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Fine Dining and Tasting Menus in Manchester

Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor

What’s more luxurious than a tasting menu? Manchester has a whole host of options for those with a burning desire for multiple courses of high-end and invariably complex and beautiful dishes.

We’ve spent a gout-inducing year or two tracking down the very best, and you can spend your time, and entire bank balance, checking them all out. If you baulk at spending hundreds of pounds on a single meal, then look away now. The rest of us, who realise life is made for living and debt disappears when you die, can start to plough through this master list of fancy-pants food destinations in the North.

Our top picks

Skof by Tom Barnes

Skof by Tom Barnes, 3 Federation Street, Manchester, M4 4BF - Visit now

Skof has been winning national awards left, right and centre of late. And rightly so. It’s the first restaurant from Cumbrian-born Tom Barnes and with impeccable timing, we visited during the final service before they earned their first Michelin star.

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Vetch

Vetch, 29a Hope St, Liverpool , L1 9BQ - Visit now

Slightly outside of Manchester, Liverpool’s lovely Vetch features in the SquareMeal top 100 list for the second consecutive year, ranked at No. 36 and the highest spot of any venue in the city. We loved it and you will too.

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Heft

Heft, Heft Inn & Restaurant High Newton , Newton in Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6JH - Visit now

Head out of town and head to Heft – a Michelin star restaurant and homely 17th century inn in the Lake District, with food provided by esteemed chef Kevin Tickle.

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Sampa

Sampa, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 - Visit now

Manchester’s most exciting chef is at it again. Born in Brazil and adopted by the UK, Caroline Martins is the very definition of independent. No shady hedge fund backers, no corporate overlords reining her in, just dazzling idea after dazzling idea.

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Where The Light Gets In

Where The Light Gets In, 7 Rostron Brow, Stockport, SK1 1JY - Visit now

It’s all change at Stockport’s Where The Light Gets In. Out with the extensive tasting menus, replaced by a new streamlined menu – five courses, designed to share between two or more. What’s that? “Fewer courses bad, more courses good!” we hear you cry. Not in this case.

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Mana

Mana, 42 Blossom St, Manchester, M4 6BF - Visit now

Mana is proof that Manchester has matured into a world-class city. When Warrington-born, former-Noma chef Simon Martin opened this fine-dining restaurant in 2018, he caught the start of a wave that saw the city’s food and drink scene transformed from something decent into something remarkable. Mana is the crest of that wave.

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Erst

Erst, 9 Murray St, Manchester, M4 5BN - Visit now

When it comes to small plates, these guys are operating on a different level. There’s Erst, then there’s everywhere else.

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KAJI

KAJI, 64 Bridge Street, Manchester, M3 3BN - Visit now

KAJI is the pet project of respected chef Steven Smith, a towering figure in the Northern food scene. Best known for his 15 years heading up The Freemasons in Wiswell, he’s been lured away from Blackburn to showcase his skills on Bridge Street.

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Tsuchi at The Black Bull Inn

Tsuchi at The Black Bull Inn, 44 Main St, Sedbergh, Yorkshire Dales, LA10 5BL - Visit now

The Black Bull has levelled up since our last trip out to Sedbergh in late 2023. For starters, the fine dining side has its own entity, as well it should. Welcome to Tsuchi (‘soil’ in Japanese, wholesomely).

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Where to go in Manchester

Manchester
Restaurant
Butter Bird

Butter Bird is a newly opened casual but stylish restaurant in Ancoats, based around the very delicious concept of tea-brined chicken.

Asmara Bella
Manchester
Restaurant
Asmara Bella

Eritrean & Ethiopian Restaurant in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, serving up traditional food from the Horn of Africa.

Chorlton
Restaurant
Horse and Jockey Chorlton

Chorlton’s magnificent Horse and Jockey has had an almighty do-over, transforming it into one of South Manchester’s top must-visit drinking and dining destinations.

Tangerine
Chapel Street
Restaurant
Tangerine

Manchester’s latest must-visit multipurpose venue, offering top-level food, drinks and live shows.

Bar Posie
City Centre
Bar or Pub
Posie

A new cocktail bar from the crack team behind 10 Tib Lane and Henry C.

Manchester
Food hall
Kargo MKT

Mighty food hall in Salford Quays, with around twenty street food vendors, serving a huge range of cuisines.

See all places

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New Openings in Manchester

Manchester’s food and drink scene is thriving. Here are the recently-opened venues who are worth your pounds, shillings and pence.

Manchester Restaurant Deals

Manchester's restaurants are bending over backwards to create deals that take the sting out of eating out. Here are the best of the bunch for January.

Tasting Menus in The North

Looking for the finest luxury multi-course restaurants in Manchester? Look no further. We've picked out the very best tasting menus in the city.

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The cafe in the trees at the Whitworth
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The front of Didsbury restaurant Volta.
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Didsbury has the perfect split between big brands and independent businesses, welcoming all from far and wide.
Image by Jonathan Schofield.
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