Samsi

At one point, back in Manchester’s less-polished era, Samsi was known as New Samsi. This was back in the nineties and noughties, when the city centre food landscape was relatively sparse, and an authentic Japanese restaurant was rather exotic. 

Then one day it quietly dropped the ‘New’ qualifier and became part of the old guard. Eschewing the bells and whistles of the up-and-comers, it became a regular face on local deals mailing lists. If you didn’t use a Groupon code for a cheap meal at this trusty East Asian restaurant in the 2010s, were you even really here? 

Mundane metaphysics aside, Samsi has been around for over thirty years because it’s good. Simple as that. It’s not reinventing the wheel, it’s not transporting you on a journey of mind-scrambling wonder, it’s just serving up decent quality, lightly westernised Japanese food. 

Interestingly, the prices haven’t gone up all that much either. Even now, you can enjoy a very filling set meal for £30 or less. And this isn’t some backstreet dive bar, this is a stylish two-tiered restaurant on Whitworth Street, in the heart of the city centre. 

Sushi fan on a budget? Grab a 12-piece uramaki selection for an impressive £9.99. Be sensible, you’re not getting blue fin tuna and grade 1 caviar for that price, but it’s a damn sight better than shopping centre sushi. 

But the tempura vegetable is probably our top recommendation. The batter is light, thin and non-too-oily, while the colourful slices of veg are cooked just enough to keep their shape in the zesty dipping sauce. 

Part of the charm of Samsi is that it doesn’t get bogged down with viral trends or keeping up with the Suzukis. This quietly impressive restaurant has been doing its own thing since 1993, and doing it well.