The glorious Chinatown bakery that’s been feeding Manchester for 20 years
Whether you're after egg tars, pandan cakes or coconut flower buns, this fresh Chinese bakery is a must visit whenever you find yourself in Manchester city centre.
Over in Manchester’s Chinatown, there’s a little family-run spot that is the place to go when you’re craving delicate Chinese buns, pastries and cakes.
From egg custard tarts made with the lightest, crumbly Chinese puff pastry, to fluffy buns flavoured with ham and cheese, sesame, red bean, pandan and more, if you’ve not been to a Chinese bakery before then trust us, it’s well worth a trip for the colourful cream cakes alone.
First established in 2003, Wong Wong Bakery is a firm local favourite with a wide variety of sweet and savoury choices on offer. Ever since Ho’s Bakery closed in 2021, it’s also the last shop of its kind left in the neighbourhood.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Sitting on Princess Street next door to Yang Sing (which happens to be one of Chinatown’s oldest restaurants) it is easy enough to find, with a jolly-looking baker good-naturedly juggling plates of goodies in each hand on its colourful sign.
Inside it is clean and modern, with red lanterns hung up high in anticipation of the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.
On display are bevvy of colourful and enticing treats, ranging from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Think bright green pandan cakes and coconut flower buns to savoury bread: some covered in ham and cheese, others filled with pork floss, sweetcorn and tuna then rolled in seaweed.
Wong Wong Bakery’s pork floss, sweetcorn and tuna seaweed roll. / Image: The Manc Eats
There are some unusual (to a Western palate, at least) flavours on offer here, as well as some cute looking buns – including an adorable one shaped like a tortoise, complete with two eyes and a cartoonish smile on its tiny head.
They also serve traditional pineapple buns, so named for their characteristic cracked golden yellow topping (so don’t expect to find any pineapple in there), as well as tempting celebration cakes that look so good they have us wondering who in office has a birthday coming up next.
When we visit, there’s quite a queue. People line up to get their fill of tarts, pastries and buns on a Monday lunchtime – their gold wire baskets brimming with bags of buns snatched from the grab-and-go display cabinets next to the front door.
Everything here is made, fresh with the bakehouse clearly visible from the shop. As you line up and wait, you can see the bakers through the glass working away in a pristine-looking kitchen that sits in the corner.
Opposite are the cashiers, their tills flanked by two glass cabinets brimming over with innumerable cakes and pastries.
Speaking of the cashiers, for our final word let us warn you: if you want your treats, make sure to bring cash. It is strictly cash only, and there’s no wiggle room on that.
We, ourselves, forgot and had to run back to the office to beg borrow and steal some money. Don’t be like us. These bakes are too good to miss out on.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
News
Hundreds of new homes in Mayfield Park given green light
Daisy Jackson
The chance to live in Manchester city centre’s newest park (and one of its only green spaces) has taken a step closer, with plans for new Mayfield Park homes given the green light.
879 apartments have been approved this week, which will have ‘the ultimate front garden’.
The Mayfield district has been undergoing major changes in the last few years, including the redevelopment of Depot Mayfield (into Freight Island, plus a music venue for events like Warehouse Project) and the opening of the beautiful Mayfield Park.
And now hundreds of new one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes will be added to the area, as well as a 40% increase in the size of the park.
The plans for the first homes at Mayfield Park were met with unanimous approval by the City Council’s Planning Committee.
The residences will span across four buildings, with low-rise elements peppered in amongst the taller blocks, and will also be home to restaurants, cafes, and health and wellness facilities.
A new tree-lined road through the development will enhance walking and cycling connectivity from east Manchester into the city centre.
More than 880 jobs will be generated during the construction phase, plus 120 full-time jobs when operational.
Hundreds of new homes in Mayfield Park given green light. Credit: Assembly Studios
The proposals suggest that the apartments will contribute £2 million annually in Council Tax and a major £10 million boost to local businesses through increased spending.
The high-quality homes are designed by Studio Egret West and shedkm, designed to reflect the industrial heritage of the area, including distinctive arches.
20% of the first phase of homes are intended to be classed as affordable housing and will be prioritised for key workers in Manchester.
Henrietta Nowne, Development Director at Landsec, representing The Mayfield Partnership, said: “For the first time, Mancunians will have the ultimate back garden within the award-winning Mayfield Park.
“An opportunity like this hasn’t existed before in Manchester. Since starting on site earlier this month, there’s real momentum building as we continue to grow a green, healthy and connected district in the heart of Manchester.”
The approval marks the next chapter of the continued transformation of the Mayfield district near Piccadilly Station, led by Manchester City Council, TfGM, London Continental Railways (LCR), and Landsec.
Revenue from Manchester’s ‘big gigs’ to go towards supporting local grassroots music venues
Emily Sergeant
Manchester City Council is set to earmark almost £250,000 to support grassroots music venues in the city.
Following on from the success of the city’s huge summer of music, which in recent weeks has seen hundreds of thousands of fans converge in the city to see massive names like Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX, Elbow, and Robbie Williams, as well as other talents like Fontaines D.C. and Sam Fender still yet to come.
Oh yeah, and there was also that small matter of Oasis reuniting for five nostalgia-drenched gigs in Manchester’s Heaton Park earlier last month.
Over the course of the summer, it has been estimated that Manchester will have attracted a whopping 1.3 million music tourists, which is being described as a ‘tremendous’ boost for the city’s economy as a whole, especially the hospitality industry.
Revenue made from Manchester’s ‘big gigs’ this summer is to go towards supporting local grassroots music venues / Credit: Eldhose Kuriyan | Joshua Hanson (via Unsplash)
These huge events are also generating income for the Council too, either by being hosted in the city’s largest parks with commercial arrangements for their use, or through the business rates paid by major venues – and it’s this income that has been earmarked to go towards supporting grassroots music venues throughout the city.
As well as reinvesting part of this revenue into parks and greenspaces, the Council is planning to set aside £245,000 to be made available in financial support for Manchester’s grassroots venues.
While exact details are in the process of being finalised, the intention is that the scheme will be administered by the Music Venue Trust to ensure that the money gets to where it is needed as ‘quickly and effectively’ as possible.
It’s estimated that Manchester will have welcomed 1.3 million music tourists before summer’s out / Credit: Nathan Mullet (via Unsplash)
“Manchester is a big noise in the music world,” commented Councillor Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council, “and this summer, all eyes have been on the city as we’ve hosted some huge concerts and seen unprecedented success in our large venues.
“But while the biggest gigs might dominate the headlines, we know they are only possible because they are part of a wider ecosystem, with grassroots venues providing the launchpads for acts to develop and grow.
It's been a BIG summer of music in Manchester.
We've got pioneering plans to use money raised by some of the biggest gigs to support our grassroots venues – a vital ingredient of the city's amazing music scene: https://t.co/8ekQN7AmGBpic.twitter.com/MpVWpeHqbk
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 31, 2025
“We know that across the country, grassroots venues are struggling. That’s why we want to ensure that our grassroots venues can share some of the benefit from the success of those big events.
“We’re blessed in Manchester with an array of great smaller venues.
Georgina Pellant -
17th January 2023 
