Holland and Barrett have recently expanded their Market Street branch, now including some of the…read moreold BHS unit, it's like a whole new store since the refurb, it's now over two floors, it's a very, cool impressive store now. They do have lifts and escalators, making this one of the largest branches I have seen. I was drawn in due to how the branch looked, it was pretty cool and a nice addition to Market Street. H&B is more of a health store, they sell loads of free from stuff, including some things which are harder to source down elsewhere such as Isabel's mixes, Clives Pies, stuffing and cake mixes and all varieties of Ten Acre Crisps and Sweet Mandarin sauces, the prices were quite expensive and high end, but with an offer throughout the store to get another item for half price, which was even reminded to me at the checkout, who saved my place while i went to get something else, that made the price situation slightly better and of course my server saving my items and place in line, while I went to get something was good customer service for me. The store isn't perfect however, as some items do seem expensive which does put me off, especially for items which are more widely avaliable such as some of the biscuits this place stores, which are basically in every major supermarket. The drink selection could also be slightly improved such as making some of them more affordable, and more well known brands such as health drinks, there were a number of items here which were formely on Dragon's Den such as "Secret Sausages" and "Simply Bee Water", the latter I've tried before and strongly disliked as it is too watery. Overall, this is a nice store and does deserve three stars and it has been made so much better since the refurb, where it does stand out now, and isn't just another store in such a large city of Manchester.

Stocking potions and pills and everything under the sun that could be used to cure you of your…read morecreaky joints to thinning hair. Holland and barret is nice enough, they do some good deals on products occasionally. They have a good selection of health foods with plenty of kilogram bags of nuts and dried fruits. Recently Holland and barrets protein section has gone from strength to strength. This thanks to a new generation of blokes who like to buy whey protein and attend the gym two to three times a week, sorry fellas this ain't how it works. I can't count the amount of my mates who seem to neck protein shakes then follow it up with a shocking program of mincing around the gym and doing sets of weights, sorry boys that ain't fitness and your just going to get fat then mistake it for bulk.

Well, it's only fair to give this place a little analysis since I mentioned it while looking at…read moreGNC. This is definitely more within my comfort zone, although some of the supplements rub me up the wrong way ethically when they involve shark cartilage or what-not. However I've never been one for imbibing strange substances and am more than happy to stick to my vegetarian pork pies and flavoured health nuts. There are some sporty powders incorporated in the selection at this Deansgate offering, alongside stuff I'm totally clueless about like the equivalent of Gillian McKeith's ultimately useless yet hilariously titled Horny Goatweed. Do you know, I can't stand her to the extent that in Home Bargain there was some nice-looking cereal at 99p but I refused to buy it because her smirking face was on it. How on earth could I wake up to that every day? Back to H&B, as you can tell I'm selective about what I purchase here. I'm more interested in the health foods than the capsules, things I haven't tried cooking with like quinoa which is meant to be so healthy you actually develop a halo. Also the gargantuan bags of banana chips, dried fruit and nuts are great for stocking up on to add to puddings and porridges. Definitely one for the odd perusal, but you shouldn't live your life in here. I refuse to believe anyone who prefers carob over chocolate.

I love this shop! being someone who believes in eating as healthy as posible and taking…read moresupplements its my heaven being in here! from organic flaxseed to amino acids to almonds i could literally buy almost everything in the shop. when they have the offers of buy one get one half price or buy one get one for a penny then i stock up! althought you are limited to whats on offer? they sell a wide range of other things to like creams and toothpaste without flouride and even pet products. staff are not as knowledgeable as they should be but try to be helpful and are friendly. so know your product before you buy is always best.

Parched Tea Bar- one Tea - Mad Pundit's Impression…read more Well it was a good day for a jaunt to the famous Arndale shopping centre in Manchester and in search of that elusive tea Mecca I came across a quirky Tea bar in the food market area called Parched, and was intrigued, and decided to investigate. I introduced myself as a trainee wannabe pundit interested in sampling some of the goodies especially the teas and was suitable impressed and the tea was good the best in The Arndale, so they tell me explained Marcy Hazell, the proprietor. In the conversation which ensued, I learned a lot about tea and also Parched Tea Bar. England as we know is the home of tea and whenever I am abroad in Germany or Spain and gasping for a cuppa, they just don't seem to have the tea magic that us Brits enjoy. Parched was tea heaven. Marcy explained that she entered the world of exotic teas as the coffee market was saturated and Manchester really did lack any type of specialized tea shop, as she wittily put it, Parched was putting the tea back into the communitea After careful research she now vends over 60 varieties of teas and tisanes (which are herb and flower drinks). I tried some licorice tea which was novel and very refreshing, and as we chatted more I opted for the Fairtrade tea which is the favourite beverage served Japanese green tea was also popular and one of the teas that I found quite interesting was chrysanthemum flower tea But its not just about tea Marcy quipped and went on to explain the diverse range of products on offer, ranging from scones and New Yorker bagels made with gherkin, mayo and pastrami; to Milkshakes made with fresh fruit; carrot cake; to Elvis toasties; to homemade ginger ale all in all a hearty selection of healthy refreshments and snacks. The cream tea/afternoon tea is a customer's favourite and reasonably priced at £3.25. To be honest it's rare to find somewhere that does a cream tea in Manchester, but that's another story. Marcy enjoys a good solid clientele from all walks of life and age groups. The service is personal and friendly and she knows many of her customers by name and tipple, whether they be business men popping out for a tea break, or students testing out the different exotic blends, or OAP's and families who want to sit down and relax after a bit of heavy shopping and chat over a hearty brew. Who said shopping was boring Parched Tea Bar is open from 9-6pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am-5pm on a Sunday

