Featured Image: What The Pitta

Manchester’s modern day vegan scene is incredible, with new vegan chains and restaurants dotted all around the city, as well as our classic family favourite joints adapting their menus to include plant based alternatives. If you’re wondering where to grab a quick vegan bite, or indulge in a hearty plant based lunch or dinner, look no further as we take a look at some of Manchester’s best vegan friendly eateries! 

THE VURGER CO. MANCHESTER

The Vurger Co. is a new trendy fast-food joint located in the Northern Quarter. They have a vibrant selection of vegan treats that you can either take away with you or sit in and eat. The Hunny ‘Chicken’ Burger is perfect for those who love a sweet and savoury combination, with its salty, crispy ‘chicken’ and sweet vegan honey glaze, it is truly mouth-watering.

If cheese is more your forté, the New York Melter is definitely the way to go; with a juicy ‘beyond-meat’ patty, smothered in three different melted vegan cheeses, garlic aioli and crispy onions, this burger is truly a showstopper. Other customer favourites on the menu include the ‘Bacon’ Mac n Cheese Pot; thick rigatoni in a creamy vegan cheese sauce, completed with crispy ‘bacon’ bits is the best snack to have in between shopping! 

If you have a sweet tooth, Vurger also has you covered with their impressive milkshake menu. Biscoff, Oreo and Banoffee, to name a few, are adored by customers and offer that perfect bit of sugar to finish off your meal or take on the go! The interior is also quite a sight to see! With its bubble-gum pink walls and American-style cafeteria layout, and pink trays for your food, it is the ideal spot for a delicious and also aesthetic lunch date. 

Unit 2, Transmission House, 11 Tib St, Manchester M4 1AE

LOTUS PLANT BASED KITCHEN  

Lotus is an up-and-coming Chinese-vegan restaurant. Located on Wilmslow Rd in Withington, it’s a fantastic spot to satisfy that noodle craving. Their menu has recently converted to entirely vegan, but they still retain mountains of options and variety, as they’ve adapted their family favourites from their origin country to a plant-based alternative. The restaurant owners are originally from Hong Kong, and first opened Lotus back in 2014.  

Anyone visiting should expect a bountiful range of vegan cuisine, in large portions at good prices. There’s something for everyone at this restaurant, satisfying every meat or fish craving you could ever have. To mention a few, crispy chilli ‘squid’, bao buns, dumplings, satay ‘beef’, sweet and sour ‘chicken’, butterfly ‘prawns’ and aromatic crispy ‘duck’.  

536 Wilmslow Rd, Withington, Manchester M20 4BY

ZIZZI

For the perfect vegan Italian cuisine to spice up your Friday night look no further than Zizzi. This slice of Italy is located in Piccadilly Gardens, close by the area’s infamous greenery and water fountain, truly giving the illusion that you’ve ventured into a little town in Venice…

The wide range of pizzas are handmade fresh and cooked to perfection in a pizza oven, where they’re then served hot and melty on beautiful wooden plaques. Paired with an exquisite glass of their Montepulciano house red wine is the ideal choice. Their vegan options are curated with much care and creativity. The best includes their juicy Meatless Meatball Calzone with melted vegan MozzaRisella, a classic garlic and chilli margherita and an aubergine pesto pizza. Other customer favourites include the Vegan Rainbow Lasagne and Campanelle Lentil Ragu, both phenomenal.

In the desert department a lot of restaurants go down the slightly lazy path of just having a sorbet or two for their vegan customers, however Zizzi certainly doesn’t take this route. Their vegan Zillionaire’s Fudge Cake is to die for. Rich and creamy even without the diary, they’ve spared no time and effort in formulating this delicious and flavourful desert.

DISHOOM

For your vegan Indian food fix Dishoom Manchester has you covered. Their vegan menu is fully equipped with a wide range of delicious options and plentiful portions, that will definitely please your stomach. Some restaurants make a vegan menu to appeal to trend, with three or four options coming from quite a lazy angle, but not Dishoom! Their menu is extensive and specifically sectioned so you can narrow down to exactly what you’re in the mood for; we have breakfast, small plates, salads, grills and specials, deserts and lassis.

Some of the best dishes they’ve concocted include firstly, The Vegan Bombay, a flavourful breakfast that’s packed with a punch with its crispy akuri tofu, masala beans, grilled mushrooms and tomato’s, vegan sausages and homemade vegan buns. Another customer favourite is their Chaap Pineapple Tikka, where rich sticky soy is marinated and grilled with pineapple to form their famous kebab. And one more their Vegetable Samosas are to die for. Small but mighty, they are a filled with pea and potato, warmly spiced with cinnamon, wrapped in crispy filo pastry and come with a coriander-mint chutney for dipping.  

As for the restaurant itself, there is an instant warm and friendly atmosphere when you walk in with the staff and owners treating you like an old friend. The music feels handpicked to perfectly match their aesthetic as a restaurant, giving you a fully rounded cultural experience.

32 Bridge St, Manchester M3 3BT

WHAT THE PITA  

What The Pitta Manchester is definitely a place you need to try in the new year, with its award-winning Greek vegan fast food. They are most renowned for their mouth-watering vegan kebabs and gyros. Their signature Vegan Döner Kebab Wrap has spicy soya pieces, in a home-made bread wrap with crunchy salad, creamy tzatziki, humous and jalapenos.

Their Chick’n Gyro is also highly rated by customers; THIS Isn’t Chicken pieces are marinated in their secret spices, served with tomato, onions, paprika fries, smothered in tzatziki and served in a fluffy pitta wrap.  

What The Pita started out small presenting as a few food trucks dotted around towns, but now they are a fully functioning restaurants with their ever-expanding chain scattered all over the big cities. Their venue in Manchester is their biggest one to date!  

The interior of their restaurants is equally as impressive as their food! With their blue beachy wood walls and vibrant splashes of colour on paintings, pots and pans and bountiful bowls of fruit, What The Pita has certainly coordinated with their Greek origins. Their food is perfect for on the go, dining in or even as this Friday’s takeaway, as What The Pita are now available on Deliveroo also!

42 Back Turner St, Manchester M4 1FR