It’s been a long time coming, but non-essential retail, gyms, hairdressers, and a raft of other venues are welcoming customers back through their doors, and crucially for the city’s foodies, of course, this means that pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants can reopen for outdoor service only for the first time in three months.
Eager to get back to business, many venues began taking bookings for reopening once the roadmap was first announced.
Others have instead opted for a walk-in service only however, which is great news for those who didn’t plan ahead of time, so don’t worry if you didn’t manage to bag a booking at your favourite local hangout, Manchester city centre is filled with places that are still serving.
Here’s everything you need to know.
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The Alchemist
Spinningfields
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The Alchemist in Spinningfields has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins only until 17th May, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Almost Famous
Northern Quarter
Almost Famous in the Northern Quarter has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins only, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
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Alvarium
Northern Quarter
The Northern Quarter’s vegan-friendly kitchen and bar Alvarium has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins only until 17th May, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Atlas Bar
Deansgate
Situated in the railway arches of Deansgate, Atlas Bar – which has been a Manchester icon for two decades – has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins only, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Bay Horse Tavern
Northern Quarter
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Popular Northern Quarter hangout Bay Horse Tavern has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins on a first-come-first-served basis until 17th May, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Black Milk
Northern Quarter
Those with a sweet tooth will be glad to hear that Black Milk has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Birria Brothers Tacos
Northern Quarter
Based at popular eatery The Koffee Pot in the Northern Quarter for the foreseeable, Birria Brothers Tacos has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on Instagram here.
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Bunny Jacksons
First Street
Bunny Jacksons has recently expanded its outdoor seating area in preparation for reopening, and has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins only from this week. You can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
While bookings are still being taken, this vibrant neighbourhood eatery in the heart of Ancoats has still made the decision to hold back a number of tables for walk-ins, so you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
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The Crown & Kettle
Ancoats
This popular Ancoats pub has been teasing brand new heated and covered terraces at both the front and back on social media in recent weeks, and has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins, so you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Cane and Grain
Northern Quarter
Another one of the Northern Quarter’s most popular hangouts, Cane and Grain has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins on a first-come-first-served basis, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
This much-loved breakfast and brunch spot on the edge of the Northern Quarter has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Ciaoooo Pizzeria
Northern Quarter
One of Manchester’s most beloved Neapolitan pizzerias, Caiooo, has made the decision to continue with its popular takeaway service and only reopen for walk-ins as and when the weather allows.
You can find menus, opening times and more information on Instagram here.
Common
Northern Quarter
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After a successful summer and pizza takeaway service throughout lockdown, Common has made the decision to reopen its popular Northern Quarter site for walk-ins from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Corn Exchange
The following eateries are reopening for walk-ins in the Corn Exchange, and you can find menus, opening times and more information for each place on the website here:
Banyan
The Cosy Club
Salvi’s
Zizzi
Vapiano
Dehli House Cafe
Crown and Anchor
Northern Quarter
On the corner of Port Street and Tib Street in the heart of the Northern Quarter, Crown and Anchor has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins at its newly-refurbished outdoor seating area.
You can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
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Cutting Room Square
The following pubs, bars and restaurants are reopening for walk-ins at Anocats’ popular Cutting Room Square, and you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website for each place.
Jane Eyre
Canto
Nam
Elnecot
Second City
Dukes 92
Castlefield
Only taking reservations for its covered areas, Castlefield’s finest Dukes 92 has made the decision to leave the rest of its large outdoor seating area for walk-ins only from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Ducie Street Warehouse
Northern Quarter
A brand new “all day dining and drinking” outdoor terrace is opening up at Ducie Street Warehouse this week, and while bookings are being taken, walk-in service is also expected, so you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
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You can also find more information about some of the events happening here.
