The best vegetarian and vegan food at the Manchester Christmas Markets 2021
Think fried camembert and port chutney bagels, stuffed arancini balls, not one but TWO vegan bratwurst stalls, plus cheese-filled Korean potato hot dogs and loads more.
Now it’s getting chillier it’s definitely starting to feel a lot more Christmassy in town. The markets have arrived, there’s the faint whiff of bratwursts grilling in the air – and for the first time, they are vegan.
Ok, admittedly they’re not all vegan, but we’ve found two stalls selling plant-based sausage alternatives and we have to say, overall we’re pretty impressed with the increase in both vegetarian and vegan offerings this year.
From cheese-filled Korean potato hot dogs to multicoloured burgers and Biscoff cookie pies, there’s certainly a lot more options for non-meat eaters at the Manchester Christmas markets this year.
That said, we know that some of Manchester’s vegans are fuming as the cookie dough stall, which usually has a vegan option, has taken it off the menu this year. Scandalous behaviour.
Keep reading to discover all of the best veggie and vegan food at Manchester’s Christmas markets this year.
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Korean potato hot dogs at the Manchester Christmas Markets on Piccadilly Gardens / Image: EATMCR
Piccadilly Gardens
Home to cheese-filled, potato-waffle coated Korean hot dogs (£5.50) and not one but two vegan bratwurst stands, this year Piccadilly Gardens has to be at the top of your list.
The controversial public space has its drawbacks, sure, but solid veggie and vegan street food options are definitely not one of them this year.
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Find the Korean hot dogs at Crunch on Piccadilly’s Winter Gardens. A vegetarian-friendly version filled with cheese is wrapped in a potato waffle coating, deep fried, and then rolled in sugar for a naughty twist.
There’s also S’mores churros sandwiches (£6.50) from Loop Churros, and vegan brattys available at Vertigo and Panc.
Image: Vertigo
Image: Panc
Over at Vertigo’s stall, you’ll find a big selection of vegan-friendly hot dogs including a katsu curry wurst and a chilli cheeze dog.
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Then across the way at Panc, there’s more vegan dogs (£5 – £6) to get stuck into as well as thirteen different plant-based burgers (£5 – £9); fried chick’n wraps (£12), goujons (£5), loaded fries and chick’n poppers (£6.50 – £7.50); and a vegan shawarma kebab topped with lettuce, red onion, tomato, cucumber, chillies, guindilla peppers and Panc garlic sauce (£9).
Drinks-wise, think plenty of beer, ale and gluhwein, plus glasses of shimmering prosecco and steaming mugs of hot Vimto (full dislosure, we can’t say if any of the alcohol is veggie or vegan friendly, but we’re pretty sure the Vimto is a safe bet).
Image: THe Manc Group
King Street
The wonderful Italian cheese and meat stall that sits on the border of King street and Deansgate has returned for 2021, we’re happy to confirm, selling a whole host of cheesy delights including taleggio and coor da Sardegna.
Veggies can also get that go-to bratwurst here, with cheese sausages on sale for just £5.
Image: The Manc Group
A Sicilian street food stall has lots of veggie options, with cheesy spinach, aubergine and mushroom arancini on sale (£3.90) alongside margherita, bianca and bufalina pizza slices. There’s a good vegan slice too: a ‘Vegana’ topped with grilled artichokes, mushrooms, olives and tomato sauce (£3.50).
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And over at Eat Greek, there’s halloumi and jackfruit pittas, halloumi fries, greek fries seasoned with oregano and served with salad and tzaziiki, and a loaded fries option with the option to add either halloumi or jackfruit.
Cathedral Gardens
The first Christmas markets to open this year, the offering here is pretty simple with a collection of bars selling mulled wine and cider, and wooden huts selling dutch mini pancakes, sugar waffles and more.
Image: The Manc Group
The Corn Exchange
Veggie-friendly Jammy Dodger-loaded cupcakes, Nutella-topped confections, and more covered with pick and mix sweeties, chocolate Oreos, and golden pretzels can be found at Zara’s Cupcakes market stall, priced at £3.50 each or £13 for four.
There are also cake jars, old-school puds, and cake mix-making kits to be found here.
Also at the Corn Exchange is a pie stall from The Crusty Pie Company selling a veggie-friendly broccoli and stilton pie, gorgeous homemade chutneys in flavours like apricot and ginger, cranberry and pot, and ‘flaming hot’, plus onion bhajis and vegetable samosas.
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Image: The Manc Group
Exchange Square
Exchange Square might be known as the home of the Porky Pig wrap, but you’ll be pleased to hear that it has some great veggie and vegan options for non-meat eaters too.
Even Porky Pig is getting in on the plant-powered trend, selling giant veggie Yorkshire puddings filled with veggie sausages, seasonal veg, stuffing and veggie gravy (£&) alongside a vegan box with vegetable sausage, more veg, stuffing and vegan gravy (£7),
Here you’ll find an Indian street food stall selling charcoal grill paneer tikka wraps, Matar paneer curry, samosas, and traditional snacks like papri chaat (chickpea, yoghurt, Indian mix) and pani puri. Going all out? Opt for rice and / or khuboos bread (a sort of Arabic pitta) on the side.
The Dutch Fries company is here too with standard portions (from £5) alongside specials like parmesan and truffle (£8) or Dutch satay sauce (£6.50), as is a Dutch Mini Pancakes stall with 13 loaded pancake and sugar waffle options (from £4.50).
As for drinks, think classic mulled wine, caramel cider and an alcohol-free vat of hot ginger and honey – plus plenty of beers, wines and spirits.
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Market Street
There’s not much to report food-wise, with the majority of stalls focusing on selling gifts and other trinkets. We did spy a massive stall selling pick and mix, though, for those who haven’t yet got over the closure of Woolworth’s.
Image: The Manc Group
Exchange Street
With a big focus on beer and wine, Exchange street is dominated by bars selling all the usual suspects – plus Baileys, boozy coffees, gin and tonics, and other spirit mixers.
Prestwich restaurant Triple B also has a stall down here selling a fried camembert bagel with port chutney, tomato sauce and winter slaw (£8) and a ‘Vegan Stocking Filler’ burger with vegan burger patty, cheeze, stuffing, cranberry and Russian dressing (£8).
Across the way, you’ll also find Wrap Up selling a ‘Herbie’s Halloumi’ wrap with grilled mixed peppers, sour cream, jalapenos, freshly-mae salsa and aromatic rice (£9), and veggie and vegan 5 bean chilli – both with butternurt squash, rice, salsa and jalapenos (£8 – £8.50), with additional sour cream and cheese for those who take dairy.
Opposite Zara, the big sausage stall by Witch House also has a veggie cheese sausage on sale with onions for just £5.
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Image: The Manc Group
St Ann’s Square
Head to St Ann’s Square for square margherita pizzas, Yard and Coop fries loaded with pulled sriracha jackfruit (£9), big trays of cake from Ridiculous Rich, and Spanish nibbles like olives, sundried tomatoes and manchego at the Spanish KItchen Tapas stall.
There’s also some great-looking strudel dishes to discover here, in either apple of cherry flavour, alongside scrambled panckaes topped with your choice of apple, cherry or plum compote, chocolate-cream or custard.
Elsewhere, you’ll find indulgent cookie pies in flavours like Lotus Biscoff, chocolate and caramel and more (£4), alongside Bailey’s cream and chocolate truffles disguised as Christmas puddings at Gingerbread House Confections.
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.
Georgina Pellant -
27th November 2021 
