For a while now, the Arndale's food market has been the place to unearth more than a few secret gems of the Manchester food scene. It's also got a bit of everything.
There's not many corners of the globe it doesn't cover - whether you fancy West African, Japanese, South American, a chunk of sticky fried chicken, a box of noodles, a burger that will provide your whole week's calories, there's something here for you, guaranteed.
So how best to navigate this warren of sterling fast food? We can help with that. We visited each and every one of them. You're welcome...
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Pancho’s Burritos
Fast becoming a bit of a Manchester street food institution, Pancho’s has an authentic Mexican roadside vibe to it, with tiles on the walls, pans hanging from the ceiling and Jarritos sodas in the fridge. You can grab a burrito hefty enough to cause concussion (£8.50 for a ‘chico’ or £9.50 for ‘grande’), nachos, tostadas, enchiladas or tacos (three for £10, including your drink), stuffed with slow-braised beef, pork cooked with pineapple or lime, or its signature lamb with smoky chipotle, each loaded with guacamole and salsa. Sure, their hot chilli sauce is pretty hot, but you can handle it. Be brave. You can even get a wealth of Mexican groceries too, including hot sauces and masa flour to make your own tortillas at home.
Eat2Treat
What Eat2Treat lacks in the impressive frontage and branding of some of its neighbours, it more than makes up for with the important stuff - the food. The chicken biriyani was absolutely top notch, the rice buttery and thick with cardamom scent and the chicken all thigh and well spiced. The samosa chaat was also crispy and fresh, loaded up with hot chilli, sour tamarind and cooling yoghurt. One of the very best of the bunch.
Dunkin Burgers
These are burgers with a Manc swagger. The Ian Brown of burgers, you might say, but served up without the additional conspiracy theories. The USP here, as the name implies, is a pot of dunkable gravy accompanying each burger. It doesn’t bring much to the party - the burgers are good enough without it, and essentially, it’s just thick chip shop gravy. A proper meat sauce might be a different matter, like you'd get with a 'French dip' sandwich. Nonetheless, the OG has properly crisped up rashers of bacon, oozing cheese and a soft bun, and is a burger I'd come back for. Just hold the gravy.
Little Piece of Bahia
Brazilian-meets-African street food that will make you yearn for a holiday to South America, this unassuming stall could be the jewel in the Arndale's crown. It's like nothing else. The stews of prawns and chicken, heavy with rich coconut milk, are super authentic and soul-warming, as are the stuffed acarajé, bean and onion dumplings stuffed with delicious prawns. The feijoada - a hefty stew of sausage, pork and black beans - is also essential, though you might need a nap afterwards. Be sure to try the cashew juice too.
Zorba’s
Greek delight Zorba’s has been part and parcel of the Arndale Food Market since the beginning of time (or at least, it feels like it). Having tried their keftedes before, I go for the tried and tested meatballs with a side of couscous - also on the menu is beef stew, chicken gyros, wraps and Greek salads. Although a little greasier than I would have liked, the tomato sauce is rich and tasty. The meatballs are as good as I remember and for £8.50, there’s plenty to fill you up.
Hong Thai
Like Salt & Pepper before it, Hong Thai gets the queues, but such is the speedy professionalism in the kitchen (plus its buzzer system - you take one and head back when it goes off), you're not waiting long. The Chang Mai curry special was a full 10/10; a hugely generous creamy red style Thai curry, with noodles, crisp vegetables and little chicken meatballs that were heady with lemongrass.
Cafe Greco
One thing that hit me as I walked past the stall of Cafe Greco is the sheer size of their sandwiches. Like something even the BFG might have difficulty finishing off, there are choices from Ham and Cheese, Halloumi, salami and everything in between. For £5.90, I went for the Fried Chicken sandwich which was grilled right in front of me. Smothered in thick mozzarella cheese, it was a gooey treat that hit the lunchtime spot just right.
Wings
It’s your standard Chinese buffet fare at Wings - noodles, sweet and sour chicken, salt & pepper ribs and chicken wings and so forth, with prices ranging from £6.90 to over £7, including a drink. A box of stir fried Singapore style noodles with chicken was not great, the noodles soft and flabby and the seasoning lacking, while the accompanying rib (singular) and wing (also singular) felt a bit mean.
