Tampopo is something of a Manchester institution at this point – it’s been serving up vibrant and flavourful food from across South East Asia since 1997.
Over the last almost-three decades, the brand has brought everything from noodles and curries to street food and loaded fries to the city.
Tampopo has sprawled to new locations from its original spot on Albert Square, with other restaurants in Greater Manchester at the Corn Exchange and the Trafford Centre (as well as a couple of spots in London).
While the menu is ever-evolving, some things at Tampopo have never changed – fun, bright interiors, authentic ingredients, and dishes that pack a proper punch.
The restaurant has recently launched a brand new menu – called ‘Same same but different’ in a playful nod to the well-known Thai expression – that’s bringing back some classic dishes with a twist.
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Signature dishes include Yamato fillet steak, served medium rare and simply with fresh garlic, black pepper and sake; and Thai fried whole sea bream with fresh mango, Thai basil and oyster sauce.
Yamato fillet steakPad Thai with noodlesThai fried whole sea bream
There are familiar favourites from South East Asia like their take on pad Thai, where the silky noodles are encased in a thin omelette; Japanese chicken katsu; and a sharing platter piled with chicken satay, sticky wings, corn fritters, Bali pork belly, and kimchi and cucumber salad. Oh yes – and loaded curry fries to die for.
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Tampopo has a decent list of Asian small plates too, like a delicious and fresh Szechuan Soy pork belly served thinly sliced with cucumber, soy, garlic, chilli oil and spring onion.
Tampopo even does brunch, including a Thai-style omelette, bubble waffles with honey, chicken and bacon, a crispy avocado stack, bacon and egg roti, and a protein filled Bang Bang steak and eggs.
The independently-owned restaurant spent a year researching these new dishes, including research trips to Hong Kong, all to bring these modern Asian flavours to Manchester.
David Fox, Tampopo Co-Founder said: “The new Tampopo menu has been over 12 months in the making. It allows guests to interact with the menu in a way that is new and unique for us.
“Our small and large plate options make it easier to graze, share, taste more, stay longer. This is how many people like to eat in the East – food is at the heart of every interaction.
“We’ve taken inspiration from restaurants in some of the most exciting global cities in the world like Hong Kong and Bangkok.
“There’s an expression in Thailand ‘same same but different’ which is what this menu is – we’ve kept all the things everyone loves, it’s the same Tampopo but you can also experience us in a completely different way with this menu.
“We’ve worked hard to keep the prices affordable and to listen to the feedback of guests – this menu reflects the tastes of people in Manchester.
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“As an adopted Mancunian I feel that Manchester is a city that has its arms wide open – to new people and flavours and so we think this new menu will be welcomed.”
The new Tampopo menu is available now at its restaurants on Albert Square, The Corn Exchange, and The Trafford Centre. See more HERE.
A month-long, mile-long, margarita bar crawl is returning to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
An award-winning bar crawl that’s all about celebrating margaritas is returning to Manchester this month.
El Tequileño’s Margarita Mile will see venues right across the city centre creating bespoke tequila cocktails, alongside events and loads more.
The mile-long, month-long celebration will kick off on 16 February, with 11 brilliant local venues taking part this year.
Those involved will include Mexican restaurant favourite Madre (and its sister site, Mexican pool hall Salon Madre), margarita bar Ramona, and cosy cocktail dens like The Daisy.
Also joining in this year is the city’s newest rooftop destination, Chotto Matte, which is home to Claude’s Skyview Bar with staggering views over Albert Square to the Manchester Town Hall.
It’s all been handily laid out into a mile(ish)-long bar crawl that will showcase the best in tequila and some of the best watering holes in the city.
Billed as the ‘ultimate margarita experience’, you can spend the next month visiting participating venues to sample bespoke menus, with the main celebrations taking place during Mile Week from 16 to 22 February – ahead of National Margarita Day on 22 February.
The Margarita Mile launched in Manchester in 2023 and was initially a week-long celebration, designed to celebrate quality tequila, champion bartender creativity, and tempt people back out into bars during the quietest time of the year for hospitality.
Now in its fourth year, it’s grown to an award-winning event (it was named The Spirits Business Best Event of the Year 2025), spanning a full month.
Maps of this year’s Margarita Mile across Manchester are available online HERE, as well as at all participating venues, with no tickets required.
Steffin Oghene, VP Business Development for El Tequileño, says: “Each year, the Margarita Mile grows, and we’re incredibly proud that it is now an award-winning campaign.
“Our goal has always been to share a love of craft tequila while connecting Brits with the hospitality trade, especially in such challenging times.
“With some of the best bars and bartenders in the world, it’s more important than ever to inspire the UK public to get out, enjoy the Mile, and raise a margarita.”
All the venues on the El Tequileño Margarita Mile in Manchester
New details released ahead of world-premiere exhibition taking visitors on ‘epic space adventure’
Emily Sergeant
Some exciting new details of a major exhibition taking visitors on an ‘epic space adventure’ in Manchester next month have been revealed.
Making its world premiere, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos will invite visitors to explore our wondrous Solar System when it launches at the Science and Industry Museum in a few weeks time.
Announced in November last year fresh off-the-back of the new BBC Children’s and Education TV show, Horrible Science, the ‘thrilling’ new exhibition will encourage visitors to ‘do science the horrible way’, and join both scientists and supervillains to unveil the secrets of space.
The new exhibition will propel families up into space where mystery, intrigue, and rocket-loads of silly and surprising science await. You’ll get to venture through a series of cosmic zones, walk in the shoes of astronauts, explore the life-giving energy of the sun, marvel at mysterious moons, and discover far-off weird worlds.
Left teetering on the edge of our Solar System, explorers will then find themselves staring into the dark depths of space, on the lookout for any extra-terrestrial life that could be staring back.
Whether its sniffing astronauts’ smelly socks, dancing on an alien disco planet, feeling the tremors from a mysterious moonquake, or launching a space rocket, organisers say this new adventure will engage all the senses in a truly immersive experience.
This is the first time Horrible Science has been brought to life as a major exhibition.
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos opens in a few weeks time / Credit: Drew Forsyth (Science Museum Group)
Visitors will get to see familiar characters from the BBC series – like Dr Big Brain, in particular – on their mission to find out more about our fascinating Solar System through interactive experiments, playful challenges, and sensory exploration.
Newly announced are the names of some of the different exciting areas of the exhibition, like ‘Awesome Astronauts’, where life aboard the International Space Station is revealed, and ‘Mysterious Moon’ where visitors explore the only place beyond Earth ever visited by humans.
There’s also ‘Sizzling Sun’, ‘Weird Worlds’, and sensory spaces like the ‘Cosy Crater’ and ‘Dreadful Deep Space’ to make the most of.
The exhibition is being developed by the Science and Industry Museum in collaboration with producers of the Horrible Science TV show, BBC Children’s and Education, and Lion Television, together with Scholastic, who are publishers of the much-loved Horrible Science book series by Nick Arnold and illustrated by Tony De Saulles.
‘Unmissable’ objects from the Science Museum Group’s world-class space collection will also be on show when the exhibition premieres.
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos will open at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester on 13 February 2026 for an 11-month run before heading down to London, and tickets are now on sale priced at £10 – with family discounts available, and under-threes going free.
Daisy Jackson -
25th October 2024 
