The best lunch deals in Manchester

Is there anything that screams ‘midweek indulgence’ more than tucking into a kebab on your lunch break? Probably not, and so BAB in the Northern Quarter should be on your go-to list with their lunch special, where you can get their chicken aleppo, lamb adana or chip shop halloumi for £9, or their vegan grilled tenderstem broccoli kebab for £8. You can upgrade your fries into greek fries for just £2, and add homemade sauces for £1.

The Blues Kitchen’s ‘lunch for a tenner’ menu does exactly what you’d it to. There’s a ton of dishes to choose from, from St. Louis pork ribs, to cheeseburgers, brisket dip sandwiches and buttermilk fried chicken. You can also add £2 to have a ‘hard beverage’ or a shake, which is an excellent way to derail an afternoon in our opinion.

As the perfect foil to the savage surroundings of Piccadilly Gardens or Oxford Road; walking into Bundobust or Bundobust Brewery will bring to your day an unbridled amount of joy – as well as a great selection of lovely Indian dishes. You’ll find this offer in a tiny box on their menu, offering 2 dishes for £10.95, which includes house favourites like bundo chaat and ragdha pethis. They also have a great selection of craft beers with which to wash it down.

If you work anywhere near the Crazy Pedro’s on Bridge Street or in the NQ then lucky you – you can take advantage of their brilliant lunch deal where, for £6, you can choose from two massive slices of pizza, and a soft drink. Each day they have a selection of four or five of their pizzas in slice form, including their typically madcap and usually delicious monthly special. Give them another £1 on top of that, and you can replace your soft drink with a schooner of beer. Far from crazy, it’s actually rather sensible.

A multi-kitchen restaurant in a building that was once Manchester’s Natural History Museum, Exhibition is home to some of the city’s most desirable food. There’s basque-style grilled meat, minimal scandi plates and flatbread-forward Middle Eastern food of the highest quality. But they also know how to give the people what they want. Their express lunch deal is just £10 for a main and a soft drink, or £12 to make it an alcoholic one. Choose from a toastie from Osma, a selection of pintxos from Baratxuri and a whipped potato topped bread from Jaan. Lunch-wise, it sounds like a no-brainer to us.

Everything about Spinningfields spot Fenix is draped in theatrics. The high-end, modern Greek and Mediterranean restaurant goes in hard on all things mythological, creating highly conceptual banquets which are complimented by the impressive Mykonos-themed dining room. That said, you can enjoy their food at a fairly reasonable price if you opt for the lunch menu. From 12-4.45pm in the week, and 12-3pm at the weekend you can enjoy nibbles, a two-part main, sides and a dessert for £31.50 per person. That includes the likes of sea bass, a glazed half chicken and a beef paccheri pasta. For a really decadent lunch, we think that’s a good deal.

When you think of  Hawksmoor, you might think of extravagant steak dinners for special occasions, and you wouldn’t be wrong. And while you can push the boat out and order a huge chateaubriand with a raft of fancy cocktails, it’s also somewhere where you can get three generous courses for £31, six days a week. Their express menu is stacked with incredible dishes like rump steak and chips and roasted hake, while the starters and desserts are exactly what you’d want to go with them – smoked mackerel or bitter leaf salads, and a sticky toffee sundae and peanut butter brownie. The result is an extremely satisfying meal, which feels like you’ve somehow cheated the system.

Higher Ground’s ‘family-style’ fine dining, where everyone shares from a menu underscored by seasonal British produce, might not feel like the most lunch-friendly option in the city. That said, the usual £58 per head dinner offering is slimmed down to a totally palatable £38 at lunch time. Feast (and yes, we mean feast) on ever-changing dishes with deceptively straightforward names like hand cut pasta with brown crab or Pitchfork cheddar tart.

Kala is part of chef Gary Usher’s tight-knit family of absolutely top flight restaurants, which also includes firm favourites like Didsbury’s Hispi. You’d struggle to find better value in the whole of Manchester, given the quality of the cooking on display here. Their lunch special offers up two courses for a bafflingly reasonable £15 or three for £20, taking in dishes like Greek courgette fritters, chicken gyros and roasted aubergine with tahini, all served in a very smart dining room on spiffy King Street.

