Norden Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “Great food and also a sense that they are putting back into the community” inspires support for this pub-with-rooms on the village green. Run as a youth-focused social enterprise, supporting young people to access training and paid work experience, it has won a string of awards over its almost ten years in operation. In summer, its ‘Incredible Edible Beer Garden’ comes into its own: almost an acre in size and with lots of interest as well as outside seating.

2022 Review: Chef Danielle Heron, who has worked at L'Enclume and Maaemo in Oslo, opened her first solo venture in the midst of the pandemic in autumn 2020, serving Scandinavian-style open sandwiches and salads, with evening meals served four nights a week. The name comes from Osla and Manchester, the home cities of Danielle and co-owner Sofie Stoermann-Naess. No feedback as yet, but it sounds promising, and was shortlisted as a potential newcomer of the year in the Manchester Food & Drink Festival Awards.

2023 Review: This “unusual and unique find” – “hidden away in a railway arch near Manchester’s Victoria Station” – offers “a wide selection of pasta and dumplings from south Germany, Switzerland, Alsace, Austria and the German-speaking parts of northern Italy”, washed down with an interesting variety of beers, wines and Japanese alcoholic drinks. Even the occasional critic who finds it “not entirely to my liking” concedes that “the very interesting menu has good and unusual food”. The same team is scheduled to open a sake bar and shop called Suzume.

2022 Review: “Busy”, huge and gaudy Cantonese that sits over the Wing Yip Oriental supermarket, where you can choose from over 300 dishes on the menu. It’s one of the few places left in town (in the country?) where dim sum still comes on trolleys.

A “lovely conversion” of the old Smithfield market, by the Altrincham Market team, has given rise to this “fabulous food hall”; it’s a “noisy, busy and fun” sort of place (“outside feels like the Meatpacking District of old”) but “if you can nab a table, watch the world go by and enjoy the great selection of food and drinks”. The latter includes nine outfits, with one reporter singling out New Wave Ramen as having “really hit their stride” (“worth going to MM for this alone”).

“Simply the best” – Simon Martin’s Ancoats superstar continues to maintain the “outstanding all-round” form that secured its place in the history books in 2019 when it carried back to Manchester the city’s first Michelin star since 1977. “Sublime dishes are cooked with invention and precision” by the squadron of chefs put on display by the open kitchen (you can walk between workstations as the chefs are plating up). They deliver a £195 per person tasting menu, although you can fight the cost-of-living crisis with a cut-down version at £95 per person. Combinations are clever and each dish is intricately crafted. The contemporary space it occupies – at the foot of a modern block – is also full of drama, with a very high ceiling and huge windows.

“Definitely one of the stars of the buzzing Ancoats scene… in fact, the Manchester scene overall” – “a minimalistic interior sets the scene for simple but brilliantly executed dishes designed for sharing” at this low-key zeitgeisty hit: the most commented-on destination in the city in our annual diners’ poll this year. “The highly professional kitchen team are at the top of their game providing fare which is as clever as it is straightforward” (e.g. “the best bread and potato dishes I’ve ever had!”). Aided by its “very helpful” approach to service: “it’s the kind of place you wish was in your neighbourhood. Small plates and a natural (but not too funky) list of wines make it as good a place as any you will find to spend a couple of hours when in Manchester”.

This “really good tapas” spot in Ancoats is “hugely popular”, so “booking is a must” – “the only drawback is that tables are reserved for 1.5-hour slots, so it’s difficult to make a night of it no matter how much you spend on wine!”. Billed as a Portuguese follow-up to Simon Shaw’s El Gato Negro when it opened five years ago under head chef Carlos Gomes, the venue now describes its food puzzlingly as ‘Mediterranean tapas’ – which would exclude the many Portuguese dishes on the menu…

“This old Salford pub has risen from the dead” following its long-time closure after a fire; “the fine Victorian building now has a brilliantly designed dining area incorporating much glass, and opening onto a garden with tables”, but it’s also a proper boozer too. Chef Ben Chaplin’s food ranges from “excellent pub grub” to more ambitious fare and “service and ambience are both wonderful”.

“The high-quality, authentic pizzas” are “just the best” – “especially the plain old Neapolitan” – at the “really buzzing” Ancoats original of what has become a fast-growing chain. Founded by Jim Morgan & Kati Wilson nine years ago, it is now has 18 branches around the country as part of the Mission Mars/Albert’s Schloss operation – but is “still very good” by all accounts, and if it “does get a bit noisy in there, that only adds to the atmosphere”.

“Still the best-value food in Manchester city centre – perfect for a good cheap daytime filler” (not least their famous ‘rice and three curries deal’, inching up in price but only at a snail’s pace); “apart from a minor refit a few years back”, this Northern Quarter curry house “has been doing the same thing since forever – and when it remains this good, why change?”

This splendid 1811 pub with upstairs restaurant has been rescued as part of the ongoing redevelopment of Ancoats, winning praise for its “brilliant pub food”, plus “good beer and wines” and an “awesome Sunday lunch!”