You can't go wrong with a quick, healthy lunch for £2. For that you get a piping hot bowl of soup…read moreand a roll of your choice (from a selection of around four or five), and if you're feeling slightly more peckish you can upgrade to a larger bowl for a mere 50p. Ah, how I love the Arndale Food Market. And it's just one guy! Richard Morphett to be precise. His stall is one of the smallest at the market, nestled next to the smoothie stop, and he always has around five varieties of soup to choose from. At the moment the flavours are particularly festive, with the options of turkey and a chestnut one which I plumped for. They're fresh-tasting, wholesome and delicious, and I was thoroughly chuffed with my choice. When I popped along there was only one meat option, which means plenty of pondering for veggies. Plus Richard's lovely. I sat at the table and chair near to his stall, people-watching (witnessing panic buying in the Arndale Centre is always a larf and a half) and it's nice to see that those who run the individual stalls are all friends with one another. Now this might be a pretty simple review, but it's a pretty simple service. Great soup, yummy rolls, friendly service and all cheap as chips. What more could you ask?

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.

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!

One of the best full english breakfast plates you will ever have. I added a hash brown and a blood…read moresausage. Although both were great, it was completely unnecessary because of the size of the breakfast; HUGE! Great value, but, it's only because everything tasted great. Early on a Sunday, almost no one there. Best english breakfast I've had in Manchester.

The food here was delicious! From the moment you walk into Katsouris Deli, you know you are in for…read morea treat! The air is heavy with yummy food smells and really gets you excited for what's to come! The restaurant was quite busy when we arrived. The ordering system here is a little chaotic from an American standpoint. You place an order at the register, but at first it seemed hard to tell where that line began. Once we got that all sorted out, we grabbed a table and waited for our food. I got strumpets and my husband had the English Breakfast. I loved my meal and had a few nibbles off my husband's plate and everything was legit good! The sausage is made in house and the food was excellent quality. Katsouris is located in a bustling part of the city and had great people watching too! I would love to return here in my next trip to Manchester to try more of their fare.

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!

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.

Only came here for drinks and had a blast. It's a happening place on Friday evening. We started at…read morethe martini bar a few doors down then hopped over here and stayed. The ambience is fun and hip. Then randomly there were people painted and dressed as fairies dancing on tables and singing to live music. From other reviews it sounds like the food is fantastic so I would definitely return.

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.

Gorillas earned the name because they go in on all their options. The chicken burger was amazing…read moreeven though I am. It a fan of Russian sauce it was surprisingly awesome! The chicken was fried but my teeth winked into the breast like a head does to a pillow. Nothing like a place that gets butter milk fried chicken right! NIW let's talk about these truffle fries "thank you, Jesus"! I am such a fan of anything truffle, just does the body right. The cheese is shaved on top of the fries and served in an old style grandma classic bowl. Presentation was fantastic and there was no crumbs left behind! Also a nice touch is that utensils are comforted by a clothe rather then a cheap napkin. Let's not for get the wash down. Neck Oil IPA paired really well with mean so much why not have 2x. On another visit, I desired to have brunch and I again was not disappointed. The chicken and waffles with house gravy. I was left speechless with the presentation again and it is served stack style and topped with sunny side up egg. The true maple syrup (not corn syrup) is glazed over the stack before the egg is added which is a nice touch and the gravy is oil based on the side for dipping pleasure yum yum yum! If you are blessed to be able to treat yourself to this place, the smoothies, food, beer, good people you will not be disappointed!

They had a 50%off food offer in January, and I have passed by so many times and always was curious…read moreso couldn't resist. We ordered food at the bar, for some reason we couldn't offer jenga chips with steak - I'm really not sure why, the bartender kept saying something that it only goes with fish and chips, despite the menu saying otherwise. Oh well, ordered French fries instead. The food was nice, albeit our steak was cold, which probably means they didn't bring it straight away.

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.

What I find interesting about this place, is that you can choose your own base (eg rice or…read morenoodles), filling, and a sauce. Quite an unusual meal solution and makes it the restaurant to stand out!