Where you can eat in Manchester on Christmas Day 2024

Preswich Michelin Guide gem, OSMA’s Christmas Day menu combines elevated classics with its signature Scandi style. Priced at £125 for adults and £80 for children, the experience begins with canapés and a glass of Cremant to set the festive mood. Starters offer a choice of burrata, duck liver parfait, or scallops, followed by a main course selection of Goosnargh turkey, salt-aged duck breast, grass-fed beef, or a wild mushroom and spinach Wellington. Desserts include indulgent options like chocolate mousse, gingerbread custard tart, and a variety of British cheeses.

Everyone’s new favourite Stalybridge haunt Cafe Continental is open for Christmas, and they’re putting on a set menu of festive classics with a distinctly stylish slant. For £115 per person you can enjoy a five course feast with mimosas on arrival and an artisan cheese board to finish. Mains include a turkey ballotine, honey glazed ham and a wild mushroom and spinach en croute. Expect an abundance of gruyere, truffle and duck fat potatoes in one of the chicest spots around. Sittings are at 2pm and 5pm.

Kala are pulling out all the stops for a proper festive feast. Their chefs have created an indulgent three-course menu, complete with shared snacks to start, a drink on arrival, and a sweet treat to finish. For £125 per person, the menu features some Elite Bistro classics alongside standout seasonal dishes. Starters include honey-baked goat’s cheese crottin or their famous chicken liver pâté. For the main event, you can opt for a traditional turkey or roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, or go for something a little different with the Scottish salmon fillet, paired with poached leeks, crispy potato puffs, and a decadent champagne and caviar butter sauce. For dessert, it’s a choice between their homemade Christmas pudding with orange marmalade and brandy sauce or a vanilla crème brûlée.

Spend Christmas day taking in some of the most spectacular views of the city at rooftop restaurant 20 Stories while enjoying one of their decadent set menus. The food is indulgent but straightforward – there’s a meat option (with the likes of beef carpaccio, roast turkey and an old school Christmas pudding for dessert) and a vegan one too with tempting alternatives like wild mushroom and kohlrabi pithivier and a chocolate fondant tart. This comes in at £160 per person, and there’s a kids version too for £60. If you’re after magical surroundings and seamless service, this is the spot for a no-expense-spared Christmas Day.

Ramsbottom’s much-loved Eagle & Child is pretty much the platonic ideal of a cosy country pub, complete with stunning views and roaring fires. As you might hope, they’re open on Christmas Day, and are serving up all sorts of seasonal delights like lobster ravioli, venison haggis and juniper-smoked duck breast. It’s £130 per person and that includes champagne and canapes, as well as a plethora of desserts to choose from. If you’re looking for a picture-postcard day, get your Christmas jumper on and get thee to Rammy.

For £110 per person you can enjoy four courses at Ancoats’ fine dining spot Elnecot. There’s roast turkey with all the trimmings or ox cheek and truffled pomme purée, as well as meat-free alternatives like butter-roasted cod or sweet potato and pumpkin massaman. Starters and desserts are suitably indulgent, with all the necessary festive flair, like spice pumpkin velouté, chestnut mushroom parfait and sticky toffee pear cake. If you want to hand over the reigns entirely, chef-patron Micheal Clay has selected a tasting wine flight, which you can add on for £45 per person. Just send them an email at hello@elnecot.com to get booked in.

Newly revamped Giovanni’s are open on Christmas Day, and for a not-too-eyewatering £85 per person you can enjoy five courses of Italian feasting. With a glass of fizz on arrival, you then dive into courses of celeriac and hazelnut soup, truffle risotto, mushroom and chestnut agnolotti and the like. With heaps of family history and a swish new look to boot, we reckon Giovanni’s is an ideal place to head to if you want a Christmas feast with a twist of the Med.

Sometimes you have to make new traditions. The Great Kathmandu is a year-round spot for big get-togethers, which makes it a really great spot for Christmas Day. They serve up ever-popular Indian tandoori dishes alongside Nepalese ones, in the form of dishes like Sunakothi seafood cooked with ginger and garlic, and Makhan fish cooked with butter, cream and tomatoes. Come for the tasty food, stay for the excellent vibes. Plus, there’s no price inflation for Christmas Day.

Indian Affair in Chorlton are opening on Christmas day for groups of seven or more. Everything is served sharing style, so expect a table piled high with achaari paneer, butter chicken, lamb kadahi as well as samosa, chops and more, alongside all your breads, chutneys, sides and deserts. It’s £60 per person, with we think is very reasonable for a feast you’ll be snacking on until the new year.

