Held on the third Saturday of each month, Chorlton Market is worth a visit in its own right as the…read morebiggest and best on the South Manchester Street Market circuit. And although the newbie Castlefield Artisan Market just shades Chorlton in terms of the quality of the stalls (as I'm vegetarian YMMV) and has the benefit of the outstanding canalside location, Chorlton Street Market is still number one for me as a 'must do' trip. Because the Chorlton suburb is 'Bohemian Like You' and there are lots of other great businesses right next to the market. A case in point was the three-course lunch I put together for myself on my most recent visit to Chorlton Market. First up, a deep-fried Brazilian savoury 'apim' - imagine a croquette the size and shape of a sweet potato, but made from processed cassava flavoured with chives, filled with mozzarella and covered in breadcumbs - £2.95 (see photo). Next up, an almond & raspberry tart from Trove, £1.70 (see photo). Ending with split pea and rosemary soup to go from Unicorn, probably £1.50 or so. At a total cost of just over £6, that is one interesting, fresh and high quality meal, I can tell you! Trove I have already reviewed under the business listing for their Levenshulme café. But the Brazilian business is a stand-out street food offering. They call themselves 'Brazilia Snacks, Manchester's first Brazilian Pasteleria'. Basically, it is the old story - English guy goes to Brazil, falls in love with a Brazilian beauty and persuades her to come back to England with him. And, boy, can she cook Brazilian food! However, he was telling me that the Brazilian taste is for tons of salt and sugar, so they have nicely toned down their offerings to be more in tune with the English palate. They mould the croquettes and other savouries the night before, but cook them on the spot in front of you - ace tasting! Even sticking to the stretch of Manchester Road between the swimming baths and the library/market, you have Crema, Unicorn, Barbakan (polish deli, and they cook sausage and veg curries out the front on Saturdays), Tea Hive, Marble, take your pick. And lots more stuff at the market which isn't for me as a lacto-vegetarian, but might be for you - Pudding & Pie Café with traditional pies straight off the farm, another stall based around Spanish tortilla and soups, mini-pasties over there, cupcakes, cheeses, you name it. (Actually, almost all those business do have something for me, such as Pudding & Pie's cheese and potato slab pie - and you would need to be a farm worker to finish that thing!) Four stars because I feel this is just the beginning. Now that Manchester Markets have established the street markets, I would expect even more exciting new stallholders to feel it worth their while to participate. And then some stalls that do really well moving into permanent premises - Tea Hive is a graduate of the south Manchester Street Markets, I think.

I have been coming here for years, though I don't live very local, they are always well stocked and…read morewill usually order my favourite apples for me! far better than the pre packed supermarket stuff. one of the proper greengrocers shops and worth the journey to get what I need even if one of the ladies is a bit terse! car park at the back of the precinct and disabled parking at the front so easy access. recommend.

I first went into this shop when I was on a mission to find fish food. Unfortunately not the yummy…read moreice cream flavour, but real fish food for our starving fishy. I'd read online that A.J. Adams was a pet shop, but sadly it did not sell fish food. In fact, it seemed to sell much more human food including a reasonable range of cheap fruit and veg. So, the next time I was wandering through Chorlton Place I decided to pop into this shop for some fruit and veg. Strangely enough a man came in and asked if they sold fish tanks. The shop assistant pulled one down off a shelf and said he'd give it to him for £10 off, as he had ordered it in for a customer who had never come back and collected it. Maybe it was a pet shop in disguise? The fruit and veg was tasty and much cheaper than in the supermarkets, but for some reason I've never really shopped here since. For fruit and veg I tend to go to freshsave (also in the precinct) or Khawarja Brothers on the Manchester Road. Oh, and I got the fish food from Quality Save, but fishy was a snob and wouldn't touch it, so I had to find a proper pet shop.

Went to the Northern Quarter Markets for a mooch around this afternoon and really enjoyed it. The…read moremarket is monthly and is run by the people behind the excellent Levenshulme market. The Northen Quarter market is on Stevenson Square and is quite small but all the stalls are selling good quality stuff and it's well worth a visit especially if you're a foodie or into vintage. There was an excellent handmade chocolate stall, a stall selling gourmet marshmallows, a place selling macaroons as well as cheese, vintage clothing, handmade jewellery and furniture stalls. The Soup Kitchen were also there with a Jamaican BBQ and there was a street food place selling wraps and sandwiches. A great way to spend a lazy Sunday.

