This and That is an indian restaurant in Northern Quarter, Manchester.
Manchester's most-loved budget curry counter on Soap Street since 1984. Family-run, canteen-style, under ten pounds for rice and three curries today.
Why locals love it: Tucked on Soap Street behind the Manchester Arndale, no signage, no website search ranking. Locals walk past for years before noticing the queue.
Tip: Open 12:00 to 19:00 weekdays only; cash and card accepted at the counter.
Address: 3 Soap Street, Manchester M4 1EW
Northern Quarter speakeasy hidden behind a Shudehill laundrette in Manchester. Bespoke cocktail flights, burgers and bar plates, late nights every night.
Why locals love it: Manchester speakeasy hidden behind a working laundrette frontage on Shudehill. You pick up a phone, ask the operator for a slot, and a door opens to the bar.
Tip: Ring the buzzer at the laundrette and ask for the booking on the phone.
Tyrolean spaetzle, Polish pierogi and Russian pelmeni in Manchester's Green Quarter. Kasia Hitchcock and Franco Concli run a Bib Gourmand kitchen here.
Why locals love it: Under a Red Bank railway arch in Manchester's Green Quarter, with only a small sign on the door. Bib Gourmand 2026 status still hasn't widened the secret.
Tip: Bookings open one month ahead; weekday lunch is the calm shift, fast enough to walk in without a reservation.
Basement dim sum room in Manchester's Chinatown. No-frills round tables, har gow and siu mai by the bamboo basket, Cantonese roast meats in window.
Why locals love it: Manchester Chinatown basement on Faulkner Street; no real frontage signage above-ground level. The serious dim sum room locals visit at lunch on weekdays.
Tip: Weekday lunch from 12:00 is the calm shift; weekend yum cha books fast.
Bib Gourmand natural-wine room on Manchester's Murray Street since 2019. Short menu of seasonal plates, twenty natural reds and the same in whites here.
Why locals love it: Manchester's understated Bib Gourmand neighbour to Mana on Murray Street; the natural-wine list wins quietly without the queue Mana gets daily here.
Tip: Kitchen closed 15:00 to 16:30 for the gap shift; weekday early dinner is the calm slot.
P G and Lilawati Sachdev opened Lily's in 1972 in Ashton-under-Lyne; pure vegetarian, family-run, daily-changing thali, no meat ever on the menu, ever.
Why locals love it: Greater Manchester's longest-running Indian vegetarian institution, but a twenty-minute tram ride from Piccadilly puts it off the city-centre tourist radar.
Tip: Closed Mondays and Tuesdays; Sunday family lunch is the long shift, book ahead.
Northern Quarter speakeasy hidden behind a Shudehill laundrette in Manchester. Bespoke cocktail flights, burgers and bar plates, late nights every night.
Why locals love it: Manchester speakeasy hidden behind a working laundrette frontage on Shudehill. You pick up a phone, ask the operator for a slot, and a door opens to the bar.
Tip: Ring the buzzer at the laundrette and ask for the booking on the phone.
Prestwich Manchester bar and pizza room on Bury New Road. Low-intervention wine list, sourdough pizza, small plates and a daytime coffee programme.
Why locals love it: Prestwich neighbourhood bar and pizza room three miles north of Manchester city centre. Few city-centre diners make the trip up the Bury line for the room here.
Tip: Closed Sundays and Mondays; Saturday afternoon long lunch is the calm shift.
