An above average Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. My favourite for dim sum. They do a larger dim…read moresum selection on the weekend with special main course deals too. Don't expect amazing service or a fine dining experience but as far as good, functional Chinese restaurants go, you won't find much better in Chinatown. They have stopped doing Thai food. Also they include a service charge except on weekends.

Decent Chinese food in an above-average Chinatown restaurant both in terms of decor and service…read more The waiter when asked for a recommendation recommended my favourite-ever Chinese dish, fried chicken with Sichuan pepper. I had actually spotted that already but decided against it because this seems like a Cantonese restaurant - they specialise in dim sum as far as I can see (which I will come back for). So it wasn't perhaps quite as good as you might get in Red Chilli or Middle Kingdom but still really tasty and my date, trying it for the first time, loved it. We also got some crispy duck which was fairly good, totally standard basically. Despite the good service earlier in the meal, it was hard to pay the bill at the end. WHY. It's the one thing that consistently annoys me about restaurants.

A brief history of Chinatown favourites…read more..... I was introduced to real Chinees food - I mean proper Chinese food, not gwailo-style, westernised stuff - in the late eighties, by my old friend Ronnie Chan. Ronnie and I would go weekly to Win Wah on Portland Street, an astoundingly cheap place where dishes cost £3-4, and I learned very quickly to use chopsticks (out of necessity - otherwise Ronnie would have eaten all the grub before I had any chance). Then Ronnie moved back to Hong Kong, Win Wah disappeared, and I was in the wilderness. After some years of searching, I found a new home at Wong Chu. Cheap, no-nonsense, with high-quality offerings - the noodle dishes, and the duck / pork / squid were always spot-on, I wandered the streets, checked the menus, and tried the other places - but always found myself returning to Wong Chu, because it was cheaper and better than the competition. I dined there hundreds of times. One Saturday morning in 2001, I opened my newspaper and saw the headline "Hacked to Death by Triad Maniacs". It was Mr Wong and his family. I'd seen Mrs Wong go through her two pregnancies, watched her kids scurry excitedly around the place, and I was devastated. But the restaurant re-opened, now managed by Mr Wong's adult daughter from a previous marriage, and continued to deliver great dining..... for another 5 or 6 years. Then it went into a sad decline - I have no idea why - and by the end, it was a pale shadow of its former self. Back to the wilderness. Now I have a new home in Chinatown. As good as Win Wah & Wong Chu at their respective peaks, with the same format - no-frills, low-end prices, but great quality, a relaxed and friendly informal atmosphere, and a menu of Hong Kong-style Chinese dishes that are a world away from the MSG-laden gwailo junk that's so ubiquitous in UK Chinese restaurants, Fu's is the real deal. Welcome home.

A blink and you'll miss it gem. Not named after whoever that damn person Mr T was referring to when…read morehe got annoyed, Fu's is instead a traditional Hong Kong style café with a huge amount of hot, yummy options including your usual szechuans and sweet and sours, chow meins and hoi sins, and they're all lovely enough, but what you want to try here are the more unusual, authentic dishes. My favourite is the fish stew, done hot pot style and just so delicious you'd happily force yourself to eat too. Combos and sauces you might not have encountered before are the order of the day here and the creativity pays dividends. The secret trick here is not to be given the blue menu. They'll automatically pass it on if they think you're English, but it's the red one you want; that's what harbours all the wonderful stuff. The drinks are interesting too, especially the traditional Hong Kong iced tea, it's uber refreshing. And with wicked prices and smart service to boot, this is one gem you should ensure won't stay hidden long. Get stuck in.

I've not been here since I was a student. Whoops, mistake! I forgot how tasty the food is…read more This is an Asian fusion place that's been going for quite a few years now as it's perennially popular for selling tasty, reasonably priced food. I shared a starter of salt and pepper squid which was crisply battered and delicious, quite frankly. This was £4.30 and it's a fairly large starter. This was followed by a yummy and very filling pad thai. There was both chichen and prawn present, as there should be. No stinginess with the ingredients here I'm glad to say. The pad thai was £8.60 and generously proportioned. I also tried tastes of Thai fish cakes and pork dumplings thanks to my fellow diners. Both were really fresh and tasty. Everyone seemed very happy with their meals. The decor is up to date and attractive. I liked the traditional bench seating. Now the students are away for the summer there's no problem getting seated either so I would recommend getting there soon.

SO good ! everything we ordered was amazing. the vibe inside was casual and quite quiet considering…read morethe sharing bench set up. the service was good too, we saw the two (quite young) waiters very patiently deal with an annoying and picky group. also worth noting it was relatively cheap for the size and quality of the dishes. will defo come back next time i'm visiting manchester.

