Looking for places to eat to satisfy your health-kick? Whether you're a long-term clean eater, turning over a new leaf or just after somewhere serving a healthier take on your working week lunch, we've got you covered.
From venues in the city centre dedicated to superfoods to raw, organic meals and lean sources of protein or fresh fish packed with good fats, these are the most healthy restaurants in Manchester and their stand-out dishes.
10 Healthy Places To Eat In Manchester
The Green Lab
Health and community are at the heart of The Green Lab's ethos; a Northern Quarter venue home to a healthy cafe, juice bar and reformer Pilates studio, creating an all-in-one wellness destination. Founded by sisters Nikita and Kanika, this woman-owned business is all about fuelling your mind and body through clean food and flexibility-based strength classes.
Available for collection and eating in, The Green Lab's menu mainly consists of vegetarian dishes like the green omelette and a lot of vegan and gluten-free options too - although meat such as low-fat lamb sausage also features, as well as 'goddess' grilled chicken, avocado and harissa sandwiches and a high-protein breakfast bowl of maple sweet potato, shredded duck, charred pak choi, mushrooms, sliced avo and poached egg.
Our favourite choice is the build your own nutrition bowl though, with ingredients spanning everything from cauliflower-sweetcorn kimchi bites to tabbouleh, ponzu-poached salmon, whipped artichoke labneh and jammy red peppers.
Get your healthy lunch in Manchester city centre right here.
Acai & The Tribe
Dedicated to 'Amazonian health' and the 'Brazilian beauty berry' - aka, acai - Acai & The Tribe is a superfood-mad venue on Deansgate. Naturally low in sugar and rich in vitamins A, C and E, as well as 10 to 30 times the antioxidants of blueberries, grapes and pomegranate, this humble fruit is also 80% seed - meaning fibre and healthy fats make up a high proportion too.
Organic bowls here come in a variety of flavours, from the kiwi, coconut and bee pollen Cali to the cacao granola, banana, chia raspberry jam, peanut butter and blueberry number, PBJ. Otherwise, choose from over 24 different superfoods to create your very own, custom bowl. Caprese salads for lunch and spicy tuna salad toast offer something a little different too.
If superfoods are your thing, how about this place dedicated to acai?
The Garden Eatery
A health food eatery and raw juice bar awaits in Hale, Altrincham. The Garden Eatery is the now 10-year project of best friends Kate Mosley and Amy Shepherdson, who created a health and wellness destination that's open seven days a week from 8am until 4.30pm.
Championing both sustainability and home-cooked, nutritious meals, everything here is about balance - with many dishes featuring an organic, raw plant base with the option to add dairy, meat or fish. While salads and bowls are prominent, there's also 12-hour chicken bone broth with barley, onions and leeks on the menu, as well as a super greens omelette packed with leafy vegetables and roasted cherry vine tomatoes, topped off by a tahini dressing.
Nourish yourself with a trip to The Garden Eatery.
The Counter House
An all-day, neighbourhood restaurant in Ancoats, The Counter House has a strong leaning towards health-inspired dishes featuring plenty of greens, wholegrains and grilled or roasted protein. Making sure there's no guilt in chowing down on recognisable favourites, this venue is also decked out in a cool industrial style with hanging plants for a vibrant atmosphere.
The health-conscious will delight in the ginger and mirin-glazed roast salmon, lentil daal with minted coconut yoghurt and flatbread, and Sunday roasts like the sweet potato, baby spinach, black bean, chickpea and red onion wellington.
Packed with nutrients, these colourful dishes will hit the spot.
The Allotment Vegan Eatery
While increasing the plant-based dishes in your diet is often associated with healthy eating, swapping meat for heavily processed, vegan alternatives isn't always the best step forward. That's where The Allotment Vegan Eatery comes in.
Found on Cathedral Gates in the city centre, this restaurant makes sure you can feast on the very best vegetable-based plates, heavily centred around seasonality and local, sustainable growers. The result? Your chance to chow down on miso and maple hasselback squash with braised red cabbage, shiitake 'pancetta' and leek and potato cake or an okra bhindi curry.
A top choice of healthy restaurants in Manchester city centre.
