An insider’s guide to eating and drinking in Altrincham

Rigatoni’s is a bustling 25-seater Southern Italian pasta kitchen at the top of Shaws Road in Altrincham. Their rotating blackboard menu combines both their deep-rooted southern Italian heritage and their own creativity. They say that their simple pledge is to put their hearts and minds into every plate they serve.

à bloc is a neighbourhood cafe near Stamford Park in Altrincham. It serves good coffee and brunch dishes but it’s the doughnuts that have mythical status here. Don’t leave without one.

Setting a precedent for the likes of Mackie Mayor and Stockport Produce Hall, many have hailed the revamping of the Market House Indoor Food Hall as the touch paper that lit Altrincham’s whole foodie scene ablaze.

Bar Etna is regularly voted as the best place to eat in Altrincham. Locals love its authentic Sicilian dishes and friendly, welcoming atmosphere but with food this good, they can’t expect to keep it to themselves.

‘Create, don’t curate’ is Blanchflower’s motto and to that end, much of their produce is made in-house.

California Coffee & Wine is a ray of SoCal sunshine. The Cal-Mex flavours served up are fresher and sharper than typical Tex-Mex offerings and everything feels clean and wholesome – if you give the sausage and bacon mega stack a swerve.

The food doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s just there to be enjoyed. Expect dishes like San Fran salmon, all scrambled eggs and wilted spinach with some spectacular smoked fish from the Manchester Smokehouse or ranch beans with tortilla, smashed avocado, Cali salsa and plenty of zing from fresh chillies and spring onions.

Damò is an Italian restaurant with a reputation for fresh pasta. Local food lovers revere its lasagne – it could be one of the best in the North West, never mind Altrincham.

Gran T’s Coffee House Altrincham is a brightly-coloured all-day hangout on a pretty street. It’s inspired by the owner’s grandma but the food is more Gen Z french toast than homely cottage pie.

Harcourt is a Hong Kong-inspired pub on Altrincham’s main drag, Stamford Road. Opened by two Hong Kong couples in 2023 after they moved to the area, it’s become a popular spot for the town’s growing Chinese community and Alty’s pub-lovers alike.

“Flames and flora” are promised by South Manchester’s South American-inspired grilled meat joint Jardim – Portuguese for “garden – and we’d also add in “fancy”, as Fazenda and Tast co-owner Robert Melman is the name on the Altrincham churrasco’s chequebook.

Given the much-publicised dangers of drinking too much booze, it takes a dark sense of humour to name your bar Mort Subite (meaning ‘sudden death’ in French).

Pho You is a modern Pan-Asian restaurant specialising in hearty pho and other traditional family-style dishes. It feels really authentic, serving food you won’t find at big-chain Asian restaurants. Fish balls aren’t yet a universal delicacy.

Spanish small plates and a menu that really delivers. Porta Altrincham might be another tapas place – but this one is a smash hit serving excellent food and fine wines.

As Nigel Slater once said, ‘No matter how bad things get, it’s impossible not to love someone who made you toast.’ So a cafe whose concept is ‘things on toast’ was always going to find a place in people’s hearts. The Toast Altrincham menu offers toast for breakfast, toast for lunch, and you guessed it, toast for… dessert.

Translating as ‘three chubby friends’ (a self-effacing reference to owner Francesco Scafuri and a pair of his portly pals from back in Campania), Tre Ciccio Altrincham doesn’t look much from the outside, or even the inside, at first.

WowYauChow is a ‘British Chinese’ from accountant turned restaurateur Henry Yau which has become a firm favourite in Alty. The food is east meets west: Chinese classics with a contemporary British slant, served as small plates to encourage sharing, tasting and hopefully less waste.

Tiny and usually packed to the rafters of its converted terraced house, Yara is one of those hidden gems that the locals keep trying to get us to shut up about.