Healthy Eating in Manchester: Curry Mile, Chinatown and Hotpot, With the Numbers

What does Manchester actually eat, and where do the numbers come from?

Manchester eats the food of the people who live here. At the 2021 census the city had 551,938 residents, and 20.9% were Asian British, most of Pakistani heritage: 11.9% of the city identified as Pakistani. A further 8.7% were Black African, 2.7% Arab, 2.7% Indian and 2.3% Chinese. That mix is why the busiest food streets in Manchester are Wilmslow Road in Rusholme and the grid of streets behind the Faulkner Street arch, not a single high street of chains.

Underneath that sits the older food of the North West: Lancashire hotpot, meat pies, black pudding, the chippy tea and the Eccles cake. None of it is off limits when you train. What matters is portion size, how the dish is cooked and what you put next to it.

Every number on this page comes from the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID), which gives nutrients per 100 g. We have multiplied them out to portion sizes, and we say which portion each time. Chains with 250 or more employees in England have had to print calories on their menus since 6 April 2022, with the line “adults need around 2000 kcal a day”, so use the menu figure where you see one. The NHS puts the average need at 2,500 kcal a day for a man and 2,000 for a woman.

How many calories are in a Curry Mile curry?

The Curry Mile is the stretch of Wilmslow Road through central Rusholme, and it is thought to have the largest concentration of South Asian restaurants in the UK. A curry there is rarely the problem. The extras are: a 160 g naan adds nearly as many calories as the curry itself, and a portion of pilau rice adds another 335.

CoFID’s takeaway chicken curry figure is an average of 50 samples, 10 each of five dishes including korma, tikka masala, dhansak and jalfrezi, and it lands at 145 kcal per 100 g. In other words, the chicken curries on Wilmslow Road sit within a narrow band, and the order around them makes the difference.

The Rusholme swap that saves over 500 kcal

A typical order of chicken tikka masala, a naan and pilau rice comes to about 1,294 kcal and 63 g of protein. Swap to tandoori chicken, one chapati and 150 g of chickpea dhal and you get about 767 kcal with 71 g of protein. That is 527 kcal less and more protein, and it is still a curry night in Rusholme.

Is a Rusholme kebab a good meal after training?

A shish kebab is one of the better high-protein meals you can buy late on Wilmslow Road, which stays busy into the early hours. A doner is not. By CoFID figures, 350 g of shish kebab in pitta with salad has about 522 kcal and 48 g of protein. The same weight of doner in pitta with salad has about 868 kcal and 49 g of protein. You get the same protein for 346 fewer calories by picking the grilled skewer.

• Shish or tikka on the skewer, not doner off the spit: shish meat alone has 206 kcal per 100 g against 377 for doner meat.
• Ask for salad and chilli sauce, go easy on garlic mayo: most of the gap between a 500 kcal and a 900 kcal kebab is fat, in the meat and in the sauce.
• One pitta, not chips on the side: a 60 g pitta is about 153 kcal; a 300 g portion of chip-shop chips is about 642.
• Falafel is not the low-calorie choice it looks: fried falafel has 183 kcal and only 6 g of protein per 100 g.

What should I order in Manchester’s Chinatown?

Manchester’s Chinatown, with its archway on Faulkner Street completed in 1987, is the second largest in the UK. The first Chinese restaurant in the city opened on Oxford Street in 1948, and today the streets between Mosley Street and Portland Street also hold Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese kitchens. The big takeaway staples are where the calories hide.

Sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice together come to about 1,140 kcal with only 36 g of protein. A chicken chow mein on its own gives nearly the same protein for half the calories. If you want rice, ask for boiled: 300 g of it saves about 207 kcal against egg fried. Where a menu prints calories, use its figure over ours.

How do hotpot, pies and the chippy tea fit a training week?

Lancashire hotpot is the North West’s classic training meal in disguise. It is lamb or mutton and onion, topped with sliced potato and baked slowly, and Elizabeth Gaskell wrote it into the lives of cotton workers in North and South in 1854. By CoFID, 400 g of homemade hotpot has about 476 kcal and 29 g of protein, a balanced plate before you add bread.

A fish supper of battered haddock, a 300 g portion of chips and mushy peas comes to about 1,187 kcal and 51 g of protein. Share the chips or ask for a small portion, about 150 g, and it drops to about 866 kcal with 45 g of protein. Chips and gravy, the northern chippy order, adds surprisingly little for the gravy: 30 kcal per 100 g from granules. The chips are the cost.

A pie is the harder one. CoFID’s individual beef pie has 292 kcal per 100 g but only 9 g of protein, so a 200 g pie gives 584 kcal and 18 g of protein. If you are on a pie at the match, have it with peas and keep the rest of the day lean on protein.

How many calories are in an Eccles cake, Lancashire cheese or a glass of Vimto?

Greater Manchester’s treats have long histories. Eccles cakes, flaky pastry filled with butter and currants, were first sold commercially in Eccles town centre by James Birch in 1793. Vimto was created in 1908 by John Noel Nichols, a wholesaler of herbs, spices and medicines, and a carved oak monument to it has stood on Granby Row in central Manchester, the site of the original premises, since 1992.

• Eccles cake: 365 kcal and 4.4 g of protein per 100 g, so a 50 g cake is about 182 kcal. Fine with a brew; not a pre-training snack.
• Lancashire cheese: 382 kcal and 24 g of protein per 100 g. A 30 g piece is about 115 kcal and 7 g of protein, a decent topping for a jacket potato.
• Black pudding: 297 kcal and 10 g of protein per 100 g dry-fried. One slice with breakfast is fine; three is most of a meal.
• Vimto: check the label. The fizzy version and the cordial differ, and we couldn’t find a single sugar figure that covers them all.

What does a fat-loss day of Manchester food look like?

This is a day built from food you can buy in Manchester, at about 1,900 kcal with about 158 g of protein. That is around 600 kcal below the NHS average for a man; for most women, cut the dinner portion. Figures are CoFID, at the portions shown.

How do I eat for muscle gain on Manchester food?

To gain muscle you need more food and plenty of protein, spread across the day. This day comes to about 2,763 kcal and 169 g of protein, enough for most men lifting three times a week, and it still has room for a curry and an Eccles cake.

How do I order well in Manchester without weighing food?

Nobody weighs a biryani on Wilmslow Road. These rules get you most of the way in Manchester’s restaurants, takeaways and food halls.

1. 1

   Build the plate round grilled protein

   Tandoori chicken and shish kebab meat give 27–29 g of protein per 100 g by CoFID. Order one of them first, then add the rest.

2. 2

   Choose one starch, not three

   Naan, pilau and chips each add 300–650 kcal at a normal portion. Pick one. A chapati is the lightest bread at about 111 kcal.

3. 3

   Read the menu where calories are printed

   Chains with 250 or more staff must show calories in England. Independent places on the Curry Mile and in Chinatown usually don’t, which is where this page helps.

4. 4

   Share the sides at a fish supper

   Halving a 300 g portion of chips saves about 321 kcal and costs you almost no protein.

5. 5

   Save the sweet stuff for after training

   An Eccles cake or a slice of Manchester tart is a treat, not fuel. Have it after a session, not instead of a meal.

Food only does half the job. A coach on video who sees you three times a week keeps the training side honest, which is when changes to what you eat start to show. MakeMyFitness offers live online personal training in Manchester from £19 a session, and Group Classes are £12 per person if you would rather train with others.

For what a trainer costs in the city, see personal trainer prices in Manchester; for parks, races and the weather, staying fit in Manchester. The Manchester page has our session times, and the UK page lists the other cities we coach.