When it comes to dining out in Manchester on a budget, there are plenty of great restauraunts offering deals and set menus to help you save a few pennies without comprising on taste.
This May, we’ve handpicked some of the best Manchester restaurant deals, discounts and offers to help you head out and support your local independents without breaking the bank.
From bottomless brunches and wing feasts, to 50% off the whole menu at Northern Quarter favourites Trof and The Pen and Pencil and half-price tasting menus at Masterchef winner Simon Wood’s First Street restaurant, there’s so much to get stuck into this May.
Keep reading to find out the best Manchester bar and restaurant deals to put on your list this month.
50% off food and drink – Manchester May dining deals
Image: Bab
Image: Bab
Bab
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What is it: Casual venue with an industrial vibe, prepping meze & kebabs with homemade sauces & marinades.
The offer: Two courses and bottomless drinks for £40.
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T&Cs: Available Fridays only in May between 3-10pm (last sitting at 8pm).
The Blues Kitchen
What is it: Dedicated blues bar serving hickory-smoked comfort food, plus regular live music & DJs.
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The offer: 90 minutes of bottomless wings for £12.
T&Cs: Offer available every Sunday from 12-6pm.
La Bandera
What is it: Market-fresh, classic Spanish cuisine in airy, contemporary space with yellow booths and banquettes.
The offer: Drink and pintxos for £5.
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T&Cs: Available from 4pm until close every Thursday and Friday.
The Pen and Pencil
What is it: New York-influenced all day kitchen serving imaginative menus, as well as craft beers & cocktails.
The offer: 50% off all food.
T&Cs: Available every Monday in May when you pre-book.
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Trof
What is it: Venue with a dedicated bourbon bar, gigs, open-mic nights and quizzes, plus food from breakfast on.
The offer: 50% off food.
T&Cs: Available all day on Tuesdays throughout May when you pre-book.
Wood
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What is it: MasterChef Simon Wood’s high-end restaurant down at First Street, perfect for a pre-theatre treat.
The offer: 50% off Wood’s tasting menu (£110 down to £55).
T&Cs: Available every Wednesday throughout May.
More Manchester May dining deals
Image: Volta
Image: Volta
20 Stories
What is it: High-style destination in a shopping complex for modern British dining & cocktails & sweeping views.
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The offer: Three courses for £22.50.
T&Cs: Available Monday to Friday between 12-3pm.
The Alan:
What is it: Hotel and restaurant favoured by Jay Rayer, located across the street from Manchester Art Gallery.
The offer: Four dishes for £25.
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T&Cs: Available seven days a week between the hours of 12-4pm and 5-6pm.
Image: Albert’s Schloss
Image: Albert’s Schloss
Albert’s Schloss
What is it: Bavarian-style beer cellar for traditional German food and pilsner beers on tap and in bottles.
The offer: Three courses for £27.
T&Cs: Available every Sunday from 12-9pm.
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Asha’s
What is it: Contemporary Indian cuisine in a sophisticated, low-lit venue with plush drapes and gold finishings.
The offer: Three courses for £23.95 and a complimentary glass of Indian lager.
T&Cs: Available every Friday between 1-5pm.
Bird of Prey
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What is it: Fried chicken and smashed burger joint at Circle Square on Oxford Road.
The offer: Selected burger, fries and soda for £10 / Three wings, fries and a soda for £5.95.
T&Cs: Available seven days a week from 11.30am-2.30pm.
Block Steak Shop at Canvas
What is it: Affordable steak shop that doesn’t comprise on quality.
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The offer: Two mains and house wine for £25.
T&Cs: Available every Wednesday, no bookings required.
Bundobust
What is it: Casual craft beer bar serving Indian street food menu amid bare brick and wooden benches and tables.
The offer: Two dishes for £8.50.
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T&Cs: Available Monday to Friday, 12-4pm.
Cibo
What is it: Modern cafe/restaurant and prosecco bar, for Italian pizzas, grill dishes and sharing plates.
The offer: Three courses for £19.99.
T&Cs: Available Sunday to Friday between 5-7pm.
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Colleen’s Ramsbottom
What is it: A modern British restaurant located in Ramsbottom, north of Manchester.
The offer: Three courses for £18.
T&Cs: Available from the ‘menu of the day’ only, Wednesday to Friday between 5-6.30pm.
