Hong Thai – a firm favourite of all the traders in the Arndale Market – has finally found a new home after a devastating fire shuttered its first Manchester location.
The beloved Thai business now has its very own bricks and mortar restaurant just a short walk away from its original spot in town.
Now based on Oldham Road, a strip often referred to as Little Vietnam, Hong Thai is back with a vengeance and ready to open on Friday.
Their cosy new restaurant has been decorated in sunny yellow and colourful wall art, matching the sunny welcome that all diners are greeted with.
While it’s a brand new location, they’re sticking to the winning formula that gained them so many loyal fans in the Arndale.
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That means huge portions at low prices, warm-hearted service, and vibrant dishes that will warm you from the inside out.
Thai and Hong Kong dishes and snacks start from just £3.50, and absolutely nothing on the menu will cost you more than £12.
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Lilly and the team at Hong ThaiHong Thai’s new home in Manchester is on Oldham Road
House favourites include their menu of hearty Thai curries, always packing just the right amount of heat and singing with fresh flavours.
Hong Kong beef buns have a satisfyingly crisp base from their meeting with the frying pan, but are soft and juicy inside.
There are classic stir-fries like a crispy chilli chicken, coated in a sticky orange sauce, and a Thai green curry packed with perfectly-cooked veggies.
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A highlight is the Khao Soi, a northern Thai take on a laksa – it’s a gigantic bowl loaded to the brim with a coconut curry sauce, chicken balls, prawns, tofu and egg noodles.
Vegetable dumplingsThai green curryTricolour coconut and red bean iceKhao Soi from Hong ThaiSoft beef buns
Posting about their new home in Manchester, Hong Thai wrote: “After a long six months of plenty of hard work, sweat and tears we are finally happy to announce that Hong Thai is back!
“Our doors open to the public on Friday 24th May. We know the anticipation has been high so we will do nothing other than fulfill our customers expectations.
“With a new-improved menu with our classics still making a feature, we are ready to serve up our heartwarming customers.
“Our new home is located in Ancoats, 140 Oldham Road. Across the road from Wing Yip Supermarket. Just a 6 minute walk from Shudehill Bus Station.”
The cosy Peak District pub serving a pick’n’mix sausage and mash menu
Daisy Jackson
There’s a Peak District pub that’s turned one of Britain’s most beloved comfort foods into a full-on pick’n’mix.
Tucked away in the postcard-perfect village of Castleton, Ye Olde Nags Head is serving up a fully customisable menu of sausage and mash dishes.
We’re talking near-endless combinations of proper pub grub.
You start by choosing your sausages from a daily rotating selection (not a sentence you hear every day, but we’re into it).
Expect classics like Cumberland alongside more adventurous options like venison and mustard, or even wild boar and orange, plus a veggie sausage daily.
Then it’s onto the mash – you can go for flavours like cheese and onion, wholegrain mustard, or even black pudding mash.
Classic cumberland, mustard mash, and mushroom sauceVeggie sausage with cheese and onion mash and classic gravyTucking in
To finish? A choice of rich, hearty gravies and sauces to bring it all together, whether that’s a classic onion gravy, a peppercorn sauce, or a creamy wild mushroom sauce.
And if that wasn’t enough, you can even upgrade your bangers and mash pick’n’mix by having it all served inside a giant Yorkshire pudding.
Ye Olde Nags Head is a historic 17th-century pub, with a roaring fire in every room and cosy bedrooms upstairs.
Inside Ye Olde Nags Head pub in the Peak DistrictYe Olde Nags Head pub is near Mam Tor
It’s one of those flagstone-floored, beamed-ceilinged, mismatched-furniture type pubs that welcomes everyone in every state, whether you’re caked in mud from a hike or popping in on a coach tour.
Another of the pub’s specialties is the Derbyshire Breakfast, a hearty plate of sausage, smoked bacon, black pudding, free range egg, grilled tomatoes, field mushrooms, baked beans and fried bread.
The pub also offers takeaway breakfast butties, so you can use it for both a pre-hike stop and a post-hike pint.
Given it’s just minutes from the ever-popular Mam Tor hike, this is one pub you’ll definitely want to add to your next Peak District day out itinerary.
The hillside farm in the Peak District making its own ice cream
Daisy Jackson
Did you know there’s a 300-year-old farm in the Peak District serving up some of the freshest ice cream you’ll ever taste? And yes, you can meet the cows that made it while you’re there.
Welcome to Hope Valley Ice Cream, a family-run gem where things are kept refreshingly simple: happy cows, proper farming, and seriously good ice cream.
Set in the heart of the Peak District countryside, this place is about as wholesome as it gets.
The ice cream is made on-site in the farmhouse, literally just metres from where the dairy herd are out grazing.
You can watch the animals, wander around the farm, and then tuck into a scoop or three perched on a milk pail stool, or a picnic bench (or even a decorative tractor).
Hope Valley Ice Cream has some amazing seasonal ice creams, like lemon curd, elderflower, and blackberry, alongside all the classics and a rather delicious tiramisu.
You can grab a cone, sit down with a coffee (again, made with milk from the nearby cows), or go all in with a freshly-made waffle if you’re feeling fancy.
Takeaway tubs from Hope Valley Ice CreamYou can get a mini pail of ice creamMeet the newborn calves at Hope Valley Ice CreamTuck into your ice cream on a milk pail stoolHope Valley Ice Cream
And if you’re the type who really loves ice cream? You can actually order a full pail of it, with four huge scoops plus whipped cream and sauce.
The farm itself is run by the Marsden family, who’ve been working this land for generations. It shows in everything – they’ve created a place that feels genuinely welcoming, not just another tourist stop.
Beyond the ice cream, you’ve got plenty of reasons to stick around. There are calves (including the newest tiny arrivals), plus donkeys and pigs to say hello to.
Whether you’re heading out on a hike or just fancy a drive into the Peaks, this is one pitstop that’s absolutely worth it – and honestly, it’s worth the trip on its own.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd May 2024 
