Thursday, 18 February 2010
A Few Words to start us off...
The main purpose of this Blog is to review spicy food establishments in Manchester - with an emphasis on those that are small, pretty cheap, independent and open at lunchtime. Good starting points seemed to be the numerous Kebab Houses in Rusholme and the dozen or so Curry Cafes around the Northern Quarter area. We're expanding our horizons geographically, but pretty much keeping to the kebab or curry format for now, to keep comparisons fair. We know this might not do justice to some places that do kebabs but also do other things better, but what can we do? (Apologies in advance to the mezze and falafel lovers). Same goes for places that aren't ready at lunchtime or take a while to get going...Sorry! We'll also throw in a few comments about pubs and other ‘related’ matters. So why read this when there are numerous other half-baked opinions on the net? No good reason really - except that unlike some other sites and sets of reviews we're going to try to be consistent in how and when we do things, go to places we don't like the look of and revisit places we might have caught on a bad day - in short try to get a good overview and be as fair as possible by comparing like with like. We'll also try to keep you up to date with openings, closures and other points of interest in our News section below, so keep looking in and tell us what you think.
Lahore Karahi
Cheetham Hill Rd.
Pictured dishes: small seekh on naan £2.50, Fish Masala £4.50 and Chicken Shawarma £3.70
May 2010 - we go here regularly, it's good - seekhs particularly so. Chicken Shawarma isn't always available so we gave it a go too - a little blander than some but still decent.
23/02/10 Revisit just to check, chicken, seekh, lamb all excellent, bread excpetional.
This is last of the Cheetham Hill bunch – and definitely not least. Yes it does curries too (not rice & 3 style) but this place is much more in the standard Pakistani style kebab house than any of the others round here. It’s clean and bright, there were a variety of kebab skewers marinading away under the clear glass front – along side the usual starter favourites and cold containers of various curries ready for reheating. So far so familiar. We ordered seekh and lamb kebabs – and were asked to take a seat in the usual fashion. The guy behind the counter was very accommodating – serving separate sauces with the lamb kebab and even asking for a preference as to how it should be cooked – ‘well done or juicy’ which is a welcome first. The meat for both kebabs was excellent, and the naan was some of the best I’ve ever had in a Pakistani place – fresh form the tandoor, crisp on the back, soft inside and a great flavour. The salad and sauces were fine too – a nice sweetness was present in the chilli sauce and the salad was varied and fresh. Interestingly the menu also offers middle eastern cuisine – and it was noticeable that the kebabs were sprinkled with a dry spice mix and lemon juice, in the Middle Eastern style. The seekh mixture and the lamb marinade were both very nice, with no hint of the dreaded 'bright red salt' about either of them. There was a spicy warmth indicating the use of garam masala or similar spices either present at the start or added from the mystery shaker just before serving. This is as a good a kebab as I’ve had lately – and £2.50 for a double seekh was excellent value. £4.50 for the lamb was possibly touch over the top when compared with £3.30 in Rusholme, but it was also very good. This is a really good venue for kebabs – there’s possibly nowhere better on this side of town.
Scores out of 10
Meat 9.0
Bread 9.5
Salad/Sauces 9.0
Service/Setting 8.5
Average 9.0
May 2010 - we go here regularly, it's good - seekhs particularly so. Chicken Shawarma isn't always available so we gave it a go too - a little blander than some but still decent.
23/02/10 Revisit just to check, chicken, seekh, lamb all excellent, bread excpetional.
