What is the best vegan restaurant in Manchester?

Purezza in Ridgefield if you want a proper sit-down meal, because the pizza is entirely vegan and better than most made with dairy. Wholesome Junkies in the Arndale if you want comfort food and no ceremony. Both are fully plant-based, so you order without a single question.

Where can I eat healthily in Manchester city centre?

Higher Ground on New York Street is my first answer, because the kitchen grows a good part of what it serves. Bundobust on Piccadilly is a two-minute walk from the station and entirely vegetarian, and 8th Day Café on Oxford Road has been doing wholefood properly since long before it was fashionable.

Is there good vegetarian Indian food in Manchester?

Bundobust on Piccadilly, and it is not close. The whole menu is vegetarian Indian street food, a great deal of it vegan, and the cooking is sharp rather than heavy. Go hungry and order more small plates than you think you need.

Which Manchester restaurants grow or source their own produce?

Higher Ground runs its own market garden and buys from named growers, which is exactly the transparency I want to see. Erst and OSMA in Ancoats both work with small suppliers and change the menu when the season changes, which is the honest way to do it.

Do I need to be vegan to use this Manchester guide?

No. This guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. Some kitchens here are entirely vegan, others simply treat vegetables as the point of the plate rather than the apology beside it. Eat as you like, the vegetables are worth ordering either way.

How does a Manchester restaurant get onto this list?

I choose it. Purity, wholesomeness, organic where the chef can manage it, and an abundance of fresh vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds. There is no payment, no arrangement and no advertising involved.

Manchester · England

Gillian McKeith's guide to healthy restaurants in Manchester.

Written by Gillian McKeith

Manchester has grown up fast, and I love to see it. Ten years ago eating well here meant a limp salad and an apology from the waiter. Today there are kitchens in this city the rest of the country ought to be studying.

Start with Higher Ground on New York Street, which has a market garden of its own behind it and cooks as though the produce matters more than the plate it sits on, because it does. Erst in Ancoats gives vegetables the same billing as everything else on the list, and OSMA up on Blossom Street does the Nordic thing properly, which means restraint, good fermentation and no showing off. Another Hand on Deansgate has the most inventive vegetable section of any small-plates kitchen in the north.

For the fully meat-free end, Bundobust on Piccadilly is entirely vegetarian Indian street food and one of the happiest rooms in Manchester. Purezza in Ridgefield was Britain's first vegan pizzeria and still makes a better base than most places using dairy. 8th Day Café on Oxford Road has been feeding vegetarian Manchester out of a worker co-op for decades and deserves every year of it. Wholesome Junkies in the Arndale does vegan comfort food without pretending it is a salad, and Nell's at Kampus will feed a mixed table of eaters without anyone sulking.

I judge on ingredients, sourcing and cooking. A kitchen can shout the word healthy at me all day long, but if the vegetables arrive tired and the oil is cheap, I am not writing about it. Not one restaurant on this page has paid me a penny to be recommended.

10 restaurants in Manchester

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Wholefood

8th Day Café

Manchester, England

Worker co-op café that has fed vegetarian Manchester for decades.

Best for: An honest wholefood lunch on Oxford Road. Students, nurses and me, all eating the same lentils.

Small plates

Another Hand

Manchester, England

Small-plates kitchen in St Johns with a genuinely inventive veg section.

Best for: Small plates with friends who cannot agree on anything. The vegetable section is the most interesting part of the menu.

Indian

Bundobust Manchester

Manchester, England

Indian street food, entirely vegetarian, with a serious beer list.

Best for: Lunch near Piccadilly with no meat and no fuss. Order more small plates than you think you need.

Modern European

Erst

$$$

Manchester, England

Ancoats wine bar where vegetables get the same billing as anything else.

Best for: Wine and vegetables, in that order, without anyone treating the veg as a compromise.

Café

Fress

Manchester, England

All-day café in the Village with a plant-heavy brunch menu.

Best for: Breakfast and brunch with plant milks and vegetables on the plate instead of three kinds of bread.

British

Higher Ground

$$$

Manchester, England

Farm-linked cooking with its own market garden behind it.

Best for: A long dinner where you want to know the name of the grower. Order whatever came out of the market garden this week.

Pizza

Nell's Pizza

Manchester, England

New York-style slices with strong vegetarian and vegan options.

Best for: A mixed table of eaters, late, at Kampus. Nobody sulks and the vegetarian pizzas hold their own.

Scandinavian

OSMA

Manchester, England

Nordic-leaning day-to-night spot where veg is the quiet star.

Best for: A quiet daytime meal. Fermentation, good bread and restraint, which is harder to cook than noise.

Italian

Purezza Manchester

Manchester, England

Britain's first vegan pizzeria, Manchester branch.

Best for: A vegan date night where nobody has to explain themselves. The base is better than most dairy pizzerias manage.

Comfort food

Wholesome Junkies

Manchester, England

Award-winning vegan comfort food in the Arndale.

Best for: Vegan comfort food when you want feeding rather than impressing. Not an everyday habit, and I would not pretend otherwise.

Eating well in Manchester: your questions

What is the best vegan restaurant in Manchester?: Purezza in Ridgefield if you want a proper sit-down meal, because the pizza is entirely vegan and better than most made with dairy. Wholesome Junkies in the Arndale if you want comfort food and no ceremony. Both are fully plant-based, so you order without a single question.
Where can I eat healthily in Manchester city centre?: Higher Ground on New York Street is my first answer, because the kitchen grows a good part of what it serves. Bundobust on Piccadilly is a two-minute walk from the station and entirely vegetarian, and 8th Day Café on Oxford Road has been doing wholefood properly since long before it was fashionable.
Is there good vegetarian Indian food in Manchester?: Bundobust on Piccadilly, and it is not close. The whole menu is vegetarian Indian street food, a great deal of it vegan, and the cooking is sharp rather than heavy. Go hungry and order more small plates than you think you need.
Which Manchester restaurants grow or source their own produce?: Higher Ground runs its own market garden and buys from named growers, which is exactly the transparency I want to see. Erst and OSMA in Ancoats both work with small suppliers and change the menu when the season changes, which is the honest way to do it.
Do I need to be vegan to use this Manchester guide?: No. This guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. Some kitchens here are entirely vegan, others simply treat vegetables as the point of the plate rather than the apology beside it. Eat as you like, the vegetables are worth ordering either way.
How does a Manchester restaurant get onto this list?: I choose it. Purity, wholesomeness, organic where the chef can manage it, and an abundance of fresh vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds. There is no payment, no arrangement and no advertising involved.

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Gillian McKeith, author of the Gillian McKeith Restaurant Guide

About the author

Written by Gillian McKeith

I'm Gillian McKeith: television presenter, creator of the global hit show You Are What You Eat, writer, nutritionist, and the editor behind this guide. Every Manchester entry here is chosen and written by me. I judge kitchens on the things that actually matter: real ingredients, honest sourcing, vegetables cooked with care, and food you feel better for eating.

Nothing on this page is a paid placement. Restaurants cannot buy a recommendation, and any listing marked as sponsored is labelled as such. If a kitchen slips, it comes out of the guide.

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