A decent place where they try to please. Ning is nice in terms of the everything apart from the food, I would say it was not top in any of these areas but rather good.
The portions are small & not filling, the portions of jasmine rice are not enough to accomodate a main dish. We were a large group & in all honesty it was agreed i got the best dish which was the seafood green thai curry which was delicious. The remaining dishes ordered had room for improvment as were quite bland. It's pricing is a little more than it's worth in parts. I may go again am undecided, the choice is yours....... Ussaili

YouÂ’re a real deep tihnekr. Thanks for sharing.

As a Malaysian, this restaurant was a sore disappointment taste-wise; the dishes did not taste authentic and some of the attempted fusions were shocking to say the least. Strongly not recommended for authentic Malaysian food. Service and staff were overall friendly and polite; I enjoyed the ambiance of the place and the decor did remind me of home.

"Dry rendang" means there's less gravy and its more concentrated; not dry bone dry...

Wonderful food, wonderful staff, wonderful wine - but please clean the bloody carpet!

I visited Ning with a friend for an evening meal while staying in Manchester. The location is just a short walk from the City centre. The restaurant is very well presented and welcoming. The staff are attentive, pleasant and friendly. And the food is absolutely delicious!

I am not good with lots of chili and I had the Thai fishcakes as a starter followed by Rendang chicken. Both were very good with just a light heat and wonderful flavours. The presentation was also very good. And the fixed price menu is excellent value for money.

Well done Ning!

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with the majority of reviews on here. After reading so many good things about Ning and it's owner/chef me and some friends paid it a visit. One of our party was a proud Malaysian chef so it was never going to be easy to impress. All in all the decor is the standard you'd expect in a local Malay/Thai restaurant, which means pretty and functional. The service was nice but the food that we received wasn't even close to what I expected from such a publicised restaurant. I won't go into the starter of squid which was chewy and poorly executed. But the Rendang my malaysian friend had was left after 1 bite, with mumbles of dry and arid coming from his mouth. The chicken tomato curry my partner tried to get down was string and underseasoned like it had been boiled for 6 hours. Drinks were okay but needles to say tips were non existent and smile were up-side down.

Can't see us going for a masterclass hear any time soon.

poor effort... 5/10

Had a wonderful evening at Ning with my girlfriend, the atmosphere and food definitely proved Id made the right choice for a special evening

Authentic food, great hosting. Will be back !

Amazing decor, attentive waiters & waitresses, food was out of this world and there's nothing like it in Manchester. A true gem we are planning our next visit this evening already! 5***** for Ning

Excellent yet again, my favourite resteraunt without a doubt, my husband and I will definately be dining there again.

This was the best meal i have ever had, the staff were amazing and i will definately go back.

Authenticity & attention to deal, friendly staff.

Ning is the best Food I've had since I've come back from travlling in Malaysia and it brought back so many memories. Authentic food, attentive staff and no rush to get us out made us feel relaxed. I had take away from there too and thought it was cheeky you pay the same amount so not sure I'll go back for takeaway unless they drop the prices on take out. Value to eat in is good tho seen as it is so nice. Like the new carpet in there, adds a bit of warmth. Took my parents the other day which was the big test and they loved it too!

i went there for the valentine's buffet with my boyfriend! in the four years we have been dating it was the most ambient, romantic and best value for money valentine's evening together.a large glass of champagne with a huge strawberry on entrance. my only initial complaint was that the place was cold. after a few glasses of Rose, it did not bother me!

the mixed starter was delicious and an appropriate proportion. though it was their speciality sea bass that real sealed the night and will motivate my return! admittedly, the traditional asian dessert were abit to sweet and spongy for me but the side of ice-cream and fruit cocktail meant i still had dessert!

i don't often leave reviews but i must credit where it is due! i can not wait to return to the place! the ?10 evening menu would be ideal!

went last night lovely atmosphere, decor, food was gorgeous and a good deal at ?10 for 2 courses. Will definitely be visiting again soon

We had a lovely evening... romantic setting, delicious food and we were served by friendly staff.

Great value, great food, great atmosphere!

