This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it basement restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown serves the ultimate yum cha feast
Mei Dim serves up everything from Shanghai soup dumplings and custard buns, to three roast meats and chicken feet as part of its daily yum cha offering.
Mei Dim might not look like much from the outside. Nor, indeed, from the inside. No matter, though – good restaurants shouldn’t be judged by their proliferation (or lack of) neon lights and selfie traps.
This is a restaurant where the food is so excellent, the owners don’t need to bother with expensive refurbs and Instagram-friendly colour schemes.
Tucked beneath Manchester’s Chinatown, its interior likely hasn’t changed in decades – and it’s still busy at 3pm on a weekday.
Round formica tables are topped with paper tablecloths, whilst a fish tank full of exotic creatures languishes in the corner. Taped to its front is a stern handwritten note, written in all caps, warning you not to bang on the glass – or else.
Tripadvisor warriors should be warned now, the overall first impression here isn’t exactly welcoming. If you can get beyond that, though, you’re in for a ruddy good meal.
Just don’t expect any sort of fawning service, keep your focus on the food, and remember to pay directly at the cash desk as you leave to get the most out of this Cantonese small plates offering.
Salt and pepper pork ribs at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
Dumplings at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
Cheung Fung and vermicelli noodles filled with prawn meat, salt and pepper pork ribs at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
Long hailed by Mancs in the know as one of the best places for dim sum in Manchester, the sui mai here are always bulging and the house-roasted meats more than give rival restaurant Happy Seasons a run for its money.
Our advice is to skip the regular fare and ask to see the dim sum one. Cheap and cheerful, an extensive list – so extensive that even our resident Hong Konger Giggs didn’t know them all – spans pages and pages of different steam, fried and deep-fried small plate dishes.
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We dug in as towering stacks of bamboo steamers brimming with dumplings filled up the table alongside plates of giant salt and pepper ribs, beef ho fun noodles, and birds nest-looking bundles of vermicelli stuffed with fried prawn meat (a messy highlight).
Beef ho fun noodles at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
Three roast meats at Mei Dim. / Image: The Manc Eats
Plump sui mai, ha kau, soup and vegetable shoots dumplings disappeared first, and were quickly replaced with huge plates of crispy salt and pepper squid, beef ho fun noodles and satay chicken skewers.
Washed down with lashings of hot tea, the plates just kept on coming. A plate of triple roast meats, perfectly lacquered and crispy, had us salivating whilst Mei Dim’s pan-fried peppers stuffed with seafood managed to be spicy, salty and fresh all at once.
The crispy duck pancakes here also deserve an honourable mention. We might’ve had to wait ten minutes to get some hoi sin sauce to go with them, but it was completely worth braving the restaurant floor to flag down a server.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
A no-frills canteen-style diner, Mei Dim is very much part of the old school of Chinatown restaurants.
Whilst at the other end of Faulkner Street you’ll find newer, younger eateries like Pho Cue installing flower walls and giving diners a smiling service, the focus here is on the food – and the food alone.
If you’re planning on visiting, get ready for steaming pots of tea and a vast range of dim sum that puts other spots in the city to shame. Just don’t expect to be gushed over, and you’re sure to come away feeling full and happy.
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
New free app launches to help people find the best nature spots in and around Manchester
Emily Sergeant
A new free app has launched to help people find, discover, and visit nature on their doorstep.
Wildling is aiming to be a simple one-step solution to the growing mental health crisis and the urgent need to care for the natural world.
By helping people visit nature more easily, and giving them tools to truly connect with it at this same time, Wildling is well on its way to supporting personal wellbeing and the joy of easily discovering nature across the UK, all while nurturing a sense of care and action for the planet.
Supported by partners including the RSPB, Marine Conservation Society ,and Forestry England, and backed by advisors and environmentalists like Ben Goldsmith, Eden Project founder Tim Smit, and Dragon’s Den’s Deborah Meaden, the new app brings the UK’s wild spaces and hidden green spots together in one place.
A new free app has launched to help people find the best nature spots in Manchester / Credit: Kitera Dent | Robin Worrall (via Unsplash)
Featuring more than 1,500 locations across the country, from coastlines and woodlands, to nature reserves, the app also includes a wide range of tips to help you make your time in nature easier, more enjoyable, and more meaningful.
The app has been created with the input of research carried out by the University of Derby, based on responses from more than 68,000 adults across England over two years.
The study found that people who spend time in nature every day report up to 22% greater life satisfaction, 17% higher happiness, and an average uplift of around 19% in overall wellbeing, compared to those who rarely go out.
Regular time in nature was also found to have a ‘striking’ effect on pro-environmental behaviour too, according to the survey.
Wildling was created by impact entrepreneur Ant Rawlins who wanted to make accessing nature ‘easier’ for everyone.
“We wanted to give people the tools to engage with nature by making it genuinely easy to visit, by showing them nearby nature places and giving them everything they need to make it happen,” says Ant Rawlins commented.
Wildling connects Mancs to the outside world and all it has to offer / Credit: Sol Stock (Supplied)
Ant said the study shows that spending more time in nature just a nice idea, it makes you happier, increases your satisfaction with life, lifts your overall wellbeing, and encourages you to look after the world around you.
“That’s exactly why Wildling was created,” he concluded.
The Wildling app is available now to download for free through the App Store and Google Play, and you can find out more here.
Featured Image – Shironosov (Supplied)
Manchester
Rochdale man, 20, found guilty of assaulting police officers and the public at Manchester Airport
Emily Sergeant
A man from Rochdale has been found guilty of assaulting a man and two female police officers at Manchester Airport last year.
20-year-old Mohammed Fahir Amaaz has been convicted of common assault and two counts of actual bodily harm following a four-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court in relation to a high-profile incident that took place at Manchester Airport on 23 July 2024.
The first attack on the member of public – of which extensive footage of was shared with the court over the course of the trail – took place in a largely public area of the Airport, but despite claims made to the contrary, Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) investigation found no evidence of any ‘prior threatening’ or ‘unacceptable behaviour’ by the victim aimed towards Amaaz or his family.
Three GMP officers – one male and two female – responded to the initial assault, and as they proceeded to detain and arrest Amaaz at the Terminal 2 car park pay station for assault, they suffered a number of injuries – such as concussion, a broken nose, and bruising and swelling.
CCTV played to the jury during the trail showed Amaaz throwing 10 punches, two ‘elbow strikes’, and one kick in what was described as a ‘prolonged and violent’ attack.
This conviction follows a thorough investigation of all available footage to understand the full context to the incident.
Our officers have been supported throughout and continue to be supported.
— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) July 30, 2025
An investigation, led by a team from GMP’s Serious Crime Division, was subsequently launched following the incident.
Police were said to have worked ‘diligently and expediently’ through all the moving footage, including CCTV and body worn camera recordings, complemented by the testimonies of witnesses to the incident, which allowed them to present a clear and accurate picture of the facts of the events to the jury.
A jury convicted Amaaz of assaults on the two female officers, but a decision is still inconclusive regarding the incident with the male police officer.
GMP now says it will be working with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in support of a re-trial for these inconclusive counts.
A CCTV image of the brawl in action / Credit: CPS
“Whilst assaults on police officers are sadly not uncommon, such attacks can never be justified,” commented Sir Stephen Watson, who is the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, following the trial.
“Our officers are decent people who routinely place themselves in harm’s way to protect the public, and they deserve our respect and support.
“I am particularly grateful to those many members of the public who have contacted the force in order to pass on their best wishes to the officers affected.”
Georgina Pellant -
20th July 2023 