Edinburgh Castle
Ancoats
To continue to serve the residents of Ancoats with “exceptional food and drink”, Edinburgh Castle has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Feel Good Club
Northern Quarter
The Northern Quarter’s mental health and wellness cafe has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins at its new outdoor seating area from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
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Hatch
Oxford Road
Award-winning food, drink and retail destination, Hatch, may already be booked up, but has kept 50% of its tables back for walk-ins only from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Impossible MCR
Great Northern
While Impossible is currently booked up at the weekends for the foreseeable, there is still availability for walk-ins during the week and potentially on Sunday, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Hatch MCRThe Oast House
The Lawn Club
Spinningfields
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After expanding its outdoor seating area ahead of reopening, The Lawn Club has made the decision to allow walk-ins from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
The Oast House
Spinningfields
Undoubtedly one of Spinningfields’ most-sought-after sun traps, The Oast House has held a portion of its tables back for walk-ins only from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Port Street Beer House
Northern Quarter
With only a handful of outdoor tables available, the popular Port Street Beer House has made the decision to keep them for walk-ins only from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
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Rudy’s
Peter Street & Ancoats
If it’s traditional Neapolitan pizza you’re after, Rudy’s has held back 50% of its tables at both the Peter Street and Ancoats restaurants for walk-ins only from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
SEVEN BRO7HERS
Middlewood Locks & Ancoats
SEVEN BRO7HERS in both Middlewood Locks and Ancoats are reopening for walk-ins from this week, with tables available daily, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Siop Shop
Northern Quarter
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Serving up coffee, doughnuts and more, Siop Shop has made the decision to offer a collection of outdoor tables for walk-ins only on a first-come-first-served basis from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Shambles Square
The Old Wellington & Sinclair’s Oyster Bar
Two of Manchester city centre’s most historic and popular pubs, both the outdoor seating areas at The Old Wellington and Sinclair’s Oyster Bar are reopening for walk-ins only from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
The Shack Bar & Grill
Northern Quarter
The Shack Bar & Grill has a brand new outdoor seating area at its High Street site, and is keeping tables free for walk-ins every weekend, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Tampopo
Corn Exchange & Albert Square
Tampopo has opened up new outdoor seating areas at both the Corn Exchange and Albert Square sites, with tables free for walk-in throughout the week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Trove
Ancoats
Popular Ancoats cafe Trove has also opened up a new outdoor seating area and will be accepting walk-ins throughout the week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
The Wharf
Castlefield
Another one of Castlefield’s most popular pubs with a large outdoor seating area, The Wharf has made the decision to reopen for walk-ins from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Beloved Northern Quarter bar and restaurant Wolf At The Door has confirmed it will be opening for walk-ins only from this week, and you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
Yard & Coop
Northern Quarter
Alongside bookings, popular chicken restaurant Yard & Coop has held back 50% of tables at its Northern Quarter site for walk-ins from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information on the website here.
YES
Charles Street
YES Manchester has made the decision to hold all tables back and reopen for walk-ins only from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
20 Stories
Spinningfields
20 Stories has been taking bookings ahead of reopening, but has also made the decision to hold tables back for walk-in services at its cocktail terrace from this week, so you can find menus, opening times and more information via the website here.
Food & Drink
Inside the underground Manchester noodle bar serving Chinatown’s spiciest scrans
Georgina Pellant
Over in Chinatown, there’s a relatively new little noodle bar that’s been making a big, spicy stamp on the city’s dining scene.
Its owner, Wendy Ren, hails from the Chinese province of Sichuan – a region that’s home to giant pandas, traditional Sichuanese opera, and some of the spiciest food going, thanks to its famous Sichuan pepper.
Also known as the Chinese prickly ash, the citrus-like peppercorn leaves a tingly numbness in the mouth and on the lips that you’ll either love or hate.
It’s an acquired taste, by all accounts – but those who love it can’t get enough. In fact, on my visit during a packed-out Wednesday lunch service, Wendy stopped to chat with an Italian family holidaying in Manchester who had been in to eat three days in a row. Now that’s an endorsement if I ever heard one.
She’s opened the restaurant alongside her Cantonese husband, Ken Chen, but the recipes are all hers – and on our visit she laughs with us about how it has taken him some time to get on board with her spicy food, saying: “he found out pretty quickly that he either eats it or he doesn’t eat at all.”
For big fans of spice, this is fast becoming the absolute go-to spot in Chinatown – and for those who aren’t so tough, don’t worry, because Wendy’s put some things on the menu for you too (and possibly, also, for Ken).
