Hulme - Restaurant Guide

This “French-style fine-dining experience” in Cheshire has just celebrated its 25th anniversary, serving “the kind of traditional Gallic fare you want to eat – frogs’ legs, coquilles St Jacques, onion soup, profiteroles”, all of it “meticulously presented”. Chef-patron Oliver Troalen trained in Paris and began his UK career at the French Embassy in London (ever the diplomat, he “didn’t bat an eyelid when a friend asked for her steak to be served ‘burnt’!”).

2023 Review: Ex-Manchester House chef, Aiden Byrne’s attractive pub is cutely situated opposite said St Mary’s Church in one of the scenic commuter towns on the Cheshire/Greater Manchester borders. Steaks, burgers, pies and the likes of lobster and chips typify its quality gastrofare; and they also serve pizza and snacks from their garden ‘shack’.

2024 Review: “An excellent local restaurant with talent in the kitchen (Miarisuz Dobies) and professional front of house” (his wife); regulars are “never disappointed” by the French- and Central European-inflected food (including five- or seven-course tasting menus), with “every detail wonderful and made in-house”.

“Casual dining on long trestle tables in a successful food hall” – the MO at this revived Victorian indoor market, where there are “plenty of food outlets” to take your fancy, ranging from sourdough pizza heroes Honest Crust to new arrivals Soots Pasta. Add in “wines and beers from the surrounding independent stallholders” and this “fun venue” is a “go-to destination” when in town (and “child-friendly – they love it as much as mum and dad”).

2024 Review: “Forget flying to southern Italy – go to Sud for wonderful pasta and other Italian dishes”, say fans of the “fresh, vibrant, authentic food” served at this “fun” Altrincham outfit with “slick and friendly service” – the original of a group now with outposts in Ancoats, Sale and Manchester city centre, and which changed its name from Sugo to avoid a clash with a Glasgow operation of that name. “Lots of eye-rolling, and funny noises came out of my mouth, and my wife and I literally didn’t speak for 15 minutes during the main course – I’ll never eat pasta with a knife and fork again!”.

2025 Review: Named in homage to a rocky outcrop that has long been a settlement for Buddhist monks, Don Buddhika’s black-fronted restaurant is “still going strong with its Sri Lankan speciality dishes” – small plates, curries, grills and more, with dedicated vegan and gluten-free menus. Besides this venture in the swanky Manchester ‘burbs, as of late 2023 they’ve also opened a second outpost a short drive away in the market town of Knutsford.

This “authentically Spanish” little corner bar on a backstreet in Chorlton “ranks among the best tapas places around Manchester – and there are plenty of them!”. A fixture since 2010, “it surpasses the hype, thankfully,” and “puts a smile on your face every time” with its “excellent traditional food and wine”.

2024 Review: “Pizza with an inventive streak” – plus all the standards “for those who are less adventurous” – is the offer at this surviving branch of an independent Manchester group founded in 2000. The flagship in the city centre and the Didsbury branch have closed down in recent times, to the dismay of their many fans, leaving just Chorlton and Prestwick standing.

“Very lucky to have this fabulous restaurant in our neighbourhood” says a very local supporter of this well-regarded, small venue in Wavertree. A visiting Londoner agrees, finding “very well-executed and very reasonably-priced Modern European fare in a cosy neighbourhood setting”. Last word goes to the local: “It’s first class – I’ve been many times and never had a bad meal”.

2025 Review: “Fabulous food with unusual flavour combinations, lovely staff and great service” make this neighbourhood bistro from Chris Edwards & Owain Williams “well worth the trip to the student quarter of Liverpool”. “Seasonality is the key here” – but “don’t come here for a romantic dinner-for-two: it’s buzzing!”. Top Tip – “the amazing early-bird dinner menu”.

“As always, this stalwart remains the best meal you can enjoy in South Manchester”, according to admirers of Patrick Hannity’s classy West Didsbury brasserie, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year – “they just get everything right without bragging about it”, delivering “delicious food without unnecessary complications”. The venue has a large and longstanding fan club, but also picks up new converts (“I’d never quite got the appeal before but on my last visit each course was excellent”). Top Menu Tip – “save some space for the sublime courgette fritters”.

“Much more than a pub!” – this once abandoned Victorian boozer was resurrected in 2021 after a decade and a half in the doldrums; now a globetrotting and “high-quality” restaurant out back (‘The Glass Room’), plus a front room offering more casual but “solid” grub, it’s “worth walking out to” the borough of Salford, in the Greater Manchester ‘burbs, to enjoy – and if you take your friends along for the ride they’ll be “duly impressed”.

“Spectacular views (Manchester weather notwithstanding)” are the headline event at this “fashionable restaurant and celeb bar in Manchester’s vibrant Spinningfields district” – the city’s highest dining room, no less, and part of the glam London group, recently re-christened ‘Evolv’. While it has been dismissed in the past as a one-trick pony, what feedback there was this year was very positive, with one reporter commenting that, “so often the view is the attraction and the basics suffer — but not here, where the service and food match the view”.

“Excellent Paella”, “fantastic wine” and “helpful staff” help win praise for this “lovely” tapas bar. It’s the original of a group over twenty years old, with siblings in the Northern Quarter and more-distant Knutsford: “each branch is reliably buzzing and lively”.