This is a wonderful pace. Great selection, easy to get to and ideal for young, old and families…read morealike! Reasonable prices too!

Awsome place to visit. Really mouthwaterig dishes. Although they increased the price to £ 9.99 but…read morethey also increased the dishes. For £ 6.50 they were offering only 22 dishes but for £ 9.99 they are offering 26 dishes, along with chicken corn soup, Dahi bare, cream fruit chat and Kashmiri Tea. They also introduce Chinese dishes like Egg fried rice, Chicken Manchurian, Chicken Schezwan along with Mexican chicken wraps and Italian Pasta. Nehari, Haleem, Paya well I am from Lahore and I got the true taste of those three dishes. Important thing is every thing in Buffet, Help yourself as much as you want not like NAWAB chef standing at Nehari, Paya, Haleem giving you small quantity and have to come again and again to get more. All the dishes are rich and taste and very delicious. Staff very friendly always ready to help not like Karims, Nawab or Sanam. So if I compare the food offer by Al-Waalis with the price it is justified. Secondly with increase price of adults they giving 50% discounts for the kids upto 10 Years old and under 5 are free. If we calculate the current price then its not a big difference. for example if one having family of 2 kids under 10, one above 4 and 2 adults then the bill will be £ 32.50 with old price but if you go for new price infact you paying less it will be £ 30.00. Infact they had lowered their price but people need awareness. I will keep going as I love their food.

Absolutely gorgeous food, especially for vegetarians. We've eaten here 3 times now, and I love it…read more If had had the cash I'd eat here every week. It's a fairly new restaurant, converted from the old infamous Palace Night Club - used to be a theatre/cinema in the distant past. It's clean, and very quite for a restaurent of it's size, a tad too quiet, but I daresay this will change as people learn of it. The staff are extremely helpful and friendly and the food is to die for - wonderful flavour - have tried 6+ dishes so far, all spot on for taste, and the portions sizes are genrous to say the least. It's by far the best Indian food I've ever had, and that's saying something. It's main competitor is the ridiculously sucessful Nawaab, which in my opinion, it outclasses by miles on food quality and taste and for veggies, the food cost is slightly cheaper for a meal, at least for everyone I eat out with. Big advantage it has over it is you don't have to wait to eat, or have to fight to get to the food counter only to find they've run out of your favourite dish. Meat eaters will find it a little more expensive BUT at some point in October '08 (not sure of exact date) they'll be starting an all-you-can-eat buffet, which will be cheaper. They aren't licenced, and the main restaurant is up some serious stairs, I need a stick to walk and do struggle getting up there but it's well worth the effort. It has a banqueting hall which I believe is bookable for private functions. If the buffet is as good as the dishes I've tried from them so far, it will be amazing! If you need to find it, the car park is behind the shops on the north side (manchester side) of the junction of Stockport Rd (A6) and Albert Rd. It's very near the train station so easy to get to if coming by train, and there are tons of buses nearby (A6 for most 192 197 191 168- get off at Natwest in Lev, and Albert Road for 197 191 169 168 171 172 178 get off at Lev station). Please visit so it stays open, so I can continue to enjoy it's scrummy food!!!!!!! (drooling at thought)

Fresh ideas simply served, so the saying goes. Crunch bowl's interior designer must be colour blind…read morebecause everything is very white coupled with an almost neon green. Try and ignore this though and you soon realise that crunch bowl is a viable and healthy lunch time option. With the slim line generation knocking down the door to get a go every lunch hour though it like well all the spots on brazennose street is a tad crowdy. Crunch bowl does great pre prepared salads though, or you can make your own. This costs the same as the premade salads and can be an interesting expedition in all things salady. Prices range through the slightly more expensive £4, this is a tad more weighty then the nearby sandwich bars or pasty shops such as gregg's but who can put a price on life expectancy?

