Make the most of your day in one of Manchester’s most creative neighbourhoods with our insider’s guide to the best things to eat, drink, and do in Chorlton.
With some of the city’s best bars, cafes, and independent shops, Chorlton has long held the title of Manchester’s most bohemian suburb.
The area’s often named as one of the best places to live in the UK — and with so much to offer and gorgeous green spaces nearby, it’s easy to see why.
Stuck where to begin?
The Manc’s got your back.
ADVERTISEMENT
Make the most of 24 hours in Chorlton with our guide to the best the neighbourhood has to offer.
Chorlton is a brunch lover’s paradise, with loads of quirky independent cafes to choose from.
ADVERTISEMENT
Start your day by fuelling up with a hearty full English at Mary & Archie.
With brunch served till 3pm, it’s okay if you fancy a lie-in — this much-loved local gem will have classic breakfast dishes ready to go when you arrive.
They champion locally-sourced produce and there are plenty of veggie and vegan options, too.
ADVERTISEMENT
If you’re feeling creative, give the breakfast burrito a go.
It’s easy to spend a whole day strolling around Chorlton Ees — it’s a great place to take the dog for a long walk or to go on a bike ride along one of the many trails that lead to the River Mersey.
The perfect Sunday afternoon? A walk with friends around the nature reserve followed by a pint at the Horse and Jockey pub, ideally located on Chorlton Green.
Continue the book theme by popping to Chorlton Library.
This Grade 2 listed building has been at the heart of the community since it opened back in 1914 and has recently undergone a major refurb.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s also Manchester’s second busiest library and hosts the Chorlton Book Festival every year.
There are brilliant shops to browse all along Beech Road, like The Curious Fox pictured below.
The Curious Fox. Credit: The Manc Group
Next, tuck into a hearty late lunch on the terrace outside the legendary Barbakan Deli.
Enjoy a fresh quiche, homemade soup or hot ciabatta sizzler while sipping on a cup of award-winning Italian roasted espresso.
All the breads, cakes and pastries at Barbakan are baked throughout the night on-site, so get ready for a seriously delicious smell when you walk through the doors.
ADVERTISEMENT
We believe Sunday lunch is the most important meal of the week, so don’t miss out on getting your hands on a delicious roast dinner if you find yourself in Chorlton on a Sunday.
The Chorlton Green serves one of the entire region’s best roasts, and even does a version for dogs so your pet can join in on the wholesome times.
There’s a choice of chicken, beef or nut roast served alongside carrot and suede mash, perfectly crisp roast potatoes, stuffing, seasonal vegetables and a giant Yorkshire pudding.
Kick off the evening with a couple of pre-dinner drinks at The Beagle.
ADVERTISEMENT
A long-time Chorlton favourite, this laidback neighbourhood bar has a welcoming atmosphere and offers 15 keg lines and three cask pumps – all serving modern, seasonal beers.
They have a belting happy hour too, running 4pm til 7pm Sunday to Thursday, and all day Monday, with £4.50 pints, £6.50 cocktails and £19 bottles of wine.
Once you’ve polished off your tipple of choice, head out for dinner at one of Chorlton’s many fantastic restaurants.
Bar San Juan, a Spanish restaurant in ChorltonBar San Juan, a Spanish restaurant in Chorlton
Bar San Juan is a small authentic tapas bar that’s been providing locals with some of the best tapas outside of Spain for over a decade.
The lively interior is sure to warm you up on even the greyest Manchester day.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s frequently named one of the city’s best tapas restaurants and serves traditional dishes along with some modern twists on classic Spanish cuisine.
Just a few doors down is The Jane Eyre too, a relative newcomer to the neighbourhood after building up a loyal following in Ancoats.
The Jane Eyre bar and restaurant in Chorlton. Credit; The Manc GroupThe Jane Eyre bar and restaurant in Chorlton. Credit; The Manc Group
Here you’ll find brilliant cocktails and seasonal small plates in a beautiful mid-century restaurant and bar space.
