One of Manchester’s most popular street food stalls has won a huge accolade in the Deliveroo Restaurant Awards, scooping the prize for Best Newcomer.
Salt & Pepper serves a Chinese-inspired menu from a stall inside the Arndale food market, as well as from the kitchens at Black Dog in the Northern Quarter.
The local business has centred its menu around the ever-popular Chinese dish of salt and pepper, with variations including chicken wings, surf and turf, and battered king prawns.
They also serve up sticky Canton-glazed meals, all loaded onto salt and pepper crinkle fries or rice.
Salt & Pepper operates from the Arndale food market and Black Dog in the Northern Quarter. Credit: Supplied
Owner Chloe Tao said: “We’re absolutely delighted to win the award for best newcomer and wanna thank everyone that voted for us.
“Quite honestly, we’ve not had a lot of good news this year and this award has really cheered us all up and kept us validated.
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“We’re really grateful that we’re still able to serve good food to good people and I’m so proud of my incredible team who continue to make this their priority.”
Wingstop won the very top prize – and opens in Manchester this week. Credit: Supplied
Several larger restaurant groups with presences here in Manchester did scoop an award though, including Dishoom, which was crowned best Indian restaurant, and Gaucho, for fine dining.
Wingstop, which is about to open its first Manchester location just off Piccadilly Gardens, was named the Restaurant of the Year.
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The chicken wing restaurant beat out the likes of Proove Pizza and Fat Hippo to claim the top prize.
Read more: Kampus’s restaurant-on-stilts to become bakery, florist and bagel shop
The Deliveroo Restaurant Awards were first launched in 2019 to celebrate the best restaurants and grocers on the platform, with winners across 21 categories chosen by public vote.
The Restaurant of the Year was chosen by a panel of expert judges, made up of food critic Grace Dent, presenter and TV chef Big Zuu, Junior Bake-Off judge Ravneet Gill, and Deliveroo CEO Will Shu.
Will Shu said: “Well done to all of our winners and finalists in every category, the food we’re delivering to customers has never been better and that’s thanks to the incredible restaurants and grocers on our platform.”
Featured Image – Salt & Pepper Manchester
Eats
Bottomless curry deal returns to popular Manchester Indian restaurant Zouk
Danny Jones
One of the best-loved Indians in Manchester has relaunched its bottomless curry offering and is chucking in free rice and naans to boot.
Zouk over on Chester Street has brought back its endless curry, rice and naan deal to ease the last of those January blues.
Every night this week, you’ll be able to tuck into a full buffet of the tea bar and grill’s award-winning, authentic curries, showcasing dishes from all over the Indian subcontinent.
Costing just £20 a head, you can feast until your heart’s content on some of the very best curries in the city – no exaggeration.
What does ‘bottomless curry’ night at Zouk look like?
The bottomless curry deal at Zouk first ran this year back in January, but it’s now back for National Curry Week (6-12 October 2025), and we can’t wait to stuff ourselves silly yet again.
Every single day, there’ll be four different curries to choose from, always including two meat options, a vegetarian curry and a vegan dish.
What exactly can you get on Zouk’s bottomless offer?
As mentioned, each booking also includes unlimited rice and naan to go with your curry of choice.
Tables are for 90 minutes per booking, giving guests plenty of time to take on the increasingly popular bottomless curry challenge.
Question is, do you have the stomach for it?
With an ever-rotating selection of curries inspired by various distinct regions and speciality cuisines, you’re not short on variety either. You can see Zouk‘s current bottomless curry menu in full below:
Monday
Chicken Karahi – A speciality from the Northwest region of Pakistan. Tender pieces of chicken cooking in a sizzling wok over hot flames with tomatoes, crushed peppercorns, cumin, ginger and garlic.
Lamb and Potatoes – Tender chunks of lamb cooked with new potatoes, yoghurt, tomatoes and garlic.
Mutter Paneer (V) – Indian Paneer cheese with new potatoes, yoghurt, tomatoes and garlic.
Chole Masala (VG) – From Delhi to Punjab, this authentic channa masala is a tasty street food classic.
