Manchester restaurants open on a Monday
My favourite places for an early week dinner
It’s Monday night and you’re in Manchester looking for a good restaurant. You’re armed with a list of recommendations but so far, none of them are open. Well, damn.
Since the pandemic, Manchester, like many cities, has had a Monday malfunction. Restaurants are having to close a couple of days a week (or more) due to ever-spiralling costs. This means Monday for most hospo staff is a night off (woohoo) but if almost everywhere is closed (boo), where do hospo folks go for good food then? The same applies to people visiting Manchester on business, and people like me who live in the city, work weekends, and have Monday/Tuesday as days off.
Well, I’m here to help. Here is my A-Z list of twenty-one great Manchester restaurants that are open on a Monday. While not an exhaustive list, these are all places I love to eat at. I hope you will too.
Read on for 21 good restaurants open on a Monday in Manchester.
Albert’s Schloss
Open Monday 9am-2am
Schloss is such a reliable option for both late-night drinking and hangover-crushing breakfasts as it is open every single day from 9am til 2am. But the main menu is sometimes overshadowed by its party rep. Where else can you get cheesy pretzels, roast pork knuckle and at least four different types of both schnitzel and German sausage? If this sounds like a bit of you, head to Schloss for a Monday dinner.
The Armenian Taverna
Open Monday 12-11pm
Now emerged from its 50-odd-year run as a basement restaurant, the Armenian Taverna (which I reviewed a few years ago pre-glow up) is now an airy, light and more modern-looking restaurant upstairs just on the corner opposite the town hall. I love the eye-shaped khachapuri bread, the herring and beetroot-based salads, the handmade dumplings and the kebabs. In fact, just bring me the whole menu. They also do Georgian and Armenian wine.
Blacklock
Open Monday 12-3pm and 5-10pm
Blacklock is a London institution for its affordable but excellent steak and chops. On a Monday they do their big chops at butcher price so it’s even more pocket-friendly. The meaty mains are great but don’t sleep on the starters and sides. I highly recommend the pig’s head on toast and thinly shaved broccoli and walnut salad.
Bundobust
Open Monday 12-10:30pm (both branches)
Bundobust probably needs little introduction to Northerners but just in case it’s managed to swerve your radar, this place is all about beer and sharing small plates of Gujarati street food, which just so happens to be meat-free. Though the main menu is reassuringly familiar all year (I never skip the Bundo chaat, okra fries or anything involving paneer), look out for collabs with other local food heroes. Most recently, Nell’s Pizza and Great North Pie Co. got involved, making Indian-influenced pies of both kinds.
Caravan
Open Monday 8am-11pm
Another London implant, this spacious, Kiwi-owned restaurant does impeccable coffee and great breakfast/brunch but its evening menu is pretty special too. If you’re hungry, there’s a cracking Barnsley chop and an excellent pork schnitzel, but the small plates and veg-laden rice and grain bowls are great for something a bit lighter while still packed with flavour. Pizza here is also decent.
Dishoom
Open Monday 8am-11pm
If you’re looking for Indian food in an occasion-friendly setting, Dishoom - which takes inspo from the Iranian cafes of Mumbai - is a perfect choice. It’s where I went with my parents after my graduation (at the grand old age of 38) and there is always someone celebrating something there.
The setting is the grand Manchester Hall, a former Freemasons building from the early 1900s. The menu features a handful of ‘Ruby Murrays’ alongside grills, biryanis and small plates - ideal for sharing but you don’t have to. I’m a big fan of the blackened butterfly prawns, the chicken kathi roll and the chilli cheese on toast. Outstanding breakfast here, too.
El Gato Negro
Open Monday 12-9pm
El Gato is hugely popular in Manchester and was the pioneer that led to the fashionista that is King Street becoming a bit more of a culinary destination. Simon Shaw originally launched the tapas restaurant in Ripponden, Yorkshire in 2005 (praised by both Jay Rayner and Gordon Ramsay) and moved it to Manchester in 2016.
