Caravan Manchester

Caravan Manchester is a 2024 opening from a small London chain started by three New Zealanders who settled in the UK a decade ago and decided to start roasting coffee.

That business has grown, as has the restaurant side, and for their first location outside London, they chose the St John’s district of Manchester, within the grounds of the iconic Granada TV studios. This is an area that has seen investment in recent times of well over a £billion delivering what is becoming the home of Northern creative industries.

The restaurant is an all-day affair with the food styles riffing off a New Zealand take on world cuisine, which can be rather eclectic. It’s fresh, spacious and speaks to the modern Mancunian crowd in quite a clever way. It’s an updated model on nineteenth century Parisian brasseries which pinched dishes from around the French regions and did them well.

Here you’ll find breakfast dishes including the ubiquitous smashed avocado, a ‘dingley dell’ pork schnitzel from Austria, and a Barnsley chop.

The chop has been sexed up with salsa verde and preserved lemon yoghurt. We’re not sure what the Yorkshire farmers would think of that, but it’s rather good as it happens.

Small plates abound, featuring a good choice of vegetarian and vegan dining and much like the brasseries in Paris, you’re welcome for coffee and cake or a celebratory family meal, it’s up to you.

Service is spot on. The wine list is short, clear and doesn’t have the expected New Zealand slant, though it does have a couple of crackers.