Just taking a moment for the hand-rolled pork dumplings with sweet and spicy chilli oil and minced garlic. / Image: The Manc Eats
Noodle Alley is beautifully decked out in red and green with little nods to the famous wide and narrow alleys of Chengdu. / Image: The Manc Eats
Called Noodle Alley, the restaurant is tucked away underground on Faulkner Street and beautifully decked out in red and green with little nods to the famous wide and narrow alleys of Chengdu.
Formerly home to China City, a real old-school Chinatown legacy restaurant, the space has a special place in Wendy’s heart.
She tells me that she and her husband used to come and eat here “all the time” when they first started dating, so the location really means a lot to both of them.
Chinatown restaurants aren’t exactly known for their glamorous interiors, and China City, Wendy jokes, was one such place – with the same old carpet, and the same old tables that had been used for the past twenty years.
Now the space is her own, though, it’s markedly different – lovingly decked out in cheerful colours, with little green windows, hanging lanterns, and bamboo rattan paneling on the walls.
Hand-rolled dumplings stuffed with mince pork on their way to the kitchen at Noodle Alley. / Image: The Manc Eats
The end result – drenched in homemade chilli oil and topped with crispy garlic. / Image: The Manc Eats
Her story of getting into the restaurant business is something of an unusual one. Prior to opening Noodle Alley, she tells me, she spent nearly two decades working at The Marriott Hotel.
After seventeen years of service and the birth of her second child, she asked to go part-time but her request was refused – so she quit the very next day, and began building her own route to independence.
It was during the Covid lockdown, she says, that she really got into cooking group meals – making meals for her friends and spending hours in the kitchen busying away happily over her stove.
A friend with several restaurants in Chinatown suggested she start her own business, and the rest – as they say – is history.
Dan Dan noodles are out, apparently, and Su Jiao Mian are in. / Image: The Manc Eats
Burning noodles with preserved vegetables and crushed peanuts. / Image: The Manc Eats
Dish-wise, her menu spans a mouthwatering selection of dry noodles, soup noodles, street food, and small plates, including the likes of deep-fried wavy potato chips with chilli and Szechuan pepper and steamed beef strips wrapped with chilli paste, numbing Sichuan pepper, and five-spiced rice powder.
Dan Dan noodles, the Sichuan dish we probably all know the best, don’t feature – they’re a bit old news now, apparently, and Wendy has some cooler alternatives for us to try.
One is her Su Jiao Mian, a mixture of minced pork, sesame sauce, and house chilli oil, the other is the Wan Za Mian, a fiery mixture of spices combined with minced pork, soft yellow peas, and more chilli which Wendy says is “one of the most popular noodles in Sichuan.”
Apparently, if you’re eating with the cool kids in Sichuan, you should order this. Not one to argue, I dig in – and it’s safe to say her food is pretty damn exceptional. Almost immediately, I’m planning my next trip back.
Two of Noodle Alley’s signature dishes: Steamed beef strips wrapped with five spiced rice powder (back) and ‘saliva chicken’ served cold with special chilli oil, peanuts, and cucumber. / Image: The Manc Eats
Pork knuckle with butter beans in an umami-rich pork bone broth. / Image: The Manc Eats
Other signature dishes here include Wendy’s steamed beef strips, which can be eaten alone or dipped into one of her noodle soups, and a dish of ‘saliva chicken’ – a crunchy, cold, textural dish with steamed chicken, fresh chillis and ribbons of cucumber that sit swimming in a bath of homemade Sichuan chilli oil, so named because it literally makes your mouth water.
We also opt for a dish of pork knuckle with butter beans in an umami-rich pork bone broth. Not one for the faint-hearted, even Wendy seemed a little cautious to recommend this one, but as fans of ‘the weird stuff’ we insist – and it really ends up being a highlight of the meal.
We end up needing a little help with it. It’s a slippery bugger and I end up wearing a fair bit of the broth. before she returns with a knife and fork to cut it up properly for us.
That broth it’s in, though, is so beautiful I could happily bathe in it. Some might say I did, to be fair. As for the soft, succulent pork meat? When sliced into tiny morsels and dipped into an extra special Sichuan chilli oil she retrieves from the kitchen, is something else entirely.
