hand, Unit F 253 Deansgate, Mews Level, Deansgate, Manchester M3 4EN
    Website: anotherhandmcr.com

  • 8. Climat

    Best for: rooftop views
    Dish to order: hash browns and taramasalata

    When you arrive outside Climat, you may question whether it’s open and if you’ve found the right building. Stick with it and take the lift to the eighth floor, though, as the welcome when you step into the restaurant, and the view over Manchester’s rooftops, are worth the effort. By the team behind Chester’s highly acclaimed Covino, Climat is a wine-led restaurant and, as you gaze out over the domes of nearby Barton Arcade, you can choose between a small selection of wines by the glass or carafe, or request the more extensive menu of more than 250 bottles. The daily changing food menu is split into snacks and larger plates and is described as “just food you want to eat”. Start with its signature dill-infused hash browns topped with taramasalata then work your way through interesting larger dishes such as cuttlefish, chorizo and chickpea stew with pickled fennel and jalapeno, or halibut spine, bordelaise and spaghetti squash.

    Address: Climat, Blackfriars House, Manchester M3 2JA
    Website: restaurantclimat.co.uk

  • 9. Tast

    Best for: a homage to Catalunya
    Dish to order: arròs de calamar (rice with squid)

    Tast, on well-heeled King Street, has been devised by Catalonian chef Paco Pérez, from Girona's Michelin-star Restaurant Miramar, with backing from Manchester City royalty Pep Guardiola and Ferran Soriano, who, on arriving in the city, felt bereft at the absence of their home cuisine. They are bereft no longer. Basics including charcuterie and croquettes are beyond reproach, and the octopus with potatoes and octopus mayo is stunningly good. A dish of rice with red prawns, baked on a shallow oven dish so that the edges go crisp and chewy (think baked risotto), is drizzled with the juices from the prawn heads; it tastes of dark, roasted shells. If you’re after a more casual drink with smaller dishes, called “tastets”, visit its bar and terrace which promises “the bustle of Barcelona in Manchester.”

    Address: Tast, 20-22 King Street, Manchester M2 6AG
    Website: tastcatala.com

  • 10. 10 Tib Lane

    Best for: an evening with friends
    Dish to order: confit spiced carrots

    The trio behind 10 Tib Lane – Ben Gretton, Sophie Robson and Joe White – have run, worked at and owned some top venues in Manchester. In 2021, they came together to create this laid-back bar and restaurant where you could happily spend an entire evening. There’s an imaginative cocktail menu, a selection of generously sized small plates, and a natural wine list that the owners promise “won’t scare you off”. Things are done simply but very well here. Interiors are stripped back – think distressed plaster walls, exposed brick and hanging greenery – and succinct menus change seasonally. A summer plate of confit spiced carrots with aubergine and garlic puree and rose harissa dissolved delightfully in the mouth and was beautifully colourful, while carnivores will rave about a rich spring dish of lamb sweetbreads with guanciale, potato, chicken and white wine sauce.

    Address: 10 Tib Lane, Manchester M2 4JB
    Website: 10tiblane.com

  • 11. Seoul Kimchi

    Best for: Korean comfort
    Dish to order: bulgogi squid and pork

    This unmitigated gem in a thoroughly unassuming spot near the Manchester Royal Infirmary offers life-affirming Korean barbecue and hotpots, served bubbling in cauldron-like bowls. If you can find a space, cram in with the visiting students and order the unctuous galbi ribs or the bulgogi pork belly, lovingly braised, deeply aromatic and coupled with squid. The sweet and spicy fried chicken is superb, as are the jeon, chewy fried pancakes scattered generously with seafood. The set menus for two people represent frankly ridiculous value for money.

