The best Chinese restaurants in Manchester

Housed within a rather fetching building adorned with yellow canopies and retro neon on Chinatown’s George Street is Aplus Oriental. You can tell it’s an elder statesman of Chinatown, and it’s endured for good reason – perfectly glazed roasted meats, flavoursome veggie dishes with plenty of bite, cloud-like pork buns. And if your night takes a more lively turn, you can book out private karaoke booths in the back too.

This bustling Faulkner Street spot is close to legendary. The family-run business opened in 1982 and has never looked back since. Known for their speedy service and array of signature roast meats which come perfectly glazed on traditional, ornate plates Happy Seasons have nailed what it is they do. If the roasted meats – which hang butchers-style above the kitchen – doesn’t tempt you, the menu has a comprehensive offering of curries and stir fries too.

Home Manchester – not the arts and culture complex, but the contemporary Chinese bar and restaurant – is located on Richmond Street by the Gay Village. They do fresh and modern takes on all your favourites, as well as dishes you might not have encountered before – like fish fillet and coriander soup, and sliced lamb in ginger and spring onion sauce. Dishes are bright and colourful, with loads of vegetarian options. Browse the cocktail menu too, which showcases the serious bartending chops behind the bar.

While the word Hunan refers to the cuisine of the Xiang River province, Hunan the restaurant strikes a delicate balance between offering the Cantonese style dishes British diners are used to, as well as recipes sourced from other provinces. Come for the sizzling beef, stay for the spicy salmon head. Plus, they put special effort put into creating vegetarian and vegan options which don’t compromise on flavour. A place that caters to all palates, from the cautious to the curious.

A run down of the best Chinese restaurants in Manchester wouldn’t be complete without a nod to Little Yang Sing. This basement restaurant has been serving customers for decades. Great service, family vibes, favourites done how you want them. A real crowd-pleaser. The shredded duck pancakes here always go down a storm, and they even have a ‘no duck’ vegetarian option available too.

This always-packed spot on Faulkner Street has something for everyone. If you’re happy enough with some great stir fried noodles and other standard takeaway-style classics, head to Mr. Hong’s, choose the red menu and have a great night. If you’re after something more ‘out there’, request the blue menu and go exploring. There you’ll find some of the most wondrous dishes in Chinatown – pork cooked with billions of dried chillies, chicken bone and rabbit skewers for barely a couple of pounds, cauldron-sized build-your-own hotpots, the best North East-style crispy sweet and sour you’ve ever had, and, should the mood take you, bullfrog cooked in as many ways as your imagination will entertain. It’s an absolute wonderland.

This Sichuan noodle and street food specialist is located in a basement just a stone’s throw from Chinatown’s landmark Chinese arch or ‘paifang’. This basement spot isn’t shy when it comes to spice, and their extensive menu is full of tempting, reasonably-priced dishes like braised pork belly and Sichuan dan dan noodles. Many of the dishes at Noodle Alley have a strong regional focus and feature the hand-pulled noodles the place is famous for. Many are based on family recipes and each made using ingredients considered fundamental to Sichuan cooking, not least the world-famous Sichuan pepper, which features everywhere. Miss the intensely savoury ‘wavy’ chips at your peril.

No.8 is an uncompromisingly authentic hotpot spot. Nestled behind Oxford Road train station, one of their specialities is malatang, a spicy sauce made of Sichuan pepper and dried chilli which forms the base of a hotpot broth. A word of warning – malatang literally means a numbing level of heat. Pick your broth and go to town on your fillings, which range from various fish and meat, to noodles and bean sprouts to lesser-spotted specialities like chicken feet, pork intestines and duck blood tofu.

An authentic Chinese restaurant in and amongst the trendy concept bars and restaurants of Ancoats. This Jersey Street spot has a relaxed interior and specialises in dim sum, as well as both Cantonese and Szechuan offerings. Everything is colourful and fresh, but one thing that stands out is their commitment to making sure everyone can enjoy their food – there are dedicated gluten free, vegan, vegetarian and halal menus.

With an unassuming shop front on Oldham Road, you could be excused for having walked past Chef Diao on your way to eat somewhere else. Stop by next time for simple but exceptionally flavourful dim sum made with skills honed over Chef Diao’s 30 year career. Understated is the word that springs to mind, but you’ll quickly realise why people who’ve discovered Chef Diao’s hand-pulled noodles and perfectly translucent dumplings quickly become returning customers.

