FREE PARKING - Cosy 2-BR Flat near Salford Royal

With its all-day dining, caring service and sumptuous flavours of the Mediterranean, this is the kind of neighbourhood operation you could quickly find yourself visiting week after week. Part of the city’s Greengate development, its offering starts with brunch, before morphing from a café vibe into a wine bar and restaurant. The evening meze menu is a treat for all fans of Greek cuisine, with the likes of topped flatbreads (the lamb shoulder option is terrific), a supremely comforting chickpea stew and a selection of high-end tinned fish.

With its winning combo of cocktails and cooking over fire, Stow feels like a restaurant for our times. Start (and end) your visit with a drink in the front bar, before taking your seat at the counter in the tucked-away dining room. The small size gives it the feel of an intimate secret supper club, as you watch the chefs close-up, extracting maximum flavour from their ingredients. Prime cuts of meat, including ex-dairy beef, are a feature, but don’t miss the imaginative vegetable dishes too. Finish with the smoked cream tart, its gentile smokiness coming through in every mouthful.

This welcoming bistro is located on Deansgate Mews, an elevated 'street' that’s part of the redeveloped Great Northern building in the city centre. The menu comprises an appealing array of sharing plates which champion produce from local, ethical growers. The eye-catching, vegetarian-led dishes are served one at a time and their flavours are punchy and pronounced. Craft beers and low-intervention wines accompany, while the nearby Holy Grain bakers provides them with some exceptional sourdough bread. Service is bubbly and the atmosphere is buzzing.

Forming part of the Treehouse Hotel, Pip provides a calm oasis in the heart of the city. Like the hotel around it, the restaurant is decorated with a blend of repurposed materials and vintage pieces, with eye-catching pops of colour, wooden furnishings and a rustic touch. The kitchen is headed up Mary-Ellen McTague, a champion of the region who uses local produce and whose menu includes a satisfyingly rich and flavoursome take on the Lancashire hot pot. The service team are brimming with positivity and clearly love what they do.

Stretching over three floors of a tall, narrow townhouse, you enter this welcoming restaurant via its cosy bar – ideal for a cocktail or a glass from their selection of European natural and low-intervention wines – before heading up to dining rooms decked out in rustic, semi-industrial chic. Order some oysters or cheese beignets while you choose from a menu that shows off influences from both Spain (Cantabrian anchovies on toast) and France (chocolate ganache). Throughout the cooking, the well-crafted dishes allow top-quality ingredients to shine.

The famous Midland Hotel hotel was first built to herald the arrival of the Midland Railway in Manchester, and its current restaurant has been created in the Belle Époque style to evoke the luxury of the day. Whilst its name remains in reference to its historical past, today, Chef Adam Reid's multi-course menu is more inspired by his northern roots than it is by France. The richly flavoured, occasionally playful, dishes come with cryptic, concise menu descriptions such as 'Fungi' and 'Fish', but the personable chefs are on hand to explain and finish off each course tableside .

Bakery