Image: Cottonopolis
Image: Cottonopolis
Cottonopolis
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What is it: Lively destination for Asian-inspired menus in a warehouse-style venue with a full bar.
The offer: Two dishes and a side for £13.
T&Cs: Available on the express lunch menu, served from 12-3pm Monday to Friday.
Dokes Pizzeria
What is it: Restaurant serving seasonal pizzas using the finest British ingredients from the team behind Manchester favourite Elnecot.
The offer: 30% off bottles of wine when dining in.
T&Cs: Available all day Wednesday throughout May.
Edinburgh Castle
What is it: Historic 19th-century haunt offering pub grub, plus weekly live folk music & outdoor seating.
The offer: Two courses for £30.
T&Cs: From the set menu, served 5-6.30pm Wednesday to Thursday, and 12-3pm and 5-6.30pm Friday and Saturday.
El Capo
What is it: Mexican and Latin American dishes, plus tequila menu, in casual, bare-brick space with a tiled bar.
The offer: £1 tacos (usually £7.50 for three)
T&Cs: Available Monday – Thursday from 5pm.
Elnecot
What is it: Narrow, industrial spot offering cocktails, British small plates, weekend brunch & Sunday roasts.
The offer: Soup and a sandwich for £8. 30% off bottles of wine.
T&Cs: Lunch deal available weekdays from 11am to 3pm. Wine deals available every Wednesday throughout May.
Image: Elnecot
Image: Elnecot
El Gato
What is it: Tapas & drinks are provided in this 3-storey converted townhouse that has stylish interiors.
The offer: Three plates for £18.
T&Cs: Available between 12-4pm Monday to Friday and all day Sunday.
Hawksmoor
What is it:
The offer: Three courses for £29, £5 corkage on Mondays.
T&CS: Set menu available during lunch opening hours only (except Sundays).
Tattu
What is it: Modern Chinese cuisine and cocktails in sophisticated, dark wood bar/restaurant with carved screens.
The offer: Three plates for £28.
T&Cs: Available Sunday to Friday from 12-4.30pm and Saturday 12-2.45pm from the Moon Stand menu only.
The New Cross
What is it: Anew taproom style beer bar in Manchester city centre not far from Ancoats serving up chargrilled kebabs and beers.
The offer: Kebab and a pint or selected drink for £10.
T&Cs: Available every Thursday from 5-9pm.
Volta
What is it: Small plates, deli boards and charcuterie in an intimate bistro bar with wall lamps and a terrace.
The offer: £30 for eight to 11 sharing dishes, designed for a minimum of two.
T&Cs: Available all day every day at Volta throughout May.
Featured image – Volta
Eats
Tawny Stores – Inside the stunning canalside restaurant that’s Stockport’s loveliest addition
Daisy Jackson
There’s a tiny little opening on the outskirts of Stockport that’s so charming, with such delicious food, that we’re going to have to insist you all rearrange your plans to visit immediately.
This is Tawny Stores, a restaurant, cafe and deli where you can do everything from having a romantic candlelit dinner to scoffing a morning pastry to grabbing a loaf of bread to take home.
With a pretty canalside location, and windows that look out over the water, it’s already proving a fantastic addition to Greater Manchester.
Tawny Stores is in Marple Bridge, a picturesque village at the foot of the Peak District hills (which feels a million miles from Stockport, but the name on the wheelie bins doesn’t lie).
It may be a total pain in the arse to get to, especially with every-other train being cancelled, but getting stuck out here is far from being the end of the world.
From their tiny kitchen they cook an ever-changing menu that’s technical, but simple.
By the time you read this the menu will probably have changed again, but here we go anyway.
Rabbit pie at Tawny Stores in Marple Bridge. Credit: The Manc GroupA cheese toastie at Tawny Stores. Credit: The Manc GroupHomemade crisps and a glass of wine. Credit: The Manc GroupRoast squash and lentils at Tawny Stores in Marple Bridge. Credit: The Manc Group
We had a wild rabbit, cider and tarragon pie, with a crust that could win awards and a generous dollop of silky smooth mash.
There was a simple cheese and onion toastie, elevated by some top-quality bread and homemade chutney on the side.
A warming pile of lentils was then topped with roasted squash and a zingy and herby green sauce to zap it (and you) back to life.