To connect the bottom end of Oldham Road with anything approaching glamour is an objective abandonment of the facts. But this huge dining room above the Wing Yip supermarket does it regardless, and admirably. There is a sprawling dim sum menu at Glamorous Chinese Restaurant, and while they have now sadly done away with the scalding metal trolleys that you could pick dishes from as they roved around the tables, the quality is still excellent. The rest of the menu is vast too, taking in everything from abalone to giant crabs to eels and all manner of Far Eastern exotica (plus reliable standards like great ribs and stir fried noodles). Service is, at best, businesslike, so if you want insincere smiles and whatnot, you’ll leave disappointed.

While it’s location out on a Middleton industrial estate might not scream ‘must visit’, Ocean Treasure don’t need to look glamorous from the outside when the offering inside is this strong. They offer three menus – there’s a traditional a la carte offering and a dim sum menu, but things get really interesting on the Beijing Sichuan menu. Here you can find seafood specialities like braised scallops with bamboo fungus and Cantonese stir fried king prawns. The space has a banquet hall feel, so we advise ordering mountains of the stuff.

Tucked away in university country, Peace Garden is a truly exceptional restaurant. Specialising in classic banqueting dishes – the type invented for dignitaries and state occasions – eating here is a rarified experience, with some serious skills at work in the kitchen. The crispy fried fish is like a work of art, while the Peking duck is probably the best example of this classic dish in the whole city, the skin bronze and carved for you tableside.

‘Hidden gem’, ‘one of the best in the UK’ – the reviews of this place on Ashton Old Road say it all. Online, locals rave about this spot in Openshaw, and others are starting to catch on too. The beef brisket and dai pai dong seafood get special mentions, and the dried fried tender beef with hofun flat noodles are worth travelling out of town for alone. Just don’t ask about the parking.

Located on the corner of Cross Street and King Street, you don’t get much more central than The Rice Bowl. Founded in 1960 and still run by the same family, they serve authentic Pekinese and Cantonese cuisine including seafood and vegetarian options. That’s not to say it’s all about beef chow mein and sweet and sour chicken (as comforting as these old school favourites are), panko crusted chicken in lemon lime sauce and an array of sizzling lamb dishes are worth exploring too. It’s no surprise that some of their loyal customers have been coming back for decades.

Housed in a Grade II listed black and white building by the scenic Worsley Delph, Tung Fong is definitely the most picturesque spot on the list. They specialise in seafood and dim sum, and dishes are fresh, flavourful and ideal for sharing. Some of their mains come served in a hollowed out pineapple, which probably isn’t all that authentic, but it is very enjoyable. The skewered meats are a particular favourite among loyal customers – you first choose your meat then choose from Peking, satay or Mongolian spicy sauce.

Their elegant upstairs dining room on the main drag of Chorlton’s Wilbraham Road is a relaxed and colourful affair. Dishes are loaded high with glistening curries and eye-catching sides. The emphasis here is on freshness, with a real absence of stodge, so you can be sure you won’t experience that post-indulgence slump. You’d be silly not to explore the cocktail menu too, which has been designed to compliment the Asian flavours of the menu and to really add to your dining experience.

If Spinningfields did Chinese restaurants, they’d look like this. All brass and marble surfaces, plush private dining rooms and a back bar to rival that of the swankiest hotel, it’s no wonder that Wing’s is a favourite with the football set. In a place like this, banqueting is the order of the day, with set menus that go up to £99 per head. If baked lobster with ginger and spring onions or crispy chilli shredded fillet steak are your thing, then Wing’s is the place to indulge in elevated Chinese grub.

Meaning ‘drink tea’ in Cantonese (it’s also the name of the meal where you drink tea and eat dim sum), Yum Cha is a place where you can go and do just that. Located amongst the trendy independents of Kampus, the space is modern, complete with sculptural neon lighting and moody murals. Food-wise, there are mains available like katsu, massaman and roast meats, but the best thing to do is order lots of different types of dim sum, which arrive stacked high in bamboo steamers, and get stuck in, with a few steaming pots of oolong or jasmine.

Proving that the kerb appeal is no barometer of the quality of a restaurant, Tai Wu is another restaurant located within a supermarket. Located above W. H. Lung on Upper Brook Street, this place was for a while known as Tai Pan. The new name references one of China’s biggest lakes, which is fitting because this place is vast – full of huge tables to pile high with dim sum dishes and sharing platters. The menu is a comprehensive blend of Cantonese and Sichuan favourites, with the latter delivering on those spice levels. One to remember for family dos or group get-togethers.

