We’re lucky enough to have some of the very best sushi around in Manchester. We’ve got sushi chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants the world over, great informal spots for a quick pick up at lunch time, or bougie places where your raw fish comes festooned in billowing dry ice.
You want proper yellowfin tuna belly? We’ve got it. You want lean, beet-red akami? We’ve got that too. A5 wagyu beef, nigiri, aburi, gunkan, California rolls? Well, you get the idea…
We have sushi for all occasions and all appetites. And these are the best places of the lot…
Kitten
This super-smart izakaya bar and restaurant at the foot of the Deansgate Square towers doesn’t just look fabulous. It’s also got some of the best Japanese cuisine in the city, notably a superb line in sushi. And not just the usual salmon and yellowtail either. Nigiri comes topped with foie gras or cuttlefish, and you can order surf clam and scallop sashimi too, as well as various grades of bluefin. Hot dishes are also exceptional, so it’s a win win.
Musu
The craft of sushi making, which dates back to somewhere between the third and fifth centuries BC, is serious business. It’s taken very seriously at Musu, and rightly so. With its own sushi counter, where you can eat an omakase menu, your dishes carved and formed in front of you. This is premier league dining, with the best otoro tuna belly, lean akami, A5 wagyu and hamachi on the menu. It’s not cheap (the omakase experience is £150 a head), but quality comes at a price.
One Sushi
While One Sushi does a bustling pop-in, pop-out takeaway trade on Oxford Street, it’s so much more than that. At the back, there’s a stand-up counter where their chef Eddie (who worked in a two Michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong for 15 years) will serve you ‘omakase’ style, meaning he’ll make you up the best and freshest gear from the menu on any given day, right in front of you. This place is a real gem, and while many more bougie spots play at sushi, One Sushi is doing it proper.
Sexy Fish
While Sexy Fish has gone all out on the aesthetics – from Damien Hirst sculptures to Frank Gehry-designed lighting – don’t think that it’s scrimped on the menu. You can order some of the freshest yellowtail tuna, scallops and salmon from the sashimi menu, as well as wagyu gunkan and aburi rolls with pork belly. Or you can go completely wild and go for the ‘premium’ omakase menu (it will cost you) where the delights of the sea are served up in a giant silver shell complete with dry ice for drama.
Yuzu
Yuzu, in the centre of Chinatown, specialises in ‘Japanese tapas’, small plates of abject deliciousness that have garnered them a loyal following (don’t just turn up, you’ll need to book) and reviews from national critics. While they’re not a specialist sushi spot, their sashimi platter is one o f the very best in town, with salmon, tuna, scallops and sweet prawns.
Firefly
Another bougie addition to this list, just over the Irwell you’ll find Firefly, in the New Bailey development. It’s a fabulously swish spot and in the evenings, they have a rather extensive sushi menu available. The platters of sashimi and uramaki are beautifully arranged and expertly handled, and there are some inventive curveballs too – like the fusion ‘ceviche tostadas’, with truffle tuna and enoki mushroom.
Unagi
Masters of their craft, Unagi have rapidly become a go-to for excellent Japanese cuisine in the city, deftly straddling quality and affordability. There are also plenty of locations – they’re in the city’s green quarter, Wilmslow, West Didsbury, Salford Quays and their flagship restaurant in Altrincham. This geographical spread doesn’t spread them thin though. The sashimi and nigiri are well crafted and super-fresh, and if you want great noodles, ramen and rice bowls, you’ve got that too.
Cottonopolis
Cottonopolis skews heavily Asian with its main menu of larger plates, curries, baos and skewers, but do not sleep on their sashimi and nigiri. It’s a menu packed with truly creative dishes, with some classics sat alongside a few more eccentric creations, and the fish comes in fresh from Brixham in Devon. Panko prawn with avocado Dragon Rolls with caviar are a must, along with the fresh sashimi and nigiri. Don’t miss the soft shell crab maki either.
Australasia
Spinningfields favourite Australasia has a superb sushi selection on offer. Descend from the glass atrium on The Avenue and discover its yellowfin, Loch Duart salmon, sea bass and scallops sashimi, or go omasake-style and let the kitchen bring out the freshest catch of the day, along with a range of great California and dragon rolls.
Kyotoya
Small, but perfectly formed (with just 26 seats) Kyotya in Withington Village has been serving up excellent Japanese cuisine for as long as anyone can remember. They have a huge range nigiri, maki, temaki and sashimi, and as far as great value goes, you simply won’t get better than this anywhere in the city.
Codi’s Kitchen
Anyone would count themselves lucky to have this neighbourhood sushi spot on their doorstep. Prestwich’s very own Codi’s Kitchen does a great line in super-fresh sashimi, along with maki and hand rolls, all at very, very reasonable prices. There are poki bowls and tataki too.
OKitchen
Another very fine neighbourhood spot, OKitchen has been serving excellent Korean and Japanese dishes since 2017. If you can tear yourself away from the bulgogis and bibimbaps, head for their extensive platters of nigiri and hosomaki, as well as California rolls and top drawer sashimi. Oh, and they do great cocktails too.
Sushi Marvel
After a somewhat nomadic journey so far, with former outposts in Chorlton and Ancoats, Sushi Marvel has now landed its first proper city centre spot on Bridge Street. Everything is carved and prepped on site, and it’s all taken very seriously indeed, from the A5 wagyu to the otoro, the coveted belly of the bluefin tuna. There’s every shape of roll imaginable, and the sashimi is so fresh it’s almost still bobbing along in the briny. There shouldn’t be any further reason not to go, but just in case you’re still wavering, they do a brilliant value lunch menu too.
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Sushi