This is one that you should book in advance if you don’t want to miss out on a table, yes, even on a Monday. Order more than you think you need from the expansive menu, a couple of dishes from each of the veg, fish (salt cod croquetas ftw), meat and charcuterie sections and maybe, oh go on then, a bikini - a simple butty that is one of Shaw’s favourite menu items.
Elnecot
Open Monday 11am-11:30pm
For such a great foodie neighbourhood, Ancoats is a little quiet for dining options on Mondays. Its OG restaurant Elnecot has always got ya though. I’m a fan of Michael Clay’s Asian-influenced British small plates and there is always plenty for your vegan mates here, too. Michael loves a bit of cheese and, at time of writing, there is a whole Tunworth with dipping crudites, toast and chutney on the menu that I would make a beeline for. He does a cracking South Asian-style coconut-based curry too.
Evelyn’s
Open Monday 10-10pm
Boho NQ types love Evelyn’s, a cosy bistro with a “secret” cocktail bar, The Daisy, in the basement. The small plates menu offers a mash-up of world influences including Korean, Japanese and a hefty dose of Middle Eastern all based around a fiery grill. Think charred leek muhammara with walnuts and parsley, piçanha steak with house kimchi, or teriyaki oyster mushrooms. Decent wine here too.
Hawksmoor
Open Monday 12-11pm
People often ask me where to get the best steak in Manchester and it is unquestionably Hawksmoor (though Blacklock is nipping at its heels). There is something special about the dining room set in an old Victorian courthouse, it’s always, always, always buzzing.
If I were you, I’d start with their incredible sour cherry Negroni, then order the biggest steak you can handle, chips (skinny or fat, up to you), or the outrageous Tunworth mash if you are in full fuck it mode, and a ramekin of wobbly anchovy hollandaise. Salad and spinach are top-notch sides if you feel a meal isn’t complete without a bit of greenery. The burger is excellent, as is the chicken, if steak isn’t for you. You won’t need a starter but don’t let me stand in your way.
Staff here are renowned for being the friendliest in the city, and wine people love Hawksmoor because of the £5 corkage offer on a Monday. BYOB FTW!
Home Chinese
Open Monday 12-10pm
Manchester is not short of good Chinese food but I think Home is my favourite at the moment. All the dumplings and dim sum are handmade (which is so not the case in many places). I wouldn’t eat there without ordering at least a basket of dumplings, but if they are on the menu when you visit, the brown rice cheung fun are spectacular, as is the deep-fried king prawn roll (especially with a glass of sparkling wine). The whole menu is vast and varied, with everything from congee to tripe to ma po tofu, but I was pleasantly surprised by a simple dish of beef with seasonal veg on a recent visit.
Maray
Open Monday 12-9pm
Oh let me count the ways in which I love Maray. I first fell in love with this Liverpool-born restaurant on the Albery Docks with my veggie friend Emma, we feasted like meat-free kings and I gushed about it in a review in which I also predicted Manchester may be on the radar. I was so pleased when it opened here and it’s somewhere I go back to again and again.
The food is loosely inspired by the Marais district of Paris, an area with a lot of immigrants who introduced thrilling new flavours to the French capital. So there’s a touch of Yemeni zhoug here, a smattering of Levantine tahini there, and a bowl of comforting Lebanese mejadara there. The dish everyone talks about, and rightly so, is the disco cauliflower - a turmeric-bright poached and roasted cauli drizzled with all the colourful sauces you could want. The menu is about 70% vegetarian but there are beautiful fish and meat dishes too, along with a unique wine list that includes Georgian, Greek and Lebanese wines. You can’t go wrong.
Medlock Canteen
Open Monday: 12–10 pm
With its pastel-coloured, mid-century interiors, Medlock Canteen is one of the most aesthetically pleasing spots on my list. It comes from the team behind modern Mexican Madre in Manchester (also open Mondays, mmm!) and Belzan in Liverpool (amongst other places) so you know the food and drink are spot on. Expect upmarket canteen-style dishes like rotiserrie chicken, whole skate wing, and massive turkey schnitzels. There’s always a ‘staff dinner’ which is more affordable (a tenner a plate) but still really good, and do not, whatever you do, sleep on the 10/10 deep fried rhubarb pie.
