I ate chicken feet and thousand-year-old eggs in Manchester’s Chinatown – and I loved it
The Manc's Food and Drink Editor took a deep dive into Chinese delicacies at Mei Dim, and fell in love with its baskets of chicken feet, thousand year old egg congee and beef tripe.
Chicken feet, tripe, and thousand-year-old eggsmight not be the first things you think to orderwhen visiting a restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown, but if you’re paying a visit to Mei Dim then you really need to give it a go. If not, you’re seriously missing out.
A non-descript basement canteen tucked underground on Faulkner Street, from the outside its laminated pictoral menus give very little clue as to the delights within. But they’re very much there for the taking, if you’re daring enough to step out of your comfort zone.
Visiting on a chilly Monday lunchtime, this is exactly what I’ve vowed to do – with a little help from a friend who not only speaks fluent Cantonese, but also lived in Hong Kong as a child and has a chef for a dad.
Armed with knowledge, he’s the best dining partner I could ask for: patiently explaining the menu to me and then delighting when I announce, at the end of our meal, that I’ve fallen in love with chicken feet. ‘At last’, he says, he’s found a white person who will eat ‘the weird stuff’ with him. It’s the start of a beautiful new chapter for us.
After some back and forth, followed by some wrangling with the staff in Cantonese, he manages to convince them to give us a sheet of paper to ‘tick off’ our dim sum choices. This, I’m told, is how it’s meant to be done – with the staff taking one half, and leaving the other on your table to count off the dishes as they arrive.
At this point I realise it’s a good thing I’m not alone, because I really have no idea what I’m doing. Although there is an English menu provided, there’s also a second specials menu that has absolutely no translation.
The service is also perfunctory at best, or at least it is before they warm up to us. Left to my own devices, my awkward self would’ve probably already upped and left, only to miss out on one of the best meals of my life.
We reel off our order: steamed chicken feet and beef tripe, a steaming bowl of congee (made with a thousand year old egg), steamed custard and egg yolk buns, roasted pork cheung fun, and Shanghai-style soup dumplings.
‘Have we gone too weird?’ we wonder out loud, before deciding no, not at all. At this point, I’m very much in for a penny, in for a pound.
Meaty congee with thousand year old egg at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
Steamed beef tripe with ginger and spring onion at Mei Dim, pictured above egg yolk custard buns. / Image: The Manc Eats
It doesn’t take long before our first dish arrives, a plate of slippery-looking cheung fun – a thin, gelatinous and slightly chewy rice noodle roll filled with pork then drizzled in soy sauce.
It’s followed, swiftly, by a tower of bamboo baskets, filled with chicken feet, steamed beef tripe with ginger and spring onion, plump steamed custard buns and our steamed soup dumplings – all dumped, rather unceremoniously might I add, on our table.
Once the curtain of steam between us evaporates, we survey the spoils. My nerves about eating feet dispelled, I take some quick instruction on how to remove the skin from the bones with my tongue then get stuck in.
Quickly realising these feet are 99% skin (in my opinion, one of the best parts of the bird) it dawns on me: I’ve finally found a dish where it’s acceptable to only eat chicken skin, without ingesting any actual meat. No wonder so many people rave about this as a comfort food.
Egg yolk custard buns at Mei DIm. / Image: The Manc Eats
Cheung fun with pork at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
And as for that thousand-year-old egg? If anything, it’s a misnomer. A couple of weeks, or months old at best, sitting in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls makes it rich in flavour and adds a hefty dose of umami to a meaty bowl of congee.
Beyond that, the greatest delights of the day have to be the egg yolk custard buns, satisfactorily oozing their hot golden goo at the slightest pressure. When Giggs grins and tells me that he hasn’t had any this good since leaving Hong Kong, I know we’re on to a winner here.
Although Mei Dim has a distinct lack of social media presence, the fact that most of its clientele are Chinese speaks volumes as to the quality. It also has a great word-of-mouth reputation, which is how I stumbled across it in the first place.
That said, it’s not going to be for everyone and there are plenty of keyboard warriors who’ve taken the time to slag this place off. Quite a few scathing TripAdvisor reviews bemoan its old school decor and lack of ‘friendly’ service, but I rather like it. If anything, it makes it feel more authentic.
This is how I remember Chinatown always used to be when growing up, and I think there’s something to be said for a restaurant more interested in what’s coming out of its kitchen than the tables it’s being served on.
