When we went for our dirty weekend in January, we went to the
Armenian Taverna facing Albert Square - it was wonderful! Great food, great prices, good combination of carnivorous & veggie selections - plus the decor is so quirky & you do feel like you've gone back in time somewhere with it plus the prices. Lol! Interesting intersection also of Middle Eastern-mezze type fare with some Eastern European added - goulash.
And our second night there, we went to
Happy Seasons (Chinese) in Manchester's Chinatown. Cheap & cheerful, great Chinese - packed out with primarily east Asian customers, then again it's in Chinatown.
(ETA: Both of those restaurants are very casual, so if you're wanting a more luxurious/elegant/dress-up/romantic kind of place - these ain't it!)
Of course, you'll be spoilt for choice there in Manchester's Chinatown!
I actually did considerable research (I'm a travel geek - what can I say?!) before we went - because I wanted places that had had great recent-ish reviews & not necessarily places that are resting on old laurels & reputations.
We had a really nice breakfast (full English - both regular & veggie available) at a place in the Northern Quarter -
Trof.
Another day, we had Sunday brunch at
Cornerhouse.
There are lots of real ale pubs about, however we happened to be there on a snowy/icy weekend so we didn't get around to lots of them when we went, but we did enjoy the Briton's Protection pub.
We called in at the Old Monkey (corner of Princess & Portland Street) & just as quickly ducked back out - I'd definitely give it a miss, was a bit of a dive & not in a good way plus poor beer selection.
We then went directly into Circus Tavern, right next door, which is the tiniest place & was an
interesting atmosphere - mostly because as soon as we walked in, a barmaid at the door barked at us to go sit down around the corner & they'd come to take our drinks order... We only stayed for one, but it was interesting - both because of how we got told to 'go sit down!' as soon as we walked in, and also because the walls are covered with photos of famous people who have been there - a few I recognised but a lot I didn't (probably because they were British celebrities of which I am pretty much unaware).