This is last of the Cheetham Hill bunch – and definitely not least. Yes it does curries too (not rice & 3 style) but this place is much more in the standard Pakistani style kebab house than any of the others round here. It’s clean and bright, there were a variety of kebab skewers marinading away under the clear glass front – along side the usual starter favourites and cold containers of various curries ready for reheating. So far so familiar. We ordered seekh and lamb kebabs – and were asked to take a seat in the usual fashion. The guy behind the counter was very accommodating – serving separate sauces with the lamb kebab and even asking for a preference as to how it should be cooked – ‘well done or juicy’ which is a welcome first. The meat for both kebabs was excellent, and the naan was some of the best I’ve ever had in a Pakistani place – fresh form the tandoor, crisp on the back, soft inside and a great flavour. The salad and sauces were fine too – a nice sweetness was present in the chilli sauce and the salad was varied and fresh. Interestingly the menu also offers middle eastern cuisine – and it was noticeable that the kebabs were sprinkled with a dry spice mix and lemon juice, in the Middle Eastern style. The seekh mixture and the lamb marinade were both very nice, with no hint of the dreaded 'bright red salt' about either of them. There was a spicy warmth indicating the use of garam masala or similar spices either present at the start or added from the mystery shaker just before serving. This is as a good a kebab as I’ve had lately – and £2.50 for a double seekh was excellent value. £4.50 for the lamb was possibly touch over the top when compared with £3.30 in Rusholme, but it was also very good. This is a really good venue for kebabs – there’s possibly nowhere better on this side of town.
Scores out of 10
Meat 9.0
Bread 9.5
Salad/Sauces 9.0
Service/Setting 8.5
Average 9.0
Tibetan Kitchen
Around and about - also at The Bar (Chorlton)
It’s difficult to know what to say about the Tibetan Kitchen as it comes in so many guises. Sonam has been cooking on and off at The Bar in Chorlton for a year or two, in that time he’s also got himself a catering van for festivals and whatnot. His latest visit to The Bar was a £10 buffet sampling numerous of his best dishes – momos (dumplings), steamed bread, sesame chicken, garlic pork – to name a few, served with fresh chilli sauces, vegetables and rice. It’s real food – the sort you could live on not like the generic Chinese takeaways full of MSG and sugar and it’s genuinely is different from Chinese food – or certainly that which we mostly get in Manchester. It’s not fancy or contrived, but good honest food, with a flavour of the far east and a welcome hint of variety. If you see the Tibetan Kitchen sign it's well worth trying.
It’s difficult to know what to say about the Tibetan Kitchen as it comes in so many guises. Sonam has been cooking on and off at The Bar in Chorlton for a year or two, in that time he’s also got himself a catering van for festivals and whatnot. His latest visit to The Bar was a £10 buffet sampling numerous of his best dishes – momos (dumplings), steamed bread, sesame chicken, garlic pork – to name a few, served with fresh chilli sauces, vegetables and rice. It’s real food – the sort you could live on not like the generic Chinese takeaways full of MSG and sugar and it’s genuinely is different from Chinese food – or certainly that which we mostly get in Manchester. It’s not fancy or contrived, but good honest food, with a flavour of the far east and a welcome hint of variety. If you see the Tibetan Kitchen sign it's well worth trying.
The Original Third Eye
Wilmslow Rd. Didsbury
This is a ‘proper’ restaurant and was a night time trip - so therefore it doesn’t really qualify for scoring and whatnot however if you come to this site for information it seems churlish not to include some sort of impressionistic view – if it helps you choose (or avoid ) a venue for a meal at some point then great.
The Third Eye is in Didsbury – a first for us here as there are no lunchtime kebabs or curries available. In fact a recent trip down here showed that even on Sunday afternoon the usual suspects of Ghurka Grill and Great Kathmandu were both closed. – No wonder we’re not here much. I digress.