I'm not really sure why Holland & Barrett have two branches in Manchester, ever since they opened…read moretheir newly refurbished store on Market Street, I always thought this location in St Ann's Square would eventually close, but it remains open and is a pretty good store. It is a pretty small store but they do stock most of the items you'd expect to find at Holland & Barrett, I was even able to find a protein bar that was out of stock at their larger store. The staff member who served me seemed friendly. There was only one staff member who appeared to be working, which could cause a kerfuffle if the store got a little busy and they had to go away for any reason (Such as to help a customer find something). The product range is mainly your staple H&B stock, without much of a fridge/frozen range or anything too exciting. 3* - OK.

Ate here for lunch yesterday and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the Kettle bell thing didn't…read moreexactly appeal - the name, the actual kettle bells in the middle of the tables, the Crossfit like imagery everywhere, chains, rough shorn wood tables, 'inspirational' imagery, I dunno, it's all a bit themey for me, and felt waaaay too much like I was sitting in a cafe in the side of a gym. But then, the funniest thing happened. I got my food. All complaints immediately put to bed! I got a box of mashed sweet potato, sliced grilled steak, veggies, with bbq sauce and a sprinkling of nuts. It was So. Good. I felt absolutely full afterwards but in a non-stodge way. There are so many other options and having had a good nose at everyone else's plates, I can confirm it all looked incredible. There were streams of Deliveroo drivers in and out while we were there too so I assume lots others have cottoned on to the damn good fare (whist maybe, like me, being not quite as enamoured with the aggressive fitness type approach in the actual venue).

Yeah this is a place for the fitness people, so if you're counting calories, have one of those…read morestrict 8 meal a day type diets where you measure the precise amount of sweet potato that will give you 'big gains' - then this is your place! The reason I like it though is that it doesn't have to be just for the fitness fanatics - the food is actually extremely good! For me, exercise is never an issue, I love it, I'm an addict, but my diet is nothing short of atrocious and as I creep away from the wonderful years of being able to eat what I want and still look how I want, any improvements to my diet that I actually enjoy are massively appreciated! The concept is fairly simple - you pick your base (I had sweet potato mash), then your protein (chicken for me), add any extras your fancy (I added Halloumi for about £1 extra) before selecting your salad and sauces to finish off (pesto but no salad for me). It took about 10 minutes from ordering to fruition which I don't think is bad at all, although Seb H was getting impatient but I'll put that down to him being mardy. Staff were helpful and friendly besides one sour note in which the guy tasked with adding the salad and sauces after your food was ready couldn't locate number 47 and proceeded to yell at each and every customer to see who was the mystery guest. I'll be nice and not hold that against them because on the scale of things - everything was great! Anyway all that above with a bottle of water cost me around £10 - not too bad - but not something I could do every day of the week. Half of me wanted to knock off a star because I felt slightly out of place in Jeans and a Cardigan and not in a pair of Nike shorts and tight work out top - I then realised if I was lucky enough to be able to wear that for work I'd have matched them exactly! Good session Kettlebell Kitchen - I think Ancoats just set a new PB.... (sorry). (sorry again).

It's interesting to learn about the evolution of McCall's from other reviews on here - it's now an…read moreorganics specialist, perhaps another sign of how it's evolved and be able to survive when other barrows didn't. Exotic fruit and vegetables are now more catered for in the Arndale Market, while at McCall's you can still get fruit and veg plus dried foods e.g. cacao nibs and goji berries, organic tinned food, environmentally friendly cleaning products, kombucha, organic olive oil and so on. The standout features are (a) the extremely low prices for things like cacao nibs compared to my local (large) Sainsbury's and (b) you can bring your own Tupperware etc and weigh out what you want from the glass jars everything is kept on. So this will vastly reduce the packaging you are using. The bio cleaning products were also surprisingly good value and, brilliantly, you can refill them, at a lower cost, from their big vats! I really hope we're seeing the future of grocery shopping here. Even if you aren't into "health foods" definitely pop by and have a look at the cleaning products and what else is on offer.

McCall's Organics is one of the few shops on Church Street market in Manchester, which is near…read moreenough opposite a similar market in the Manchester Arndale Centre. I was originally put off coming into this store by an action of the member of staff. When clearing away for the evening, a member of staff seemed to drop a box of vegetables on the floor, which I presume to have been celery, the floor was obviously dirty being outside and it had been raining and the floor didn't look like you could eat of it, however I was disgusted that he made no attempt to wash them, he just looked around and put them back, thinking no one was looking. I understand most people wash their vegetables, but surely if they have been dropped heavily on a disease and dirt floor, they should have done something about it rather than trying to hide it and possibly passing on germs to the customer, which I feel is disgraceful and warrants a single one star rating for McCall's Organics, which is a shame too as this is their first review in over 6 years and it is a shame it has to be a negative one due to the unhygienic nature and actions of the staff.