One of Manchester’s best Chinese restaurants, Yum Cha, is coming to Altrincham town centre later this year in another exciting addition to the Stamford Quarter.
That’s right, set to join Alty’s bustling district of independent businesses and the heart of its ever-growing foodie scene, this will be Yum Cha‘s fourth site in the North West after already making a name for themselves in Liverpool, Warrington and, of course, here in the city centre.
Best-known for serving up delicious dim sum, slow-roasted meats and some seriously slurpy noodles, the name derives from a traditional Cantonese meal – usually served around brunch, consisting of dumplings, other snacks and sides, as well as hot tea – Altrincham can be rightly buzzing with the news.
And so are we, because after all, what’s better than one Yum Cha in Greater Manchester? Two of them.
The newest venue, expected to launch this summer, will be opening up in the multi-purpose Foundation space, joining a number of other retail, hospitality and leisure brands.
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Boasting a 2,166 sq ft unit on the ground floor of the building, it’ll be a decently sized gaff too, as they already know they need plenty of room for pan-Asian punters.
Nailing a whole host of Chinese classics and also delivering everything in top-quality packaging when ordering out (it’s the little things), we’re big fans of these guys.
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Yum Cha’s founder Adam Wan said of the announcement “We can’t wait to open our doors in the Stamford Quarter and the Foundation building is the perfect location for us. We opened in Manchester city centre in August 2022 and after the phenomenal response from our fantastic customers, Altrincham seemed like the perfect place to expand.
Both us and you lot love it so much, in fact, that we even filmed a Takeaway Champions at their Kampus location not so long ago.
Throwing in his two cents on Foundation’s growing commercial community, Bruntwood’s Head of Retail and Leisure at Bruntwood, James Tootle, said: “Yum Cha’s decision to open their new restaurant in Foundation is a testament to the exceptional quality of retail and hospitality in the Stamford Quarter.
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It’s the perfect location for attracting visitors to the town from the local community and beyond. With an already exciting and eclectic mix of brands, we’re thrilled to welcome this fantastic indie restaurant to the heart of Altrincham. We are confident that guests will love Yum Cha’s renowned dim sum.”
A spokesperson from Trafford Council, added: “Foundation completed in March of this year and incorporates a total of five floors, including three floors of market-leading workspace.
“The completion of the Foundation building signals a major milestone in the wider transformational plans for the Stamford Quarter, which will regenerate the high street and establish the area as a new and exciting destination for Altrincham.” They’re not the only ones popping up in the area soon too.
A new ’boutique’ chicken spot has opened in Manchester’s Northern Quarter
Danny Jones
A brand-new chicken spot called ‘Le Coq Boutique’ has just opened in Manchester city centre, serving out of a popular Northern Quarter bar.
Is this the best name we’ve ever heard in our time writing about food and drink? It just might be…
Opening from inside The Social NQ on Thomas Street (formerly known as Smithfield Social), their new resident and poultry-centric kitchen is a bit of a pun on the classic French sportswear label, but having now been versed in the word about the bird for ourselves, we can confirm it’s much more than that.
For starters, the only thing more decadent than the roasted meats are the sides and cocktail menu, which features everything from chunky hash browns and some of the richest sauces you could ask for.
As you can see, the most chicken is well and truly the star of the show here, but what they have done is find unique ways of innovating and experimenting with it.
For instance, if you’ve never had a cocktail with chicken fat in it, here’s a place you can try one.
Honestly, this isn’t our first rodeo with this very particular kind of drink – but for those of you that haven’t, we promise, it really is quite good.
Aside from surprisingly saline kicks beside the salty marg rims we’ve become more accustomed to over the years, there are some very nice drinks on the menu.
But we’ll be honest, if you’re a sucker for the famous ‘chicken wine’ – a.k.a. La Vieille Ferme, if you want to be all formal – we imagine you’ll be sticking to plenty of this.
Having already spent many a weekend, be that afternoon or night, at the old Smithfield over the years, now that it has this fine new in-house food offering tacked on, we suspect we’ll be going back a lot more.
Whether you want lots of crispy chicken skin or prefer it smothered in gravy and various other kinds of savoury jus, if you’re an unadulterated mothercluckin’ chicken lover, then you’ll have a great time here.
As the team has joked in the comments under their first few social media posts, while it isn’t technically mandatory to wear the vintage 80s brand upon visiting, it is “expected”, with “bonus marks and shots” and promised for your efforts.
It’s also worth noting that they have an exclusive launch offer for those who sort a booking early, so we wouldn’t wait around if we were you.
Let us know what you think if you visit anytime soon.
Bunny Jackson’s offer Foo Fighters and Mancs incredible deal if they play their stage after Ritz gig
Danny Jones
Beloved dive bar Bunny Jackson’s has offered the Foo Fighters and Mancunians alike an incredible deal, provided the legendary band if they play on their stage after their gig at the O2 Ritz.
As well as Manchester ramping up the 2026 BRITs Week buzz ahead of the awards at Co-op Live this weekend, a little-known American rock group called the Foo Fighters decided to announce a surprise gig here in town.
But the bigger story now, we’d argue, is that the city centre boozer – which serves as a regular go-to both before and after gigs – is offering free drinks if Dave Grohl and co. pop up to perform on their usual bandaoke platform. As in for EVERYONE.
As explained by the Bunny’s boss, if the Foos make what is quite literally a minute trip down the road to OG Jackson’s wing joint and late-night watering hole after their Ritz gig is over, they’re promising to hand out free booze to all inside the venue.
Joking that they can quite literally “do anything” and may not even fit on their even smaller stage – with this being one of the tiniest of Manchester’s small-cap venues – it’s worth reminding that they wouldn’t be the first big name to surprise punters.
It was only a couple of years ago that both The 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo showed their faces, with the former getting behind the bar and pouring drinks themselves, and the latter even hopping on the mic herself – yes, really.
Just last March, members of Bilmuri also hopped behind the decks for a DJ set, and saxophone player Gabi Rose couldn’t resist hitting some horns live for the crowd, too.
You might want to be at Bunny’s even if you’re not going to the gig anyway. (Credit: Bunny Jackson’s)
So what we’re telling you is that this isn’t entirely beyond the realms of possibility. Keep absolutely everything crossed.
BJ’s was already hosting a pre- and post-curfew party for the big Manchester gig, as they often do, but just think how incredible it would be if the rock icons actually turned up in person. You can find out what else they’ve got planned on the night HERE.
Not only would it mean free-flowing beer for everyone in the gaff, but this would go down as one of the greatest stories in Greater Manchester music history.
If you want to up the chances of this happening, make sure you share it far and wide, getting @ing and pestering them, and hopefully we’ll see you at Bunny Jackson’s with the boys from Foo Fighters!
Oh, and lads, if you’re wondering why we all love it here, look no further:
Danny Jones -
9th July 2024 
