The Hot 50: the most popular Manchester restaurants

Skof is the first restaurant from chef Tom Barnes who, as head chef at Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume, helped it win its third Michelin star. In February 2025, he secured a Michelin star for Skof, with the judges praising its ‘clearly thought-through’ dishes and ‘delicate seasoning’.

The Black Friar stood empty and unloved for almost 20 years before reopening in summer 2021 after a substantial renovation project. Now a modern British restaurant and a traditional pub, it has established a reputation for hearty, thoughtful, home-made dishes that keep people coming back.

Higher Ground, the permanent restaurant from the team behind Flawd, opened its doors in February 2023. Taking up residence in Bruntwood’s Faulkner House on Faulkner Street, it offers a chilled bistro experience with a focus on championing the finest North West produce.

Stow on Bridge Street specialises in live fire cooking, cocktails and wine. It feels like the sophisticated cousin of the owner’s longstanding Northern Quarter bar Trof. Think cool but also cosy and intimate with two distinct spaces; the chic monochrome cocktail bar, and the earthier, softer restaurant with an open kitchen dominated by live flame grills. 

“Yet more small plates in Ancoats?” we hear you cry. Well yes, but trust us, Erst is worth your attention. This is a place for serious foodies so don’t come looking for mac n cheese balls. Plenty of other places can satisfy that filthy craving for you.

10 Tib Lane was one of the brave new openings of summer 2021; a time when securing staff and supplies, never mind diners, was an ongoing challenge for everyone. If you can launch a new restaurant in that environment, you must be doing something very right – so it’s no surprise that years later, it’s still going strong.

Louis is the next big thing from Adam and Drew Jones, the brothers behind Tattu and Fenix but it’s something very different to both. Modelled on a glamorous New York of yesteryear, Louis is the sort of place you expect to see Frank Sinatra propping up the bar with a martini in hand.

Cantaloupe is a simple yet brilliant Modern European bistro. The food is unfussy but with a team who have worked at Where The Light Gets In, Climat, The Creameries and The French, it’s no surprise that it’s also precise, achieving the almost unbelievable with humble and restrained ingredients.

You’ll find Pip on the ground floor of Treehouse Hotel Manchester, decked out in the same tastefully playful theme as the rest of the building. Furniture is mismatched and the restaurant is laid out in a spacious manner whilst still giving off a cosy, homely vibe. 

The Sparrows serves up a variety of fresh, handmade continental pasta and Central and Eastern European dumplings in an unexpectedly airy space underneath a railway archway in Red Bank.

Michelin-starred restaurant Mana is the brainchild of chef patron Simon Martin who mastered his trade at the renowned Noma in Copenhagen. At Mana, Martin has succeeded in carving his own path – one which confuses and delights people in equal measure.

With no menu and esoteric wines, Where the Light Gets In doesn’t adhere to the typical fine-dining formula. But it’s been a success for Stockport, thanks to chef-patron Sam Buckley’s belief in doing things his own way.

There is quite some experience behind owners Julian Pizer and Max Yorke at Another Hand, including time spent at Cottonopolis, The Edinburgh Castle and Hispi. In this intimate restaurant on Deansgate Mews, they put it to excellent use on an ever-changing, seasonal menu that takes advantage of some of the best suppliers in the region.

Located in the Northern Quarter, this friendly neighbourhood bistro and bar is the place to avanti if it’s a taste of traditional Sicily you fancy – from authentic street food snacks through to big plates of pasta to desserts and holiday memory gelato, eat in or take away.

Lincoln Square’s traditional Cantonese restaurant Wing’s has been an institution in the city centre since 2004, when it first found fame through the patronage of Premier League footballers.

It takes more than famous names to keep a restaurant thriving though – and it’s testament to the consistency and quality of the upmarket British-Cantonese food that Wing’s is still going strong 20 years later.

If you need a culinary lift to the spirits, the triple roasted meats at Happy Seasons in Chinatown will do the trick. This trio of char siu, crispy belly pork and roasted duck, served over egg fried rice, is one of the reasons you see queues out of the door at this Cantonese restaurant.

Lock 84 is the all-day restaurant and bar inside four-star hotel The Reach, which opened on Ducie Street in summer 2024. With its preference for locally-sourced ingredients and chic, characterful design, it feels more Northern Quarter independent than international hotel chain. In reality it sits somewhere between the two.

San Carlo is Manchester’s most famous and, some say, best Italian restaurant. Run by the Distefano family, it’s said to have one of the largest turnovers in the UK. It’s also the place to be papped and you’ll sometimes see a bank of photographers outside to prove the point.

The first Hawksmoor steakhouse outside of London is a confident affair. Well sourced steak and attention to detail have created a place like no other.

Suki Suki Street Food & Bar is a Pan-Asian street food bar located on Deansgate under the arches of the Great Northern Warehouse.

Winsome is a relatively new restaurant in Manchester but it already feels like an established part of the city’s dining scene. Perhaps that’s down to its timeless classic cooking or perhaps the pedigree of the team behind it. 

Cantonese and contemporary, Little Yang Sing has a relaxed feel in otherwise bustling Chinatown. It’s popular for its dim sum, and offers much for the plant-based palate along with a proper wine list. .

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.

The MUSU Collection is a group of innovative modern dining experiences, all under one roof. With three AA rosettes, this is the cutting edge of Manchester’s restaurant scene.

The first thing you notice when you step into fine-dining restaurant Climat is the view. Situated on the roof of Blackfriars House, you’re just above the city skyline, close enough to see the details of the architecture, but high enough to feel like you’re in the clouds.

Once a stall at Levy Market, then a pop-up pizzeria above Fred’s Ale House, Cibus took baby steps to get to where it is today; a fully-fledged and much-praised Italian restaurant and bar on Levenshulme high street, and the winner of The Good Food Guide’s award for Best Local Restaurant North West 2024.