And then there’s homemade focaccia, which you can order with olive oil or have it as a sandwich, where fillings are currently festive and include squash and stuffing, crispy sprouts and aioli, and pork Milanese and cranberry.
Inside Tawny Stores, Marple Bridge, Stockport. Credit: The Manc GroupTawny Stores in Marple Bridge. Credit: The Manc Group
Before you head out, take a moment to browse the shelves full of produce (and the display unit filled with homemade cakes).
You can grab a hot drink to walk down the canal and burn off some of that fuel, or do it in reverse and come in here to warm your cockles after a brisk winter stroll.
Either way, it’s one to visit – and soon.
You can follow them on Instagram HERE for their latest menus.
10 of the best new bars and restaurants to open in Greater Manchester in 2024
Daisy Jackson
Another year has ticked by and once again, Greater Manchester has proven itself as a global heavyweight when it comes to new bars and restaurants.
As the city expands ever-further, with new neighbourhoods springing up like daisies, there’s been a flurry of new openings across the city region.
From the small teams painstakingly hand-rolling pasta or laminating croissants to much larger ventures flinging out sunny brunch dishes or slabs of meat, there’s been something to excite just about every palate in 2024.
With so many new spots to check out, you’re bound to have missed a few – so we’ve pulled together our 10 favourites to add to your visit list in 2025.
Cacio e pepe pasta. Credit: The Manc GroupSoup and a steak sandwich. Credit: The Manc GroupThe Paris hot chocolate. Credit: The Manc Group
In smaller Greater Manchester towns, new openings don’t come along every day – which might be why Cafe Continental caused such a stir initially when it launched in Stalybridge.
But as the months have ticked on this neighbourhood restaurant has proved that it’s far from a flash in the pan.
It looks like it’s been plucked from a pretty Parisian back street and has a menu that will stand the test of time, from a cacio e pepe pasta with an egg yolk on top to spicy twice-fried chicken buns and steak sandwiches.
That’s alongside excellent cocktails and one of the internet’s most viral sweet treats, a proper Paris hot chocolate, where you dollop thick cream into dainty cups of molten hot chocolate.
Blacklock’s cocktail trolley which roams their new Manchester restaurants. Credit: The Manc GroupBlacklock’s all-in platter outside their new Manchester restaurant. Credit: The Manc Group
Easily up there with the biggest openings in 2025 is Blacklock, which ventured out of its native London for the first time this year and landed in a basement unit on Peter Street.
Here, it’s all about the meat-heavy menu of reasonably-priced British classics, affordable cocktails, and its legendary white chocolate cheesecake scooped straight from the dish and dolloped onto your plate.
Blacklock is a modern take on a traditional chop house and proudly offers ‘hearty fare and rowdy comfort’.
A menu highlight is their all-in platter, where chops are piled high on charcoal-grilled flatbread which soaks up the meat juices. Delicious.
Pasta and pizzetta dishes at Onda in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Surely one of the greatest success stories in recent years, Onda has gone from a humble kitchen within Exhibition food hall, to a resident at New Cross in Ancoats, to its very own shiny restaurant at Circle Square in the blink of an eye.
From this massive new space, you can watch a team of chefs carefully making fresh pasta in the open kitchen, and glimpse their now-viral tiramisu drawer in action.
Even six months down the line, it’s damn-near impossible to book a table here, with people still waiting months to sample their delicious pastas, including fan favourites like nduja and vodka sauce, cacio e pepe bucatini, and a selection of thick-crusted pizzettas.
The tiramisu might have sent their popularity sky-high, but the quality and prices here prove that it deserves every bit of success coming its way. This place is not a novelty.
Rudy’s, Prestwich and Altrincham
Rudy’s in Altrincham. Credit: The Manc GroupRudy’s Prestwich. Credit: The Manc GroupRudy’s opened two new restaurants in Greater Manchester this year
Some might think that Rudy’s is getting a little big for its boots, now with 29 restaurants across the UK – properly impressive growth considering they were just a tiny pizzeria in Ancoats less than a decade ago.
But these top-quality Neapolitan-style pizzas are the stuff of legend for good reason and are pulling in big crowds in every suburb they land in.
This year alone they’ve launched new restaurants in Altrincham and another in Prestwich, the latter of which has gone into a vacant bank building on the high street of the Greater Manchester suburb.
