Manchester is Sweet in More Ways than One

For a moment there, it seemed like we’d never leave winter. But finally, here we are enjoying some warmer temperatures and a newfound excitement for the months to come.

The onset of Spring brings with it a positive glut of bank holidays here in Belgium. so what better excuse to consider a well deserved short break away?

If that’s your plan (now or later in the year), you’d do well to consider the fine city of Manchester which, apart from two of the biggest football clubs in the world, also boast a great range of places to visit and things to do.

Here, we’ve rounded up a small selection of the very best things to do in Manchester this spring.

The city, nowadays, boasts a splendid combination of industrial heritage and modern-day fizz.

A range of events coming to the city this spring includes the RHS first Urban show which has the latest innovations in urban gardening technology, trends and design.

The new 23,500-capacity live music venue Co-op Live is due any time at a site next to Manchester City Football Club (officially, the world champs). 

Manchester has recently launched its first visitor pass which offers 1, 2, and 3-day passes with entry to attractions including Man City stadium tours, RHS Garden Bridgewater, and East Lancashire Railway. 

The city is well known for its industrial heritage and, back in 1843, Greater Manchester ‘invented’ the weekend when the Early Closing Association lobbied for workers to have leisure time on Saturday afternoons. Over 180 years later, the city’s next-door neighbour, Salford, celebrates this milestone with the return of “We Invented the Weekend” on 15 and 16 June.

A summer highlight is the four-day Manchester Pride festival returns, the largest celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in the North of England (23-26 August) while another highlight this year is the 200th anniversary of the University of Manchester.

One must-do visit while in the city is the science and industry museum which currently gives visitors a chance to find out what happens to food when we eat. 

Called “Operation Ouch! Food, Poo and You” this brings the hit BBC Children’s TV series to life for the first time as a world premiere exhibition.

From the tip of the tongue to the end of the bum, you can explore the role of each organ in the digestive journey through interactive games and challenges, fun facts and fascinating objects from the Museum Group’s collection.

It’s been produced in collaboration with BBC and 141 Productions, part of All3Media’s Objective Media Group.

A multi-million-pound restoration programme is underway at what is a globally significant industrial heritage site to carry out crucial restoration work. This means that there is a lot of building work in progress and areas that are temporarily closed but there is still a lot going on.

An upcoming event (19 July to 17 November) is called “Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine” which illustrates the worldwide effort to develop vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

For the first time, you will be able to explore never-before-displayed objects that tell the city’s unique story of the pandemic and how people here responded to the global challenge.  

Manchester Science Festival returns from 18 – Sunday 27 October, a chance to explore some of the biggest questions facing our planet.

The latest expo (until 31 May) is called “Pitch Gallery exhibition, A City United” which provides an endearing snapshot of 1970s football culture in the heart of Manchester, courtesy of the late photographer Iain S. P. Reid.

The collection of portraits were taken at derby matches between 1976 and 1977, featuring City and United fans decked out in their matchday finery ahead of the big game.

The photographs perfectly capture a sense of anticipation, excitement and joy around one the city’s biggest football fixture, and offer a warm and surprising counterpoint to the traditional narrative of hostility around derby matches.

The museum is custodian of the world’s largest public collection of football objects and archives – over 40,000 items no less.

In 2013 it was recognised as an official Designated Collection by Arts Council England, described as “of outstanding importance and value, that deepens our understanding of the world”.

Around 2,500 objects are on display at any one time. 

One of the highlights of any visit to the city is Chinatown, easily the UK’s biggest outside of London, and also the sheer scale of its culinary offerings.

Both combine well at one particular eatery called “Sweet Mandarin”, a leading Chinese resto in the city which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

It’s in Manchester’s wonderfully-restored Northern Quarter and has come full circle. 

The restaurant is run by three sisters, including the very friendly and welcoming Helen, and the sisters’ grandmother used to shop for fish at the old fishmarket directly opposite.

When Helen and her sisters set out to launch a resto 20 years ago the bank refused a loan so they were forced to raise the finance by selling their homes and moving back in with their parents.

“It was a real labour of love,” recalls Helen.

For inspiration, they looked no further than their gran who opened the city’s first ever Chinese restaurant back in the 1950s.

This fabulous resto is located on High Street, the city’s original high street with the cobbles still there. This was, as Helen also recalls, a  part of the city that you’d do well to avoid in the past but it is now arguably its most trendy.

Sweet Mandarin has a great menu and all is great but is, perhaps, most famous for its crispy beef and delicious chicken wings and the fact that its cocktails are based on the Chinese zodiac. You will also find pad thai, noodles, a range of chicken, beef and prawn dishes on the menu alongside a salt and pepper munchie box consisting of chips, chicken balls and wings.  All very reasonably priced, given the top notch quality.

This delightful place is popular with some of the city’s famous footballers and celebs and can even count former British PM David Cameron among its former patrons.

Helen, her twin and a younger sister still acknowledge the role played by their doting grandmother who even cooked for the Beatles and Cliff Richard.

Helen herself has become something of a minor “celebrity” in the city, featuring in a museum video on the local Chinese community in Manchester. In the past and before the area’s recent regeneration, she has also organised a “meet my neighbour” event for local businesses to help generate trade.

The three charming siblings have since taken up their gran’s baton and kept her proud legacy alive. The concept of the restaurant is, says Helen, “family style home cooking in a modern, calming setting.”

It’s designed with floor to ceiling glass windows and wengi wood furniture to gives it a zen-like ambience. Over the past 20 years, she and her sisters have rightly collected many awards include ‘Best Local Chinese Restaurant’ (beating 10,000 other eateries). One of its unique selling points is that it serves not just veggie but gluten free food which, while usually costlier to produce, is priced the same as non-gluten free dishes here. It is also thought to be the only place in the UK serving gluten-free pancakes.

Serving healthy food is not a fashion trend but a health “necessity”, says health-conscious Helen whose fascinating family history goes all the way back to mainland China, via Hong Kong and, now, to urban Manchester.

The Oriental connection accounts for the “Mandarin” in the name.  The “sweet” part, Helen says, is a strictly Mancunian term.

So, if you are searching for inspiration for a great short break any time soon, give this great northern city a thought – with friendly folk like Helen on hand you are sure of a “sweet” reception.

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