Best Places to Eat & Drink in ManchesterPlanning a trip to Manchester? This must-see city is considered one of the best UK destinations for foodies! From historic pubs to whimsical cafés and urban food halls to luxury dining, there is something for every taste(bud). Save these places to eat and drink for your Manchester trip! 🥂🍽️🍰🫖✨AuthorsSteller
DestinationsManchesterItinerary

Half-Day Manchester Food Tour with Lunch

This highly rated tour gives you a taste of Manchester's multicultural heritage—you get to taste foods from around the world! Led by a top Manchester tour company, Scranchester Food Tours, reviewers on Tripadvisor love the friendly and knowledgeable guides, and the mix of places visited and foods tasted. Scran, a term that originated in the British Navy, means food in Northern England. For more tours, visit Scranchester Food Tours's website directly at scranchestertours.com.

The Spirit of Manchester Distillery

Visit Manchester Gin! What began in a dining room in 2016 is now a state-of-the-art distillery that can produce over a million bottles per year of gin, rum, whisky, vodka, and more per year! They're most famous, of course, for their award-winning range of handcrafted Manchester-made gins. The Manchester Gin Guided Tour and Tasting Experience, the Manchester Gin-Making Experience, and the Taste the Distillery Tour are highly recommended!

Manchester Taxi Tours

Spend an afternoon exploring Manchester from the comfort of a famous black cab on an Afternoon Tea Taxi Tour with Manchester Taxi Tours. You'll enjoy a classic afternoon tea for two, which includes a selection of sandwiches, pastries, mini cakes, and scones with cream and jam, after seeing the sights! This is a bespoke tour designed specifically around what you want to see. How lovely! 🍰🫖✨

Craft Beer Tour around Manchester

🍺 Taste as many as 10 craft beers as you explore Manchester's thriving microbrewery scene—one of the best places for craft beers in the UK. Tripadvisor reviewers rank this as one of the best craft beer tours in Manchester noting the fun guides and great diversity of beers.

East Lancashire Railway

Climb aboard a historic steam engine for a luxury dining experience that takes you through the stunning Irwell Valley in Northwest England! Enjoy a classic British afternoon tea or an elegant dinner in a traditional Pullman-style carriage as you watch the picturesque Lancashire countryside go by. There are several dining experiences available to book, including Afternoon Tea, wine and spirit-tasting events, Sunday lunch, and more.

The Washhouse

When you say you're going to do laundry, but you're actually going out to have loads of fun...at a speakeasy! The Washhouse is more than a secret bar, it's a one-of-a-kind experience. (There's a slide inside!) This very quirky place serves up creative cocktails with flair and gets rave reviews. Note: You must make a reservation ahead of time.

Pip

Make time to dine at Pip, a sustainable and highly innovative, restaurant inside the brand-new Treehouse Hotel Manchester. Celebrated local chef Mary-Ellen McTague uses locally sourced seasonal produce and thoughtful ingredients to create elevated British dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Inside, the whimsical decor matches the playfulness of the food. Must-try dishes include the Beef & Porter Pudding and the Lancashire Hot Pot with braised lamb shoulder and oyster ketchup.

Food Sorcery Cookery School, Deansgate Square

Calling all foodies! Make your meal an experience at a Food Sorcery cooking event. Have fun learning to make a complete meal—starter, main, and dessert—in a fun and social way with the guidance of an expert chef! Choose the culinary style and theme you want to learn about, from Japanese and Mexican to Indian, Italian, Korean, and many more.

20 Stories

Often called one of the best rooftop bars in Europe, 20 Stories, offers its customers an elevated dining experience...quite literally. As the name indicates, you will be dining 20 stories up and enjoying 360-degree views of the Manchester skyline! The space consists of a stylish restaurant and two dining areas, as well as two bars, one of which is situated on a huge rooftop terrace. Diners can choose from several fixed-price menus—like the Weekend Bottomless Brunch, Afternoon Tea, or a Pre-Theatre Dining menu. From the bar, select from over 600 wines or try one of their inventive handcrafted cocktails. Cheers to that! 🥂

Freight Island

Looking for festival vibes and delicious street food in any season? Freight Island is a huge open-air food hall (with plenty of indoor seating) that mixes live music, entertainment, festivals, and more alongside a wide variety of street food vendors and bars. It's also a great spot for watching live sporting events!

