Handforth Restaurant Guide

“Very much a place to see and be seen” in Cheshire’s Golden Triangle – “great for celeb-watching and the waiters are proud of that” – this two-year-old from the national Italian stable is the result of a reputed £3m makeover, complete with palm trees and a terrace with a retractable roof. Investment has continued, with the addition of the 60-cover ‘Il Giardino’ for al-fresco dining last summer. Marcello Distefano, who now runs the group founded by his father Carlo, grew up in the area and knows the site well from its days as Brasingamens nightclub, a celebrated hangout for WAGs in the ’90s and ’00s.

“Absolutely superb” regional Indian street food is the MO of this well-performing joint, also with a sibling in Hale; “usually everything they do is very good to excellent” (be it biryanis, dumplings or cocktails) and while “prices have crept up” a tad of late, “no surprise there and it could be much worse”.

Opposite a twelfth-century church, this “really good” village outfit is “exactly what you’d want from a good-quality pub”: a “relaxed, friendly and chatty” spot turning out some “perfectly judged” food (not least fish ’n’ chips, though the desserts are also “technical and brilliantly flavoured”).

Next to the Plaza cinema on the edge of Stockport Old Town, a small independent inspired by regional European cuisines. Chef founders Josh Reed-Cooper ad Mike Thomas were in the launch team at local star Where The Light Gets In, and have worked in some of Manchester’s top kitchens.