The Kitchen
Simon Martin trained at Noma and cooked in some of Europe's hardest kitchens before he came back to England and turned a former taxi garage in Ancoats into a restaurant. That was 2018. Mana took a Michelin star the next year — the first in Greater Manchester in roughly four decades — and the city has not looked at its own dining the same way since. It has held the star through the 2026 guide.
The cooking is British produce worked with Nordic technique. There is no printed menu; you eat twelve to eighteen small plates of whatever the kitchen judges best that night, much of it foraged or grown for the restaurant. The roasted hogget with white miso sabayon is the dish people remember and the one to measure the kitchen by. The seafood thread runs strong. Martin sources obsessively, and it shows in the precision rather than in any theatre on the plate.
The pricing has come down, not up. The full Complete Menu of twelve-plus courses is £175 a head, with a £140 drinks pairing; a shorter nine-course dinner is £110, and an early lunch £70. Mana cut its top price during the cost-of-living squeeze, which is rarer than it should be at this level. For the broader field, see the Manchester Top 10.
The Room
The room is spare and industrial: exposed concrete, dark wood, every well-spaced seat angled toward the open kitchen. It seats few, which is the point. The volume is low, the lighting dim, the pace deliberate across a long evening. Dress is smart casual; nobody will turn you away in a jacket or without one. The counter seats over the pass are the best in the house and the first to go.
Best for Impressing Clients
Book Mana to impress a client for three reasons: the Noma pedigree and the Michelin star carry weight without a word from you, the set format removes the menu negotiation so the table can talk, and the open kitchen gives the evening something to watch when it needs it. It works as well for a proposal at the counter or for solo dining, where eating alone in front of the pass is the most natural seat in the house.
Skip it if you want choice or a short dinner. There is no à la carte, no menu printed in advance, and the twelve-to-eighteen-plate run takes the better part of an evening. A guest who dislikes surprises or has narrow tastes will spend the night negotiating with the kitchen.