Time for an update! Last night I experienced Soup Kitchen for the first time in two ways. I know…read moreyou know I've experienced it before, but a) it's been ages and b) I've never been to the gig bit downstairs or eaten meat here. 1) Gig. ACE. Just wonderful. Great atmosphere underneath, and I mean FAR underneath, as in you have to look high up to see peoples' feet going past the window. Crazy, non? Lots of places to sit, which is great for me as I'm way too old to stand up at gigs for extended periods of time and I hurt my foot this week. #passtheprunes Fab sound and a lovely way to see lesser known bands. Oh, and did I mention it was free? Yes, we like free. 2) Meat. ACE. So for a mere £6, I got a big ol' juicy cooked-pink-in-the-middle burger pile of brilliance in a giganto bun with gherkins, salad and all kinds of amazeballs sauce. The chips where somewhere between wedges and fries - long story short, they were MASSIVE. Ketchup was offered and we got a generous ramekin of the stuff, and it was served on a rustic wooden board. It ain't just about soup! My maid of honour had the same dish, while Fiancé and Jemma G both had a soup coronation chicken combo. Their sandwiches were lovely, soft, deliciously spiced and had proper hunks of chicken (I tried it of course), and the satay soup was peanutty, flavoursome and creamy (I tried that too). Top marks for both soup and chips being served in camping mugs. Me likey. AWESOME food, like, truly delicious, cheap, and it might be Northern Quarter-based, but it does not have the pretention. I didn't feel like it was remotely as Nathan Barley in here as it is in a lot of places. Lovely, lovely Soup Kitchen. Why did I leave it so long between visits?

This place is cool, albeit it's seriously trying to be…read more First point: do not ask for a cocktail in here. My friend wanted a whisky sour and got the response "we don't really do cocktails." Hm. They have a lot of liquor behind the bar for somewhere that doesn't do cocktails. I understand it's onerous to have all conceivable cocktail ingredients if you're really a beer specialist (and they do seem to have a great range of beer, btw) but I do think it would be nice if bars like this at least had 3-4 house cocktails for those of us they don't like beer or slightly dodgy house wine but wish to hang with our friends that do. Bartender also struggled with our request for tap water, which was less excusable. Meanwhile, the DJ was playing some awful music. "It's just noise, isn't it," pointed out one of the crowd, while apologising for being an Old Man. But it wasn't that we just didn't like the music or that it was too loud, is that the sound system couldn't take it and the sound quality/distortion was incredibly grating. Not relaxing. Shame really because I like the spacious layout, gig posters in the toilet, and the delicious bourbon Jonny Q kindly bestowed upon me. I'd go again if someone suggested it but given the amount of good bars in the NQ it's not top of my list for a repeat visit/recommendation in terms of drinking. HOWEVER the food might be a different story - the other reviews of meal-based visits have been great so I will try to return one lunchtime. UPDATE: went back for a Carefully Planned Festival - the music venue downstairs is one of the biggest/most attractive in the NQ although it smells SO WRONG and nobody could work out WHAT the smell was which was even more disturbing.

Great food, very fresh taste. Portions are generous, loads of both meat and garnish…read more The price isn't bad either - I paid £9 for a portion of stir-fried garlic beef and glass noodles. Quite good for the city centre! The service is very quick and the stuff are very helpful and polite. Can't wait to go back!

A lovely little eaterie in the heart of Chinatown. Very casual atmosphere with Great food. The…read morestaff were friendly and the service was fast. Just what is needed if you are shopping or on the go.

Pies are amazing. Staffs are very friendly and polite. Very reasonable pricing considering it is…read morelocated in the heart of Manchester and next to all major pubs and bars. Lunch time deals are fab. Delicious. Nice music playing all day .

I wanted an English dining experience on my second night in Manchester, my first attempt went…read morewrong! My second dinner of the night was at Pieminster and YES! This place is amazing! I'm knocking off a star for being completely out of beer, both draught and bottles! Luckily they had some cider and my meal was complete. I had the chicken ranger with a padron chili stick. It was fantastic. They served it with a generous portion of tasty gravy. The pie was flavorful and filling. This chilli stick was super tasty but absolutely mild, no heat. It's a cool spot with limited cozy seating but worth a stop for sure! Check'em out!