Bundobust
Between their 150-seat Oxford Road restaurant and brewery, and their Piccadilly location too, Bundobust is making sure you get your fix of Indian street food and small plates that show off the venues' authentic, vegetarian leaning. The restaurants, which also span Leeds and Liverpool, are the brainchild of Bradford boys, Mayur Patel and Marko Husak; a chef with generations of Indian food heritage and a craft beer bar expert.
With over ten years of trading already under its belt, Bundobust has shown the North of England how to enjoy a lighter yet equally filling Indian meal. Our favourites if you're looking to avoid their deep-fried dishes? A chilli massala-dressed super salad featuring sprouting mung beans, toasted corn, edamame, cucumber, apple and spinach, egg bhurji (cumin and green chilli scrambled eggs, with green peas, coriander and a North Indian pitta bread called bhatura), and the warming tarka dhal with basmati rice.
Thanks to two dishes for £10.50 on the lunch express menu and their group dining combos that promise more bang for your buck, this even gets the seal of approval for cheap healthy restaurants in Manchester. And since being healthy is all about balance and moderation too, anyone who isn't alcohol-free can treat themselves to one of Bundobust's freshly brewed pints, spanning flavours like citrus and coriander seeds.
Winning ‘Best Innovation’ at The Casual Dining Awards in 2024, this healthy restaurant packs a punch on flavour.
The Easy Fish Restaurant
Heaton Moor's The Easy Fish Restaurant is found behind the popular fishmongers of the same name on Heaton Moor Road. Open Wednesday to Saturday from 12pm, the healthy venue makes the most of the freshest fish and shellfish, with seasonality and the best catches guiding menu options.
The evening menu is particularly expansive, ranging from gochujang cod cheeks served on Asian slaw and pan-seared scallops for starters to mains like ginger sea bass in a chilli and clam broth with prawn dumplings, wild mushrooms and wilted greens. The signature seafood platter is also worth a try, featuring smoked mackerel, dressed crab meat, anchovy-wrapped olives, sea bream fillet with grenobloise, salt and pepper cauliflower, dips, and more.
For healthy meals of the freshest seafood, look no further.
Bondi Bowls
Found in Kampus right near Piccadilly station, Bondi Bowls is the perfect stop-off for clean lunches and pre or post-travelling meals. It's open every day from 9am to 8pm, promising a healthy take on fast food inspired by founder Jamie Tones' stint living in Sydney. What started as a delivery-only service from his flat during lockdown has grown into a full store for takeaways, which aims to make healthy meals accessible.
Our value-for-money favourites are the protein bowls, which will set you back £9.90. Choose between the dukkah and Caesar chicken breast bowl, poke slaw and black rice bowl with chicken katsu, and the tofu Bondi bowl in a miso tamari dressing.
The place for healthy fast food in Manchester.
Yara
Lebanese and Syrian restaurant Yara has locations in Altrincham, Cheadle and Chorlton within the Greater Manchester area, priding themselves on providing a warm welcome into the world of authentic Middle Eastern dining. Stews, salads, mezze and quality grilled meats make up the majority of the offering here, with plenty of zingy herbs topping off dishes.
Hearty and healthy in equal measure if you know what to choose, clean favourites here include the grilled chicken couscous served with rich red sauce and mixed veg, the marinated steak of salmon cooked on charcoal, and the vegetable-packed sasa stew in a thick tomato sauce on top of finely chopped pepper rice.
Centred around quality olive oil, salads and charcoal-grilled meats, Yara's menu offers health-driven choices.
Evelyn's
Sister restaurant to Onda Pasta Bar and Curry Mile favourite Mughli, Evelyn's is a laidback yet stylish destination for brunch by day and small plates by night, home to Middle Eastern and Pan-Asian influences alongside a penchant for the Inka charcoal grill. Think seasonal dishes, with many suitable for a healthy diet.
For brunch, the za'atar mushrooms on toast with chickpea purée, dukkah and free-range poached egg ought to catch your eye. Meanwhile, dinner features dishes like tuna crudo in a leche de tigre, jalapeño, pickled shallot and sesame dressing alongside roasted cauliflower with labneh, peanut tahini and salsa macha or ginger, turmeric and lime-flavoured barbecue mackerel.
Lovers of a healthy sit-down meal, rejoice.
Find more inspiration via the most sustainable restaurants in Manchester.