Totu's Dhaba
“What’s good?,” I sheepishly ask the man behind the counter at Indian roadside food stall Totu's Dhaba. Too afraid to publicly admit that my levels of spice basically range from korma up to tikka, he recommends I go for a mixture of saag aloo and chicken tikka with paprika Biryani rice (£9 including a drink). The chicken is a little dry, but the flavours of the tikka are all there and it still manages to pack a punch for my wimpy little tastebuds. The chicken saag aloo has a strong kick to it but it’s flavoursome, tasty and a delight. Would recommend it, despite not looking particularly photogenic.
Micro Bar
Micro Bar by name, Micro Bar by nature, this tiny watering hole has a bewilderingly wide range of ales, best bitters, sours, IPAs, DIPAs, and TIPAs for its size, not to mention Belgian brews that should come with a health warning.
Kokob
An Italian serving Ethiopian food? It’s certainly different. For their Italian offerings, there’s pasta from £5 - £7.50 based on how hungry you are. I ordered the ‘pollo e peperoni’ but ended up getting something completely different: grilled chicken pasta with peppers and onions. There was a lovely chargrilled barbeque taste to the meat and was quite nice overall - but could have done with some sauce. The Ethiopian dishes, on the other hand, were superb. Coming in a natty pink take-out box, the lamb stew with a tangy, sour and chewy injera flatbread (£10) was a cracker.
Viet Shack
A spin-off of the bricks and mortar spot on Great Ancoats Street, the Arndale's Viet Shack has a pared down lunchtime offering rather than the full range of dishes - so it's heavy on the banh-mi sandwiches, loaded fries and so forth. There's also the majestic quack burger; crispy chilli and salted, shredded duck on a soft brioche (£7). It's a thing of wonder, as is the pork belly banh-mi with its tangy pickled vegetables and the bargainous lemongrass chicken burger (£5.50). Quack fries (that shredded duck again, £7.90) are also very much worth your time.
Smoothielicious
You can’t really go wrong with a smoothie, and the offerings from Smoothielicious are as varied as they are extensive. You can go for the ‘normal’ choices of mixed fruit or veg, or even opt for a Peanutbutter Glory (that's peanut butter, banana and honey with apple juice). From £4.50, there’s smoothies and juices to pick from. I went for the Pineapple Blush (£4.69), a mixture of pineapple, raspberry and apple juice. It was tangy, it was fruity and it was delicious.
Smokeshed
Not content with just one burger place, the Arndale food market has two. Smokeshed offers chicken burgers, beef burgers and halloumi burgers from £5.50, alongside wraps and loaded fries. The grilled cheeseburger (£6.50) came in a deliciously soft and sweet brioche bun and was packed with a smokey burger sauce that was morerish. The burger itself was thick and grilled to perfection. Definitely one to return to.
Takoyaki Master
These Japanese takoyaki - somewhere between a pancake and a dumpling - are DELICIOUS and I'm not about to apologise for the use of caps either. They're also a joy to watch being made too. The batter is poured into a special mould, before the filling (squid) is dropped on top and the dumpling is then flipped round to make a neat ball. You can order a box of dumplings with some crisp fries and a drink for £9 (the takoyaki topped with mayo and intensely savoury bonito flakes), or better still, a few dumplings, some fried panko chicken strips and some fries and a drink for a tenner.
Onje
Caribbean and African cuisine is the speciality at Onje, on the strip of stalls by Viet Shack and Dunkin Burgers. The jollof rice was a spicy hit, but sadly the curry goat wasn't quite ready to go when we arrived. A hefty thigh of jerk chicken really hit the spot, mind you, so the disappointment didn't last.
Arndale Deli
It might be known as the Arndale Deli, and it might sell an assortment of wraps, baguettes and toasties (from £4.99), but for those with a sweet tooth it's the selection of pancakes, waffles and milkshakes that take the biscuit. Batter is carefully poured onto the molten hot plate, before a healthy spoonful of Nutella is spread across the pancake and masterfully shaped and folded into a carb-fuelled triangle - and subsequently devoured. Pancakes start from £3.99 and peak at £5.99 for an epic concoction of Biscoff, white chocolate and Nutella, while milkshakes, including the Malteser number pictured above will set you back £4.99.
