Although the first Chinese restaurants appeared in Manchester right after the World War II, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the streets surrounding Nicholas Street, Faulkner Street and George Street became a center of Chinese culture and cuisine.
Today, Manchester’s Chinatown is considered “the Chinese village for the north of England” and represents a genuine experience with people speaking Chinese and signposts in both languages (Chinese and English).
Location and how to get to Chinatown
Chinatown stretches right in the heart of Manchester, behind the Town Hall and really close to The Village and Piccadilly Gardens.
What to do in Chinatown
Chinatown is filled with great restaurants, Oriental shops, Chinese medicine shops and casinos.
Yang Sing is one of the most interesting Chinese restaurants here. Around the late 1960s, Gerry and Harry Yeung, sons of Tim Kwan Yeung renowned dim sum chef in Hong Kong and founded Yang Sing. But in 1997 the restaurant caught fire and the business moved to a different location for a while. In late September 1999 the restaurant moved to its rightful location and you can find it at 34 Princess Street.
Other great restaurants include: Pearl City –offers an incredible Cantonese menu with dim sum as “star” and is open until 2 AM on weekdays and 4 AM on weekends –, Kwok Mann –one of the high class Chinese restaurants in Manchester and Woo Sang – which offers authentic Chinese food at reasonable prices.
There are also other Asian restaurants from Japanese to Thai and other cuisines. Don’t be so stunned if you find some Italian and French restaurants as well.
If you want to fully experience the Chinese culture you can even buy magazines and newspapers in Chinese, imported directly from China.
The area is dominated by the Imperial Chinese Archway standing proudly over Faulkner Street. The arch was a gift to Manchester from the Chinese people.
The area is particularly vibrant and colorful on Sundays when ethnic Chinese traders from all over the county come here to buy anything from food supplies to traditional herbs.
You can do a lot of stuff here even if you don’t plan to indulge in Chinese food. You can go for a walk, go window shopping and check out the latest Chinese imported merchandise or just soak up the atmosphere and take wonderful photos.
Map
Here’s an interactive map with the most famous Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, Manchester
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photo by suvodeb