The Third Eye is rather well regarded, as a quick Google search will show. In common with other places round here they profess to serve Indian and Napalese dishes. The menu certainly reads slightly differently from the usual Manchester Pakistani/North Indian type but I found it slightly confused. Apart from different spellings, the menu read much like the usual – pakoda instead of pakora, Tieka instead of Tikka. Are these peculiarly Nepalese translations? I've no clue. The poppadoms arrived promptly and interestingly were the thinner, smaller (in my view tastier) Southern Indian type – accompanied by the usual suspects, lime pickle, mango chutney etc. Three of us opted for a variety of the usual types of starter – ‘pakoda’, chops and a ‘House’ mix starter. These were all OK – 2 small chops was a bit mean perhaps – in fact everything was noticeably a bit smaller than usual – a relief to some, a panic attack to others. The flavours were good and a little different from the usual. Clearly some care had gone into it – starters check. The main course was a little more difficult to navigate – all the standard dishes were around but it was hard to tell what was good from the menu – and more importantly what was the usual bland stuff and what was more interesting. No lamb on the bone was not a great sign. Prawn Makhani was good if very rich – though what do you expect with Makhani? It was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. The mixed grill was good if possibly a bit dull and marginally dry – and did not contain any chops. The staff were very accommodating about the accompanying sauce – I opted for a karahi sauce which was very good, green with herbs and pungent garlic. The third choice of main course was an odd one. Shai Lamb Kurma Badami – presumably a slightly strange spelling of Royal Lamb Korma with Almonds. This was not a great dish – clearly pre cooked lamb in an incredibly (in my view sickly) sauce with whole almonds and desiccated coconut all over it. The gap between conception and execution was too great really. Rice and naan were decent and the place and staff were pleasant.
It’s a little bit difficult to know what to make of this restaurant – the food’s very tasty however it’s also very rich – which can sometimes be a sort of substitute for proper cooking. I don’t get the impression that they make any dishes individually – it’s all base sauce, fair amount of ghee and chuck it all together with plenty of extras. – It’s done well but after rave reviews and calling themselves Nepalese I was hoping for something a little more subtle and different. All I can really make out is that apart from a few different spellings and minor tweaks this is just a decent curry house – serving much the same type of food as all the others. It’s a shame they hadn’t gone to the effort of making some Nepalese speciality dishes or at very least one ‘from scratch – non-base sauce’ curry. However, a decent, standard Curryhouse is no bad thing in my book and I’d happily return.
This is a ‘proper’ restaurant and was a night time trip - so therefore it doesn’t really qualify for scoring and whatnot however if you come to this site for information it seems churlish not to include some sort of impressionistic view – if it helps you choose (or avoid ) a venue for a meal at some point then great.
The Third Eye is in Didsbury – a first for us here as there are no lunchtime kebabs or curries available. In fact a recent trip down here showed that even on Sunday afternoon the usual suspects of Ghurka Grill and Great Kathmandu were both closed. – No wonder we’re not here much. I digress.
The Third Eye is rather well regarded, as a quick Google search will show. In common with other places round here they profess to serve Indian and Napalese dishes. The menu certainly reads slightly differently from the usual Manchester Pakistani/North Indian type but I found it slightly confused. Apart from different spellings, the menu read much like the usual – pakoda instead of pakora, Tieka instead of Tikka. Are these peculiarly Nepalese translations? I've no clue. The poppadoms arrived promptly and interestingly were the thinner, smaller (in my view tastier) Southern Indian type – accompanied by the usual suspects, lime pickle, mango chutney etc. Three of us opted for a variety of the usual types of starter – ‘pakoda’, chops and a ‘House’ mix starter. These were all OK – 2 small chops was a bit mean perhaps – in fact everything was noticeably a bit smaller than usual – a relief to some, a panic attack to others. The flavours were good and a little different from the usual. Clearly some care had gone into it – starters check. The main course was a little more difficult to navigate – all the standard dishes were around but it was hard to tell what was good from the menu – and more importantly what was the usual bland stuff and what was more interesting. No lamb on the bone was not a great sign. Prawn Makhani was good if very rich – though what do you expect with Makhani? It was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. The mixed grill was good if possibly a bit dull and marginally dry – and did not contain any chops. The staff were very accommodating about the accompanying sauce – I opted for a karahi sauce which was very good, green with herbs and pungent garlic. The third choice of main course was an odd one. Shai Lamb Kurma Badami – presumably a slightly strange spelling of Royal Lamb Korma with Almonds. This was not a great dish – clearly pre cooked lamb in an incredibly (in my view sickly) sauce with whole almonds and desiccated coconut all over it. The gap between conception and execution was too great really. Rice and naan were decent and the place and staff were pleasant.