In celebration of Momo Shop: a Chorlton favourite that has flourished since its rebrand
Danny Jones
It’s not often we go out of our way to hammer home just how staggering we found a restaurant, but after now losing track of the number of times that a member of our team has eaten at Momo Shop in Chorlton and come back near speechless, it deserves more than a review.
We regularly hold ourselves back and resist the urge to talk in superlatives wherever possible, especially because we worry we might be falling into the recency bias trap, but in this instance, we’re going to go out on a limb and fall on our hospitality sword. Well, this particular writer is…
It’s official: Momo Shop Nepali Street Food – for our money, anyway – is up there with one of THE best restaurants in Manchester right now.
And there are plenty of reasons why, not least of all because of the years of practice they have feeding increasingly discerning Manc diners under a different moniker.
Simple but charming – all the focus is on the foodAnd the food speaks for itselfSome of the most flavourful fillings you’ll find in ManchesterBusy any given night of the weekNo review (Credit: The Manc Eats/Momo Shop via Instagram)
If you don’t live in/frequent Chorlton, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that this gaff was a somewhat new addition to Chorlton, but in actual fact it’s been gradually growing a loyal and passionate following for more than seven years.
This is because before the miniamlist rebrand that saw the walls stripped back, the exterior painted blue and cutesy little bits of artwork hung amidst that familiar and atmospheric festoon lighting, Momo Shop was once The Little Yeti.
Its former iteration boasted hundreds of glowing reviews in its own right, which already plated up plenty of stunning Nepalese food, but since switching primarily towards serving a menu primarily made up of momos (Tibetan-style fried dumplings hand-folded into various shapes) they’ve well and truly shone.
Now approaching a full 12 months under the new name, the Nepali street food spot isn’t just one of a relatviely small handful considering how much great South Asian food there is across Greater Manchester, we’d wager it could be the very best representing that Alpine-Himalayan belt in our region.
Our latest visit was genuinely just as good as our first, second, third and so on – take your pick.
From the simply incredible deep fried pork dumplings and the deeply moorish butter sauce that goes with literally any momo filling, to the super traditional buffalo ones that are not only authentic but, come on, where else can you find such a unique meat in these parts? It’s some of the best food we’ve eaten.
And we don’t just mean of late; Momo Shop might genuinely among of the nicest scran we’ve had in ages and it’s no exagerration to say that the first taste we enjoyed from many of these flavours have formed some of the strongest culinary memories we’ve created in quite a while.
It’s also worth nothing that it isn’t just one main snack-sized dish. The chow mein, keema noodles and cheesy chops are showstoppers themselves, and we’ve already booked in again for a 30th birthday celebration purely so we can try those lambs ribs and their take on a shashlick.
Nevertheless, we love the idea of the numerous configurations and concotions by pairing different dumplings and owner Niti Karki gave us some pro-tips of the best duos and even let us in on the trade secret of her go-to combo when she’s hungover. Legend.
Once again, at the risk of sounding too hyperbolic, odd moments have felt like core foodie memories on a par with our favourite all-time meals.
Personally, I’m glad to report that this isn’t just a review: consider this a declaration that Momo Shop has quickly become my favourite restaurant not just in Chorlton but in all of central Manchester, something I haven’t had since the heartbreaking closure of Cocktail Beer Ramen + Bun in 2023.
Plenty of varietyDamn straightNiti = absolute iconWe’ll keep your condiment secret forever, Niti…
There might be an element of the almost HakkaPo-esque style drawings, the colour palette and the carefully curated pop-punk, old school emo and post-hardcore playlist that’s over half a decade in the making that makes particualrly partial to this place
But before we wrap up this glorified love letter parading as a ‘review’, we also want to give a special nod to the charming staff and Niti’s mum, specficially, who was too modest to even let us share her picture, but whose wealth of wisdom, influence and experience has clearly inspired Momo Shop’s success.
Don’t be shy, Sue – the only thing more stylish than the food was you, girl. Pop off.
Put simply, we’ll be going back here as regularly as possible until we try every different momo + sauce variation there is, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.
If you are in the mood for more dumpling excellence, by the way, you might want to check out the unassuming Northern Quarter gem that is Chef Diao.
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.
Rachel Kevern -
24th January 2024 
