Wholesome Junkies is a restaurant in Northern Quarter, Manchester.
100% vegan junk-food kitchen tucked inside the Hinterland Bar basement on Turner Street. Truffle burgers, kimchi loaded fries, oat-cream shakes; service Wed-Sun afternoons through evenings.
Why locals love it: Hidden inside Hinterland Bar's basement off Turner Street, no street signage and not on most food-guide lists. Cult plant-based junk food with rotating monthly specials.
Tip: Inside Hinterland Bar; ring the doorbell if the entry looks closed at 5pm pre-service.
Address: Hinterland Bar, 16-20 Turner Street, Manchester M4 1DZ
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.
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.
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.
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.
