Al-Madina

Pakistani/North Indian style - Wilmslow Rd, Rusholme 
Most recent 27/05/10
After the great trip late last year Al-Madina is back to good - but not great. The chicken was fine but chopped up into small pieces on the grill, which dries it out a bit. The seekhs good but not outstanding - the lamb was avoided because it looked a bit old and tired under the glass and the chapattis appeared to have been hanging around a bit and were a little cold.  Having said that it was all fine, the marinades good, salad fine, sauces good etc etc. Just not quite what we'd hoped for after last time. Back to a good, if straight-forward, experience, but one that isn't better than or different enough to Saajan just over the road. It's still one of the bettter places of this type, just not the best in this area.
Scores out of 10
Meat 8.0
Bread 7.5
Salad/Sauces 7.5
Service/Setting 8.0
Average 7.8

Dec '09
Well, after a few mediocre trips Al Madina is right back in the zone. Excellent keababs - meat, salad, sauces and bread were all of the highest order. Lamb possibly a tad over cooked if being picky, but still flavoursome and moist, the chicken excellent and the bread finally up to scratch.  The other dishes here are good too - the entire grill selection is tempting, as are the cold dishes such as papri chaat and a bowl of curry that passed by for another diner.  The samosa was one of the best to date - if eaten fresh, rather than mirowaved, it would have been incredible, however it was still great thanks to an interesting herby filling. Al-Madina is one of the very few places of this ilk in which the advice to stick to what they do best would be difficult to follow, as it all genuinely looks good. Perhaps this is because they stick to Asian food - not a pizza box in sight.  We will return and hope they're keeping the standards up.
Scores out of 10
Meat 9
Bread 8.5
Salad/Sauces 8
Service/Setting 8
Average 8.4

The first visit to Al Madina was quite a bit better than the subsequent ones, which is a shame as at first it seemed that this relaxed and somehow 'authentic' place would be a real contender for top spot and a regular stop off point. However, the last few visits have been rather disappointing. The bread was too spongy and doughy, and the salad and sauces were bland. But the meat is still of a high standard, with the seekh kebab being particularly tasty – unfortunately this wasn’t enough to pull round an otherwise uninspiring kebab. But the starters were good, with meat samosas a strong point. The service was slightly strange with the slower cooking chicken being put on the grill after the seekhs, which meant that the meals arrived a significant time apart - creating the knock on effect of cold naan for the second diner. However, cold or not, the bread was not up to scratch and let this establishment down. We've not quite given up on the place yet and to be fair these are OK kebabs, nothing terrible - just not quite as good as they could be.
Scores out of 10
Meat 8.5
Bread 6.0
Salad/Sauces 6.0
Service/Setting 8.0
Average 7.1