The Hot 50: the most popular Manchester restaurants

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. 

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.

Fenix is a simple, rustic Greek restaurant as re-imagined by World of Interiors. The palette of creams and neutral stones is minimalist and sophisticated. It’s rather pared back considering Fenix is from the team behind Tattu but still a sense of opulence prevails.

Skof is the acclaimed Manchester restaurant from chef Tom Barnes (formerly of L’Enclume). Having secured a Michelin star in 2025 and retained it for 2026, Skof is celebrated for its precise Modern British menus, earning ‘Restaurant of the Year’ honours for its sophisticated yet accessible dining experience.

“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.

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.

Caravan Manchester is a 2024 opening from a small London chain started by three New Zealanders who settled in the UK a decade ago. They began as a coffee roastery, before expanding into restaurants, and chose Manchester’s new St John’s district for their first venue outside London.

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. 

Maray Manchester is the fourth of its kind, but the first to sprout outside of Liverpool. Inspired by Le Marais quarter in Paris, where founders Tom, Dom and James tried “some of the best falafel in the world” on the streets of Rue Des Rosiers.

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.

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. 

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 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.

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.

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.

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. 

Culinary rock and roll from Simon Rogan’s protege, Adam Reid, and head chef Blaise Murphy, formerly of Mana. Enjoy fine-dining in Grade II Listed Victorian surrounds – with a side order of Mancunian attitude.

El Gato Negro is an upmarket Manc-Spanish fusion restaurant that really, really works. Originally from Yorkshire, chef Simon Shaw has created an indulgent, three-storey church to his passion for the best in Spanish food and wine.

Much-hyped Manchester opening from the Big Mamma Group, Circolo Popolare is Italian dining designed for the Instagram grid. Its big, extravagant dishes look great and if you order wisely, taste pretty good too.

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

Found in the former E & A Auto Services garage depot on Swan Street, Firehouse is the sister restaurant to Ramona’s Detroit-style pizzeria. It’s part restaurant, part bar and part performance venue where tables are available to book for dinner and “after dark drinking”. The space is open and airy with a real laid-back feel. White shutters, bleached brick and glitter balls hanging from the high ceiling complete the chilled out party ambience.

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.

This is the first Manchester opening from the Flat Iron chain whose mission is to bring accessible steak to everyone, without compromising on flavour or ethics.

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.

Longstanding Thomas Street bar The Trof has got ‘top Manchester night out’ written all over its labyrinthine three storeys. But it’s just as well known for its morning-after comfort feeds as its cocktails. The Sunday Roast has a reputation for greatness, and the weekend brunch menu is popular. Go for the full English breakfast or the confit duck hash with sriracha and honey glaze.

Restaurant Örme has recently rethought its food offering, swapping the more elitist tasting menus for a menu of seasonal small plates accompanied by a well-thought out wine list, local beers and an excellent soundtrack.Although the format has changed, the quality hasn’t. Orme was always one of Manchester’s more affordable fine dining options. Now its beautiful dishes are even more accessible.

Atlas Bar is known as one of the originals of Manchester’s modern cafe-bar scene. And for its extensive collection of gins – over 570 varieties and counting.

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.

Kallos Cafe & Wine Bar has lit up Salford’s dining scene like a thunderbolt from Zeus himself since it opened in March 2025. It already has a host of loyal locals who love both its easy-going Mediterranean brunches and superb coffee as well as its modern Greek meze dining and well-chosen wines.

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.

Proper traditional-style pubs with good fodder; the countryside (and even the suburbs) is littered with them, so why are they so hard to come by in the city centre? In fact, I reckon I could count them all on one hand. So you could imagine my delight when I found out the team behind The Crown & Kettle and The Rat & Pigeon (two bloody good pubs, if you ask me) were opening a third site slap bang in the middle of the Northern Quarter.

Namaste Nepal on West Didsbury’s Burton Road is a relaxed Nepalese spot that is the definition of a much-loved neighbourhood restaurant.

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.

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.

Italian restaurant, bar and deli Lina Stores opened its first Manchester venue in the same year it celebrated its 80th birthday. The original was a shop in Soho known for its Italian produce. Eight decades later, there are nine Lina Stores in London plus three in Japan, and as of spring 2025, one in Manchester. Better late than never, guys.

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.

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.

Tender is an elegant restaurant in Manchester’s Stock Exchange Hotel. The food lives up to the grandeur. Headed by Chef Niall Keating, it wouldn’t be a surprise if his cooking here earned him some more of those Michelin stars. He’s on his way to becoming a culinary constellation.

Award-winning Ancoats pub The Edinburgh Castle is known for being a fixture of the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs. Currently, it’s gone back to basics as a beautifully restored, traditional Victorian pub but without the standout food. It’s popular on matchday but it’s classy too. Think cask ales and cocktails by candlelight rather than wall-to-wall Sky Sports.

When a restaurant sells karahi by the kilo, you know it’s not messing about. No wonder that less than a year after opening, Baba Tikka is already building up a following for its authentic desi cooking.

With its Tudor-style facade and picturesque setting overlooking Chorlton Green, the Horse & Jockey has always had the potential to be one of Manchester’s most notable pubs. In 2025 (a mere 200 years since it first opened) it finally secured its place on that list.

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.

Lily’s Indian Vegetarian Cuisine is an unassuming restaurant in Ashton-under-Lyne that happens to serve some of the best South Indian food in the UK.

“On a mission to make really great sourdough pizza” since a pop-up in rainy Ramsbottom back in 2013, Honest Crust’s Northern Quarter outlet in the Mackie Mayor food hall is its second, sandwiched between Market House Alty and the more recent Picturedrome Macclesfield.

The Smithfield Social fits in well to the Northern Quarter bar scene. It doesn’t offer anything radically different but what it does, it does well. Like many places in the area, it’s a casual all-day affair from morning brunches to late night drinking.

Following successes in Chester and Altrincham, this Porta opened its doors in late 2018. It brings a taste of Spain to sunny Salford with its simple yet elegant and super-authentic tapas dishes, and its laidback surroundings in a former bank on Bexley Square.

Named after the first recorded name for Ancoats, Elnecot (meaning ‘lonely cottages’) takes its influence from historical cooking methods with lots of fermenting, a little foraging and a few nose-to-tail dishes.

Sexy Fish is no mere minnow in the UK dining scene. It’s brought to you by Caprice Holdings, the group behind some of London’s most glam dining spots. Think of it as more of a humongous mermaid – beautiful and ever so slightly improbable.