Greater Manchester has just had three more restaurants placed in the Michelin Guide, marking a sensational year for our city’s hospitality industry.
This month, the prestigious restaurant guide has added Stow, Climat, and Bangkok Diners Club to its list of the top quality restaurants across the UK.
It brings our total to 18, after three others were added to the guide back in August (Winsome, Pip, and Cantaloupe).
Manchester also now boasts two Michelin stars after going decades with none, thanks to the opening of Skof last year.
While stars remain the most prestigious accolade in the hospitality industry, Michelin also dishes out Bib Gourmands, and Michelin Guide entries to recognise excellent restaurants at lower price points.
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The first big Manchester name added to the guide this month is Stow, a brilliant new restaurant on Bridge Street where everything – even the desserts – is cooked over fire.
It’s technical and utterly brilliant and has received rave reviews across the board since its launch.
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Stow in Manchester has been added to the new Michelin Guide. Credit: The Manc Group
The Michelin Guide said of Stow: “With its winning combo of cocktails and cooking over fire, Stow feels like a restaurant for our times. Start (and end) your visit with a drink in the front bar, before taking your seat at the counter in the tucked-away dining room.
“The small size gives it the feel of an intimate secret supper club, as you watch the chefs close-up, extracting maximum flavour from their ingredients.
“Prime cuts of meat, including ex-dairy beef, are a feature, but don’t miss the imaginative vegetable dishes too. Finish with the smoked cream tart, its gentile smokiness coming through in every mouthful.”
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Stow wrote: “Today marks a very proud moment for us and the team.
“This time last year there wasn’t even a barbecue in the kitchen or furniture in the restaurant. Today, we’re officially a recommendation in the @michelinguide.
“We’re so proud of our team. Up the f*cking Stow.”
Next up is Bangkok Diners Club, a fantastic Thai restaurant tucked up above the Edinburgh Castle pub in Ancoats.
It’s headed up by Chef Ben Humpheys – formerly of the futuristic Thai restaurant District – and his wife Bo, and fuses his 20-year obsession with Thai cuisine with a ‘new-found love for low-n-slow cooking’ inspired by the BBQs of Miami.
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The Michelin Guide says: “A taste of Thailand has arrived, of all places, above a Victorian pub in Ancoats. Sitting on the first floor of the characterful Edinburgh Castle inn, it’s a lively, deservedly popular place with a cool rustic-meets-retro vibe.
“Despite the name, the cooking takes inspiration from all over Thailand, including several dishes from the northeastern Isan region, such as raw bass with calamansi nam jim or a classic papaya salad. Each plate looks neat and vibrant, delivering an array of well-balanced flavours and the occasional hit of creativity.”
Bangkok Diners Club said: “We are delighted to be included in The Michelin Guide 2025 alongside the very best of Manchester. Thank you to everybody who has visited so far and we look forward to meeting many more of you.”
And last but definitely not least is Climat, a sky-high restaurant famed for its vast wine collection and fabulous views across the rooftops of Manchester city centre.
Here’s what the Michelin Guide had to say about Climat: “You have to be in the know to come across Climat, tucked away on the eighth floor of a city centre office building. You arrive at a dedicated entrance and make your way up to the chic penthouse, where stunning city views await you.
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“An open kitchen is the focus of the room, with its aromas filling the air, and the concise fixed-price menu includes well-executed dishes such as halibut with spinach and sorrel velouté, where the ingredient quality shines through.
“Wine is a feature with one side of the room acting as a bar and the carefully curated list deftly mixing traditional and modern styles.”
Climat said: “Pleased as punch! We’re very happy to have been included in the @michelinguide.
“Thank you to all the team for their hard work and to our suppliers for their fantastic produce. Santé!”
A huge congratulations to all three new additions to the Michelin Guide – another very proud moment for Manchester.
A brand-new beer bar has opened in Manchester’s legendary ‘Beermuda Triangle’
Lydia Mastrolonardo
Yes, you heard us right, there’s a brand new edition under the arches on Sheffield Street, in Manchester’s Piccadilly East neighborhood.
This new venue is fully equipped for summer with an outdoor terrace, a screen for the footy, pizza from Nell’s – AND they’re giving away 1,000 free pints.
Now I’ve got your attention, let me introduce you to Pigeon Beer Wanderer, a specialist beer parlour and bottle shop boasting ‘Europe’s finest beers,’ which has opened this week.