Nell’s Pizza
Open Monday: 12pm–12am
The biggest pizzas in Manchester at a whopping 22 inches, but don’t write that off as a flimsy gimmick. Nell’s New York style pizza is some of my favourite in the city, at the perfect point between floppiness and crispiness. Of course there are classic margs and pepperonis, even a ham and pineapple, and yes, hot honey (not my bag, baby). But my all time fave is the cheese and onion pie pizza with smoked Lancashire cheese and roast garlic creme. Go with a group and order loads to share.
New Wave Ramen
Open Monday 5-10pm
New Wave quickly became a much talked about ramen spot when it first popped up at Mackie Mayor so when it announced it would be opening its own gaff, pulses raced. If you’ve ever been, you’ll know why. It simply does very good deep bowls of ramen with slow cooked broth and all the marinated eggs, pickles and cripsy chilli oil you desire.
Noodle Alley
Open Monday 12-9:30pm
This is one of my favourite newer openings of the past few years. Noodle Alley is a basement restaurant in Chinatown serving Szechuan/Sichuan food. Whatever you do, don’t skip the dumplings and wontons here, all hand made on site (I’ve sat and watched them being done and it’s mesmerising). Another of my personal favourites is the cold poached chicken in chilli oil for its Xylophone of flavours. But if you’re looking to warm your cockles, there are plenty of delicious soupy noodle dishes too.
Thai Kitchen No 6
Open Monday 12–4 pm and 5–9 pm
My favourite Thai restaurant in Manchester, Thai Kitchen No 6, never lets me down. The dishes are packed with flavour and, if you choose correctly, the kind of chilli heat that could clear the airways of an aardvark with sinusitis. I love the Kao Mun Gai Hainanese poached chicken and the multiple papaya salad options here.
TNQ
Open Monday 12-10pm
If you’re looking for something comfortably old-school in a sea of neon ‘dive bars’ and ‘natty wine’, you might appreciate the understated charm of TNQ restaurant. This place has defiantly stuck to the traditional three-course menu for over 20 years now, as almost everyone around it has switched to sharing and small plates.
You’ll find long time chef and now co-owner Anthony Fielden rustling up mains like roast chicken breast with chicken liver, wild mushroom and tarragon sauce and truffle foam, grilled mackerel with pomme dauphine, celeriac and horseradish puree, gooseberry and chipotle jam, or Old Spot pork with rhubarb relish and seared scallop.
The Trading Route
Open Monday 11am-12am
Hot rotisserie chicken and cold European-style lager both done really well are a draw in themselves but Trading Route also has a fridge full of cheese, charcuterie, and posh crisps that you can buy to take away or eat at your table with a couple of bottles from their well-stocked wine shelves served with just a corkage charge.
Viet Shack
Open Monday 5:30-9pm
If you’re looking for something a bit more laid back, leaning towards the junk food end of things but with loads of veg, spice and big flavours, Viet Shack on Great Ancoats Street is the one. It started as a pop-up in the Arndale Market at a time when loads of great little food businesses were incubated there, and Viet Shack is now a modern Vietnamese marvel of a restaurant in its own right.
The menu is big, with lengthy sections covering burgers, rice/noodles, pho, and loaded fries all done Vietnam-style (fish sauce, herbs, chilli, pow!). There’s also a hefty small plates selection including such belters as soft shell crab tacos, summer rolls with peanut butter sauce, and lamb chops with green chilli. Tons for vegans here too.
Winsome
Open Monday 12:30-9pm
One of Manchester’s newest restaurants at the time of writing and already on my favourites list. Shaun Moffat is a proper chef with bags of experience in London (Manteca/The Conduit) and Manchester (Edinburgh Castle, etc) under his belt. This, his own restaurant in the former Peru Perdu spot adjacent to Whitworth Locke hotel, is absolutely essential.
Think massive rabbit pies with proper pub chips, pristine seafood and spanking fresh seasonal veg cooked with expertise and love by someone who loves to feed people well. Exceptional wine here too.