Skof a restaurant by Tom Barnes

You're walking into something properly grown-up here. Skof sits on Federation Street in the heart of the city centre, and it's the kind of place where you can tell someone's actually thought about every detail — from what's on your plate to how the room feels around you. Tom Barnes has built a reputation for technically sharp cooking that doesn't disappear up its own backside, and this restaurant is where that philosophy lives. It's fine dining without the stuffiness; the sort of spot where Manchester's food scene feels like it's genuinely moving forward rather than just copying London.