This welcome addition to Manchester’s beer scene is situated within the ever-growing ‘Beermuda Triangle,’ a corner of the city where craft beer is king, amongst some of our favourite independents including Track, Cloudwater, Balance and Sureshot.
Founder and Northern beer specialist, Joshua Lightfoot, has one clear aim – ‘to celebrate beer with the same care, craft, provenance and ceremony traditionally associated with wine.’
Pigeon aims to provide a nest/welcome space for beer enthusiasts and newbies alike, to land and come together in a venue that facilitates the discovery of the world-class brewing culture on offer here in Manchester.
He says: “Every beer has its own provenance, its own character and its own ideal way of being served. Pigeon is about celebrating that in a way that feels exciting, welcoming and social.
“We want people to discover styles, breweries and serving traditions they may never have experienced before.”
Pigeon beer bar in ManchesterIt’s joined the many taprooms in the ‘Beermuda Triangle’The bar at Pigeon Beer Wanderer
The team at Pigeon pride themselves on their carefully curated and constantly rotating selection of craft beers, that push boundaries and reward exploration, from some very well-known breweries including Weihenstephan, Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, Fürstenberg and Kasteel.
Pigeon is home to a variety of rare fermentations and small-batch independent releases, from heritage pilsners, weisse beers and saisons to aged wild ales and lambics – so there’s always something new to try. Not to mention they also supply a great range of natural wines from Vibeyard, if that’s more your thing.
What’s more is that guests can click and collect some top-notch, New York inspired, pizza from the well-known and loved Nell’s Pizza, located only a few doors down.
The menu will supply all of our favourites including ‘Double Down Pepperoni,’ Do You ‘Roni Honey?’ and ‘Little Caesar,’ available by the slice or as a whole, accompanied by their sauces all made in house and all carefully selected to pair perfectly with the world-class pints available at Pigeon.
We can’t think of a better combination, can you?
This venue is kicking off its opening with a summer long festival atmosphere, screening FIFA World Cup games on their big screen, creating the perfect destination for footy fans on the hunt for a great atmosphere, without having to compromise on the quality of food and drink.
There really is no time like the present – Pigeon are set to give out 250 free pints a day, between Thursday 4 June until Sunday 7 June.
Simply give @pigeon_beer_wanderer a follow on Instagram and head on down to celebrate the launch this week, to get your hands on your complimentary crisp pints. Don’t hesitate – visit the venue while stocks last or you could miss out.
40-year-old Chinatown restaurant warns ‘we won’t last another decade’ in defiant statement
Daisy Jackson
There are some businesses that feel so much a part of the fabric of Manchester, it’s hard to imagine the city without them.
But a defiant statement from Happy Seasons, a decades-old family-run restaurant in Chinatown, has said that it’s ‘not sure how businesses like ours will survive in this new world’.
They wrote that is ‘feels like everything is stacked against small businesses’ and said ‘we won’t last another 5-10 years’.
Happy Seasons has been a cornerstone of Chinatown for more than 40 years, famed for its roast meats (proudly hung in the windows) and traditional Cantonese dishes.
Everyone who works in the restaurant has been in the trade for more than 20 years, they wrote, adding ‘it’s all they’ve ever known’.
Happy Seasons has said that their type of business – where everything is made fresh, from scratch, daily – is ‘slowly fading’.
They wrote: “Younger generations are slowly stepping away from hospitality. The government continues to increase costs on our industry, while bills, rent, and even basic stock keep rising. Sometimes it feels like everything is stacked against small businesses.”
Roast meats in the windows of Happy SeasonsHappy Seasons has been in Chinatown for more than 40 years
The restaurant added: “We don’t think places like ours will last another decade if things continue the way they are.”
But in their defiant video shared to customers, the Chinese restaurant said: “We’re not going to let that stop us.
“We’re still going to put the hours in. We’re still going to make everything fresh. We’re still not going to cut corners.
“From our sauces and roasted meats to our soy sauce and sweet and sour sauce, so much of what we serve is made from scratch. The time, effort, and cost that go into these everyday dishes are much higher than they used to be.
“Even though it’s costing us more and more to operate, we’re going to do our best to stick around for as long as we can. Because there may come a day when traditional Chinese food, made the old fashioned way, becomes much harder to find here in the UK.
“So let’s make this one hell of a decade. Thank you for all the support over the years. It truly means the world to us.”
Daisy Jackson -
30th October 2025 