    Address: Seoul Kimchi, 275 Upper Brook Street, Manchester M13 0HR
    Website: facebook.com

    12. The Spärrows

    Best for: cosy comfort food
    Dish to order: spätzle

    Blink and you may miss the black door that leads to The Spärrows restaurant in Manchester’s Green Quarter. Around a five-minute walk from Victoria train station, under some railway arches, it’s worth persevering to find its winning combination of comforting continental food, paired with pilsner on tap, sake or wine. Be sure to order its house speciality, spätzle, a type of small noodle. Handmade daily, it comes smothered in a sauce of your choice. Complement it with sauerkraut topped with pumpkin seeds, or a green salad with a good dose of Alpine salt. Reliably busy, even mid-week, it’s worth booking ahead.

    Address: The Spärrows, 16 Red Bank, Green Quarter, Manchester M4 4HF
    Website: thesparrows.me

  • 13. Manchester food halls: Mackie Mayor, Freight Island, New Century

    Best for: being spoilt for choice

    Manchester has an excellent and expanding selection of food halls. Mackie Mayor is a Grade-II listed market house on the cusp of Ancoats, with a wealth of options from Honest Crust’s sourdough pizza to an outstanding flat iron steak and fries from Tender Cow. Enormous Freight Island, in a former freight depot near Piccadilly station, has outdoor and indoor seating, entertainment, and food that ranges from a “lasagnaria” serving slabs of pasta goodness, to Venezuelan cuisine. And New Century is a music venue with a legendary disco ceiling and sprung dance floor with a food hall below where kitchens include Wild by Ply pizzas, Gujarati street food by Spice Yard and Mexican small plates by Agreste.

    Address: Mackie Mayor, 1 Eagle Street, Manchester M4 5JY; Freight Island, 11 Baring Street, Manchester M1 2PZ; New Century, 34 Hanover Street, Manchester M4 4AH
    Website: visitmanchester.com; escapetofreightisland.com; newcenturymcr.com

    14. Refuge

    Best for: a laid-back treat
    Dish to order: Gochujang-glazed pork belly

    With soaring ceilings and glazed tiled pillars in its impressive Victorian Grade-II listed setting, Refuge, inside the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, is perhaps one of the best-looking spots to eat in the city centre. But, somehow, it manages to feel cool and informal too. The menu is made up of sharing plates and there’s a feasting menu designed to share with friends. The Gochujang-glazed pork belly is a knockout, while vegetarians will devour the harissa-charred cauliflower. Allow enough time before or after a meal to have a cocktail in its twinkling winter garden space too.

    Address: Refuge, Oxford Street, Manchester M60 7HA
    Website: refugemcr.co.uk

  • Bacon on the beech

    15. Hispi

    Best for: gutsy bistro cooking
    Dish to order: braised featherblade

    Fans of chef Gary Usher's sterling work at the Sticky Walnut in Chester and Burnt Truffle on the Wirral helped bring Hispi to fruition through a devoted crowdfunding campaign – and thank heavens they did. More than just a solid neighbourhood bistro, with a great-value set menu as well as the seasonal à la carte, it features duck ham and pickles as enticing nibbles ahead of the mains, and Usher and team find the joy in cuts like the underrated featherblade. It all arrives at the table looking amazing, too. If you’re in the city centre, Usher’s Bistro Kala is also well worth a visit.

    Address: Hispi, 1C School Lane, Manchester M20 6RD
    Website: hispi.net

  • 16. The Black Friar

    Best for: pub grub done well
    Dish to order: Black Friar daily pie

    There’s an excellent selection of historic pubs in Manchester’s city centre for all occasions, from the Grade II-listed Briton’s Protection with its selection of more than 300 whiskies and the Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter with live music and an excellent jukebox, to Ancoats’ Edinburgh Castle for top-quality pub food. Just over the border into Salford, the red-brick Black Friar sits incongruously among high-rise buildings. Slip inside for a cosy pub meal where classics are done well, such as burgers and pies, and sit next to more imaginative options such as spinach and seitan cannelloni or braised octopus with black-eyed bean, chorizo, feijoada and pimento. For special occasions, book a table in its glass room where you can watch chefs at work in the open kitchen while cocooned by greenery.

    Address: The Black Friar, 41-43 Blackfriars Road, Salford M3 7DB
    Website: theblackfriarsalford.co.uk

TopicsEating & DrinkingUKEuropeManchesterEngland