While many people visit the Manchester Christmas Markets to stock up on gifts and trinkets, for most of us, it’s all about seeking out the best food and drink.
Just a few years ago you could barely move around the markets for giant pans of paella and swing grills holding three dozen sizzling sausages.
But these days, the markets have a much more local flavour, with plenty of well-loved local names springing up across the city’s festive huts.
As the markets have officially kicked off today, you’ll find some incredible street food at sites including Piccadilly Gardens, St Ann’s Square, Exchange Square, and King Street.
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And if you’re a staunch believer in the more traditional foods, like German bratwurst and French garlic mushrooms, don’t you worry – we’ve got more on that to come.
We’ve rounded up some of the best food and drink you’ll find at the Manchester Christmas Markets.
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If you want to find out more about this huge seasonal celebration, check out the below articles too:
The best food and drink at the Manchester Christmas Markets
Yard & Coop, St Ann’s Square
Yard & Coop at the Manchester Christmas Markets 2023Yard & Coop at the Manchester Christmas Markets 2023
If you don’t yet know of Yard & Coop – where the hell have you been loca?
This Northern Quarter institution is back at the Manchester Christmas Markets with a menu full of its usual comfort food with a festive twist.
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There are huge trays of loaded fries, like the salt n pepper tray or the Dirty Santa, plus chicken in a waffle cone and the Buff Daddy burger.
The Flat Baker, Winter Gardens at Piccadilly Gardens
Croissant with pistachio sauce from The Flat Baker Croissant with pistachio sauce from The Flat Baker
Usually served out of a tiny hole-in-the-wall site in Ancoats, The Flat Baker is making its debut at the Christmas Markets this year.
Their pistachio-laden pastries are already the stuff of legend, and you’ll find plenty of that – along with more Brazilian-influenced bakes – at their Winter Gardens stall.
From warm cinnamon rolls topped with dulce de leche, Brazilian mince pies with tropical fruit, and their incredible croissants with dipping sauces, if you’ve got a sweet tooth this place has to be the best food stall at the Manchester Christmas Markets.
Parmogeddon, New Cathedral Street
Are you drunk? Hungover? Hungry? Whatever you answered to that question, don’t let Parmogeddon’s run at the Manchester Christmas Markets pass you by.
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Inspired by the late-night parmos served up in the north east, they’re piling Béchamel sauce, melted cheese and gravy onto chips and into burgers like there’s no tomorrow.
This year’s menu includes a Christmas parmo topped with pigs in blankets, stuffing and gravy, a parmo butty with pickled slaw and garlic sauce, and loaded roasties.
El Gato Negro has always found itself in the midst of the Manchester Christmas Markets, thanks to the fact its award-winning restaurant is slap-bang in the middle of King Street. So it was only a matter of time before they joined in with their own stall.
On the menu here there’s classic patatas bravas, or you can build your own with toppings including turkey gravy (obviously yes) and manchego cheese. There are also incredible sandwiches, with freshly-cooked chorizo or goats cheese fillings.
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It even has a fancy meal deal, where you can get a sandwich, patatas bravas, and either a pint of beer or a mulled wine for £16.50. 10/10, no amends.
Waffle Kart, King Street
Waffle Kart at King Street, ManchesterWaffle Kart at King Street, Manchester
Stop what you’re doing right now and look at the above food p*rn. Just look at it.
‘What if KFC and a Chinese restaurant made a baby?’, they ask on their blackboard above the door – if this is the result, we’re all for it.
Tender buttermilk chicken with an outrageously crunchy batter is served alongside fluffy waffles, with pickles and maple syrup for drizzling; or you could get the prawn toast waffles, an unconventional twist on a family recipe. It’s all great.
Triple B, Dock 53 at Piccadilly Gardens
Triple B with the best Christmas sandwiches at the Markets in ManchesterTriple B is a long-standing favourite at the Manchester Christmas Markets
If you haven’t yet put a Triple B Christmas sandwich in your mouth, you haven’t lived.
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These guys are becoming a firm favourite thanks to their New York-style bagels stuffed with an extra bit of festive cheer, like the fried camembert bagel with winter slaw and stilton mayo, and the Christmas Reuben bagel with an extra stuffing patty wedged in.
That’s alongside their usual enormous butties like the pastrami burger, the grill melt bagel, and the Triple B cheeseburger.
