A brand-new Thai street food buffet restaurant has opened up doors at the Trafford Centre this week.
Thaikhun – pronounced ‘tycoon’ and translating to “your Thai restaurant” – has several branches across the UK, and already has a presence here in Greater Manchester thanks to its popular restaurant in Spinningfields – and now, it’s brought the unique dining concept to the shopping centre’s food court.
Having welcomed its first customers through the doors from yesterday, Thaikhun is aiming to be the first of its kind to offer a Thai street food buffet to shoppers.
“At our first-of-its-kind buffet restaurant, we will offer customers the freedom to make the experience their own by picking exactly what they want and in their own time,” owner Kim Kaewkraikhot told the MEN ahead of the restaurant’s opening.
“We are passionate about providing an excellent quality experience with a combination of top-class food and unrivalled customer service.
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Thaikhun is aiming to be the first of its kind to offer a Thai street food buffet to shoppers / Credit: Thaikhun
“Every recipe on the menu can be found at real Thai street vendors and it’s with these authentic touches that we aim to deliver a taste of Thailand to our customers, helping them fall in love with the cuisine, just like we have.
“Whilst the menu will consist of some firm favourites, we are excited to bring a new and exciting spin to Thai dining, with the opportunity for our guests to enjoy a variety of different dishes and flavours every time they visit.”
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The 144-cover Thaikhun Trafford Centre restaurant – which opened with a Thai Monk blessing to bring luck, purification, peace and prosperity – is decked out in traditional Thai décor, with tuk tuk tables and boat seats throughout, and even a Buddhist shrine for staff and customers to worship too.
The main menus at the buffet-style restaurant will vary daily / Credit: Thaikhun
Main menus at the buffet-style restaurant will vary daily offering Thai classics, such as Pad Thai, Lamb Massaman and Khao Soi Gai soup, and there’s also a fully-equipped dessert station including a chocolate fountain, ice cream machine, popcorn machine, slush machine.
The restaurant has partnered with food app Too Good to Go to tackle food waste in the city, meaning customers will be able to pre-order and collect a ‘magic bag’ containing food that would have otherwise gone to waste.
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“Our attitude is all geared towards creating a fun and inclusive environment for our customers to enjoy great food, and The Trafford Centre will be no different,” Kim concluded.
Featured Image – Thaikhun
Eats
The best Mexican restaurants in and around Manchester
Danny Jones
Whenever we have a bit of decent weather here in Greater Manchester, we always imagine what it must be like for those abroad, just sitting and eating their national dishes al fresco without a care in the world; think, say, Mexican food – a.k.a. one of THE best kinds of cuisine on the planet.
Yes, pound for pound, it’s probably one of our go-tos.
Somewhat inspired by one of The Hoot team recently visiting the country, and partly because we personally can’t get enough of it, we thought we’d give you another one of our famous foodie round-ups.
We’re not sure where exactly it lands in our top five favourites, but what we can do is tell you some of the best Mexican food in central Manchester and a little further afield. ‘¡Venga!’
Top 10 Mexican restaurants in Greater Manchester
1. Madre – Kampus
Up first, where else to start than with the marvellous Madre over Kampus. This Modern Mexican restaurant isn’t just one of the best within its genre, but is arguably up there with the best Latin food in all of Manchester.
Whether you want to stick to menu staples like those crispy pork belly bites and chicken wings, are happy sticking with their tacos, wings and margaritas at sister bar Salon Madre, or perhaps fancy trying their Hispanic Sunday roasts and even a deep-fried pig head, you won’t find a bad mouthful.
Since opening early in the summer of 2025, El Piloto over at Society food and beer hangout has gradually carved a credible little culinary corner for itself, standing out as one of the best vendors of the bunch – and there’s plenty of great competition within that 8,000-square-foot independent trader hall.
Best known for their tacos, but also specialising in other authentic, more roadside-friendly favourites like charred corn ribs, our personal favourites are those chipotle hash browns, not to mention some great quesadillas, we’re big fans of this place.
3. Don Tacos – Piccaddilly, Rusholme and Bolton
Sticking with tacos, they may do plenty of street food, but Don Tacos is still one of the best-known Mexican restaurants in all of Greater Manchester, now boasting a pair of central sites, plus one over in Bolton, not to mention a couple of others across the country now.
Whether you’re after brilliant birra, quesadillas that are just the right amount of greasy (yes, there is an ideal level), Korean twists on tacos, or just some really good barbacoa, you can’t go wrong here. They’ve also featured on our very own Takeaway Champions series, and we can confirm it travels well.
Credit: The Manc Group
4. Birria Brothers – Northern Quarter
Speaking of birria, we can’t go an inch further without singing the praises of NQ legends, Birra Bros, who are posted up in one half of Koffee Pot over on Oldham Street and serve as the perfect transition from breakfast and dinner into tea.
Getting a bit posher now, you won’t find many places as pretty and transportive as Ocasa: the contemporary restaurant and bar bringing “Mexico City soul with Manchester heart”; their words, not ours, but having now tried this place a few times, we’re certainly feeling the love.