The Northern Quarter market is great for a bit of browsing on a lazy Sunday. In the past I've…read morebought handmade single origin chocolate, crazy over-the-top cakes, and amazing pop-up gift cards.

The great thing about the Manchester Street Markets is a) they take place in my neighbourhood…read more(they're all South Manchester suburb-based), and b) you can always get something a little different at each of them. After checking out Northenden's offering I was delighted to see the familiar faces of The Butterfly Cupcakery and I recognised the awesome Mint & Garlic who I'd met previously at one of the Farmers Markets at Piccadilly Gardens. So what else to do at such a gorgeous market but shop? There were tasty-smelling fresh soups, a butcher and a fishmonger, preserves and cheeses as well as cakes, and as well as this you can get some bags, gifts and suchlike. Bex and I treated ourselves to a choccy brownie and a slab of carrot cake respectively from Butterfly, then I did a wee bit of shopping from Mint & Garlic next door. My swag included three large, delightfully turquoise duck eggs (I've never had duck eggs before and am looking forward to making them into a quiche this week!), a punnet of strawberries that smelled incredible and tasted even better, a sweet potato whereby I was advised that you should always go for the long, thin ones as they harbour the most sweetness, and a vine of plum tomatoes whose rich depth of flavour made for brilliant roasting. There's a really lovely vibe to Copson Street so early on a Saturday morning, and a great eclectic mix of student types, young professionals and locals. I'm definitely going to be coming back here for some more grocery shopping, I was muchly impressed.

In the pecking order of Manchester street markets, I would rank Withington's market on the second…read moreSaturday of each month below Chorlton, Castlefield Artisan and the twice-monthly Real Food Market in Piccadilly. However, all the stall are proper artisan, local flavour stuff, which puts this little capsule market ahead of some of the grosser and commercialised elements of the Christmas Markets, for example. It's OK, but there aren't really enough stalls at this one to make it worth a special trip. So more of a market for the Withington locals, unless you have become hooked on the goods from one of the stalls and need your weekly fix. And there are definitely worse things addicted to than Dough-It-Yourself artisan pizza bases, Traditionally Cheesy artisan cheeses (with vegetarian cheeses clearly marked), Trove Foods baked goods and jams and a few others. Plus at least one Withington community organisation stall, which I think I would find pleasantly mumsy if I was a student living in the area! :-) But if you only make one visit in the month to the south Manchester street market circuit, then Chorlton on the third Saturday is your best bet. Disclaimer: Be aware that street markets and street food are undergoing something of a revival, and that an obvious next step for Manchester markets would be for more of the stallholders who show at the Chorlton and other markets to roll up to Withington for one day in the month. So - keep an eye on things, and also 'Be the change you want to see in the world' and all that, if you are a market fan!

On a blustery winter day a visit to the market was the perfect escape. Plenty of food vendors and…read morestalls or pop into one of the nearby restaurants and wine bars on the row. Will be back!

TL;DR - Great venue but a victim of its own success…read more Alty market set the tone for most of the food halls which you can now find across Manchester, and it remains one the biggest and best. The venue itself is gorgeous, with a craft market taking up half the building and a food hall in the other half. All the options at the food hall are great - you won't be disappointed. But the biggest issue we've always faced here is that it's so popular you can't always find a table. There's plenty of seating, it's just that the place is so popular it's always full which is frustrating if you've taken the trip to visit.

I absolutely love this place. As a vegetarian and lover of healthy and organic foods I was in my…read moreelement. When you first get in there is an abundance of brightly coloured vegetables and potatoes and carrots that are still dirty (always a good sign). I knew I was in my kind of place straight away. I love that they try to keep packaging to a minimum, using paper bags for the fresh vegetables. There is a huge range of vegetarian products (more tofu than you could ever need...if that's even a thing), seitan and tempeh in all different forms. I love how their dried foods are all packaged in simple bags with their label on....gotta love no fuss packaging. There is also a deli counter ranging from olives, onion bhajis and daals. I tried an onion bhaji and it was amazing. Although pricier than most supermarkets, I thought the prices were reasonable (being used to Wholefoods etc. in London) for organic, fresh produce and I love that it is a co-operative. I would definitely rather pay more for local produce that isn't mass-produced. I will definitely be shopping here regularly.

