Healthy eating is easy as long as you never leave the house. At home, it’s your fridge, your food – there’s no deep-fried, sugar-coated snacks around to derail your goals.
Then you go outside and everywhere you look there’s a street food van or a donut stand, and now your friends want to meet up at that new burger place. If you’d rather not carry a Tupperware full of meal prep with you each and every time you go out, you’re going to need options.
This list gives you lots of ideas for healthy places to eat in Manchester city centre – including spots for healthy snacks, breakfasts, lunch, food-to-go, and proper-fancy meals out. No menu is 100% good-for-you but these places have more low-calorie, nutritious dishes than most. Oh, and they’re all really tasty too. Who knew that some of Manchester’s best places to eat are also the healthiest?
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Deansgate
Acai and The Tribe
Head to Deansgate Mews (the upper-level pedestrianised bit in between Great Northern Warehouse and Deansgate) to find health-food wonder Acai and the Tribe.
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Manchester City Centre
The Allotment Vegan Eatery
The seeds of Matthew Nutter’s fine dining adventure were sown when he set out to “make veg taste better than steak”. And the menu at The Allotment Vegan Eatery exceeds this ambition.
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Gay Village
Bondi Bowls
If you’re at Piccadilly Station wondering where you can get something nutritious and fresh to take on your train journey, this spot at nearby Kampus is worth the five-minute walk. Bondi Bowls takes healthy fast food to another level with its macro-measured salads, soups, smoothies, and shots.
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Greater Manchester
Bundobust Brewery
A real Northern success story, the second location for Bundobust in Manchester and the fourth in the family of northern-based restaurants (Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and Liverpool have come before), the Bundobust Brewery is a welcome addition to Oxford Street at the southern part of the city.
With a menu that mirrors its sister restaurants, the food is a reliable selection of Indian-style vegetarian small plates. Expect to find crisp okra fries dusted with black salt and mango powder and the iconic vada pav – a deep-fried mashed potato ball in a bun, with red and green chutneys.
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Spinningfields
Comptoir Libanais
Comptoir Libanais serves up the bold flavours of Lebanon, its fresh and healthy plates providing much to tempt those following plant-based and gluten-free lifestyles. Non-vegetarians needn’t be shy, either, with grilled meats a well-spiced speciality in themselves.
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Spinningfields
Dishoom
Dishoom is a legend in its own lunchtime and that’s exactly how it likes things. It’s not enough to serve up top-notch Indian dishes in grand surroundings; there’s a story behind the menu too. But when the food is this good it doesn’t need to hide behind tall tales.
And the food is this good.
The menu is bursting with small plates arriving at the table as and when, plus biriyani, curry and grilled gubbins as well as all sorts of sides and sundries. If you’re part of a big group (or obscenely greedy) it’s possible and even preferable to order something from each section.
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Northern Quarter
Evelyn’s
Evelyn’s is a very clever restaurant. It’s from the chaps behind Mughli so expect a quality operation although it is very different to the standout star of Curry Mile.
It’s a light and leafy sort of place, both in the surroundings and on the plate. Evelyn’s offers a fresher, healthier take on dining out but despite that, it won’t leave you feeling like you’re at a well-being bootcamp. There are still things like apple crumble and custard on the menu.
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Northern Quarter
The Green Lab
Founded in May 2019 by Manchester sisters Nikita and Kanika, The Green Lab is described as a health and well-being lifestyle store. Upstairs it’s a cafe specialising in juices and salads, while downstairs, it’s a health studio, called The Health Lab, which focuses mainly on reformer pilates.
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Castlefield
Kitten
Handcrafted sushi and charcoal grills are on the food menu in this sleek Deansgate Square set-up, complete with its own ceiling-bothering tree, while your drinks needs are catered for with a contemporary and creative cocktail list featuring Japanese infusions.
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Manchester City Centre
Mowgli | Corn Exchange
Purveyor of healthy and often vegan Indian street food and home cooking, former barrister Nisha Katona’s Corn Exchange Mowgli was the second after launching on Liverpool’s Bold Street in October 2014, so this is Manchester’s original branch and technically pre-chain.
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Book Now Spinningfields
MUSU
The Japanese word MUSU translates as ‘infinite possibilities’ and while Chef Patron Michael Shaw’s quartet of menus may not be infinite they are certainly unique for Manchester at least. With a combination of Japanese and more locally-sourced ingredients, the guest is invited to choose the way they prefer to dine at MUSU.
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Manchester City Centre
Pho | Corn Exchange
As you might expect from the name, Vietnam’s national dish pho (pronounced “fuh”) is at the heart of the menu here. Just shy of 20 versions of the nutritious and aromatic noodle soup are cooked fresh daily in the Corn Exchange kitchen.