The phrase ‘street food’ is bandied around a lot. Often by places that aren’t actually out there on the street.
But these are the real deal. The folk around Greater Manchester running tiny stalls, often exposed to the elements, but making great food nonetheless.
You can keep your Michelin Guide. If you want authentic cuisine from around the world, at considerably less than restaurant prices, these are the places you need to be heading. If we've missed any of your favourites, let us know in the comments.
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A Little Piece Of Bahia - Arndale Market
Where the food of Africa meets the food of South America is where you’ll find A Little Piece of Bahia, a small but perfectly formed stall in the Arndale dealing in rich stews and a warm welcome. Somehow familiar and exotic at the same time, this is proper home cooking and proper soul food. Be sure to try the cashew juice too - the squeezed juice of the cashew apple. Amazing.
49 High St, Manchester M4 3AH
Yoki Social Table
Fans of sticky Korean-style fried chicken should stop what they’re doing immediately and run - seriously, get up and run - to Society, the food hall just down the steps near the Bridgewater Hall. There are dumplings too, wings, chunks of deep fried cauliflower and seasoned fries. But that chicken is a full 10/10.
Basement, 100 Barbirolli Square, Manchester M2 3BD
Pico’s Tacos
With outposts at both Mackie Mayor and Altrincham Market, Pico’s tacos - and nachos, and charred corn, and margs - are truly sensational. The fried baja fish is light as a feather, and there’s a revolving door of specials, from slow-cooked mutton to leek tostadas. And the brunch is something else too.
Altrincham Market, Greenwood St, Altrincham WA14 1SA/ Mackie Mayor, 1 Eagle St, Manchester M4 5BU
Honest Crust
Turning out perhaps the best pizza in Manchester - and with some fierce competition out there too - Honest Crust’s long-proven dough and authentic toppings (no hoi sin duck here) are simple but devastatingly effective. Nothing more need be said on the matter.
Altrincham Market, Greenwood St, Altrincham WA14 1SA/ Mackie Mayor, 1 Eagle St, Manchester M4 5BU
Tarricrii
Arancini. The Scotch Eggs of Italy. Except possibly a bit better. As controversial as suggestions might be to some, head to Tarricrii over at Hatch, where the Mancunian Way flies over Oxford Road, and you'll find the best example of these delectable deep fried rice balls there is. Truly, they are magnificent, with Sicilian Brothers, Riccardo and Romeo among the very best to do it. And the cannoli are worth sticking around for too.
103 Oxford Rd, Manchester M1 7ED
Oh Mei Dumpling
Who doesn’t love dumplings arguably more than their friends, family and pets? Exactly. And the authentic, hot, steamed and delicious handmade parcels that come from Oh Mei Dumpling are as close to perfect as you could hope for.
Named the Best Street Food Trader at the Manchester Food and Drink Awards, you can catch them at food markets all over the city - from Stockport’s Foodie Friday to Didsbury’s Maker’s Market - and they even do home orders for collection.
https://www.instagram.com/ohmeidumpling/
Chaat Cart
Superlative South Indian snacking from Chaat Cart, currently working out of the Society foodhall (along with Kommune over the hills in Sheffield too). The sweet-sour puri chaats, the roti rolls, the Keralan fried chicken, the gunpowder fries. It's all fantastic.
Basement, 100 Barbirolli Square, Manchester M2 3BD
Mumma’s Fried Chicken
There’s no shortage of fried chicken in Manchester, but Mumma’s is a cut above. This is serious chicken. Each piece is brined for 12 hours and coated with a secret spice mix being being double fried and stuffed into a roll. The Nashville Hot is almost a work of art, and if poultry is a deal breaker, there’s a mean vegan alternative, and the jacket potato fries are out of this world.
Altrincham Market, Greenwood St, Altrincham WA14 1SA/ Mackie Mayor, 1 Eagle St, Manchester M4 5BU
Unagi
Unagi, off the bottom of Cheetham Hill, mean business. Found in their own secluded yard in a heap of stacked up shipping containers, this is first rate sushi, udon, karaage, sashimi, gyoza and poke. They have sit-down spots in Didsbury and Salford, but for the real street experience, it's tough to beat.
10 Park Pl, Cheetham Hill, Manchester M4 4EY
Gerry’s
One of the best worst-kept secrets in Manchester, Gerry’s, pitched up outside Primark on Piccadilly Gardens, does the best Chinese pancakes in town. On any day of the week there will be a queue of workmen, foreign students, teenagers and random shoppers lining up for the hot, spicy pancakes stuffed with cumin-caked fried chicken, crisped vegetables and various lip-smacking sauces. They do blinding noodles too.
Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester M1 1LY
Viet Shack
Come for the superlative Vietnamese banh-mi baguettes, stuffed with crisp pork belly and pickled vegetables, stay for the wild 'quack fries' - a heap of crisp french fries loaded up with crispy duck, sriracha jam, tamarind, mayo and spring onions. Viet Shack have a proper restaurant in Ancoats, but their street food game in the Arndale market is beyond reproach.
Market St, Manchester M4 3AQ
Rita’s Reign
With queues stretching the length of Piccadilly Gardens, this family-run stall has been a hot favourite for a hearty lunch for a few years now, serving up a mix of Caribbean classics like jerk chicken thighs - drool - with African favourites like a spicy and warming jollof rice. Just follow your nose (and the queues).
Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester M1 1LY
Yard Burger
Does it get more street food than a car park? Because Yard Burger is basically a metal shed in a car park in Sale. But what burgers emerge from this shed. They are messy, squashed and excellent, notably the Dirty Manc, South Manchester's ode to the iconic Big Mac.
9 Claremont Rd, Sale M33 7DZ
Kool Runnings
One of the city’s most venerable street food trucks, Kool Runnings has been dishing out some of the best Caribbean food Manchester has to offer since the 90s, and that includes the sit-down joints too. At its regular spot, parked up next to the Sharon Pentecostal Church in Old Trafford, it deals in brown stew chicken, pepper steak and, of course, jerk chicken and gravy, and it’s all 10/10.
118 Chorlton Rd, Old Trafford, Stretford, Manchester M15 4AN
Parmogeddon
Not much more than a few years ago, no one outside of Middlesbrough had much of an idea what a parmo was. How did we manage? This deep fried, breaded chicken cutlet, smothered in béchamel sauce and melted cheese, then stuffed into a soft white roll is a thing of deep groaning beauty. Here they do a spicy one, one topped with truffle mac and cheese, a blue cheese, a rueben. Truly, this is parmo heaven on Earth.
103 Oxford Rd, Manchester M1 7ED
Grub
With its constantly rotating vendors, Red Bank street food institution Grub is where to go when indecision is crushing you as much as your hunger. There will be something for you here, every Friday and Saturday with its weekly food festival, so rest assured. Many now established folk got their start here, so if it's Korean, pizza, burgers, towering sandwiches, gyros, fine pasta - Grub has absolutely got you.
50 Red Bank, Cheetham Hill, Manchester M4 4HF
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