Tuesday
Tamater Kadei Murgh – A delicious chicken and tomato curry cooked with mild spices. Perfect with rice or bread
Lamb Do Pyaaza – Medium-spiced North Indian speciality: tender pieces of lamb slowly cooked with lavish amounts of caramelised onions in a spicy masala
Tarka Dall (V) – Channa and mung lentils cooked in a spicy sauce
Gobi Mutter (VG) – Spicy cauliflower sautéed in a rich tomato masala with peas
Wednesday
Chicken Do Payaza – Spiced North Indian chicken dish with tomatoes and caramelised onions
Lamb & Bindi – Tender pieces of lamb cooked in a spicy masala with ‘lady fingers’ (okra)
Chole Masala (V) – Authentic channa masala is a tasty street food classic
Mili Juli Sabzi (VG) – Fresh vegetables fused together with herbs and spices
Over the halfway hump, room for more? (Credit: The Manc Eats)
Thursday
Chicken Tikka Masala – A simple classic chicken tikka masala. Chicken pieces marinated in yoghurt tossed inside a balti of garlic and ginger.
Lamb Rogan Josh – A speciality from Jammu and Kashmir, with chillies and juicy tomatoes.
Dall Makhani (V) – Black lentils in a smooth and creamy sauce.
Palak Aloo (VG) – Spinach leaf and fenugreek cooked with new potatoes and coriander.
Friday
Chicken Handi – Punjabi-style chicken curry slowly cooked over burning flames with tomatoes, onions, garlic and Zouk’s special garam masala.
Lamb Jalfrezi – Lamb pieces cooked with capsicum, onions and tomatoes in a thick spicy sauce.
Bengan do Pyaza (V) – A medium-spiced North Indian dish of aubergine cooked with tomatoes, spices and lavish amounts of onions.
Bindi Do Pyaza (VG) – A medium-spiced North Indian dish of Okra cooked with tomatoes, spices and lavish amounts of onions.
And now we’re stuffed…
If you’re looking for somewhere to get bottomless curry in Manchester, this is the place for you. (Credit: The Manc)
Zouk has become one of Manchester’s leading restaurants since it opened in 2009, even drawing in famous fans like Rihanna, Drake, Manchester United stars and, of course, many a Mancs each and every day – because there’s never a bad time for a curry.
Available all throughout this week, you can make the most of this incredible bottomless curry deal like we do every year and trust us, Manchester: it genuinely NEVER disappoints.
You can find more information – including all terms and conditions – on the website and book your visit HERE, or over the phone on 0161 2331 090.
First vendors confirmed Glossop Market Hall, including two indie Manc traders
Danny Jones
The first vendors for the upcoming Glossop Market Hall have been announced, and the lineup includes two beloved Greater Manchester independent businesses.
Better still, the third is another noteworthy name from the North West.
Glossop Market Hall is scheduled to launch later this year, setting up shop in the historic town hall complex, where the High Peak Borough Council, a retail shopping arcade and various other municipal buildings have stood in various different iterations for nearly well over a century.
With the Derbyshire town set to celebrate the opening of the newly revamped market hall, those behind the new Glossop attraction have now revealed the first three names set to take up residence there.
As you can see, the biggest names already signed on to cook from one of the six kitchens is a Manchester favourite food hall in its own right: Hello Oriental.
The Pan-Asian paradise not only has a subterranean space below Circle Square, but also at The Trafford Centre, as well as a dessert spin-off in Freight Island.
Indie trader number two comes in the form of B&V Trading, who are based at Stanley Square in Sale and specialise in eco-friendly, UK-made treats, toys and essentials for four-legged friends.
After proving a hit with the locals, their small stall at nearby Altrincham Market has grown to see them open up not just a second site in the leafy Cheshire suburbs of Knutsford back in 2022, but now boast a third location in neighbouring Macclesfield.
Speaking of Macc, local gin and whisky makers, Forest Distillery – based up at the famous Cat and Fiddle Inn pub towards the Peaks – they round out the first wave of regional businesses set to pop up in Glossop Market Hall (GMH) when it finally arrives this winter.
And once again, as the update on social media reads: “This is just the beginning”.
Natives, day-trippers and tourists from all over are bound to visit this place when it opens sometime in November (exact date still TBC), and with space not only for a dedicated bar, dining space and a coffee shop, but a total of 17 retail spaces, we can’t wait to see what comes next.
GMH becomes just the latest among a growing trend of food and drink halls popping up all over our part of the country, with virtually every Greater Manchester borough now boasting at least one of their own – or, in the city centre’s case, what feels like a dozen now.
Exhibit number… not sure, we’ve lost track at this point.
Daisy Jackson -
16th November 2021 