From £99 per adult and £44 per child you can do Christmas Day at King Street Town House, and it comes as no surprise that one of the most iconic addresses in the city are serving a festive menu with some seriously foodie flourishes. Guests will be greeted with champagne or an elderflower fizz as well as truffle cheese gougères before embarking on a menu with enticing dishes like burnt butter halibut, stout cured trout and a squid bolognese. There’s even roast turkey with pigs in blankets, for the traditionalists.

One of The Curry Mile’s undisputed gems. Mughli Charcoal Pit is open on Christmas day for all the street food, biryani and sizzling scorched meat you could desire. Not set menu here, just book in and enjoy exactly what you want.

For £155 per head you can celebrate Christmas Day in style, inside the decadent surrounds of the Free Trade Hall. The menu features five impressive courses with heaps of seasonal produce and festive flavours. Starters include seared scallops with tarragon and smoked duck with a plum glaze. Mains include a beef wellington or a dover sole fillet, served with suitably Christmassified trimmings. This certainly isn’t a budget option, but if you’re after a treat with suitable sparkle, we couldn’t think of much better.

One of the jewels of Chinatown, Pinwei’s Christmas menu has four-tiered options and starts at a perfectly reasonable £38 per head. The most luxe option is £45 and includes family favourites like crispy duck and O.K. ribs, as well as more speciality dishes like steamed sea bass with ginger and stir fried steak fillets. If you simply want to get everyone together to eat some reliably delicious food and are happy to provide your own festive cheer, Pinwei might just be the crowd-pleaser you desire.

San Carlo never miss an opportunity to throw a party, and Christmas Day is no exception. Across their Manchester spots you can enjoy a festive lunch, which consists of three courses for £89.95. It’s everything you like about San Carlo, with just a dash of festive sparkle. Think Tuscan pate, lobster soup, beef cooked with madeira, and truffle and pistachio cake. Add in some of their champagne sorbet and you’ll be on your merry way.

For those who simply aren’t that fussed about turkey and trimmings and such, Sicilian NQ, the little Northern Quarter restaurant serving arancini, pasta, pizza and an absurdly good tiramisu, are opening on Christmas Day with their regular menu and regular opening hours (midday to 11pm). If you fancy something a bit different, or just want tasty food without the tinsel, this Turner Street spot is a little sliver of winter sunshine.

It wouldn’t be a Christmas dinner round-up without a mention of Zouk’s incredible annual Christmas Day offering. Let them do the cooking (and washing up!) and enjoy a six-course banquet at their fabulous city centre restaurant. Complete with a signature spice twist, Zouk will provide a variety of starter platters and main courses for guests to indulge in. It’s £75 per head and you can choose from classic curries or more traditional roast meats with all the trimmings. There’s vegan and veggie options available too.

Urmston’s superlative Banga Curries have been saving the day with their heat-at-home curries for a while now, so it makes sense they’d extend their offering to Christmas Day too. Take your pick from the likes of Sri Lankan beef short rib, jackfruit massala curry, Punjabi chicken samosa and all sorts of breads, rices and sides. Simply pre-order online, heat them up to serve to your guests, and take absolutely all of the credit.

You can have Indian Tiffin Room at home this Christmas. As well as starter platters both veggie and non-veggie, you can pick from classic curries and biryani boxes, as well as marinated meat and fish you can roast at home (no plain turkey here). Add on a tray if veggies for roasting and you have a traditional feast with an Indian twist. Why not add on a curried veg pie while you’re at it. Just order before 20 December, and remember this one will involve some cooking at home.

Offering ‘everything but the turkey’, Medlock Canteen are swooping in to save the day with some of the most luxurious trimmings around. That includes pigs-in-blankets, truffle cauliflower cheese, stuffing, parsnips, red cabbage and those all important jazzed-up sprouts. You need to get your order in by 4pm on 19 December and be able to collect between 11am and 3pm on 23 December. Oh, and don’t forget to sort your own turkey.

Payal, the folk behind Freight Island’s delicious Asian and Indian food offering, will deliver your Christmas lunch hot on the day, for less than £20 per head (or you can have it delivered cold on Christmas Eve, ready to heat up the next day!) Enjoy chicken, lamb and turkey in various family-sized quantities accompanied by sweet roasted parsnips and carrots, roast potatoes, sprouts, cauliflower cheese, and gallons of gravy. There’s also a party-sized selection of Indian starters or sharing curry boxes. Who said you can’t do fusion at Christmas?

Six by Nico are known for their theatrical tasting menus, and now you can experience festive fine dining at home. You can choose from beef wellington or roast turkey to serve four, with copious sides and starters as well as an entire cheese course. Working out at around £60 a head, this one is a luxe option if you’re looking to show off, but also stay in. Plus, think how extraordinary those leftovers will be. Order on their website, and receive your feast on Christmas eve.