Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Littleborough
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Littleborough restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 86 restaurants in Littleborough and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Littleborough restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Littleborough Restaurants
1. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Manchester
61 Piccadilly - M1
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this northern-based operation “still delivers very high-quality Indian street food with super craft beers at excellent value – keep it up!”. Now with two branches in Manchester, one each in Leeds and Liverpool and a new venture as far south as Birmingham, it’s “very good for a quick curry fix” – and nobody seems to notice that the Gujarati food is vegan.
2. TNQ Restaurant & Bar
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
108 High St - M4
“An exemplar of city-centre neighbourhood bistros” – this “popular Northern Quarter restaurant” (that’s the NQ in the name) has “settled down into a pleasing rhythm of knowing exactly who they are and what they need to do (kind-of like your favourite comfy pair of high-quality shoes… in the best possible way!)”; and “consistently delivers excellent food that doesn’t cost the earth”.
3. Tattu
Chinese restaurant in Manchester
3 Hardman Sq, Gartside St - M3
Aces of expensive, moodily dark wood paneling and other luxurious surfaces contribute to the Insta-friendly scene at this original outpost of what’s now become a national chain of glam pan-Asian destinations. Feedback was relatively limited this year, but raised no complaints regarding its mix of Chinese dishes with sushi and Thai favourites.
4. San Carlo
Italian restaurant in Manchester
40 King Street West - M3
This “buzzy Italian in central Manchester” (opened in 2004) is one of the better-known locations both in the city and in the national chain of which it is part; and at lunch it “buzzes with business people” (evenings are overwhelmingly social). “Good traditional food is well cooked with delicious pasta and fish” and the old-school service is “friendly, efficient and well organised”.
5. WOOD Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
Jack Rosenthal Street - M15
2023 Review: “The food is quite stunning and the wines… wow!” – Simon Wood’s “impressive” three-year-old is a “special” venue for all who comment on it, some of whom had their best meal of the year here. “The tasting menu is exceptional” and “most times you go it changes, which is fantastic”. “You can also go upstairs afterwards to Homage where they do matching cheese and wine, which again has an extensive menu”.
6. MUSU
Japanese restaurant in Manchester
India Buildings, 8 Brunswick St - M3
“A real feast for the senses and already very popular”; “a quite incredible fit-out for this newish opening” is just one of the attractions at this October 2022 debut, on the site that was previously Randall & Aubin (RIP), but which has been subject to a £3.5m refit. The name means ‘infinite possibilities’: here, that translates into seven-course or eleven-course Japanese omakase menus for up to £150 per person – “expensive to visit but quite fabulous ingredients prepared by Michael Shaw and his team” (he was previously at a traditional pub in Lydgate, near Oldham so this is quite the change, but his pedigree includes stints at Le Manoir, Ramsay’s Aubergine and Richard Neat). In a March 2023 review, The Guardian’s Grace Dent declared it “gigantically ambitious and pointedly bonkers”, resembling “nothing so much as the Starship Enterprise, albeit one with geishas on the walls” and with “outstanding… Japanese food served in the manner of Le Manoir… Every bowl is a minuscule portion of exquisite pleasure”.
7. Eagle & Child
British, Modern restaurant in Ramsbottom
3 Whalley Road - BL0
2022 Review: “Great food and also a sense that they are putting back into the community” inspires support for this pub-with-rooms on the village green. Run as a youth-focused social enterprise, supporting young people to access training and paid work experience, it has won a string of awards over its almost ten years in operation. In summer, its ‘Incredible Edible Beer Garden’ comes into its own: almost an acre in size and with lots of interest as well as outside seating.
8. Engine Social Dining
International restaurant in Sowerby Bridge
72 Wharf Street - HX6
“Blimey, these guys can cook” – the tenor of most reports on chef Mark Kemp’s converted pub (est. 2018); “the menu (all in the tapas/small plates mode) ranges far and wide” (“something like gyozas stuffed with sobrasada and basil, served with a makhani sauce”), but despite such adventurous combinations, there “isn’t a single duff note” on the menu – which is also “tremendous value” and “utterly, indulgently delicious”. Top Tip – “it now opens Wednesday to Saturday and getting a table at the last minute is nigh on impossible. Book in advance and enjoy… just don’t take my seat!”
9. Gimbals
International restaurant in Sowerby Bridge
76 Wharf St - HX6
2021 Review: “Fantastic food” (“always plenty of interesting seasonal options, including great vegetarian choices”), that’s “great value” too, ensures the continuing popularity of Janet & Simon Baker’s eclectically decorated stalwart.
10. Lily's Indian Vegetarian Cuisine
restaurant in Ashton-Under-Lyne
85 Oldham Rd - OL6
2022 Review: There’s a “fantastic range of vegetarian treats” at this “great value” Indian – part of the Sachdev family business that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The café, near Manchester’s IKEA, moved into its own site opposite the family’s ASM cash-and-carry grocery a couple of years ago. (It’s named after founder PG Sachdev’s wife Lilawati, who hand-made treats to sell in the early days of the business.)
