Eat Well, Do Good returns to Manchester this October for its third year, with the city’s hospitality trade once again fundraising for chef-made meals for people in crisis – families in temporary accommodation, women in refuge, food bank users, and parents staying overnight in hospital with their children.

Alongside the many excellent traditional Sicilian dishes, here’s you’ll find a finely-honed vegan menu. It’s a true independent success story, putting their ethics where their mouths are. Word has spread, and the young and meat-free of Manchester have chosen this cosy backstreet restaurant as their new go-to.

Had enough to eat? Time to relax. Fairmont Cheshire, The Mere has launched a Twilight Spa Package, offering a 60-minute KAMA facial or massage plus full access to the spa’s pools, thermal suite and relaxation spaces for £175pp, Monday to Friday.

The newly opened spa sits across the hotel’s 157-acre grounds and includes a 20m pool, Finnish sauna, ice baths, hammam steam rooms and salt inhalation chambers, with treatments from KAMA Ayurveda, Wildsmith Skin and 111SKIN.

Vetch has shifted from its tasting menu format this September in favour of an unstructured, order-as-you-go menu built for sharing, from chef-owner Dan McGeorge. Dishes span oysters with green strawberry and yuzu hot sauce, buffalo wing with caviar, salt-aged duck with blackberry kosho and a 600g T-bone, alongside a reworked drinks list and looser, faster-paced service.

McGeorge won Great British Menu in 2021 and Vetch holds two AA rosettes, a Good Food Guide “Very Good” rating and a Michelin Guide listing for 2025 and 2026.

Ever the enquiring mind, Sampa chief-chef Caroline Martins looks toward southern Spain, focusing on that most underrated of Andalusian vinos: sherry.

As with everything Caroline does, this isn’t an archaic take on fortified wine. No Withnail wisecracks, no nana’s sideboard. Instead, a finely tuned meal based around dishes that pair with the huge range of sherries available to modern wine lovers.

Northern Roots finally has an opening date. The Big Welcome, a free family launch event, runs Saturday 19 September, 12-4pm, marking the first public opening of the Welcome Building, café, shop and the four-acre Snipe Clough Urban Farm.

The Refuge at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is marking its 10th anniversary with a birthday party on Thursday 3 September from 6.30pm, kicking off a month of celebrations. The night includes DJs, canapés and drinks, all with a few nods back to the last ten years.

Albert’s Schloss brings Oktoberfest back to Manchester from 19 September to 25 October 2026, with all six official Munich Oktoberfest beers on tap – a rarity outside the city itself. Expect seven days a week of oompah and brass bands, a keg-tapping opening ceremony, bratwurst-eating and lederhosen competitions, and Bavarian food to match. The Liverpool branch runs the same festival in parallel, for anyone wanting das benches without the trip east.

Society Manchester hosts an Oktoberfest celebration on Thursday 24 September, with tables bookable via a £10 deposit that includes a stein from six official Munich Oktoberfest breweries on draft.

Live music comes from The Bavarian Trumps, alongside Oktoberfest-themed specials from five of Society’s independent traders, including Manzoku’s currywurst and bratwurst bao, and Slap & Pickle’s pretzel burger. Fancy dress is encouraged, with a prize for best dressed.

Freight Island Presents Oktoberfest runs across two weekends, Thursday 1st-Sunday 4th and Thursday 8th-Sunday 11th October, with free general admission and paid table tickets, featuring Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr beers alongside live music, comedy and drag from acts including Charlie Partridge, Acid Klauss and headliners Oh My God! It’s The Church.

Sundays offer a family-friendly version with children’s crafts and a Brothers Grimm-inspired trail.

Higher Ground hosts Bouchon Racine, named the UK’s number one restaurant at the National Restaurant Awards earlier this year, for a one-off Sunday lunch on 27 September as part of its Cooking With Friends series.

Chef Henry Harris, whose French cooking at the Farringdon restaurant has drawn consistent critical acclaim, joins the Higher Ground kitchen to cook a menu drawn from the Bouchon Racine style. Covers are limited so move quick.

Gaucho Manchester has reopened its Deansgate site with a refreshed interior and new menu, marking over 25 years in the city, with highlights including a Manchester-exclusive Whiskey Glaze Ribeye (available until 14 September) and a new Belvedere Martini Bar.

Guests dining between 14-31 August receive a complimentary Tiny Tini, while one table per day will have its entire bill covered until 31 August via the Gaucho Golden Ticket.

Aviva Studios is a venue that changes and adapts according to the artist, whether that’s My Bloody Valentine, Marina Abramović or David Hockney.

Accordingly, the food and drink side needs to be a cut above. And the dining options matched with current exhibition, Button Up! by Chinese dissident and acclaimed conceptual artist Ai Weiwei, are precisely that.

Gilpin Spice at Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, near Windermere, has launched a refreshed Pan-Asian menu under new Head Chef Ralph Rojas, formerly of Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay in Manchester. The menu draws on Thai, Japanese and Filipino influences alongside expanded sushi and sashimi, with dishes including a Filipino-style Kinilaw ceviche, Goan-style tiger king prawns, and 30-day aged British ribeye with Thai chimichurri. The relaunch coincides with the opening of the restaurant’s new Laurent-Perrier Terrace.

Zouk Tea Bar is launching a new run of regional Indian cooking classes this autumn, covering Mumbai (10 October), Old Delhi (28 November) and Lahore to Lucknow (12 December), each hands-on and covering street food, regional curries and kebabs. The December class carries a festive twist, teaching a raan-inspired roast chicken with spicy Indian gravy for Christmas. A press preview session, with two dishes from each class, runs Saturday 19 September, with limited spaces available.