Modern light restaurant, great spot for sophisticated food. Very enjoyable experience, it was the…read morefirst time I tried famous French onion soup, couldn't be happier with a choice of starter. The main dish, ox cheeks was equally delicious. The portions were quite filling, so was too full to try desserts, but hopefully one day I'll be back. The restaurant is quite expensive, however, they took part in 50% off January promotions, hope they will continue this tradition next year;)

Came here for a nice Sunday roast. Cozy spot to settle into for a bit. Very very good! Nice variety…read moreof options but my beef was tasty. Great service too!

Though I'm not vegan, I keep unintentionally eating vegan food here in Manchester - it's much more…read moreavailable/prominent than back in the US. I got lost looking for the restaurant after my phone died but finally found my friend at the top of the steps leading down to Earth. Service is set up like a cafeteria, and for just £7 you can pick 4 items from the line (up to 2 "mains".) I think everything in the line and dessert counter is vegan - I was struggling to find dairy/egg items in the menu. I feel like it's more palatable for them to sell themselves as a vegetarian rather than vegan restaurant. I picked up a hearty bean chili atop quinoa, braised cabbage, and a beautiful mushroom pie, in addition to a lime/lemongrass bottled drink and coffee/walnut cake. Portion sizes were huge and you feel very healthy eating the food - the bean chili could have used more seasoning, but the savory mushroom pie was divine! Creamy, savory, and textural, I was surprised at how well they veganized this classic. The cabbage was like tame sauerkraut, which cut the richness of the pie well. The cake was mildly sweet but had a wonderful bitter aftertaste, the scent of ground coffee lingering in my palate long after I finished the last bite. I had a taste of my friend's raw blueberry cheesecake and we had quite a bit of fun trying to guess what they made it out of. It was alright - I would've wanted to try the raw tiramisu, if they had it.

It's safe to say that Manchester has become meat mad the past couple of years, you might even say…read morethere's a carnivore craze, you also could add that.... actually I think you get the idea of what I'm trying to say! But the thing is that it's all so super tempting - and from when I used to have a steady diet of variable fresh homemade soup I'm now starting to think a burger or maybe a hotdog is a suitable daytime bite. So now it's all about fighting that urge and finding out where the antidote is to make sure I get up to the 5-7 portions of fruit and vege I supposedly need each day! I've got to say that I've been walking past Earth for 7 years and never gone in. Which is kind of a bit strange as I've been going to the buddhist centre to meditate all that time too...and it really does feel like I've been missing out! Upon entering the smell of this vegetarian, mostly organic, all homemade onsite cafe is fantastic. There's variety on offer such as curry's, chilli's ( I had the mung bean one and it was fantastic) and Italian tray options. The main set up is that you can get a main and 4 sides (including salads) for £6 which is pretty good value for the amount of food you get. They also do snacky items like the £2.50 Jamaican patties, which seem very popular as a queue was forming for the next batch but that will be a different meal for a different day. Overall the cafe is a great place for lunch, tea, catching up with friends and just generally brining balance back to your diet and life. I felt really good after this meal, felt like I'd really treated myself and it may just help me get on the road to a healthier lunch time diet - now that is good news!

This venue was such an eclectic dive and I loved every minute of it ! ( other than the heat) We…read moretraveled from afar to see an acoustic set by Art Alexakis of Everclear. He did a stellar acoustic performance and covered a new solo song and many everclear top hits. At the end he took requests and answered questions from the crowd. Ok, back to reviewing the venue. I don't know how to describe the ambiance other than eclectic and hipster. See my photos for yourself. They poured heavy on the drinks and kept them coming all night . Only real complaint is that it's sweltering hot inside but I expect that at a music venue. I actually found a great seat at the bar and was able to people watch, see the performance, and at have my drinks refilled on the reg without having to move an inch . Staff was nice and made sure we were taken care of . It appeared as If they also have food available. Be careful walking down the winding staircase to the dungeon where they hide the bathroom . I swear I saw a dragon down there ! If you live in the area or just are coming into town for a short visit, it's a great venue to check out artists just trying to get their career started. I'm so glad I made the trip to see Art!