Will anything ever stop these guys in their tracks? Doubt it…
Medlock Canteen, Deansgate Square
Fresh baguettes stuffed with rotisserie chicken straight out of the oven. Credit: The Manc GroupInside Medlock Canteen. Credit: The Manc Group
Bottomless coffee, rotisserie chicken, epic sandwiches, schnitzels, and big brekkies, all served in a delightfully mid-century modern interior – we were excited for Medlock Canteen before the doors even opened.
Moving into the skyscraper neighbourhood of Deansgate Square, this place comes from the same team behind Madre (the Mexican restaurant at Kampus) and Belzan (one of Liverpool’s top restaurants).
It’s had a few rave national reviews and pulls in a steady crowd, thanks in part to its proximity to Club de Padel. Going straight from court to cocktails is a pretty dreamy Manchester evening.
They’ll even let you order a portion of whatever the staff dinner is that night for a tenner.
Companio, Northern Quarter
Companio Bakery in the Northern QuarterMaritozzi from Companio BakeryCredit: The Manc Group
It’s always been one of Manchester’s best bakeries, but its original location on the very edges of Ancoats sort of kept it a bit too out of the way.
So when Companio announced a new spot in the heart of the Northern Quarter, bringing its loaves and pastries that little bit closer, the city centre rejoiced.
On the menu you’ll find sandwiches in freshly-baked bread, maritozzi bursting at the seams with cream, delicious coffee, seasonal bakes and loads more, in a gorgeous new cafe on an NQ back street.
You can even pull up a seat right next to the bakery so you can sit and watch loaves being lovingly shaped and baked right in front of you – now that’s my kind of show.
Hive Stores, Altrincham
Hive Stores in Altrincham, Greater Manchester
It’s not every day that Greater Manchester gets a new business quite as beautiful as the bar at Hive Stores, which is filled with gorgeous antique furniture, a general store, and a cafe.
The business had previously operated as an antiques store from a ramshackle building out the back – but when this roadside space came up next door, they snapped it up and transformed it into a timeless, character-packed community cafe and bar.
You can pick up some eggs and have an espresso martini at the same time, tuck into a cheese board and a few glasses of wine, grab a Half Dozen Other pastry, or sit on the pavement with a spritz and people-watch.
It’s operated by Steven Sherratt and Gareth Wilkins and you’re guaranteed a warm welcome every time. A must-visit.
Dishes at Stow are seasonal and cooked over open fire. Credit: The Manc GroupStow in Manchester
This is the newest spot on the list, and if you’ve not already jumped on the bandwagon it’s one to add to your list for 2025.
What sets Stow apart from the rest is its innovative cooking style – no ovens, no conventional appliances, just fire and grill. Everything on the menu – even their bread and cake – is cooked over open fire.
They’ve totally transformed the space on Bridge Street too, which has at various points over the last few years been a futuristic coffee shop, a Thai BBQ restaurant, and a wine bar.
Stow is owned and operated by Matt Nellany and Jamie Pickles from Trof, who want to celebrate the ‘simplicity of great ingredients cooked over open fire with very little faff’.
Cheese and kimchi on toast at Caravan in Manchester
It would be quicker to list what Caravan doesn’t serve than what it does, but every single thing on their all-day menu is executed to the highest degree.
From brunches to sourdough pizzas, coffee to cocktails, grain bowls to brioche puddings, the menu harks from sunny New Zealand (as do its three co-founders).
Caravan is a wildly popular name down in London and finally landed here in Manchester in the summer, with a massive new 170-capacity restaurant and a full working roastery.
Menu highlights include jalapeño cornbread with chilli butter, Korean-style buttermilk fried chicken with kimchi pancakes, and, of course, fry-ups.
RamenShop, Northern Quarter
Ramenshop in the Northern Quarter. Credit: The Manc Group
Alright this one technically isn’t a new opening, rather a rebrand – but something about that shiny new sign above the door made us fall back in love with RamenShop (formerly Tokyo Ramen) all over again.
The team who run the show here – Janven, Marc and Mark – have actually been given partial ownership of the restaurant, which is a lovely bit of positive hospitality news for a change, isn’t it?
Their concise menu sees 12-hour chicken broth bases piled high with perfect noodles, proteins and jammy eggs, including their best-selling ‘fire’ ramen, topped with crunchy koji-fried chicken, and the classic shoyu that’s topped with torched pork belly.
Georgina Pellant -
15th May 2023 
