Themed restaurants are a great way to find tastes that you wouldn’t ordinarily find at your
local eatery. Instead, they focus on recipes that come from other parts of the world, or even other time periods. In recent years, there have been several restaurants in the Manchester area that do just that. Here are three spots that you can eat at in 2024.
Howdy’s
Having started in 2017, Howdy’s is a brand that has staked its claim to multiple locations
across England, with branches in Bradford, Leeds, and Huddersfield. Their latest conquest
was here in Manchester, with their Levenshulme venue. The restaurant promises American
dining with a Wild West theme that you don’t see often.
While there was no such thing as the Wild West in the UK, imagery associated with it is
popular across entertainment industries worldwide. Hospitality is no exception, and even
digital industries use cowboy themes to attract an audience. That can be seen with services
like the Wanted Dead or a Wild slot game, one of many slots that are set on the American
frontier. In the world of restauranteurs, they try to capture the tastes of the American frontier instead.
Howdy’s opened its Levenshulme in late 2022, where it quickly racked up positive reviews.
True to its American inspirations, it serves wings and a lot of steak and burgers that feature
beef, chicken and lamb. A lot of its meaty main courses are named after iconic movies,
characters or actors from Wild West media. There are also vegan and seafood options for
those who aren’t sold on meat, plus a few Mexican recipes for things like tacos and salad
dishes.
Sora at Malmaison
Sora is one of Manchester’s highest-rated theme restaurants, but there’s a catch. This is a
rooftop bar and tapas spot on the seventh floor of the Malmaison Deansgate, one of the
luxury hotel brand’s newest locations. Alongside stunning views, this bar combines the small and snackable tapas formula with a pan-Asian selection of food. That means you can mix and match plates of food to create your ideal meal.
Most of its menu comes from Japanese recipes, specifically. Sushi is a must, of course, with
their main dishes consisting of crab, prawn, salmon or avocado/sesame options for
vegetarians. Otherwise, its dishes are prepared using robatayaki, one of Japan’s distinct ways of grilling food. It’s used to prepare pork belly, chicken, or cabbage. Other vegetarian recipes are sourced from elsewhere in Asia, like their KFC – Korean fried cauliflower.
Dishoom Manchester
There are many Indian restaurants in the Greater Manchester area, but Dishoom Manchester is one of the best-reviewed and has a more unique backstory than most. Dishroom restaurants try to capture a very specific experience, captured in Irani cafés. These cafés were historically found in the Indian capital of Mumbai (or Bombay at the time) after many Iranian Zoroastrian immigrants arrived in the sub-continent while it was under British rule.
They started these quaint cafés which became a cultural fascination for a burgeoning urban
business class on the sub-continent. The number of Irani cafés in the world has steadily dwindled over time.
The Dishoom chain keeps the Irani tradition alive in places like Manchester, offering both Indian and Persian dishes with echoes of historic English influence. Dishoom serves a selection of biryani, samosas and grilled dishes like chicken tikka, paneer tikka and masala prawns. Toast and salad dishes are also available, plus traditional Indian kulfi ice cream made with mango, pistachio or caramel.