Simply put: if you want to be fawned over, you’re probably best off going elsewhere. But if you want great dim sum, Mei Dim is an absolute must.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Food & Drink
Bar Shrimp announces opening date as Higher Ground team gear up for new project
Daisy Jackson
Bar Shrimp, a new seafood and cocktail bar in Manchester from the team behind Higher Ground, has officially got itself an opening date.
The hotly-anticipated newcomer will be serving cocktails, beers, and British seafood and snacks from its spot on New York Street.
As well as confirming an October launch date, the team have also shared a glimpse of the menu Mancs can expect from next month.
Bar Shrimp will be offering an Oyster Happy Hour every weekday, as well as caviar with house-cut crisps, devilled eggs, and Sussex smokie fritters.
Expect shellfish over ice, Cornish crab cocktail, bar snack classics and even beef burgers.
It comes from the same team behind Higher Ground and Flawd, headed up again by hospitality dream team Joseph Otway, Daniel Craig Martin and Richard Cossins.
And they’ve partnered with Stockport-based MasterSounds, to install a state-of-the-art custom-designed sound system with music director Lukas Stankunas curating the music programming on a weekly basis.
They say the venue will be a ‘dynamic space where the music and energy evolves throughout the evening’.
The team behind award-winning Higher Ground are opening a new seafood bar, Bar Shrimp, in Manchester
Inside, it’ll be decorated with plush-red banquettes, floor-to-ceiling drapes, and table service throughout.
Matt Pazos, Bruntwood SciTech Retail Commercial Manager, said of the announcement: “Bar Shrimp promises to be another big success for the team and we can’t wait to welcome them to Faulkner House.
“This exciting new concept, bringing together the team’s exceptional knowledge and experience of food and hospitality combined with their passion for music, will further complement the thriving community in this part of Manchester city centre.”
Walk-ins will be welcomed for drinks but reservations are encouraged for dining.
Reservations for Bar Shrimp have gone live today ahead of its official launch on Wednesday 22 October – sign up HERE.
A long-standing Italian restaurant in Trafford has sadly announced its imminent closure
Danny Jones
Another day, another bit of unfortunate hospitality news, as long-standing Greater Manchester restaurant, Little Italy in Timperley, has announced it is closing permanently very soon.
The Trafford favourite, which has been serving locals for nearly 20 years, has informed regular diners that it will sadly be closing its doors for good, with Little Italy’s final service set for later this month.
Having earned plenty of praise in its time, including being one of the few spots in and around the Altrincham area to have won a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2015, before the borough saw its foodie boom begin.
But fast forward a decade, and the Timperley institution is yet another culinary casualty to be confirmed of late, with Little Italy sharing a tear-jerking statement online.
Sharing the tragic news on social media this Friday (5 Sep), the restaurant wrote: “To all our lovely customers, it is with a heavy heart that we share some news with you all. After over 18 years of serving you all in Timperley, we will be closing our doors later this month.
“This has not been an easy decision. Unfortunately, rising costs and a significant increase in rental [costs] have made it impossible to continue in a sustainable way. As much as we love what we do, the reality is that it has become too difficult to maintain under these circumstances.
“Over the coming weeks, we will continue to cook with love and serve with the same passion as always. We would love to see you all and share one more meal, and raise a glass together.”
Safe to say that the post has been met with an outpouring of condolences and support from natives nearby and those who have travelled to enjoy their food.
Little Italy went on to add that they will detail more about their final week of business as soon as possible.
They can’t be accused of not keeping up with times and not trying to promote via social media either, as they small family-run team – headed up by Sam Cauchi, who bought the site back in 2008 – have always given things a go besides the day-to-day operation of the restaurant.
Being one of many saddened customers to respond underneath the announcement, we couldn’t possibly sum up things better than local Vanessa Nice, who said: “Look at all these amazing comments – you certainly made your mark as a home from home for the residents of Timperley.
“The end of an era will always be sad, but sometimes life and families have to move on.”
As for Cauchi and co., they signed off by simply adding: “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support, kindness and friendship over the years. Timperley has been our home, and you have all been our family.
“Love from all the team at Little Italy.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted for the gang and our thoughts are with everyone involved at this difficult time. For now, we can only say thank you to the countless Greater Manchester locations that continue to fall foul in the face of the rising pressures industry-wide. Case and point…
Georgina Pellant -
20th January 2023 