Night & Day looks and feels like the kind of bar Tom Waits would stumble into when he was writing…read moreseminal albums like Small Change. There's a flickering sign in the gold window, a long bar where you can order shots and bottles of beer and bartenders that treat you like a long lost friend (until your money runs dry!). As well as being one of the city's most alluring dive bars and we're talking grubby and run down rather than boho chic, Night & Day is also one of Manchester's best music venues with live bands playing five or six nights a week. Admittedly, the sound isn't as good as the Academy or The Deaf Institute but the great atmosphere, promising local bands and established underground bands make it a must visit. When I was music editor at City Life magazine many moons ago, there were so many great gigs at Night & Day - from Goldfrapp, Add N To (X) and The Gossip to Elbow - that I was tempted to move in!

A great place for groups and celebration. The server are super nice even though every minutes that…read morethey are swamp. The food is very much liked by my western culture family. Especially the duck, every bits to the bone was all gone. Don't miss ordering that.

We went with the four of us to The Rice Bowl on a Wednesday night whilst visiting Manchester on a…read moreshort trip. Great decor, friendly service and an excellent menu of dim sum starters and more traditional, but perfectly executed, mains. A different concept than I am used to, but very much worth a return visit.

GEM, GEM, GEM !!!!!…read more The absolute most amazing casual joint concept I ever heard of; and I live in USA. It's absolutely and undoubtedly DELICIOUS!

We loved it here! Decor was really cool. They had some good music playing also. The guy who…read morewelcomed us in was AWESOME. Really chill bloke. He gave us some recommendations which we took and really enjoyed. We also chatted for a bit about why we're there and it really made the experience even better. Our actual waitress though, was really slow to check on us and see if we needed anything. Probably just busy. Anyway, food was delicious! Definitely needed more salt though.

The service was good. Nice selection of drinks and a variety of food. We sat near the open window…read moreto view the street. The bites we had were good. A clean place. We did not dive deep into the menu.

Really great spot that is easy to enjoy. Huge and beautiful space. Multiple bar areas to…read moreaccommodate huge crowds if needed. We simply ordered at the bar and found open seating in the bar area. The 12 hr munich pork sandwich was delicious. The cheese and mustard perfectly compliment the flavor and the pork shines. Served with house fries that were delicious also; crispy, salty and delicious. The bratwurst klassic was also great; exactly what you expect in a brat. Fantastic selection of German and Czech beers to choose from. Service was great, but, it was early on a Saturday and the crowd continued to build even as we were leaving. They had a drag MC that sang requested birthday songs and occasionally had something, ie one question trivia with winner getting a prosecco bottle, to break up between dj'ed songs. It made it entertaining without overwhelming you from enjoying food, beer and conversation. Absolutely fabulous!

I've been to Eat. a few times now and it's usually when I'm rushing through the arndale at lunch…read moretime and need to grab something quick. Today was one of those days and on my way back to the office I picked up a baguette, a small soup, some grapes and apple juice and a yoghurt. The lunch was over £10 which is pretty expensive for lunch but it's a lot of food. I find there's always a good selection of sandwiches, wraps, flatbreads, salads and soups as well as some hot options prepared behind the counter.

I've always been a fan of Eat. I used to work just opposite one last year and therefore every…read morelunchtime I would pop over for something to munch on. It was always good during the winter because they do these huge big soups, different ones each day and they're so tasty and warm, just what you need for a winters afternoon in Manchester. I wandered in here today around 8am as I realised I'd never had breakfast at Eat despite always looking at it on the menu board longingly! I went for the Eggs Benedict, inexpensive at £2, it was small but very satisfying, just what you need in the morning. As I was ordering I was impressed by Eat's range of hot food on offer, the breakfast was a range of different muffins but lots of them including good vegetarian options, the weeks soup menu was available to look at and I was impressed with the new additions since my last visit including Thai Green Chicken Curry and Chorizo and Chickpea. One really good thing about Eat is the vast vegetarian selection, they offer two soups everyday and one of them is always veggie. They have a range of breads on offer to go with your soup, these are served in 'wedges' complete with butter, my favourite is the soda bread...mmm! Other than the soups they also serve hot pies which always look amazing but I've never had one yet...I may end up back here for lunch at this rate though so watch this space! Eat also serve a range of hot drinks, sandwiches, cakes and desserts, long story short...check it out!