Coming from a small town in Italy, one of the first things I immediately liked about Manchester was the great variety of restaurants and coffee shops. Being such an international city, there are different cuisines ranging from American pancakes to Vietnamese Pho. After being here for almost three years, here are my 7 favourite places in Manchester for eating out.
Alabama’s
Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch
Location: Near Piccadilly Gardens
Description: Alabama’s has the best buttermilk pancakes, either savoury or sweet; it is my favourite place to go for meeting friends and chat over nice stacks of hot pancakes and a cup of flat white.
Federal Café
Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch
Location: Northern Quarter
Description: Similarly to Alabama’s, Federal Café is great place for breakfast or brunch with family and friends but its menu has New Zealand and Australian specialties. One of my favourite dishes is the French toast topped with summer berry compote and vanilla mascarpone.
Pho
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Location: Corn Exchange
Description: Pho is typical Vietnamese rice vermicelli with broth, herbs and meat. It is an excellent dish whenever I want something warm and nutritious. You can choose different toppings and broth base to customise it to your taste. At lunchtime (mon-fri), there is also a 2-course deal (main+dessert) for £9.95.
Student discount: 15% off
Nudo Sushi Box
Photo credit: Jane Hall, 2014
Cuisine: Japanese
Location: Oxford St, City Tower and Spinningfields Square
Description: Nudo Sushi Box is the perfect place to grab a quick lunch if you are in a hurry. It offers Japanese dishes such as sushi and rice with chicken teriyaki. All the dishes are pre-made for the day and displayed in the refrigerator. It is a very convenient option for low-cost sushi and I personally love to go there whenever I am in town and know I don’t have much time to eat.
Seoul Kimchi
Cuisine: Korean
Location: Upper Brook St, behind Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital
Description: I love Korean food, so before coming to Manchester as a first-year student, I googled about Korean restaurants in the city and this was one of the first recommendations. It is a family-led business and the space is quite small (less than 25 seats). However, I believe it is one of the best, if not the best, in the area because of the home-made taste in its dishes. I love every single dish they have, especially their kimchi pancake, kimbap, beef bibimbap and ginseng chicken soup.
Chatime
Photo credit: Chatime Richmond
Cuisine: Bubble Tea
Location: Chinatown and Oxford House (near MMU campus)
Description: Chatime is a very popular Taiwanese bubble tea chain shop. It offers a great range of bubble tea and other beverages, perfect for sweet drink cravings. You can choose from different types of tea, toppings and sugar/ice level. My recommendation would be Oolong milk tea with QQ topping.
Cloud23
Cuisine: Drinks
Location: Beetham Tower, Deansgate
Description: Cloud23 is located on the 23rd floor of the Beetham Tower and it is a very nice place for cocktails and drinks but what makes it so special for me is the panoramic view of the city, either at sunset or night.
Student discount: 23% off, Sunday and Monday from 5pm
Header image credit – https://unsplash.com/photos/W9OKrxBqiZA