May, the month of innumerable Bank Holidays, is upon us at last – and we have some cracking new restaurants and bars for you to check out in your free time.
From a suntrap ice cream parlour and Dutch pancake house, to waterside beer gardens, a Malibu beach club, there might only be a whisper of summer in the air right now but the Manchester hospitality gods are already starting to deliver.
Add a new sushi and tonkotsu ramen spot, a boozy pasta restaurant and a Hong Kong-style restaurant in Chinatown serving spam and noodles on its breakfast fry-up, and we think you’ll agree there’s a lot to look forward to.
Keep reading to see which new Manchester restaurants and bars to put on your list this month.
Sweet!
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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
This new ice cream parlour and dessert shop comes from the Northern Quarter bar bosses behind Hula Tiki, The Fitzgerald and The Quarter House,
Housed on Stevenson Square, inside you’ll find an array of locally made ice creams from a farm on the Ribble Valley in flavours like Vimto, mint choc chip, salted caramel, bubblegum, raspberry ripple and chocolate.
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Arriving at a suntrap corner of the square just in time for the summer, Sweet! offers cones and tubs, milkshakes and slushies.
Open now
Papa Dutch
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Newly opened on Altrincham’s Goose Green is family-run traditional Dutch pancake businesss Papa Dutch.
New to the neighbourhood, it’s said to be a favourite of Manchester United’s Erik Ten Haag and his wife Bianca ever since the duo were treated to freebies whilst cycling past last year.
On the menu, you’ll find traditional Dutch min pancakes topped with the likes of chocolate and fruit, plus sugary sweet stroopwafels and other lovely treats.
First opened by chef founder Teddy Lee in 2015, May sees Scottish-born sushi and noodle restaurant Maki and Ramen open its doors in Manchester.
Set to open just off Piccadilly Gardens on York Street later this month, it will be the chain’s first north west site.
Diners can expect to find various tonkotsu-based ramens, an array of nigiri and maki rolls, and large sushi sharing platters on the menu, plus the likes of gyoza, teriyaki, pumpkin croquettes and karaage chicken.
TBC
Malibu Beach Club
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Image: Supplied
Image: Geograph
Coconut rum brand Malibu is launching a pop-up beach club at the Great Northern Warehouse this May, bringing palm trees and colorful deck chairs to the square in time for summer.
Promising frozé cocktails, bottomless brunch,es and all the Malibu you can muster, Malibu will team up with retro gaming bar Pong & Puck in a two-pronged takeover running from 5 May to 30 September.
Expect live DJs playing breezy summer tunes on the heated and covered terrace and buzzing bottomless brunches on weekends featuring 90 minutes of frozé cocktails, selected house cocktails and more.
5 May
Dragon Oriental
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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
This new eatery in Manchester’s Chinatown hasn’t been open long, but it’s already become popular amongst the city’s Hong Kong community.
Serving up favourites like roasted meats and … , the thing that really caught our eye when browsing the laminated menu outside was a full Hong Kong fry up complete with spam, noodles and …
Rumour has it they’re considering changing the menu to something more Anglicised to draw in an English crowd, so I’d get down quickly if you want to sample the current offering.
Nonna’s might have been at Deansgate Square since October last year, but it’s recently been elevated from boozy pasta pop-up to permanent restaurant. With that in mind, we felt it deserved another mention.
For those who’ve not been, Nonna’s has become famous for its boozy ‘Nonna Hadid’ Rigatoni Alla Vodka alongside other alochol-infused pasta dishes.
Sporting a new menu for the summer, head down to sample the likes of truffled short rib ragu pappardelle, lobster carbonara, and a sharer of lasagne spirali designed for two.
Oh and if you’re feeling adventurous, there’s also a fried chicken ‘pizza’ topped with marinara, mozzarella and pesto using buttermilk chicken its a base.
Runaway’s new waterside taproom sees the brewery up sticks from its Dantzic Street home in Manchester city centre over to the flourishing suburbs of Stockport.
With a beer garden overlooking the river Mersey, the new taproom’s central Stockport location promises super fresh pints on tap and cask, plus a bottle shop with bottles to take home and wood-fired pizza courtesy of Honest Crust.
Soak up some rays in the courtyard garden and enjoy.
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Open now
Red Light
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Image: The Manc Group
Set to open on Little David Street at Kampus this month is new queer cocktail bar Red Light, which will be serving dirty martinis under dim lights.
The brainchild of Deana Ferguson, an adopted Manc originally hailing from Belfast, the inclusive, queer space will serve a menu of refined cocktails, natural wines and locally-brewed ales.
Soundtracked by disco beats, the laid-back lounge will feature an imposing bar set against a red-brick backdrop, queer art and low-lit, intimate corners for lovers and friends to sequester themselves in.
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TBC
Three Little Words garden terrace
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
This month sees the team behind Three Little Words launch their outdoor canalside bar and terrace at Kampus.
Serving up delicious spirits, spritzes and cocktails all made up from their portfolio of multi-award-winning spirits from The Spirit of Manchester Distillery, everything on offer is created by their team right in the heart of the city.
Open now
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Madre
Image: Madre
Image: Madre
This new taco joint will bring the spirit of Mexico City to Manchester when it opens at Kampus this May.
With a menu made up of mouth-watering tacos, wood-grilled seafood and steaks, plus fresh oysters and ceviche straight from a huge ice counter, and a drinks list celebrating agave, this is a new opening you don’t want to miss.
Evolving from a lunch spot to a buzzing bar with Mexican party vibes as the sun goes down, expect a destination that celebrates Mexico City’s cuisine, culture and personality in equal measure.
TBC
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Bohemian Arts Club
Chic and intimate cocktail bar Bohemian Arts Club will open on Lower Hillgate, Stockport this month.
With an entrance hidden on the cobbled street of Coopers Brow, the new bar takes inspiration from speakeasies owners Tom and Katie Ogden have visited across the globe.
The second site for much-loved Hazel Grove brand Bohemian, expect a stylish and bohemian space with beautiful surroundings.
TBC
Featured image – Maki & Ramen
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?
Georgina Pellant -
28th April 2023 