Bruncho is a relaxed brunch spot on Deansgate focusing on Turkish specialities. The food is healthy and satisfying with a feeling of sunshine thanks to the Mediterranean diet. Of course, if various healthy iterations of poached eggs just don’t do it for you, then stamp on your fitbit and order pistachio baklava French toast instead.

On the Hush is a popular Northern Quarter cafe bar, winning awards for its bottomless brunch. Loyal customers and visitors to Manchester love its colourful style, imaginative cocktails and casual all-day food offering.

The Pen and Pencil is the Northern Quarter’s cool all-day hangout, modelled on the New York bar of the same name popular with the city’s journalists and ad men in the 1950s and 1960s. It has a reputation for great cocktails, quality food and an atmosphere that makes it stand out from nearby imitators.

The food at Butter Bird is excellent – if you like chicken, and things cooked in chicken fat. A pleasant-looking restaurant with a buzzy atmosphere, it’s more than the sum of its parts (which is, essentially, lots of people eating rotisserie chicken).

Founder’s Hall is a smartly-refurbished pub with an enviable position on Albert Square. It serves up comforting pub food and a vast range of beers.

If you feel it’s time to spice up your life, look no further than this Northern Quarter indie, where the main offer is ‘kebabs worth sitting down for’. Yep, BAB by name, ‘babs by nature, but that’s not doing the menu full justice – there are also meze small plates to mix and match, skewers and shawarmas, and non-babs such as an epic surf & turf spread.

Food hall meets music festival is how we’d describe Freight Island to anyone confused about what they’ll find at this regenerated rail depot beyond Piccadilly Station. 

Mackie Mayor is a cosmopolitan food hall located in an 1858 Grade II listed market building on the edge of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

This 2023 addition to George Street has already secured a place as one of the most popular restaurants in Chinatown. Spread across two floors, Only Yu is lively even at lunchtime, thanks to friendly service and well-executed Chinese food.

Exhibition is one of Manchester’s cluster of exciting multi-kitchen concepts (read: food halls) that just seem to be multiplying. In the former home of the Natural History Museum, the location makes it perfect for visitors to Manchester Central, the Radisson Blu and the Midland Hotel.

Manchester’s highest restaurant, bar and terrace 20 Stories was the opening of 2018 and still maintains its status as one of the city’s most popular place to eat, drink, be snapped and be seen.

When Peter Street lost its Caffe Nero it gained Haunt, an independent coffee shop and wine bar. Stepping inside, you feel like this corner spot in the beautiful St George’s House, with its views of the Midland Hotel and Central Library, has finally got the classy occupier it deserves.

Thai Soul Cuisine is Confidential Guides’ top under-the-radar recommendation when it comes to Thai food. Discover why it’s worth heading out of town for your next brisket massaman curry.

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 it won’t leave you feeling like you’re at a well-being bootcamp.

Wagamama St Peter’s Square is one of Manchester’s go-to spots for a casual curry or lunchtime noodles. Right in the middle of the city centre, seconds away from one of the main tram stops, it’s quick, easy, good value, and good quality.

Almanac opened in summer 2025 and has early signs of building the same enviable reputation as chef-owner Luke Payne’s nearby success story, The Packhorse. But while the Packhorse is a country pub complete with roaring fires and Sunday roasts, Almanac is a sleek restaurant which takes its style inspiration from classic New York meets New Orleans brasseries and its culinary notes from historical British food writers Mrs Beeton and Elizabeth David.

Mei Dim by name, dim sum by nature. If it’s the Cantonese version of small plates you’re after, look no further than this basement Chinatown establishment, where bite-sized brunch or lunch dishes in the form of dumplings and buns are proclaimed the best in Manchester.

As the first San Carlo Cicchetti, the Manchester restaurant had a lot to prove on opening in 2011. Over a decade and several awards later, it’s still going strong.

Owned and managed by Giuseppe Lombardo from Naples, Vesuvio brings the flavours, techniques and passion of Southern Italian cooking to Worsley in a big way.

The restaurant has built a reputation for offering some of the most varied and true-to-its-roots Neapolitan food to be found in Greater Manchester. Fans of Cicchetti Manchester might recognise Giuseppe’s cooking – he was head chef there before he left to open this place.

Loom & Ladle Bistro is the restaurant in Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly – and a destination in its own right. As its name suggests, it’s a place where Manchester’s heritage and passion for food come together. The bistro-style restaurant serves classic dishes made with fresh, local ingredients.

Bringing new life to Hale village is relaxed restaurant and bar Riva, which cleverly scoops up trade from morning till night with it’s catch-all menu of brunches, lunches, dinners and cocktails.

Bar Shrimp is the third opening from the Higher Ground and Flawd team, a seafood bar with an emphasis on DJ nights, cocktails, and a menu designed for grazing rather than full-on dining. With moody lighting, a hip clientele, and a self-stated goal to create an ‘immersive sonic identity’, it’s a fashion-forward kind of place, and priced accordingly.  

Albert’s Schloss is a Bavarian-inspired fun palace of extraordinary dimensions and clever design. Behind the glistening tiles of the former Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission building (est in 1910) you’ll discover a vast bar, real fires, perfectly preserved original plaster, and a wall stuffed generously with flowers by floral artists’ Frog. You’ll also find a stage, DJ booth and network of beer pipes and tanks serving unpasturised Pilsner Urquell to hordes of adoring punters.

Rain Bar is a pub from JW Lees in an old umbrella factory. It’s a beautiful building and looks even better now after its recent refurb. The jewel in the crown though, or the spoke in its brolly, is a large outdoor area to the rear overlooking the Bridgewater Canal.