CityLife

Top 5 for Vegetarians

By Lara Williams

1 / 2 imagesINSTITUTION: Greens

WHEN not lamenting the fur trade, campaigning for otters’ rights or generally traipsing around looking a bit anaemic - us vegetarians like to go out for meals.

Fortunately, Manchester caters really rather well for its tofu-loving masses (something to do with Morrissey, assumedly).

These are CityLife’s five best herbivore-friendly eateries...

Greens, West Didsbury
There’s not a single Manchester-dwelling vegetarian that doesn’t hold Greens in a sort of revered esteem – the restaurant of choice for birthdays, dates and all manner of pomp and circumstance. The food is indescribably wonderful and the low lighting and fabric drapings allow customers the illusion of decadence and hedonism whilst nibbling on braised parsnips and guffawing over the rising levels of diabetes in meat eaters.

Earth, Northern Quarter
Not even vegetarian – Earth exclusively caters full-blown vegan fare serving up maximum levels of smug sanctimony (something that we vegetarians are all about). The menu changes seasonally and so hearty winter pies will soon become light vegetable jambalaya. Attached to the Manchester Buddhist Centre, the cafe encompasses a genuinely calming, woozy ambience leaving you almost too sleepy to sample one of their many delicious vegan cakes. Almost.

Fuel, Withington
Although not exactly trying to deviate from the students + indie + hummus formula composing 90 per cent of vegetarian establishments in the world - it is the only place to even consider going for a post-night out vegetarian breakfast. Generous portions complete with Linda McCartney sausages offer a hangover cure which is well nigh magical. Still - not as good as a nice bacon sandwich though, obviously.

Cafe Cilantro, Chorlton
An identity crisis of a cafe, which is sort of stuck between laid-back tearoom and smart, up-market bistro. Lofty illusions of grandeur found in the verbose menu, which feature flowery, overblown descriptions of what is basically a list of soups and sandwiches, render Cafe Cilantro a little bit confused. Once you do away with the pretention however, you can have a rather nice time. Well what do you expect? It is Chorlton.

8th Day, Oxford Road
A non-meat eating Mancunian institute open since 1970 and has been a little Oxford Road-based refuge for herbivorous evangelicals ever since. The food is a little bit vegetarian-y (you know, stews and bakes and anything borderline liquid, presented in a massive serving dish) and there is a palpable fear that at any moment someone might bark ‘do you realise red food colouring is made out of crushed beetles? Well, do you?!’ Still, it boasts almost as many vegetarian converts as ‘Meat is Murder’. Probably.

Any other favourites? Let us know.
 

Published: Thu, 14 May, 2009

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John Kirkham 696 wrote:

I was gonna say 'The Greenhouse' too. When we ate there Moby was in town and was eating on the next table to us!

philip KEELING wrote:

RE: Cafe Cilantro
If you're looking for mediocre food served with a big side order of ignorance and disdain then this is the place for you:
1. Waiter/chef (one member of staff only) complained about having to go to the trouble of clearing a table for me - at this point there were two other customers, already served, sitting together.
2. On presenting my food, the waiter/chef seemed surprised that I might want cutlery: 'What cutlery do you want'? he asked. He then offered that he would not wish to use cutlery for the particular dish himself, but that he was happy to watch others struggle do so, should they so please.
3. The dish, a Quesillada, contained the slightest smear of the ingredients the menu suggested it would be 'filled' with.
4. On my proferring a five pound note in payment for the dish the waiter/chef informed me that I could have either my 25 pence change, or, under the terms of the lunch time offer - that, note , he was choosing to inform me of after my meal - I could choose a soft drink. As I paused to consider this he however continued, saying ' I lose money if you take the drink and I would prefer that you take the 25pence, but I wouldn't want you to think that I hadn't informed you of the offer'. I thanked the waiter/chef for his ignorance, and told him how much I looked forwards to eating there again. Why someone with such contempt for paying customers has chosen to run a veggie cafe and not, say, work as a DSS snoop or traffic warden i have no idea. I have less idea still how his cafe stays in business if this reflects his usual approach.

Small Farms wrote:

I'm also a big fan of The Greenhouse just off the Curry Mile. The food is perfect traditional, 1970s vegetarian fare and although the decor hasn't changed since that era neither has the welcome or the price!

Also Manchester has been a base for the Tofu loving masses since the 19th Century with prominent members of the Vegetarian Society being from the North West and The Vegetarian Messenger being published here.