GLAMOROUS
Wing Yip Business Centre, Oldham Road , Manchester M4 5HU
Tel: 0161 839 3312
Ancoats was not renowned for glamour until this expansive 400-seat chandelier-hung restaurant opened as part of the Wing Yip business centre incorporating a large cash & carry, bank branch, conference centre and car park on the edge of the city centre. Despite its size (private rooms can accommodate another 250), Glamorous is often packed, especially on Sunday when families flock for the renowned dim sum, wheeled round on heated trolleys. The huge choice covers steamed, deep fried and pan fried items, both sweet and savoury. The main menu covers all the bases of Chinese cuisine, with offerings like salt and pepper soft shell crab, sliced beef with fine noodles and roast belly pork winning special praise.
HO'S BAKERY/CAFÉ BAR
44-46 Faulkner Street , Manchester M1 4FH
Tel: 0161 236 8335
A Chinatown institution for many years, this corner shop/take away specialises in freshly-made sweet and savoury pastries, dumplings and buns which many loyal customers enjoy al fresco in the square beneath the Chinese arch. Soups, including an excellent hot and sour, are just £1 and pastries range from only 85p. The variety is tremendous; from seafood or curry chicken pasties and roast port buns to satay beef rolls, spring onion fritters and fried pork dumplings. Sweet varieties include crystal cake, custard buns, almond cookies and delicious honey buns.
OCEAN TREASURE
Greenside Way, Middleton, Manchester M24 1SW
Tel: 0161 653 6688; www.chiyip.co.uk
The strikingly decorated and illuminated pagoda-style 270-seat restaurant is at the heart of a complex incorporating community centre, cash & carry, karaoke and private VIP rooms on a small industrial estate opposite an aircraft factory. Moreover Friday nights offer cabaret and a disco. Yet the standards of authenticity are remarkable and the seafood is so fresh that you can see it swimming in the tanks that surround the dining room. Banqueting is very popular here too, and dishes might include baked crab or lobster with ginger and spring onion, whole suckling pig, duo-style king prawns with jade, roast suckling pig with jellyfish and braised sun-dried abalone. From the main 200-dish menu sweet and sour yellow croaker and stone-fried Sichuan sea bass are exceptional.
TAI PAN
Brunswick House, 81-97 Upper Brook Street , Manchester M13 9TX
Tel: 0161 273 2798
A vast 300-seat restaurant located above W H Lung's supermarket/cash & carry, the Tai Pan boasts parking for 60 cars just south of the city centre. Classic Cantonese cuisine has won a regular entry in the Good Food Guide for years and the dim sum here wins very high praise. The full menu features the whole panoply of Chinese cuisines from platters of Cantonese roast meats and one-plate rice and noodle specialities to baked lobster with black bean sauce, Sichuan lamb and a whole section devoted to ostrich dishes. Banquets offer excellent value from £15.
WOO SANG
19-21 George Street , Manchester M1 4HE
Tel: 0161 236 3697; www.woosang.co.uk
Established in 1975, the Woo Sang is one of Manchester Chinatown's originals with 200 seats on the first floor and a bustling supermarket at ground level. The restaurant offers accomplished Cantonese cuisine in traditional surroundings and is highly popular at lunchtimes when diners are offered soup, a choice of 60 main courses and a complimentary pot of China tea for £4.95. On Saturdays and Sundays the style switches to a buffet format, though comprehensive a la carte, set dinner and banquet menus are available at all times. The supermarket stocks more than 6,000 food product lines from round the Far East from ready-prepared dim sum to Thai lemon grass in the heart of the city.