22 vegetarian friendly restaurants in Manchester

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

From the rocket, fig and goat’s cheese pizza to the tempura sprouting broccoli with chilli and almond pesto, Loom & Ladle Bistro serves vegetarian food with that extra detail taking it to the next level. Confidential Guides loves the tabbouleh salad with sesame aubergine and charred halloumi.

Sicilian NQ is well-known for its authentic meat-free cuisine. In fact, the arancini are famous. The cakes and pastries, many of which are vegan, are superb too. What’s more, in January you can enjoy 40% off Sunday to Thursday to help celebrate Veganuary.

Suki Suki Street Food & Bar is a Pan-Asian street food bar under the arches of the Great Northern Warehouse. Veg gyoza, phad thai and miso ramen with tofu and pak choi are the pick of an extensive set of meat-free options.

Wagamama St Peter’s Square is one of Manchester’s go-to spots for a casual curry or lunchtime noodles. There are loads of iconic vegetarian options like bang bang cauliflower and yasai katsu curry. It’s quick, easy, good value, and, most importantly, good quality.

Lincoln Square’s traditional Cantonese restaurant, Wing’s, is an institution in the city centre. Much-loved by Premier League footballers, it’s popular with vegetarians too. There’s an entire meat free menu where you can choose from Chinese specialities like lo han dumplings and stuffed bean curd with rainbow vegetables.

The Allotment Vegan Eatery aims to make vegetables taste better than steak. That’s quite an ask. However, the tapas-style dishes and large plates would capture the heart of a carnivore. The Tuscan butter beans are great and so is the root vegetable massaman curry. Also a standout for plant-based bottomless brunch, afternoon tea and Sunday roasts.

Bundobust is a huge beer hall serving craft ales in the heart of Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens. It also happened to win Restaurant of the Year at the 2017 Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards, thanks to its stellar menu of Indian small plates.

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.

Known to its friends as ITR, the second of the three bright Indian Tiffin Room restaurants specialises in thalis (a kind of mini buffet) and south Indian tiffin dishes, putting colour on a plate with its street food inspired by the bustling stalls of different parts of India.

Inspire Cafe is an inclusive, relaxed gem of a community cafe housed in a former church in Levenshulme. It serves breakfasts, light lunches, and homemade cake during the day, with occasional pop-ups from local street food traders (with local beers) in the evening.

Many of us are familiar with the vibrant cuisines of Vietnam and Thailand but Cambodian, or Khmer, food is still relatively unexplored territory in the UK. Kambuja in Marple is one of the country’s few dedicated Cambodian restaurants – and it’s a good one. It received rave reviews in the national press when it opened in 2017 under its former name of Angkor Soul.

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.

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.

The Mekong Cat is a teeny restaurant in Stockport serving food from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. It’s the second opening from Y Sok who is also behind the hugely popular Kambuja in Marple.

Momo Shop is The Little Yeti rebranded with more of a DIY pop-punk dumpling vibe. It’s an establishment of the ‘limited menu but executed very well’ variety, which is more common in Asia than over here, where ‘all things to all people’ is perhaps too often attempted.

Mumbai to London Cafe doesn’t look like much from the outside (or the inside) but don’t let that fool you; there is some fantastic food to be found in this lowkey, licensed restaurant and takeaway in Droylsden.

Seasonal and made from scratch – there’s a homeliness to the food at The Pasta Factory that belies its industrial-sounding name.

You can’t move a foot in Manchester without coming across a 12″. However, Purezza is Manchester’s only purely plant-based pizza joint. Vegan cheese is often a sore point for newcomers to dairy-free dining. Rest assured Purezza’s is widely-reported to be one of the best.

Sanskruti Withington is well-known in the area for its vegan and vegetarian cuisine which takes in Gujurati thalis, South Indian dosas, Mumbai chaat and the rich curries of Punjab.

Tea Hive is a quaint little cafe celebrating the nation’s favourite cuppa, and cake, lots of cake – including many that are gluten-free or vegan.

Everyone’s heard of NQ backstreet gaff This & That, even if they’ve not actually found it (it’s up the ginnel by Trof’s empty barrels) – renowned for its daily changing “rice and three” meal deal and winning vegan and vegetarian choices, it’s been an institution since 1984.

Salford independent the Treehouse Cafe is the sort of picture-perfect coffee house you frequently see on Instagram but rarely stumble upon on the streets of Broughton. 

Lebanese and Syrian restaurant Yara is not alone with its Cheadle outpost – equally popular branches can be sniffed out in Alderley Edge, Altrincham, Whitefield and Chorlton. Renowned for dishing up huge portions, there’s also now an order online option for finger-licking Middle Eastern fayre to your door.