11. Osma
Scandinavian restaurant in Prestwich
132 Bury New Road - M25
2022 Review: Chef Danielle Heron, who has worked at L'Enclume and Maaemo in Oslo, opened her first solo venture in the midst of the pandemic in autumn 2020, serving Scandinavian-style open sandwiches and salads, with evening meals served four nights a week. The name comes from Osla and Manchester, the home cities of Danielle and co-owner Sofie Stoermann-Naess. No feedback as yet, but it sounds promising, and was shortlisted as a potential newcomer of the year in the Manchester Food & Drink Festival Awards.
12. Eric's
British, Traditional restaurant in Huddersfield
73-75 Lidget St - HD3
Chef-patron Eric Paxman trained under Marco Pierre White in London and Bill Granger in Australia, and has cooked for luminaries including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vowed ‘I’ll be back’ – a sentiment shared by numerous guests at the venture he opened in his hometown 14 years ago. “Lunch and early-bird evening specials are an exceptional bargain”.
13. The Spärrows Continental Pasta & Spätzle
East & Cent. European restaurant in Green Quarter
16 Red Bank - M4
2023 Review: This “unusual and unique find” – “hidden away in a railway arch near Manchester’s Victoria Station” – offers “a wide selection of pasta and dumplings from south Germany, Switzerland, Alsace, Austria and the German-speaking parts of northern Italy”, washed down with an interesting variety of beers, wines and Japanese alcoholic drinks. Even the occasional critic who finds it “not entirely to my liking” concedes that “the very interesting menu has good and unusual food”. The same team is scheduled to open a sake bar and shop called Suzume.
14. Glamorous
Chinese restaurant in Manchester
Wing Yip Bus’ Centre, Oldham Rd - M4
2022 Review: “Busy”, huge and gaudy Cantonese that sits over the Wing Yip Oriental supermarket, where you can choose from over 300 dishes on the menu. It’s one of the few places left in town (in the country?) where dim sum still comes on trolleys.
15. Mana
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
Sawmill Court - M4
“Simply the best” – Simon Martin’s Ancoats superstar continues to maintain the “outstanding all-round” form that secured its place in the history books in 2019 when it carried back to Manchester the city’s first Michelin star since 1977. “Sublime dishes are cooked with invention and precision” by the squadron of chefs put on display by the open kitchen (you can walk between workstations as the chefs are plating up). They deliver a £195 per person tasting menu, although you can fight the cost-of-living crisis with a cut-down version at £95 per person. Combinations are clever and each dish is intricately crafted. The contemporary space it occupies – at the foot of a modern block – is also full of drama, with a very high ceiling and huge windows.
16. Erst
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
9 Murray Street - M4
“Definitely one of the stars of the buzzing Ancoats scene… in fact, the Manchester scene overall” – “a minimalistic interior sets the scene for simple but brilliantly executed dishes designed for sharing” at this low-key zeitgeisty hit: the most commented-on destination in the city in our annual diners’ poll this year. “The highly professional kitchen team are at the top of their game providing fare which is as clever as it is straightforward” (e.g. “the best bread and potato dishes I’ve ever had!”). Aided by its “very helpful” approach to service: “it’s the kind of place you wish was in your neighbourhood. Small plates and a natural (but not too funky) list of wines make it as good a place as any you will find to spend a couple of hours when in Manchester”.
17. Canto
Portuguese restaurant in Manchester
Cutting Room Square, Blossom Street - M4
This “really good tapas” spot in Ancoats is “hugely popular”, so “booking is a must” – “the only drawback is that tables are reserved for 1.5-hour slots, so it’s difficult to make a night of it no matter how much you spend on wine!”. Billed as a Portuguese follow-up to Simon Shaw’s El Gato Negro when it opened five years ago under head chef Carlos Gomes, the venue now describes its food puzzlingly as ‘Mediterranean tapas’ – which would exclude the many Portuguese dishes on the menu…
18. Rudy's
Pizza restaurant in Manchester
9 Cotton Street, Ancoats - M4
“The high-quality, authentic pizzas” are “just the best” – “especially the plain old Neapolitan” – at the “really buzzing” Ancoats original of what has become a fast-growing chain. Founded by Jim Morgan & Kati Wilson nine years ago, it is now has 18 branches around the country as part of the Mission Mars/Albert’s Schloss operation – but is “still very good” by all accounts, and if it “does get a bit noisy in there, that only adds to the atmosphere”.
19. Mackie Mayor
International restaurant in Manchester
1 Eagle Street - M4
A “lovely conversion” of the old Smithfield market, by the Altrincham Market team, has given rise to this “fabulous food hall”; it’s a “noisy, busy and fun” sort of place (“outside feels like the Meatpacking District of old”) but “if you can nab a table, watch the world go by and enjoy the great selection of food and drinks”. The latter includes nine outfits, with one reporter singling out New Wave Ramen as having “really hit their stride” (“worth going to MM for this alone”).
20. The Edinburgh Castle
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
Blossom Street - M4
This splendid 1811 pub with upstairs restaurant has been rescued as part of the ongoing redevelopment of Ancoats, winning praise for its “brilliant pub food”, plus “good beer and wines” and an “awesome Sunday lunch!”
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