Amazed by this place…read more I haven't seen anywhere like it since my travels to Portland. It has a real community atmosphere. Everyone involved, from the growers to the staff to the people shopping, care and it really shows. It's honest. It's exactly where you want to buy your vegetables. There's soil on the fresh produce. Actual soil. No cellophane, no unnecessary packaging, no nonsense - just tasty, local food. The shelves are clearly labelled and well stocked with interesting offerings. They have your staples - potatoes, all the usual veg, cereals, spices, fruits as well as some more unusual choices when/if it's in season. Prices are reasonable and when you pay you feel like you're contributing - something you never experience in a chain supermarket. There's a play area for kids and free apples to keep them occupied - with a little compost bin for the cores. A big green thumbs up.

A bit of local flavour that's around at the moment is a lovely little set of stall that have set up…read morein Piccadilly Gardens, creating a mini little market. There are only a handful of stalls, but each is worth a visit. They include: 1. A Jamaican Food Stall selling jerk chicken and goat stew with soup for four quid! 2. A sweets stall selling amazing candy of all sorts of flavours 3. A cheese stall which smells amazing and has a great range of fresh cheeses. Some of the cheeses are worth seeing for the sheer size of them! 4. A pie stall selling large pies for £3.50 or small ones for £2. All look incredible and are in puffy pastry in pretty star shapes. 5. A fresh meat stall 6. A stall selling rubbish stuff. Check it out!

What better on a beautiful day than to wander around a Farmers Market smelling freshly cooked…read morebread, roasted hog, hot dogs, cakes, exotic African cooked meats, Chinese and Jamaican street food, curries and Paella. It's the culinary world on an al fresco plate in the heart of the city. A quick delicious imaginative fix for the urban gastronome

This is a fruit and veg market with a few other stalls that sell clothing and other household items…read morehowever this is not very exciting and would not tempt the public to visit unless they had come for the fresh produce . On saturday morning you can buy some nice flowers both cut and for planting but overall the market has suffered due to the continued development work and frequent roadworks.

I went here today and one week before Christmas it was almost deserted. It is a real shame as it…read moreused to be really good. I used to buy loads of stuff from here but don't any more. Unlike a lot of markets that are owned by local authorities this one is privately owned. I feel the owners have missed a heaven sent opportunity to increase trade whilst Urmston is having such a large rebuild going on. They could have encouraged shoppers back but have failed to do so. it is on a bit of a downward spiral sadly, lots of the stall holders have gone, the ones left (well a lot of them anyway)seem disheartened, disinterested and almost without hope. Today, I wanted to see if I could get a pair of cheap flat shoes. There was no one at the shoe stall, the guy was looking bored and I had to ask twice if I could try the shoe on(the answer please yourself didn't inspire any desire to spend) Anyway, they were too tight. When I asked what else he had I was shown a pair of shoes that your great gran would be offended if you bought her!! We did buy a cheap watch for hubby to wear at his new school(he's a teacher NOT a student!!), some cookie cutters(a weakness of mine) and some veg. This COULD be a great market. That it isn't is a real shame.

This unassuming little greengrocers on Withington's shabby Copson Street is absolutely bleedin'…read moregreat. Let's face it, for those living in Withington, your immediate choices for fruit are Somerfield (not great), One Stop (really, really, really not great) and Withington Fruit & Veg. Which is actually great. It's a shop of two halves, really. One one hand, it's a straight-up fruit and veg shop. selling all the usuals, loose, by the pound, cheaply. And very fresh. On the other hand, it's an Indian food store, which means you can grab big bags of spices, authentic curry pastes and all the different Rubicon flavours. It also means they stock an alarmingly wide range of fresh chillis, including the scotch bonnet chilli. Beware the scotch bonnet; it looks like a tiny bell pepper, but it is as fiery as all hell! Still, a great addition to a curry, and as everything here is charged by weight, one (more than enough for a hot Madras curry) will set you back about 5p! As well as stunningly fresh fruit and veg, and a great range of Indian foods, there's a good range of Jamaican ingredients such as plantain, dried salted fish and jerk seasonings. Great for if you fancy trying something new. The staff here are ridiculously helpful, and they always have a laugh with the regulars. The shop itself, despite being small and family-run, has its own bag-for-life, which I think is a great way of getting their brand out there, and also much better for fruit and veg than plastic bags. Speaking of, although they offer those polythene bags to put your purchases into for weighing, they're more than happy to weigh your stuff without bags, which cuts down on wastage and sits a little easier on the conscience. OH, and one time I was shopping there and I found a £2 coin in the carrots, and I told the shopkeeper and he smiled at me and said "keep it, it is the Universe's reward for your honesty!"

