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Dining options in Manchester and Liverpool vary from smart cafés offering Modern British, Continental, or global fare to world-class international restaurants for all budgets. Manchester has one of Britain's biggest Chinatowns, and locals also favor the 40-odd Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Indian restaurants along Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, a mile south of the city center, known as Curry Mile.
One local dish that has survived is Bakewell pudding (never called "tart" in these areas, as its imitations are elsewhere in England). Served with custard or cream, the pudding—a pastry covered with jam and a thin layer of almond-flavor filling—is a real joy of visiting Bakewell.
This stylish restaurant, charcuterie, and Campari bar—a lively take on the workingmen's canteens of backstreet Venice, known as bacaros—offers highly creative small plates. Options include croquettes, fried mixed fish, and pizzette (mini-pizzas).
Those who like good food at great prices head to Bakchich, a Lebanese and Moroccan street-food joint featuring a large communal table with smaller tables dotted around it for convivial or more intimate dining. On offer are delicious hot and cold meze, meshawi charcoal grills (chicken, lamb, and seafood), wraps, salads, and a small but tasty kids' menu. The nonalcoholic drink list includes fresh lemonade and smoothies.
Tasty Gujarat-inspired vegetarian street food lures the budget-conscious to this colorful, vivacious canteen-style restaurant tucked in a basement on Piccadilly Gardens. Order from the bar, and watch chefs in a semi-open kitchen get busy on Indian dishes both classic and modern. There's a second Manchester branch (and a Bundobost brewery) on Oxford Street, plus a branch in Liverpool.
Located in a 19th-century market building, this food court brings together several casual dining experiences under one stunningly restored roof. Choose from sourdough pizza, ramen and bao, rare cuts of beef, tortillas, tacos, margaritas, and more—all to enjoy at long shared tables. There’s a similar venue, Market House, in the market town of Altrincham 8 miles southwest of Manchester city center, and another sister venue, Picturedrome, in Macclesfield just outside Greater Manchester in Cheshire.
With so much competition, it takes a bold establishment to claim its Bakewell puddings as "original," but those served here are among the best. The "pudding" in question is actually a dense, sugary pie with a jam and almond filling and a puff pastry crust, eaten cold or hot with custard or cream (a more common variant, the Bakewell tart, is made with short-crust pastry, but aficionados consider the pudding to be more authentic). The cozy oak-beam dining room also turns out commendable brunch dishes, sandwiches, and main courses including a "blacksmiths' skillet" (local black pudding and farm bacon in a peppercorn sauce.)
Located in the heart of town and run by a family who fell in love with Spanish food after decades of visiting Spain, this restaurant, bar, shop, and deli offers mainly shared plates meant for a social meal. You might find deeply authentic dishes such as ensalada de Santiago with duck liver pâté and shavings of hard Mahon curado cheese or aubergine fritters with romesco sauce, honey, and fresh Valencian goats’ cheese.
