Manchester Restaurant Guide

“Such a wonderful experience” – this famous Grade II listed chamber has been at the heart of the City’s dining culture for over a century (Charles Rolls first met Henry Royce here in 1904 before going on to found Rolls Royce). Under chef Adam Reid’s ten-year stint, it has yet to recapture the Michelin star (the city’s first) that it lost in 1975, but his twelve-course tasting menu (for £130 per person, £145 per person on Saturday night) is consistently rated as “good” to “outstanding” in our annual diners’ poll. Top Menu Tip – “wonderful afternoon tea with a glass of bubbly; a massive choice of tea and coffee (bottomless) and really good selection of savory and sweet treats” served in the nearby ‘Tea Room’, overlooking St Peter’s Square.

Simon Shaw’s well-known “Spanish restaurant goes from strength to strength” – “there’s always a good atmosphere when you walk in, the place is buzzing, the staff are very welcoming” and “the food is really high quality”. “Service can be a bit chaotic”, but it’s “hard to criticise – everything is done really well”.

“Always busy and buzzing,” not least when it lays on dedicated Oktoberfest antics, this raucous Bavarian-style beer hall serves up “great food” of a heavy Alpine bent, from schnitzel, spätzle and fondue to other rib-coating fare. Manchester-based Mission Mars, which owns the joint, is clearly in an expansive mood: following siblings in Birmingham and (as of December 2022) Liverpool, another Schloss is due to take over the former Rainforest Café site on London’s Leicester Square, in Spring 2024.

Gary Usher’s “slick, very smart” operation was the best performing member of his well-known Elite Bistros chain this year in our annual diners’ poll. “Fundamentally a traditional bistro (whatever that might be these days?), but here it’s kind of different, with locally sourced ingredients assembled with care and consistency. Presentation of dishes is without pretension, as is the service, which is efficient and attentive. Kala has a lot going for it!” Top Tip – “good value lunch”.

Glasgow chef Nico Simeone’s distinctive concept has grown into a national chain with 11 restaurants (including Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) in just six years, offering a quick-changing succession of themed six-course menus for under £50 a head. It’s widely seen as “fantastic value” and has a sizeable fanbase amongst reporters (“every six weeks, the menu renews and for me, it is something to look forward to…”; “we simply love it and we’ve yet to miss a menu!” – “the Tokyo menu was so good we went back a second time”). Only a tiny few say, “you can feel you’re on a conveyor belt with lots of upsells”; or that the whole thing is “a dystopia of where restaurants will evolve”.

“A first-class experience we look forward to with each visit” – this Deansgate outpost of what’s nowadays an international chain provides a stylish destination, owing to its location in a late- Victorian courthouse, with plenty of interesting reclaimed décor (including glazed bricks from a Liverpool public lav). “Tender and delicious” meat is, of course, the calling card, but you’ll also find some “very tasty” non-carnivorous options too (an expanding range of fish; and “even as a vegetarian I love Hawksmoor”). But while all reports rate it well, it didn’t inspire any full-on rave reviews this year.

A true “gem” – this “recently reopened Manchester institution” dates back to 1868, when it was founded by Sam Studd (whose brother Tom had opened nearby Tom’s Chop House a year before), and later became L.S. Lowry’s favourite watering hole. It serves a menu of “traditional British staples that are actually quite hard to find done well, as they are here”. Top Menu Tip – “the corned beef hash is a must-try-before-you-die dish”.

Warren Yeung (cousin to Harry of the big Yang Sing) runs this long-serving staple (on the site of the original Yang Sing) which is still a treasured linchpin of Chinatown for some Mancunians and is still consistently well-rated for its Cantonese cuisine and dim sum. This year’s worst comment? “service is patchy at busy times”.

“Don’t be put off by the tourist location or the gold frontage” if you visit the flagship branch of this successful Italian chain near Piccadilly Circus (which is due to double in size over 2023). For a national group, it and its siblings deliver a surprisingly high-quality formula that mixes “a great range of Venetian-style small plates” with “friendly and efficient” service and “bright and vibrant interiors” which create a “wonderful and buzzing atmosphere”. Top Tip – “super for pre-theatre eating”.

TV chef James Martin’s over-18s-only, industrial-chic flagship shares a home in the historic Great Northern Warehouse with Manchester235 Casino; the location is “slightly odd”, to be fair, “but once you’re seated in the restaurant you forget about it” – and can focus on the “absolutely delicious food” (be it an “excellent tasting menu” or slap-up afternoon tea).

“It’s noisy and chaotic” at this glossy Asian-themed operation, upstairs from the Spinningfields Ivy – “but if you want to give your teens or twenty-somethings a good lunch/night out, you won’t go far wrong”. For all the glam styling of the interior – even the floor shimmers with semi-precious stones – some diners complain that the pan-Asian food can “taste a little processed”.