Little Piece of Bahia, Winter Gardens at Piccadilly Gardens
Little Piece of Bahia is serving the best Brazilian food at the Manchester Christmas MarketsLittle Piece of Bahia is serving the best Brazilian food at the Manchester Christmas Markets
Little Piece of Bahia might be one of Manchester’s best-kept secrets – expect it’s not: this city centre cult favourite has been serving up authentic Brazilian cuisine in the Arndale since March and has already garnered a loyal following.
Serving up regional home-style soul food from South America since 1989, when the family business first arrived in the UK, this is their first-ever stall at the Christmas Markets, where you’ll always be greeted by the ever-charming and always smiling Camila.
Deeply knowledgeable and passionate about her country’s food, as well as her Portuguese and Nigerian ancestry, she’s serving up national dishes like feijoada, hearty stews with sprinklings of cassava, chicken and beef croquettes, cheese breads, Brazilian-style sausage rolls and much more.
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Oi Dumplings, Winter Gardens at Piccadilly Gardens
Giant XXL steamed dumplings at Oi DumplingsOi Dumplings street food stall at the Manchester Christmas Markets
Oi Dumplings has been a The Manc fave ever since we stumbled upon their tiny dumpling cabin in Marsden, so to have them on our doorstep in Manchester is downright dangerous.
Their beautiful pink neon-clad Christmas Markets hut is serving authentic dumplings, loaded fries, and celebration rice, with dumpling fillings including pork, Chinese chicken curry, and Kimchi and cheese.
They also have giant XXL steamed dumplings on the menu, and chocolate lava moon dumplings.
Korean Crunch Gansig, Piccadilly Gardens
Crunch Korean Gansig. Credit: The Manc GroupCrunch Korean Gansig. Credit: The Manc Group
These guys were the viral breakout star of 2022, with huge queues forming for their cheese pull-heavy Korean hotdogs, with fillings including cheese, potato and meat.
Deep-fried in a crispy waffle coating and then lightly rolled in sugar, these sausages on a stick come drizzled in sweet ketchup and mustard.
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They’ve been so popular since joining the markets that they actually stay put all year round – but you can guarantee we’ll be making a beeline for them anyway.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Eats
The 5 best places to go for a matcha in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Matcha fever has the nation gripped at the minute – it feels like half the country has turned its back on flat whites in favour of the popular green tea drink.
This pretty Japanese beverage might have been around for centuries, but it’s having a bit of a new moment here in Manchester and finding a whole new wave of fans.
With the global success of brands like Blank Street, you can barely walk down the street without passing someone sipping something green.
So we’ve decided to pull together five local spots in Manchester who are doing the very best matcha in town, from the very traditional to the very playful.
Know of somewhere we’ve missed? Drop us a DM on our The Manc Eats Instagram page HERE.
Ohayo Tea, Chinatown
Matcha bubble tea and soft serve at Ohayo Tea in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
This adorable bubble tea cafe in Chinatown has a Shiba Inu dog as its mascot, and you’ll find his face carved into the walls, waffles in the shape of his head, and a giant dog statue bursting out of the wall.
Ohayo Tea serve a complex take on a matcha drink that plays into their bubble tea expertise – expect your matcha to come layered with tapioca pearls, cheese foam, pistachio foam, and plenty more options too.
These drinks come with instructions – tilt your branded cup (the Shiba is back) it to at least 45 degrees to get every layer at once, or, if you insist, use a thick straw to mix it all together.
You can also get matcha soft serve here with shards of honeycomb stuck to it. Delightful.
Just Between Friends, Ancoats and Northern Quarter
Matcha drinks at Just Between Friends, Ancoats. Credit: The Manc Group
If you’re someone who actually likes matcha to taste of matcha, rather than of all sorts of syrups and other add-ons, turn to one of the city’s best coffee shops.
At Just Between Friends – which has locations tucked into an old mill in Ancoats as well as right on Tib Street in the Northern Quarter – matcha is whisked properly with a traditional bamboo whisk, before being added to steamed or chilled milk.
The result is either a warm, smooth drink served in an earthenware cup, or a refreshing iced matcha.
You can wedge yourself into a window seat or even sit on the cobbled archway outside and imagine you’ve transported yourself to a Tokyo backstreet.
We’d love to tell you the opening hours and location of this pop-up matcha hotspot, but it tends to shift around Manchester a bit.
