Sunrise to Midnight: How to Eat a Whole Chinatown for £40

There's a particular joy in eating your way through Chinatown in a single day, and there's a particular skill to doing it on a budget. We tested a route through Manchester's Chinatown — the second largest in Britain, and arguably the friendliest — and clocked in at just under £40 for five meals. Here's how to do it, and when to do it, so you're never stuck in a queue with a stomach that's already full.

The Golden Rule: Eat Against the Crowd

The trick to a successful crawl is simple. Most people eat lunch between 12 and 1.30pm, and dinner between 7 and 8.30pm. You're going to eat at 11.30am, 2pm, 4.30pm, 6pm and 9.30pm instead. Not only will you walk straight into every restaurant, but the food will be fresher — nothing sits around under heat lamps at off-peak hours.

Meal One: Yum Cha at 11.30am (£10-12)

Dim sum is a morning ritual for a reason, and hitting the trolley service just before the midday rush means you get first pick of the good stuff. In Manchester, that means one of the big dim sum houses on Nicholas Street or around Faulkner Street.

Order three or four small plates: har gow (prawn dumplings), siu mai (pork and prawn dumplings), cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) and, if you see it, lo bak go — pan-fried radish cake, arguably the best value item on any trolley. Tea is usually a flat cover charge of a couple of pounds, and it's unlimited.

Beginner's tip: you don't order from a menu at trolley service — you just point. If you're at a dim sum spot where you tick a paper sheet instead, the photos do the heavy lifting. Nobody is judging you. Say yes to the chilli oil when it's offered.

Meal Two: The Bakery Stop at 2pm (£3-4)

By mid-afternoon you need something light, and this is where the Chinese bakery earns its place. A char siu bao — a fluffy steamed or baked bun stuffed with sweet barbecued pork — costs around £2.50, and a slice of pineapple bun or a coconut bun will set you back less than £2.

Go at 2pm and you'll often catch the second bake of the day coming out. Eat slowly, have a milk tea, and resist buying a second bun. You'll fail, and that's fine — budget for it.

Meal Three: Tea Shop Snacks at 4.30pm (£5)

The mid-afternoon slot belongs to the bubble tea and snack shops. A decent milk tea with pearls runs £4-5, and many shops sell savoury snacks too — fried chicken pieces, popcorn chicken with salt and chilli, or scallion pancakes that cost a couple of quid and plug the gap perfectly.

This is also the quietest hour of the entire day in Chinatown. Take your drink, find a bench, and people-watch. Consider it the palate cleanser of the crawl.

Meal Four: Early Supper at 6pm (£12-14)

Eating your main meal at 6pm sounds terribly unglamorous, but it's the single best-value slot in any Chinatown restaurant. Set meals and early-bird menus abound — many places do a two or three course set for £10-14 that would cost double at 8pm.

Pick somewhere busy with locals, order one rice or noodle dish and one vegetable dish to share, and don't be shy about asking staff for a recommendation. 'What's good today?' works in every language.

Meal Five: Late-Night Dessert at 9.30pm (£4-5)

You have room. Trust us, you have room. Chinatown's dessert options — mango sago, tofu fa with ginger syrup, egg waffles, or a final bubble tea — are light and cheap, and eating them at 9.30pm, when the restaurants are emptying and the neon's fully on, is the proper way to end the day.

The Cost Breakdown

• Yum cha with tea: £11
• Bakery bun and milk tea: £4
• Bubble tea and snack: £5
• Early supper set meal: £13
• Dessert: £4.50

Total: £37.50 — leaving a couple of quid for a jar of something from the Chinese supermarket on the way back to the car or tram stop.

Final Tips for First-Timers

Carry cash — some of the smaller bakeries and tea shops are card-only now, but not all. Go on a weekday if you can; weekends are brilliant fun but twice as busy. And wear stretchy trousers. We mean that with complete sincerity.

One day, five meals, less than forty pounds. Chinatown doesn't need a special occasion — it just needs a Saturday and an appetite.