I love Red Chilli, but my only critique is that the service can be rather slow and inattentive…read more The food, on the other hand, is incredible! Crispy chilli shredded beef is one of my favourite dishes, and that is how it is. Crispy. Spicy. Shredded. Beefy. Perfect. On my last visit with colleagues for a leaving lunch, I ordered the salt & pepper baby squid for a starter, and it was very tasty. For my main, I ordered the Gongbao diced chicken. Again, quite a spicy dish, with the added bonus and flavour of peanuts. Superb! Red Chilli offer a great lunch deal that comes with a starter and main for less than £10, however, in December they add an extra couple of pound on this, despite offering the same food and calling it the "Christmas lunch deal". Come on guys! Step it up a gear! The decor is quite bold, but offers a comfortable setting, with large round tables for groups, dark wood dividers and booths.

One of our favourite restaurants when looking for some excellent chinese food. This restaurant…read morespecialises in Szechwan dishes, so do expect that most items on the menu will have a chilli rating next to it! This is one our favourite places for Peking Duck, hanf carved right in front of you. i would also recommend any variety of their lamb dishes, including the lamb ribs. If you're feeling adventurous, try the cold spicy platter too. Only gripe about this place is the lack of available parking. There is a multi storey nearby but its not the cheapest place to park!

The New Emperor...what can I say, poor service and wouldn't rate the food…read more Came in here on Chinese New Year weekend with a travel blogger mate of mine who had been here before, he said it's usually better on normal days. It was busy- there are two floors and we were seated on the top floor. When we arrived there were two other people waiting so we were all led upstairs- the waiter seated the first couple but then just completely forgot about us so we just found a table and sat down. The service was shoddy and the guy couldn't raise a smile. We were trying to choose drinks and the waiter took the menu away, then we had to ask for it back. He took our food order, then another member of staff came to take our food order again. Asked for the sake from the menu, they didn't have it. Went for a jack and coke instead. Ordered the started platter to share- it came with ribs, prawn toast, chicken satay, fried chicken drumsticks and a steak roll with some crispy seaweed in the middle. It looked really unappetising in colour and the sauce had collected a film, so it looked like it had been sitting out. It was alright and edible but nothing special. Also ordered a quarter crispy duck which was fine, although the cucumber and spring onion was all dried up. The restaurant itself was also really cold- by the time I left I felt chilled to the bone on a winter's day! All in all not brilliant and wouldn't go back to this one.

Another Chinatown MUST. I came here for lunch with a friend and had the best dim sum experience…read more of. my. life. Right off Nicholas Street, you'll find yourself here, walking through a sliding glass door and entering a foodie haven. I had never had dim sum before, so my friend from Hong Kong bestowed his vast knowledge upon me and I got to enjoy many different courses of delectable foods! I have to say right now, you absolutely must get the fried turnip cake in XO sauce. It is divine. seriously. order this dish. We ordered 6 different dishes...between two people (no regrets). Each dish was a sizable portion and unbelievably yummy. The best part? only £11 each. I am so happy to now know of this spot! You aren't coming here for a 5-star, high end atmosphere, but the New Emperor still gets 5 stars in my book because the food was just that good and the servers were very friendly and fun. This restaurant has become one of my absolute favourites.

it was my first time eating kbbq/hotpot since i've been in manchester and i've been waiting for…read morethis day to come!! a bunch of friends i've made since i've been here wanted to eat one last meal all together before we all leave for xmas break;; so happy that we decided to come here!! i made reservations a week before & gave them a rough estimate of 20-25 people but it was actually 19, which they asked a few times because they only had four burners/tables for kbbq & wanted to see if they could give one to another customer which we didn't mind bc in the end we all still had room to eat together!! we ordered EVERY meat for kbbq!! i was excited for hotpot bc back home, my family would celebrate thanksgiving with hotpot instead of the usual turkey;; it was mainly all meats with a few mushrooms, sweet potato, onions floating between orders lool but the service was SUPER amazing! i was able to speak cantonese with them which was even more great because we got to bond haha our whole group reordered rice about ten times along with more kbbq meats and hotpot refills but the service was seriously so patient and helpful and full of energy!! i will srsly come back to eat their other chinese dishes next time i'm in manchester! it was such an unforgettable night with all the friends i've gotten so close to and the great service at azuma that helped make our night even better!!