It’s worth tracking down though – Matcha Kyoto is importing speciality ingredients all the way from Kyoto and doing everything as authentically as possible.
With matcha whipped cream, matcha lattes, matcha desserts and matcha toppings it’s a dream come true for matcha lovers… Is the word matcha starting to sound like gibberish to anyone else at this point?
Track their latest movements on their Instagram HERE.
Sipp, Ancoats and Deansgate Square
Sipp matcha in Ancoats. Credit: The Manc Group
If you’re new to matcha, or just know that you like yours with a little sweetness and fun, you must get a sip of Sipp’s.
These guys are based in General Stores around town, with their own coffee shop soon to open in Chorlton, and they have a whole list of ‘Matcha Cloud’ drinks.
Their best-seller is the raspberry and coconut, which tastes exactly like a lamington, or there are always specials cropping up (currently, it’s a mango and passionfruit).
This is gateway matcha – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Tsujiri, Chinatown
A selection of matcha items at Tsujuri in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Not satisfied with simply serving matcha you can drink, Tsujiri is a Japanese tea house using this powerful ingredient in cakes, ice creams, cheesecakes and more.
Tsujiri was founded all the way back in 1860, before bringing the finest matcha lattes and infused desserts to British shores.
In Manchester, you’ll find them in the heart of Chinatown, tucked up an anonymous flight of stairs, where there are cabinets full of green sweet treats like a matcha basque cheesecake, matcha sundaes, and classic iced lattes.
The two best bakeries in Greater Manchester, according to the Good Food Guide
Daisy Jackson
The Good Food Guide has released its list of the top bakeries across the UK – and two in Greater Manchester have made the cut.
The prestigious guide has been travelling across the nation testing out the joy of British bakeries, from pastries to loaves to biscuits.
50 bakeries around the UK have been selected, ‘from a makeshift industrial unit in Devon to a radically remote destination in the Scottish Highlands and a must-visit spot in Mid Wales’.
Greater Manchester, as we know, has no shortage of great bakeries, whether it’s queueing for ages for an artisan pastry at La Chouquette, the ever-changing specials at Half Dozen Other in the Green Quarter, or delicious bakes and breads at Companio.
The Good Food Guide has said that the nation is going through something of a ‘modern baking boom’ and selected two spots locally that are doing it better than anyone else.
The first is Pollen, a legendary bakery which started life under a railway arch near Manchester Piccadilly, where people would queue all morning for a cruffin (at the time, this was revolutionary).
The team have now gone on to open a sunny waterside cafe at Ancoats Marina, and another in the leafy Kampus neighbourhood.
Pollen in AncoatsPollen in AncoatsPollen at KampusPollen at KampusCredit: The Manc Group
The Good Food Guide praised Pollen for its ‘quality viennoiserie and sourdough loaves’.
The Good Food Guide says of Pollen: “Since the aroma of fresh croissants first wafted from the ovens of the original bakery in Ancoats, Pollen has established something of a cult status in Manchester for its quality viennoiserie and sourdough loaves.
“A second, larger outpost at the Kampus development in the Piccadilly area is a serene, putty-hued space looking onto a lush courtyard garden where you can linger over a lunch of BBQ mushrooms on toast with celeriac and salsa verde or Jerusalem artichoke soup with herb butter.
“The counter also advertises a handsome selection of sweet treats: our surprisingly delicate matcha cheesecake was a sure sign of the pastry team’s skills.”
Long Boi’s Bakehouse in Levenshulme. Credit: The Manc Group
The second of the bakeries in Greater Manchester to catch the eye of the Good Food Guide is the brilliant Long Bois over in Levenshulme, a sunny, colourful little bakery which first rocketed to fame for its homemade pop tarts.
The guide said: “A small team of all-female bakers turns out a satisfyingly creative selection of sweet and savoury bakes – perhaps a pandan lamington (a take on the coconut-drenched Aussie classic) or an ‘everything bagel’ croissant stuffed with dill, spring onion and cream cheese – while classic cakes and pastries are presented with equal doses of flavour and flourish.
“With a tiny production kitchen, bread comes from the also-excellent Holy Grain Sourdough in Manchester city centre. Like any self-respecting neighbourhood bakery, they sell out quickly – so get there early.”
Where’s your favourite bakery in Greater Manchester?
Daisy Jackson -
10th November 2023 