Aside from the stunning space itself, this noon-until-midnight venue – 1am on Fridays and Saturdays – specialises in elevated Mexican dishes such as guajillo beef shortrib, some of the best nachos you’ll ever eat, and traditional tortas (think very good sandwiches). It’s also great when the sun goes down here…
Whilst we’re on venues that thrive just as much when it comes to their nightlife as their main menu, there’s much more than just food and drink on offer at Maracas: arguably one of the liveliest spots in all of Salford. There’s also much more than just Mexican classics to enjoy
Located underneath the recognisable Chapel Street arches just on the edge of the city and just over the road from The Lowry Hotel, this is another day-into-night venue that you visit not just for hearty Latin American eats, but for drinks, dancing, and pure vibes. They even do guided language exchanges.
7. Pico’s Tacos – Mackie Mayor, Altrincham and mobile
From a cult favourite cantina among various Latino cultures here in central Manchester, to one of the best indie vendors and food hatches in the city centre, and its equally popular Trafford partner over at Alty Market: the one and only Pico’s Tacos.
Much more than just what the name would suggest, not only do they create some great and unique takes on taco flavours, but they’ll also do one of THE best margaritas in town – they’re super zingy and go great with the spicy rim – not to mention you can now get burritos from their van currently on Oxford Rd.
Since we’re heading further afield, let’s wing our way over to Stockport and one of the very few Mexican restaurants you’ll find in the town centre, sitting pretty on the edge of the marketplace and historic Old Town district; this particular writer actually used to work there when it was the old Blackshaw’s cafe…
While they’ve still kept the original building name, pride of place above the entrance, the food now being served here is way different compared to a few years ago – now they have a great selection of tequila, nail tacos, have a lovely charred and breadcrumbed hispi cabbage, and even do all-day brunch.
Sticking in the SK direction, we’re heading to the Heatons for our second-to-last stop on this Mexican restaurant tour of Manchester, where 113 MCR is not only plating up a reminder to Stopfordians that they ARE, in fact, part of Greater Manchester rather than Cheshire these days, but some great food, too.
Sharing a name with the previous entry, this place is technically three in one: two kitchens, all under one roof – La Capilla and Roost – with 113 bar serving as the third, and they offer everything from cheesy birria tacos to frozen margs, signature cocktails, boozy shakes, and DJs until late over the weekends.
Last but not least, we wanted to show our love to a locally-run restaurant over in Fallowfield that is simply called The Mexican. Sat along Wilmslow Road as you venture into ‘student central’, just before you get the iconic 256 bar, this family-friendly spot has plenty of charm and very solid scran.
We don’t know how much of it is down to the affordable and filling food, the colourful decor inside, or them sticking their adorable son Hugo on socials to guilt trip you into coming a support a Manc businesses, but it all works on us. Even if you only fancy ordering one of their burritos for delivery, do it.
Now, before we wrap this thing up, we couldn’t call it a day without shouting out the likes of the more grab-and-go type venues like Listo, Pancho’s and Casa Mexica, just to name a handful.
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Then you’ve got the likes of other beloved street food vendors like El Jefe Birria, Fuego 1987, and you know what? Beloved British chain Barburrito started right here in Manchester, and we’re damn proud of it, too – it still SLAPS no matter how big they get.
We’re even enjoying Cane and Grain’s current Latin menu over on Thomas Street, and we sincerely hope it sticks around for a long time.
You can get authentic Burmese food at a new family-run restaurant on Manchester’s Oldham Road
Clementine Hall
Oldham Road has gained another great new restaurant that’s unlike anything you’ll find in the city.
If you’re not aware of Oldham Road’s flourishing multicultural food scene, then you really must get to know.
The road sits proudly opposite the iconic yellow Wing Yip Asian Supermarket, and is home to many small family-run eateries serving up everything from traditional Vietnamese cuisine and fresh sushi to Thai street food.
And now, there’s a newbie on the block – introducing Pinzain.
Images: The Manc Eats
Pinzain is serving up authentic Burmese food as well as traditional Thai dishes, using specialist ingredients shipped all the way across the world from Burma to Manchester.
Run by the lovely husband and wife duo Steve and Yeeta, you may already recognise their food from their street food stall at Picadilly Market but this new space is really something special.
Images: The Manc Eats
The menu is half Thai food and half Burmese, but we’d really recommend sticking to the latter section of the menu and trying something new.
The banana leaf rice with chicken was a real standout and it seems we’re not the only one who thinks so, as Steve explained to us that they’re running out of banana leaves thick and fast.
The delicious crispy bone-in chicken was served with sides of crispy chilli and pickled Burmese leaf, that all went perfectly with a satisfying dome of sticky rice.
Images: The Manc Eats
Elsewhere, the Burmese vegetable fritters with a tamarind dipping sauce were the perfect way to kick off the meal and the papaya salad is not for the faint hearted, but is just properly delicious.
It’s the sort of place where you can’t help but order way too much food which you’ll inevitably be taking home in a doggy bag, but trust us – that’s no issue.
Pinzain is well worth a visit if you’re looking for something different to try in Manchester, there’s no bookings so just rock up, and you’ll be taken care of and looked after straight away.
Emily Sergeant -
28th September 2021 