I live in the Northern Quarter, and was so pleased to stumble on a new local Thai restaraunt the other night, unfortunately, thats where my good experience ended. First of all, its not cheap, these are restaraunt level prices but unfortunately the food is far from restaraunt quality. Reading the comments below, we did also notice the 50p ikea plates, and thought that was a bit tacky too, and I am a working class guy from Lancashire (not a snob). Anyway, if you want to support local business startups, then go there, if you want a decent thai meal then go to china town. Staff were pleasant enough.

I love Northern Quarter and I love Ning. One of the best restaurants in Northern Quarter. Food is yummy and the front staffs are polite and friendly.

amazing food and friendly service! I took my boyfriend for his birthday and he was really happy. The food was amazing and perfect for vegetarians as their is lots of choice I am going again tonight

Totally disagree with the comment below I have been to Ning many times and they never let me down. The food is excellent. Whoever wrote that comment purposely came down from the Lakes (as claimed) trying to get yet another restaurant in Manchester to close down. You might as well stay in the Lakes and enjoy your ready to eat Tesco meals. To comment about the plates, cutleries and furniture, what a SNOB you are. Look at the price you are paying. Ning is not in Hilton Hotel and designed for a snob like you. More to friendly, easy going and trendy Mancunians like us. My advise is stay in the Lakes and run your restaurant to perfection, who knows someone could be writing about your restaurant plates and furniture in future.

Fantastic! Love the decor. Great personal service, well looked after and the food was fresh and tasty.

Bingo you chump! You obviously have nothing better to do than write a review which is utter crap and judging by your last statement 'we were going to complain but after paying ?30 I just couldn't be bothered to tell them how to improve their restaurant' I'd say you didn't complain because you're an idiot and didn't have grounds to complain and I'd suggest you know nothing about the restaurant business either

Support these guys because its good, authentic and most importantly fresh South East Asian food. I've been to South East Asia and there isn't a more authentic place in Manchester to get this style of food - plain and simple. The Pad Thai I had there was exceptional and better than in Bangkok.

Looks good on the outside with wonderful smells floating around outside on the street to tempt you inside.... However when you get in you're in for a surprise! Now I support new local start ups and all that but once you're inside this place looks plain cheap. If you're outside looking in, it looks great! If you're inside looking around it looks bare. There is no flooring on the floor, just bare unpainted concrete, this sort of looks quite unique but it has the very unpleasant side effect of turning the restaurant into a giant echo chamber. The chairs are painfully cheap just two extra pieces of wood to connect the legs together would have made them a lot sturdier. Guys put some rugs on the floor or something on the walls to deaden the noise! OK so I can live with intense noise and the cheap chairs if the food is up to scratch. I was completely let down. I ordered the peppercorn calamari, this was very unpleasant and that's being polite and I love squid! What I got was some undercooked greasy, chewy squid with a sprig of black peppercorns! What's the point in a sprig of black peppercorns, no sane person would eat it and to be frank it looks pretty naff on the plate. I was hoping they had crushed the corns and mixed it with the batter and cooked it properly, any Thai restaurant in China Town will be pleased to show you how this is done. As for the main course we ordered the spinach and mushroom stir fry and ginger beef. I'm sorry to say this too was a total let down. The spinach was stringy, uncut and the tofu tasted of chewing gum - very unpleasant indeed! And the ginger beef, more like minging beef - take the roughest cuts of meat throw in a few peppers and add some ginger (minging) sauce and dish it up all served with a blob of starchy unappetising white rice - oh with a slice of chilli on top. What I really found frustrating was there were no spoons provided to transfer these "dishes" onto your plate. Transferring the miles of stringy spinach onto your plate (with a fork) was at times amusing but also quite sad. All said and done I won't be going back there any time soon, the service was OK, we were going to complain but after paying ?30 I just couldn't be bothered to tell them how to improve their restaurant. My advice - try it just to support them, I hope for their sakes it improves. I would love to go back in six months time and see if it's improved but to be honest there are plenty of other restaurants serving Thai food of a better standard then this.