M'ama Italian
Another Italian venture, M'ama Italian offers a daily mix of pastas and lasagne on rotation. They also serve different types of 'cuoppo', a type of fried dough ball, with everything from mozzarella, squid rings, shrimp tail and seaweed. Today’s pasta offering was a tomato, aubergine and mozzarella pasta which was flavoursome, herby, and had just the right amount of tomato sauce (£7.50 with a drink), it’s a delight and a tried and tested fave when you just want a quick lunch that will fill you up till tea time. They also serve pistachio crumble and Nutella tart if you fancy a little sweet after.
Just Natas
If you’ve room for desert then definitely head to Just Natas. Serving up little Portugese custard tarts, with cinnamon sprinkled over the top if you want it, it’s a treat that leaves you feeling all warm inside. It’s my new favourite and I can’t wait to enjoy them again in the autumn with a cup of coffee. You can get one nata for £2, 3 for £5 or 6 for £10. It's tempting to even shell out on 16 for £25...
Lotus Food
It's not you, it's most definitely me. I'll long have regrets about my food choice at Lotus Food - a decision made in a moment of panic as the reality of the challenge we had embarked finally hit me. There were other choices - grilled salmon and rice (£9.50), chicken with salad and so on - but in the end a margherita pizza (£4.50) was my destiny. Cut up into squares it reminded me of childhood pizza parties past, but sadly that's where the fun stopped - slightly undercooked and the cheese a tad congealed, next time I visit I'll be sure to branch out a little further.
Market Point
Slap bang in the centre of the original food market, it's clear from the brightly lit menu boards above that this place is big on pizza, but after being burnt by the aforementioned margarita, I dig a little deeper and much to my delight the chicken shawarma (£7.50) is spot on. There's heaps of it, in fact, every time I think I've finally made it through to the rice beneath it fills in again, a bit like quicksand. It should be demoralising, but every morsel is delicious so I don't mind that it takes me almost a quarter of an hour to unearth the rice. The salad is less thrilling - a bit of dressing would have been nice.
Cafe Manchester
Part deli, part bakery and part caff, Hansfords is home to counters stuffed full of hearty pies, pasties, and artisan cheeses. It’s also an all-day Full English (£8.50) type of affair, with workers waiting patiently as takeaway boxes are jam-packed with crispy bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns - and spam if you so wish. I opt for a Cornish pasty and hot roast ham sandwich with a freshly baked barm, apple sauce, stuffing, and a touch of English mustard (£8.10 all together) - both worth the unnecessary carb loading.
Sushi Dragon
Pretty basic sushi here, but not a bad deal for the price (£8 for a mixed box) if that's what you're hankering after, with salmon, tuna, glazed eel and squid all coming laid on top of pillows of seasoned sushi rice. They also offer up bento boxes (£10 or £7 for veggie) which come with a varied range of rolls and nigiri, plus some crisp tempura to go along with it. And a steaming bowl of miso soup, of course.
A Nice Sip
If like me, you are new to the world of boba tea, A Nice Sip, and its truly staggering amount of milk and fruit-based bubble teas, is a good place to start. The Taiwanese invention, first concocted in the 80s, arrived here some time in the 2000s and comes in two varieties - fruit-based or milk based. With a gentle steer from the woman behind the counter an oolong milk tea (£4.90) is ordered, and made all the more exciting by the clump of flavoured tapioca pearls which burst up the straw. Whether I'm meant to be eating, inhaling or disposing of the pearls is unclear but eventually I get the hang of it and safe to say I'm hooked.
Tokyo Tokyo
Quite simply, this is one of the best offers in Arndale Market. Japanese street food at its finest, and potentially most efficient - the chicken ramen (£7.50) was made at breakneck speed. And yes, before you ask, it was all cooked. Piping hot, the dish, recommended by the owner, and is a soothing elixir featuring chewy noodles, hunks of chicken and an assortment of cabbage and carrot, topped with a sprinkling of spring onions, chopped coriander and garlic. Food envy kicked in when I watched a fellow customer tuck into prawn tempura (£6) and gyoza (£5.50), which means another visit is on the cards.
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