No need to beat around the bush with this one: All of your classic Nell’s pizzas are available throughout the week 12-4pm for just £7.77. Put simply, that’s a 14 inch monster of a pizza for less than it costs to go and watch whichever new disappointing blockbuster is in the cinemas. That’s a couple of quid less than a medium popcorn too. Available at Nell’s in KAMPUS, Common and The Beagle too.

You probably know that New Century Kitchen is the impossibly chic, modernist home to some of Manchester’s best independent kitchens like Banh Vi, Parmogeddon, PLY and Good Things, but did you know that they have a lunch offer too? Not merely reserved for hungry, pre-gig masses, New Century Kitchen do a pretty serviceable lunch and a soft drink for £10. Pick from favourites from across the kitchens like pork belly banh mi, a smash burger and both vegan and non-vegan varieties of parmo. In terms of mid-budget city centre lunches, New Century’s is definitely up there.

The Spanish are famed for their siestas – a chance to get out of the sun and have a nap in the afternoon. It’s one of the best ideas ever. Not only do you get to have a nap but it also means that everything in Spain is therefore open for longer at night and buying a Twix at 11.30pm is an easy task. Lunch, as a result, is also a big deal too and so La Bandera offer up a great express lunch deal – a choice of 3 tapas and a soft drink is just £12, or, if you want to add dessert it’s only £3 more.

Offering two courses for £28.50 and three for £33.50, the lunch menu at Tattu probably isn’t one you’d cram into your lunch hour, but it is a tantalising and more affordable taste of the high-concept, ultra modern Asian dining Tattu have made their signature style. Choose from the likes of pan seared pork dumplings or royal Koi fish gau to begin, followed by wok fried angry bird or kung po tofu. For dessert there’s a difficult choice between a yuzu lemon drop and Asian pear sticky toffee pudding. The menu is available all week, though timings do vary, so make sure you check to avoid a banquet-shaped disappointment.

This Northern Quarter Irish bar serves a legitimately excellent pint of Guinness, but their food offering shouldn’t be ignored either. Every Tuesday – Friday between 11am and 3pm you can enjoy their cheeseburger for just £5. And it’s a great cheeseburger too – two smashed patties, fresh crispy salad, proper cheese and a potato brioche bun. It’s simply an excellent option for NQ dwellers to add to their lunch rotation.

With locations in Salford, the city and selected suburbs too, Unagi’s pan-Asian delights are never too far away. Their new bento box offering makes them all a lot more lunch-friendly too. From 12-4pm on a weekday you can grab a box with a base of karaage chicken, salmon teriyaki or tofu stir fry for just a tenner. The guys don’t skimp on quality, so if you’re after something that’s delicious, a bit of a treat and arguably pretty healthy too, Unagi are bound to cause some lunch-based envy.

A staple of the West Didsbury food scene, Volta have a midweek deal that’s worth getting out into the suburbs for. It comes in the form of three small plates for just £15 – and you can pick from the entire menu. Whipped feta, padron peppers, baharat rump steak with mojo verde and queenie scallops with ‘nduja butter with salsa verde. And with those savings, you can splurge more on the cocktail menu.  

When Wholesome Junkies left their spot near Victoria Station, the Manchester food scene was poorer for it, whether you’re vegan or not. So when they teamed up with another wholesome enterprise and moved into dry bar Hinterland in the Northern Quarter, a dream collaboration was formed. Their express lunch menu, which includes nourishing bowls, burgers, and loaded fried ‘chikn’ boxes for £10 is a revelation. You have to try the hoisin duckless bao buns.

For this £8 lunch you can choose from three mains and add a soft drink, all for just £8. Available from Monday to Thursday, 12-4pm, there’s a chip shop butty, a salt ‘n’ pepper basket or a BBQ chicken sandwich,  all served with fries and a choice a soft drink, plus various sides you can add on to your heart’s desire. For just £3 extra you can swap your soft drink for a pint too. Simple and effective.