After two years living 15 minutes walk from this restaurant, I regret that my first visit is less…read morethan a month before I move. Somehow I had the impression that serving multiple cuisines would dilute the quantity but the Chinese menu here is pretty focused on Sichuan and has a lot of the classics e.g. my favourite fried chicken with chilli. For once though I skipped that and shared gong bao chicken, aubergine with pork, braised pork and beef with noodles. All were excellent and I would get them again and recommend. My friend got some kind of beef ribs as a takeaway and phoned from his train to report how good they were. Service was very prompt. We were told it would be 20 minutes for the braised pork. It was 20 minutes. We didn't sample the Korean BBQ but it's properly set up with the pans in the tables, so no doubt will be fun to try at least! I shall no doubt be back as much as possible before I depart!

I've been meaning to try Seoul Kimchi for ages but I'm rarely in this part of town. However it's…read moreactually a cheap cab ride from the city centre and well worth the effort. This is overall the best Korean food experience I've had in Manchester. For a start out unlike some other places you automatically get complimentary banchan - excellent kimchi and a delightful sweet soybean dish I hadn't tried before. The Korean seafood pancake was quite eggy but that texture actually worked well with the crispy spring onions and chewy squid. Fantastic spicy dip as well. The beef bibimbap was excellent (I notice another review says she preferred eatGoody's - to me they were around the same but I just take this moment to say the Manchester Uni is really blessed to have 2 excellent Korean joints, unlike anywhere else in the city!) and they leave the red chilli sauce with you so you can get the mix exactly to your taste. Prices are reasonable and while it wouldn't necessarily be an everyday lunch it's definitely somewhere you could afford fairly regularly. As other reviewers have noted this is very small place and although we got seats straight away, arriving before 12 on a Wednesday, I think arriving later you could well end up waiting. However I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place which at the moment I would say is the top choice for anyone wanting to eat Korean food in Manchester.

Kimchi is a nice casual korean cafe style restaurant and the food here is limited but good quality…read moreand all priced under £10. I had the kimchi tofu jigae and the kimchi pancake which was pretty big but tasted amazing. In the jigae they also added a poached egg into it which gave it a nice taste, and the spicy factor was perfect; not too spicy. The service is average bit efficient, the food came quite quickly and another good thing is that banchan is served complimentary here, which doesn't seem to be the case with many UK korean restaurants. They also have some Japanese dishes on the menu like sushi, gyoza, temaki and teriyaki. There is parking right outside and it's pay and display but very cheap: 50p for 30 mins and £1 for an hour. The atmosphere is very casual like a cafe, so it's great for lunch as well as dinner. Overall, authentic and tasty Korean food that's well priced and made to a great standard.

Usually I go to Kyatoya nearby but this was closed on a Monday so this was the back up plan…read more Stepping in it was definitely more of a takeaway place than sit in. It was so small you had to go through the kitchen to use the toilet. The choice of food and drink did surprise me.. how could they find room to stock it all? With loads of different sake, juices and wines. Selecting a glass of plum wine ..himself green tea we pawed the menu. There was a great use of pictures which helped us decide. From various sushi Nigiri, temaki, sashimi etc to noodles and ramen dishes. I found the sushi a little over priced to the average sushi joint of this nature..we decided on the 12 piece sashimi and sushi platter ..for mains I chose my usual spicy seafood broth with udon noodles, beef and kimchi. Himself had the beef yakisoba. We inhaled the sushi as soon as it hit the table. It was good healthy amounts of tuna and everything tasted fresh. The wasabi did not mix well with the soya though.. My main was a far cry from what I had at Baekdu the week previous. This was packed with veggies..tender beef and seafood. The broth was also excellent. Looking up I could see my other half wolf down his..giving it the thumbs up . Overall the service was very good and food was a stark contrast to the restaurant. I would probably use this more as a takeaway if I were local but I wouldn't go there to eat again as didn't find it relaxing enough.

We just happened to stumble across the newly opened Sakura House on Saturday night whilst exploring…read moreDidsbury. It seemed as though a lot of locals did the same too, as people kept popping in to investigate whilst we were eating, in the hope of an opportunistic free table. Despite only opening three weeks ago Sakura Houses' popularity is clear, the restaurant was packed but it's also only 6 tables, which may play a part! Either way we were lucky enough to snaffle a table for two off-the-cuff as there was a 45 minute space before a booking and our waitress was happy to make time and space for us. Due to being short of time we decided to stick to a simple meal each, so we didn't sample the sushi - which seems to be the main fare. I opted for a comforting plate of pork katsu curry and it was very tasty and freshly cooked, so fresh I almost burnt my mouth on the cutlet! My only issues were that it is currently cash only and that my meal came a good 5-10 minutes after my partners - but I honestly think these are just opening month niggles. Sakura House isn't fancy, it's an honest little restaurant with lovely staff and I think it's a welcome and refreshing addition to the area.