This is the second of my I 💙 Manchester posts. Off the back of my first post which detailed some of my favourite northern quarter bars (which you can see here: The Best of the Northern Quarter Bars, Manchester), a few people asked me for recommendations of places to eat in the northern quarter. There are many lovely places to eat around the northern quarter and I couldn’t include them all, but I’ve put together a list of the restaurants I went to the most and that are my personal favourites.
I’ve also added a few ideas of accommodation at the end of the post for anyone looking for somewhere to stay. And if you’re interested in doing a walk round the Northern Quarter I’ve written the following post with detailed instructions of the best bits to see:
Walks in Manchester City Centre – The Northern Quarter
Abel Heywood
Turner Street, Northern Quarter
Upmarket pub grub with some particularly nice sharing boards. Friendly, cosy atmosphere. It’s also a great accommodation options (see below).
abelheywood.co.uk
Almost Famous
High Street, Northern Quarter
Burgers to die for. Great place to meet your mates – and very arty decor. Opposite the old fish market down the Arndale centre end of the northern quarter.
almostfamousburgers.com
Common
Edge Street, Northern Quarter
A good choice of small tapas-style plates and a particularly good chilli (meat or veggie). Also does a very good brunch.
aplacecalledcommon.co.uk
Cottonopolis
Newton Street, Northern Quarter
Located in a gorgeous Grade II-listed building with beautiful copper fixtures and fittings paired with dark blue furnishings. The dining area is at the back of the bar and does fantastic japanese fusion food. On the pricey side but well worth it in my opinion.
www.cottonopolis-nq.com
Crazy Pedro’s
Underneath Affleck’s Palace, Short Street, Northern Quarter
Very laid back pizza parlour with no bookings taken. Open from 4pm but gets really busy in the after-hours as it stays open until 4am. Great pizza for after a night out.
crazypedros.co.uk
Did you Know?
Manchester is the birthplace of the computer, Top of the Pops and the football league….
El Capo
Tariff Street, Northern Quarter
Mexican-themed with some great decor and latin beats – it’s easy to spot on Tariff Street from it’s illuminated red cross on the outside. There’s a bar upstairs and a great little restaurant downstairs serving mexican street food. Taco tuesdays are a bargain with tacos at £1 each.
www.elcaponq.co.uk
Evuna
Thomas Street, Northern Quarter
One of two branches in the city, Evuna is a fabulous tapas restaurant serving excellent dishes at a reasonable price. Rustic and authentic with a great wine list too.
evuna.com
Luck, Lust, Liquor and Burn
High Street, Northern Quarter
Situated above Almost Famous, this restaurant has equally stunning decor and serves Mexican food with a Californian theme. The burritos are particularly excellent.
lucklustliquorburn.com
Did you Know?
Lonely Planet’s ‘Best in Travel’ 2016 ranked Manchester as one of the top 10 travel destinations in the world…..:)
The Pen and Pencil
Hilton Street, Northern Quarter
A bar by night but I had to include it as their weekend brunches are superb. Top notch smoothies too. It’s best to book ahead as it gets very busy at the weekends.
www.thepenandpencilnq.co.uk
Pie Minister
Church Street, Northern Quarter
A low-key, small cafe that serves excellent pies along side a range of equally delicious sides. Although a chain, it has a very authentic feel and is perfect for a weekend afternoon meal.
pieminister.co.uk
Sweet Mandarin
Copperas Street, Northern Quarter
An award-winning chinese restaurant serving family-style, home-cooked food in a modern setting. Some unique, inspired dishes are on the menu. They do takeaway too.
sweetmandarin.com
TNQ
High Street, Northern Quarter
A stylish restaurant serving modern British cuisine using seasonal ingredients. Some wonderful concoctions (and they do great hot chocolate).
tnq.co.uk
V-Rev
Edge Street, Northern Quarter
A relatively new vegan restaurant that has popped up alongside many of the there great cafes on Edge Street. Everything really is 100{b9e09a1f0ec7fb6a299d86e341da000a37fb406ebc3c1b2f25bdf27407077a30} vegan. Very popular and closed on mondays.
v-rev.co.uk
Accommodation Suggestions
I’m not an expert on accommodation but I do know a couple of good options for different budgets which I wrote about in my previous ‘I 💙 Manchester’ post here.
Please let me know if you would like any further recommendations or have any questions – I would be happy to help.
Hi Louise,
I read several other articles that you posted on your site. I also might have told you that back in the summer of 1995, along with my Mom, (now deceased) we took a 2-week bus tour of England, Scotland and Wales after flying over from the U.S..
I do remember towards the end of the trip, returning back to the starting point of London, we spent an afternoon in Manchester, England.
I of course cannot remember at exactly what restaurant that we ate as the tour spent several hours in the city.
Regarding the article I do like your wide variety of restaurant selections that you provided to your readers.
Tourists may think of England mainly for their “fish and chips” often seen in restaurants. As for me I loved two of the choices that you recommended:
The first being the pizza parlor called Crazy Pedros.
The second was the Chinese restaurant called Sweet Mandarin.
How would the prices be for those restaurants, if you have that info? Reasonable or expensive? Would there be a wide range in prices depending on the food served, ambience and decor?
I should also mention that the Almost Famous, burger restaurant caught my eye as well. I can only assume that this restaurants’ choice of burgers would be much better than McDonald’s!
Great review article, Louise!
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
That’s great you took a tour here and especially that you visited Manchester. So many tours focus on London and forget about the rest of our beautiful country!
Manchester definitely has a lot to see and, as I have listed – many great restaurants! The prices for restaurants in the northern quarter are generally fairly average for the city as a whole I would say – the really upmarket restaurants are right in the city centre. However, like you mention, they do vary – the mexicans I recommended are fairly cheap and Cottonopolis being the other end of the scale is on the pricey side.
I like the fact that there are so many good cafes, restaurants and bars all within a relatively small area – the northern quarter is lovely to wander round. Hopefully you get another chance to come back one day! Please let me know if you do! 🙂
Louise
Wow Louise you sure do some eating 😛 I used to live in the outskirts of Manchester before I I moved to the North East. My favourite place to eat was at REDs (http://truebarbecue.com/manchester) where they do some amazing American grilled bbq food. They also condiment with their REDs hot sauce and bbq sauce on your table. The best thing about Manchester is the cuisine provided by so many cultures.
Hello Louise,
It looks like we are both very similar in the way that we are both travelling foodies! This post is great for anyone that is heading to Manchester in the near future and wants to know where to get some good grub. I always say that you truly haven’t been somewhere until you experience it like a local and there’s nothing more local that the way that they eat.
Thank you so much for your information I will have to remember this post when I go to Manchester one day!
Lindsey
Food is one of my favourite things about travelling – sounds like it is for you too 🙂
Glad you found the post useful 🙂
Louise
I have never been to Manchester, I would love to visit some day and to watch some footbal game 🙂 But also tour to bars and reasturants, some really good information where to go and what to try… Thank you for posting and good luck on your future trips 🙂
Hi Louise!
That’s some restaurant guide of Manchester!
My wife and I love the UK, but we’ve mainly been on the South of England, and Scotland.
We love british food and eating at the pubs. So we’ll definitely think about going to the North and have some local cuisine 😉
Thanks for the guide and the tips!
Hi! Glad you enjoyed my post 🙂 Let me know when you’re next over here, I’d be more than happy to give you some tips!
Louise