Barbakan Delicatessen

Manchester Road, Chorlton
Right - bit of a departure this one, but it's food and it was at lunchtime so here goes.  Barbakan is a big favourite in Chorlton - primarily as a bakery and delicatessen, but we're not really in the business of pate and cheese reviewing - so we'll move on. They also serve food to eat immediately, the main hot options are the 'sizzlers' - which are essentially nice sandwiches, made on ciabatta and whacked in a hot sandwich press.  The beef sizzler was very good - the meat was cut thinly and was tender and tasty, with a good dollop of mustard, the excellent bread (as you'd hope) was suitably toasty and crisp and the addition of roast peppers and onions rather than salad made it work in the warmer format.  In terms of sheer quantity of food for your money (£3.25) its not as good value as a kebab, no real surprise there. But it was a very good sandwich and a viable alternative if you're not ravenous. The sweetener to the deal is the agreement to allow Barbakan food to be eaten in the Marble Beerhouse. A pint and a pub are a real bonus at anytime, but particularly by comparison with the crowded outdoor seating available at the premises themselves. We'd recommend combining the two into a leisurely lunchtime jaunt.

Taftan

Upper Chorlton Rd, Whalley Range.

24/05/10
Taftan is a bit of an oddity, it’s one of those Asian places that tries a bit of everything, which can make it off putting for those who just want Asian food. It advertises pasta and pizzas along with fried chicken and more conventional curries and kebabs. We partook of the £3.50 lunchtime offer of curry and rice. Chicken was the curry of the day and it was actually rather good – on the bone in a very authentic, ‘home-cooked’ tasting, sauce. The rice was just plain boiled. We also tried lamb parathas for £1 each, which was an eating experience somewhere between having a wrap, samosa and a pasty all at once. Not unpleasant but just a bit greasy, being strangely rich and yet pretty flavourless. Not particularly recommended. Ordering takeaways in the evening can be a bit of an ordeal over the phone, however they can also yield pretty good food if you stick to the karahi dishes and grills. Taftan is yet to gain our full confidence, there’s a bit of a hit and miss vibe about it, but we’re willing to persist for a while at least and see what it settles into. Currently it’s one of the better options around here – and it’s open all day.

Venus Foods

Anson Rd.

May 2010 visit
This is a kebab place attached to a Turkish supermarket. The lamb doner is excellent. It's freshly made - as opposed to the prepackaged elephant's foot - and has a nice savoury flavour.  The staff here refer to the doner as a shawarma, although it is doner on the menu. The bread is thick and tasty, and not of the the packet pitta variety. You get plenty of decent salad, and the chilli sauce is nice with a bit of a kick to it. On the down side, they do not serve yoghurt with the kebabs, and the place is also pretty expensive at £4.90 for donner kebabs. However, the food is worth it, and we will be back to try (amongst other things) the kofta kebabs.

Scores out of 10
Meat 9.0
Bread 7.5
Salad/Sauces 7.5
Service/Setting 7.5
Average 7.9

Little Yang Sing, The

George Street, Manchester
There's plenty of information about the Yang Sing and Little Yang Sing on the web - fires, relocations - yadda yadda.
In short this is a good, old style, Hong Kong/Cantonese type place. It does all the old favourites, nice Dim Sum, duck and pancakes and all the usual main courses. It's not subtle, it's brightly coloured and not much like like 'authentic' Chinese food - neither is it cheap. However, this type of cuisine has found a place in the hearts and on the palates of British diners and the folk at the Little Yang Sing know how to give people what they want.  It's not really our sort of place in that it's a bit too fussy and expensive for a lunchtime 'gnosh up' and the food's a wee bit too sweet and 'MSGy-fied' to really cut it as a top notch evening destination. However a few visits have proved it a reliable place for providing good versions of Chinese 'classics' - it's less 'chilli-fried lizard gizzard' and much more 'sweet and sour prawn balls' - which is often a relief.

The Briton's Protection

Very famous Manchester boozer. Really cosy - soporiphic some might say. One of the best in the centre, perhaps slightly let down by ale selection.