There are around four things preoccupying ELH these days. One is the amount of travel I'm doing…read morethis year - I'm seeing many different places with lots of quality people, that's rather nice isn't it? Another is putting up shelves and building Ikea desks... household new-home silliness. The third is Robert Sheehan. Enough said. The fourth is shopping local. As I'm a huge advocate - do you know any huge advocates? Okay, that's the 'Big Rug Sale' complex (how big *are* the rugs?), I'm not exactly a huge person - I'm very *into* my independent local businesses when it comes to coffee shops and eateries, I really feel I should carry this attitude through to most of my grocery shopping. At least to the fresh produce bit anyway. Then aren't I just a lucky duck that I live round the corner from this fruit and veg store? But wait, this isn't just a fruit and veg store, and it isn't an M&S fruit and veg store either... As Rebecca D has mentioned, it's also an ethnic food shop. Kind of like a mini Worldwide Foods, you can pick up some awesome ingredients in here, and it happens to have the cheapest halloumi I've ever seen. Seriously, they jack the price up so much in the supermarkets! Just pop here instead (they have the same brand in Worldwide Foods too). Shopping local rocks, and Copson Street is a revelation. I've so much yet to explore here, but in the meantime, sure - get your bits and bobs from the Co-op opposite but please do support this indie and stock up on your fresh ingredients here, you shan't regret it.

Held twice a month in Manchester city centre, Real Food Market sees the North West's farmers…read moredismount their tractors to give Manchester's pasty-faced masses a taste of real nutrition as Mother Nature intended. (I've uploaded over 30 photos, so do have a look!) There are about thirty market stalls in all - hot takeway foods for you to eat on a bench in Piccadilly Gardens, plus apple tarts, fudge, cupcakes, cheeses, preserves and crafts to take home. (As a vegetarian, I didn't pay too much attention to additional non-vegetarian food, but there are stalls in this category which can boast having been featured several times on local television.) I paid £2.50 for a container of Carrot & Coriander Soup the size of a small bucket, mopped up with a Caribbean style vegetarian patty, £1.50. The soup was great, the patty OK. From the Caribbean stall I would be more likely to skip the patty next time and try the Caribbean vegetable curry on rice & beans. Or try something else from the soup stall. Plus, check out Trove Foods, which sells homemade jams and marmalades in recycled jars. http://www.trovefoods.co.uk/home I took home jars of Seville Marmalade and Carrot & Almond Jam - delicious stuff, and a lovely young couple run this business together. Here's a summary of the rest of the stalls and again, do check out my photos as that will give you a good idea: * Hot foods: fresh soups (Carrot & Coriander, Smoked Sausage & Butterbean, Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato, Leek & Potato), BBQ chicken, burgers and big piles of juicy fried onions. Caribbean patties (including vegetarian) plus curried goat, jerk chicken or vegetarian curry with rice & beans. Samosas, spicy chickpea wraps, seekh kebabs. * Sweet foods: patisserie (apple or apricot tarts), homemade sweets and fudges, home baking, cupcakes by Cupcake Palace, retro macaroons. * For your kitchen pantry: Trove Foods homemade marmalade, jams, and spicy sauces and pickles; Mrs. Kirkham's artisan cheeses. * Crafts: bags, African crafts and jewellery, enamelled tableware. I am still quite a Manchester Markets newbie, but I would say the Real Food Market is neck-and-neck with the Arndale Market Food Court and definitely worth timing a visit to town on the second or fourth weekend in the month to catch it. It's all good retro, low carbon, tasty fun - Real Food Market FTW!

I love food, and I love local produce even more, so I was really pleased to hear about this…read morebi-monthly market held in Piccadilly Gardens. People are looking more and more to their local producer, knowing they're getting eco-friendly quality straight from the source, and I'm all for it. You can pretty much get anything here, great fresh breads, conserves, meats, dairy, speciality cheeses, pies, pickles, ales, puddings. It's an epicurian's paradise and always puts a smile on my face. It runs Friday and Saturday on the 2nd and 4th weekend of the month between 10-6pm.