Macclesfield, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Patrick Hannity's decade-old spin-off from his Manchester original is less well known than its progenitor but is “usually excellent”, too; the food is “light, balanced and filled with flavour”, incorporating produce from his Peak District farm.

“A pub that can serve ultra-fresh, skillfully cooked seafood is a rare treat” – “this country inn in the hills above Macclesfield” has a “light and comfortable small dining room adjacent to the old bar”. It enjoys “strong support from the village”, which clubbed together 20 years ago to buy the freehold when the pub was threatened with closure.

2022 Review: This Grade II-listed former coaching inn incorporates fourteenth-century Whitehough Hall, whose dining room with a minstrels’ gallery provides a medieval setting for the “excellent food” served here. Former banker Daniel Capper took over the running of his childhood home when a leaseholder failed.

2023 Review: “Theatrical presentation” is a longstanding feature of the Pear family’s stalwart fixture of four decades’ standing, whose ‘Dinner at 8’ package was an early adopter of the tasting menu format, with a 7-course menu delivered in a single sitting (you arrive at 7.30 pm). Fans say “Covid hasn't affected the consistent high quality of this unique dining venue. And to the famous ‘Dinner at 8’, can be added the growing popularity of their afternoon tea”: “a choice of gentleman’s or lady’s gives a useful mix of sweet and savoury, including the legendary homemade desserts. Ample portions (take-home boxes cheerfully provided), well served and a good range of teas''.

“A very different but great experience” – Sam Buckley’s hipster hotspot has won fame at these atmospheric brick-walled premises in a former coffee warehouse with huge windows, which opened in 2016. It’s “a super space for a romantic dinner”, especially if your date is of a foodie disposition; the “gorgeous food” from a tasting menu at £110 per person puts a major emphasis on sustainability and local sourcing and there are “delicious wine pairings, introducing you to novel wines”, all served by “lovely staff”.

“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”.

“Fantastic food” has been a consistent refrain of guests at Patrick Hannity’s West Didsbury brasserie for more than 35 years – many of whom return again and again – “we only go on my birthday (due to distance) but it’s the meal I most look forward to each year”. The modern British cooking with European touches is always up-to-date on seasonality, and in 2008 Patrick became one of the first restaurateurs to invest in his own smallholding to provide ingredients for the kitchen. “The fixed-price menu (weekday lunch and early evening) is fairly short on options but reliably high on quality” – and at £16 per person for two courses or £20 for three represents tremendous value.

2021 Review: “You would not realise you are in Moss Side” at the Whitworth’s “beautiful” and “family-friendly” glass-walled conservatory, overlooking Whitworth Park. Its location (above all) and victuals make it an “excellent place for lunch”, with the “three daily changing salads particularly recommended”.

2023 Review: Fooderati insider Thom Hetherington was amongst those sending out an SOS on behalf of this well-regarded neighbourhood restaurant in his hometown, which was gutted by fire in September 2022. By the end of the month it had crowdfunded the money to re-open and restore its mix of funky small plates (typically you would order 7-8 in a meal), plus gins, cocktails and a thoughtful small selection of wines.

Opposite a twelfth-century church, this “really good” village outfit is “exactly what you’d want from a good-quality pub”: a “relaxed, friendly and chatty” spot turning out some “perfectly judged” food (not least fish ’n’ chips, though the desserts are also “technical and brilliantly flavoured”).

“Fabulous breakfasts to start the day with excellent omelettes; flavour-packed soups; and great coffee” (“with that rare accompaniment, a glass of iced water”) are all highlights of the “imaginative creations from the open kitchen” at this funkily decorated, brick-walled bar/diner, which is “open all day” – a model of “simplicity with highly efficient service”.

It’s “well worth a trip out” to the Peak District National Park to find this “exceptional” small village gastroboozer; chef Luke Payne’s “upmarket food with a northern twist” has won the seal of approval from many a national restaurant critic, and there are excellent walks from the door.

2022 Review: Eddie Shepherd has been called “the magician of the vegetarian world”, and his ‘underground restaurant’ is a unique experience – 12 courses of entirely plant-based food, served to a maximum of eight diners in his own Manchester home, with no staff. Eddie’s cult status and his positioning on the avant garde extreme of veganism mean that seats at his table can be booked out six months ahead – so good luck!