Any city centre worker will tell you that when lunchtime rolls around and you’re craving something flavoursome, savoury and maybe delightfully stodgy, nothing but Wings Dai Pai Dong will do. Incredibly reasonably priced and lunch-hour friendly, you can expect polystyrene trays loaded with crispy chicken balls, mountains of noodles and one of the best hot and sour soups in town. If you’re in the mood for chips and curry sauce, there’s nowhere better. Wash it down with a fizzy drink, and be sure to follow it all up with a well-earned nap.

The wildly – and deservedly – popular Salt & Pepper was born in the Arndale food market, where queues would form daily, before opening its first proper place right opposite in 2022. As the name suggests, this is the place for salt and pepper dishes, which are truly adored by regulars. Suffice to say, then, chicken wings, prawns and fries are all available, in addition to a number of other salt & pepper-style options. But you’ll also find plenty more to go at, such as sticky beef, not to mention a choice of more than nine homemade sauces, including a special hot curry creation, conceived to celebrate the launch of this most excellent restaurant. Traditionalists might baulk, but if your favourite thing about a Chinese takeaway is the chips, this place is a playground of outrageous flavours.

Overlook the strange maroon streetfood huts on Market Street at your peril, especially Gerry’s, the Chinese pancake (jian bing) and noodle spot where people queue up all day to get warm, hot tasty sustenance while they go about their day. The world is divided into people who love this place, and people who haven’t tried it yet. The famous jian bing come in loads of flavours like spicy cumin king prawn or braised duck. The result is a densely folded crepe-y treat that’ll put more of a spring in your step than Greggs.

Covering three storeys, with a small number of tables at entrance level, Hello Oriental makes a clear nod to the legendary subterranean food halls of the East, and the flavours are similarly authentic. Come here for traditional Chinese cooked meats, stunning sushi platters, and Korean fried chicken. All of which are just for starters. Bao buns, Southeast Asian curries, dim sum, grilled dishes, noodles, pho, bun hue, poke and more, whether it’s Vietnamese or Japanese-Hawaiian, papaya salad or summer rolls, it’s here and done very well indeed, making for a great place to come as a group with something for pretty much everyone, and for any occasion.

Not one for the fainthearted. If you like your seafood as fresh as it comes, head up to Ashton Old Road and experience the Asian-inspired crustaceous delights being served up at Live Seafood. Probably not one for vegans, this place has tanks of seafood from which you can pick your dinner. There’s everything you might expect, like crab and oysters, as well as wildcard options like eel and razor clams. Their eye-catching displays aren’t just a gimmick, the food is genuinely excellent, with seafood prepared in a variety of ways including salt and pepper and Sichuan styles. And for non-believers, there’s loads of noodle based dishes too.

DIY hot pot and Chinese BBQ with a conveyor belt twist. A favourite of serious foodies, this is budget-friendly, immersive dining where you’re the chef. Take your pick of three floors: The basement level offers the rice and noodle bar, while the ground floor is a hot pot lounge where you select your ingredients from a conveyorbelt. Meanwhile, if you prefer to leave the cooking up to the experts, the first floor offers authentic Chinese BBQ and seafood menu.

This could be one of the best-kept secrets in the city. A tiny sit-in and takeaway spot in Moss Side, Spicy Space is for those with a keen sense of culinary adventure. If you can get a seat – usually it’s steamed up and crammed with Chinese students – you’ll be able to peruse the ‘English menu’, written in biro on a piece of A4. But use a bit of nouse (and point your phone camera via the Google app at the Chinese menu) and a whole world opens up, with home-style North Eastern Chinese dishes like beef brisket rice, double-cooked pork slices, huge bubbling hotpot soups with submerged lamb bones, and cumin beef. As the name suggests, some of this is pretty pokey on the spice front.

Taking its name from the tattoo style artwork that gives this Spinningfields institution its good looks, and the word ‘Tatau’, meaning ‘make a mark’ in ancient eastern culture, the Manchester location has given rise to a number of others elsewhere in the country, which is a sign of just how good things are here. Specialising in fusion Chinese-modern creations, the menu matches interior design for intricacies and captivating presentation, with the iconic blossom tree, sat in the middle of the dining room, among the stand out features inside. It may not be your traditional Chinese restaurant experience, but it more than makes up for that with vibrant creativity.

This place laughs in the face of sticklers for authenticity, in fact they celebrate the unique fusion cuisine which is British-Chinese takeaway. Specialising in the ‘comfort food basket’, you can order sharing trays laden with classics like prawn toast, pork sui mai dumplings and salt and pepper wings, as well as bao buns and noodle-based dishes too. The restaurant space is joyously irreverent too, filled with kitsch and colourful decor. Arrive hungry and without preconceptions. Find them in Altrincham and Swinton.