Richmond Tea Rooms

Afternoon tea is served all day at this whimsical "Alice in Wonderland"-themed spot. Enjoy a selection of delightful finger sandwiches, homemade cakes, scones, and lots more. There are several afternoon teas to choose from, from the Wonderland Champagne Afternoon Tea to the Hatters Afternoon Tea. They're all mad about tea here! 🐇🌹🍄🫖

Afflecks

Afflecks is an iconic independent market in Manchester's Northern Quarter with more than 60 small shops to explore inside. It's an Aladdin’s cave of vintage and unique traders and a great way for new artists to share and sell their work. Browse vintage shops, vinyl stores, independent jewelers, and more. When you get hungry, there are a lot of places to fuel up including Desert Island Dumplings and, on the top floor, Gingers Comfort Emporium, which serves up delicious award-winning dairy and vegan ice cream and sorbet. Choose from inventive flavors like roasted banana and cookie pie or malted coconut milk! 🍨

Slattery

Slattery: Patisier & Chocolatiers is a short ride out of the city and worth it! Slattery's is a family-run, award-winning three-floor bakery and chocolate shop. This place is famous for its indulgent "Chocolate Challenge." To win the challenge, you must eat (by yourself) a huge slice of warm American-style chocolate fudge cake along with homemade chocolate ice cream, accompanied by fresh cream and two chocolate pots filled with chocolate sauce. Oh, and a mug of ultra-thick hot chocolate. If you can complete it, you will get a coveted medal and some of Slattery's homemade chocolates. Move over, Bruce Bogtrotter! 🍫 Slattery's also has a restaurant serving daytime treats, Afternoon Teas, lunch, and of course, its specialty—delicious desserts and pastries baked onsite, and handcrafted luxury chocolates!

Craft Beer Tour Manchester

Enjoy 10 different beer tastings during this award-winning craft beer experience at some of Manchester's best off-the-beaten-path breweries. An expert guide leads you to each place and walks you through every tasting. Learn how the beer is made and even talk to some of the brewery owners!

mana

Make sure you head to the Ancoats neighborhood located in the world’s first industrial suburb, which features an impressive list of bars and restaurants, including mana, Manchester's first Michelin-starred restaurant! Tip: You must make reservations for mana and choose what menu you would like, so plan ahead.

Electric Shuffle Manchester

Looking for a fun place to hang out with friends, enjoy a cocktail, and have a bite to eat? This bar in Deansgate has it all, including high-tech shuffleboard, live DJs on Fridays and Saturdays, and sharing menus for your whole crew!

Flight Club Manchester

🎯 Here's another option for you and your friends! Play darts while you enjoy food, cocktails, and music at this unique bar awarded Best Pub in Greater Manchester in the National Pub and Bar Awards in 2022. Dart games here have been reinvented to make the game faster-paced, and you can order drinks and food directly to your location.

COOK! with the Vegetarian Society

🌱 Join in these plant-based cooking experiences and learn how to make vegetarian dishes and even vegan street food. Choose from a variety of themed experiences—like Supper Club to baking to kid's classes—and types of cuisine, including Korean, Indian, Greek, and many more.

The Peveril of the Peak

This small Victorian-era bar, which was once used as a brothel, is now thought to be one of Manchester's most beautiful pubs! The pub is believed to have been built around 1820, is incredibly striking from the outside with a green-tiled exterior and stained glass windows while the inside is said to have "national historic importance." Stop by the Pev on the Manchester Pub Walkabout, a walking tour of Manchester’s famous and best pubs!

RHS Garden Bridgewater

Take some time to stroll through RHS Garden Bridgewater, home to the largest Victorian walled garden in England. There are more than 11 gardens spread throughout the 154-acre site at the historic Worsley New Hall estate, so plan to spend some time here. As you explore, note that some of the produce grown is used throughout the RHS Garden Bridgewater's restaurants. Enjoy fresh, seasonal lunch dishes at the Bridgewater Café and follow it up with sweet treats and pastries made on-site at the Garden Cottage Shepherds Hut. Grab a pizza made to order from the The Stables Café. And, on the weekends, enjoy a coffee or a freshly made cake or sausage roll at the Woodland Play coffee truck! 🪴🌷🌿☕

Sexy Fish Manchester

Why not top off an incredible trip to Manchester at this glamorous restaurant and bar? The vibe at Sexy Fish is whimsical-luxury meets "under the sea.” There is so much to look at—even the food is presented beautifully. Ariel would approve. 🧜‍♀️ The Japanese-inspired menu features sushi, sashimi, seafood, and meats grilled using the Japanese robata style for lunch and dinner. On Sundays, come for Bottomless Sunday Brunch. Check the website for tasting menus and special events.