Tai Wu
Ian Jones, Food and Drink EditorVisit now
Tai Wu
- Monday12:00pm - 11:00pm
- Tuesday12:00pm - 11:00pm
- Wednesday12:00pm - 11:00pm
- Thursday12:00pm - 11:00pm
- Friday12:00pm - 11:00pm
- Saturday12:00pm - 11:00pm
- Sunday11:30am - 9:30pm
Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.
Forget all the guff about the Hacienda and old football stadiums, you’re not a true Mancunian until you’ve eaten at Tai Wu. This sprawling restaurant opened in the early 1990s, catering mainly to the city’s growing Chinese community and international student population.
Word spread, and it gained a reputation as the place to find authentic Cantonese cuisine, with few, if any, concessions to the Western palate. Since then, other than the name, not much has changed. (The restaurant’s original name was Tai Pan, which loosely translates as ‘big boss’, but the 2020 lockdown forced a rebrand, where it became the somewhat more pleasant, Tai Wu, aka ‘great lake’.)
Even today, the restaurant feels very late-20th-century – never-ending laminated menus, strip lighting and banquet hall-style seating. At the very least, it’s a refreshing change from the polish of the city centre.
In other words, it’s not Tattu. The cast of Hollyoaks aren’t going to pop in any minute. You’re more likely to be surrounded by families who’ve been dining here for generations and will continue to do so for many more.
Tai Wu is very much its own thing. It’s a fair way out of town, behind the university and not near any other restaurants of note. You’ve no doubt driven past it, or rather, the superbly named Asian supermarket beneath it: WH Lung. (This, too, is worth a visit. It’s full of reasonably priced, exciting-looking edible treasures with nary a hint of an English translation. Fill your boots, pot luck-style.)
Tai Wu is not a salubrious restaurant. In fact, it might be the least salubrious restaurant I’ve visited in the past decade. But who gives a hoot about salubrity when there’s spicy beef on the menu?