It’s a little bit difficult to know what to make of this restaurant – the food’s very tasty however it’s also very rich – which can sometimes be a sort of substitute for proper cooking. I don’t get the impression that they make any dishes individually – it’s all base sauce, fair amount of ghee and chuck it all together with plenty of extras. – It’s done well but after rave reviews and calling themselves Nepalese I was hoping for something a little more subtle and different. All I can really make out is that apart from a few different spellings and minor tweaks this is just a decent curry house – serving much the same type of food as all the others. It’s a shame they hadn’t gone to the effort of making some Nepalese speciality dishes or at very least one ‘from scratch – non-base sauce’ curry. However, a decent, standard Curryhouse is no bad thing in my book and I’d happily return.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Bishop's Castle Beer Festival
The Bishops Castle Beer Festival will be held on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th July 2010.
For anyone who has never been to a summer beer festival this would be an excellent one to try. The atmosphere in the town is unbeatable while the festival is running. Bishop's Castle is a small historic town in south Shropshire, surrounded by lush green fields and rolling hills. It is a truly idyllic place, with a number of beautiful old buildings and excellent pubs.
This is the 13th year of the Festival, and the town's 5 pubs will all be serving a large selection of real ales. Most of the Shropshire Brewery's will be represented, and there will also be a great selection from the rest of the UK. There will be more than 60 ales and ciders on offers at any one time.
The best place to stay is Foxholes campsite. This is a short distance from the centre of town, and has a real buzz during the Beer Festival. It's also in a stunning hilltop location.
Adelphi Cafe
Oldfield Rd. Salford
Adelphi Sandwich Bar – Café – Convenience Store (and that's just what the big sign says it is)
It used to be a Post Office and you can still pay your bills there. Why are we even talking about it? Well, they sell homemade samosa, onion bhaji and a choice of two curries – chicken or veg. There’s not much point in a full review as this place is so different to everywhere else we go. However the curries are good - £3 for a takeaway type container of curry and rice, plus pitta and a small salad. The samosas have varied from excellent to OK – today was OK but very large – making it a reasonable meal for £4. Clearly this isn’t a curry orientated place (pre packaged containers are microwaved up to order) but we get the impression the Gujurati couple who run it know what they’re doing and the food is tasty – far better than the stuff in pubs nearby. If you want a quick bite this place in an option that may not have occurred and is worth a look – particularly to those working in Salford. Sitting at the tables in the back of the shop reading whatever papers have been left out (it’s a newsagents too), listening to Fleetwood Mac, eating curry and watching people come and go and buying Hello magazine is an experience, if nothing else.
Adelphi Sandwich Bar – Café – Convenience Store (and that's just what the big sign says it is)
It used to be a Post Office and you can still pay your bills there. Why are we even talking about it? Well, they sell homemade samosa, onion bhaji and a choice of two curries – chicken or veg. There’s not much point in a full review as this place is so different to everywhere else we go. However the curries are good - £3 for a takeaway type container of curry and rice, plus pitta and a small salad. The samosas have varied from excellent to OK – today was OK but very large – making it a reasonable meal for £4. Clearly this isn’t a curry orientated place (pre packaged containers are microwaved up to order) but we get the impression the Gujurati couple who run it know what they’re doing and the food is tasty – far better than the stuff in pubs nearby. If you want a quick bite this place in an option that may not have occurred and is worth a look – particularly to those working in Salford. Sitting at the tables in the back of the shop reading whatever papers have been left out (it’s a newsagents too), listening to Fleetwood Mac, eating curry and watching people come and go and buying Hello magazine is an experience, if nothing else.
Monday, 8 February 2010
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