If this is Sichuan heaven, then I’ll happily stay here forever. From plump hand-made dumplings stuffed generously with flavourful pork and drenched in chilli oil, to chicken giblet soup noodles, there’s so much on the menu I will be coming back for.
And for those who really can’t handle the spice, I guess I’ll be recommending the scallion oil noodles with soy sauce and crispy egg. No matter what you order here, I don’t think you can go too wrong.
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Food & Drink
Top Manchester chef to host special £250 dinner – but vegans aren’t welcome
Georgina Pellant
The French at The Midland Hotel has revealed it will host an exclusive dining experience next month with Hubert de Billy from the esteemed Champagne house Pol Roger – but there won’t be anything on the menu for Manchester’s vegans.
Adam Reid at The French is set to host an exclusive dinner next month as the esteemed chef patron joins forces with one of France’s most luxurious Champagne houses.
Taking place on Friday 6 October, diners will be treated to an indulgent four-course dinner pairing Lancashire lad Adam’s stylish Northern cooking with matching wines.
Due to the specific nature of the vent, however, specific dietary requirements will not be catered to on the evening – so vegans are being warned to stay away.
Wines will be introduced and described by none other than Monsieur de Billy, the fifth generation of the family-owned Champagne house and Pol Roger’s great-great-grandson.
Founded in 1849, Pol Roger is regarded as one of the finest of all the Champagne houses.
Guests will be given the opportunity to taste the prestigious Pol Roger Champagne, a notable favourite of late Prime Minister Winston Churchill, with some snacks on arrival before digging into a sumptuous four-course meal.
At £250 a head, it’s not cheap – but then we are talking about one of Manchester’s most premium restaurants, collaborating with one of France’s most prestigious Champagne houses, so it seems par for the course that you’ll be paying a pretty penny for it.
Starting at 6.30pm, things will kick off with glasses of Champagne and special snacks made by Adam Reid and his team before diners are seated in the plush restaurant for their meal.
Tickets for the event are strictly limited, and due to the nature of this event, specific dietary requirements will not be available to be catered for including vegan and dairy-free diets.
Inside Adam Reid at The French, a beautiful space within Manchester’s historic hotel The Midland. / Image: The Manc Eats
Squid ink crackers topped with whipped roe and pickled red pepper that taste just like patatas bravas. / Image: The Manc Eats
Whilst vegans and dairy-free folk might be feeling a bit left out, for the rest of Manchester it’s an opportunity to dine in one of the city’s most famous restaurants.
For those who don’t know the history of The French, in 1974 it made history as the first Manchester restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star.
Back then, it was Chef Gilbert Lefevre at the helm and it really did what it said on the tin – serving opulent plates of escargots, foie gras, and caviar, even committing right down to the menu itself, half of which was printed en français.
The restaurant retained its star for three years, before losing it in 1977, and would go on to have some ups and downs before coming under the stewardship of Simon Rogan in 2013, with its now-Chef Patron Adam Reid working underneath him as Head Chef.
Rogan – already then a proprietor of the Umbel group including L’Enclume, Fera at Claridge’s, and Rogan & Co – famously ended his five-year contract with the hotel two years early after failing to get a Michelin star.
That same year, local lad Adam took on the top dog role and in 2017 re-positioned the offering to reflect his own style – essentially making everything more relaxed.
‘The warm Northern welcome’ feat. steaming cups of beef tea served alongside Pollen ‘French malt’ bread and thick pats of beefy butter. / Image: The Manc Eats
Roast Cumbrian lamb loin with flavours of Cinderwood Market Garden and warm Lancashire oven bottom muffins. / Image: The Manc Eats
He dropped the complicated place settings, brought in music so that diners no longer feared dropping their forks, introduced a new chef station in the restaurant, and revised the menu to pay homage to his Lancashire roots.
Under his stewardship, The French at The Midland typically serves an 11-course tasting menu featuring dishes inspired by picky teas, miniature cheese and onion pies, and steaming cups of beef tea served alongside Pollen ‘French malt’ bread and thick pats of beefy butter.
This special Pol Roger dinner is a one-off at the restaurant. It marks the beginning of a new chapter at Adam Reid at The French with its chef patron and head chef looking to host more collaborative events going forward.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd April 2021 
