thom

*Waves back* Cheers Thom

Weirdly enough you are the second person to mention this place this week. I'm going to give it a a go, I love Lebanese food but just find The Cedar Tree to zany for regular visits... Cheers Thom

I both agree and disagree. I think Manchester had the broadest and most varied dining scene outside London (backed up by the fact the city always many more entries for the city then Birminham, Leeds, Glasgow etc in Hardens, GFG and so on) except (and this is a key exception) at the top end. We have quantity, we have variety, but we lack quality, in the absolute sense of the word. I would in fact say Manchester is strong in independent dining which is either broadly mid-range in terms of price and ambition or ethnic (you want Malaysian, Korean, Danish, West African, Nepalese, Armenian or even say French, Italian or Chinese then you will find it) but piss, piss-poor in anything even approaching fine-dining or outstanding chef-patron led establishments. To give you an idea here are some independent places (or at least more individual outlets from smaller groups) that are 'generally' rated around the city centre (the locals on here may agree or disagree on a few but hopefully agree on the majority). Not saying that they are all perfect by any means, and they range from informal cafes to 'proper' restaurants but they are all good enough to keep me coming back when the mood takes me: Odd Bar, The Soup Kitchen, any of ten N4 curry cafes, Matt and Phreds, Lindas Cafe, Love Saves the Day, Northern Quarter Restaurant, The Market Restaurant, Marble Arch, Le Mont cafe, Jigsaw Cafe, Harvey Nichols (brasserie and restaurant), Sam's Chophouse, Earth Cafe, Oklahoma, Armenian Taverna, Koreana, Mr Thomas', Grinch, Chaopryha (sp?), Siam Orchid, The River Restaurant, Restaurant Bar and Grill, Croma, Rafas El Rincon, Alberts Shed, Sapporo Teppanyaki, Glamourous Restaurant, Obsidian, The Ox, New Emperor, Wings, Yang Sing, Lotus, Red Chilli, Woo Sang, Ho's Bakery, Pacific, San Carlo, Stock, Tampopo, Tai Pan, EastzEast, Velvet, Taurus, Ikan, Odder, Kro Bar (1 and 2 and Piccadilly), The cafes at the Art Gallery and particularly the Whitworth Art Gallery, Cafe Istanbul, Luso and so on and so on. That's without even venturing into the suburbs where Palmiro, That Cafe, Greens, The Lime Tree, Isinglass not to mention Juniper stand out but there are hundreds more great places too - rounding up the West Didsbury restaurant scene would have doubled that list all on it's own! Don't get me wrong, I have found the repeated implosion of one and after other aspiring 'serious' restaurants intensely dispiriting - this year more than any other, but although Manchester's food and drink scene (food retail also has some outstanding independent local stars too). is currently fundamentally unbalanced it is certainly not in any imminent danger of falling apart or succumbing to chain-itis. You just need to know where to look and vote with your feet. So where does the city go from here? Is it a case of 'a city gets the restaurants it deserves', or is the dynamic (in terms of a willing and appreciative audience and commercial conditions) always in a continual state of flux and if so has the tide turned meaning 'build it and they will come' could stand true? I have a huge number of (largely tedious) thoughts on this subject but to be honest I feel it is going to take a chef-patron with ambitions of food, service and consistency rather than yearnings for a prime site, 200 covers and footballer/soapstar diners to change the dining scene in this city. That or a big business concern underwriting the cost of wheeling a big name into the city. Either way I just want a top drawer venue I can call my own, on my doorstep, which I can splash out on when there is good reason (or no reason whatsoever). Surely not too much to ask? Cheers Thom EDIT: For Bapi and RDB - Too late, I was mid-flow!

Infrasonic, Linda's in just awesome. I've had four offices in Ducie at various times and swore by the place (though it did make me fat. Ok fatter). I moved my company out in November and I still pine for their chips and make the occassional Friday lunchtime pilgrimage down Great Ancoats St. I think both Panacea and town generally is crap on a Saturday and Friday is not much better. Thursdays and Sundays, now those are the days you want to go out if you want no queues, no lunatics, and a fairly laid back and friendly crowd who actually live or work in town. I think Panacea was shared ownership and I was pretty sure IRG had the most significant slice. Joe is always named by the Diary pages as the 'owner' but not sure how official this is in Companies House eyes. As to the door policy? If only it was as simple as a dresscode. I'm been in there with a group of lads and jeans no problem, and been in with my girlfriend on the way to a formal dinner and got initially knocked back. Strangely enough whenever I go in with the IRG boys there is no problem whatsoever. Inconsistent is the word and to be honest I am too old and grumpy to persist with places where I have to ingratiate myself with door staff (most latterly see Cloud 23 at The Hilton). The IRG guys themselves admit is's a big problem and a tough balance to strike and I know this had led to most of the guys at Marketing Manchester and people such as City Guide guru Jonathan Schofield (who tend to field inquiries and sort itineries for writers and journos profiling Manchester from Europe, America and the Far East) have simply stopped sending people there because they find no matter what prep they do there is still a good chance they'll get turned away on the night. Hey-ho, it might not be a business model I'd choose but despite all my grumping it makes them pots of cash so fair do's for ploughing on with it. Cheers Thom

Regarding payment I think the fairest way is to say that in any given 'dining-en-masse' situation the person with the biggest property portfolio should foot the communal bill.* Works for me. Cheers Thom *If said portfolio is based around tenament style slum housing and/or forcing elderly spinsters and helpless orphans out onto the street than the budding Van Hoogstraten's should also stand the whole restaurant a glass of champagne or two.

You got to actually look at the drinks menu before going purple? Get you! It's normally the insanely random/poncey door policy that makes my blood boil before I've even reached the bar. Obviously I am not their target market (or at least not on a saturday night) but as they recently had a spate of wannabe gangstas and, seperately, footballers brawling in the bar I actually take a great deal of solace from that fact. Lord know's it's a successful concept though. They're just about to open a second site in Alderly Edge and the group as a whole (including the Bars and Grills and Piccolinos) has, from a standing start around eight years ago, recently done a reverse buy-out of Bank restaurants to get AIM-listed which valued the whole lot at around £40 million. Stephen Walker et al must be rubbing their hands with glee. I guess they quickly realised there was no money to be made appealing to chaps like Gary who have a terrible habit of forgetting their wallet whenever a long lunch is in the offing. Cheers Thom Edit to add: I believe a large chunk of the group's success is down to Iain Donald. He is currently the Ops Director and run's the tightest of ships and is recognised as one of the shrewdest operators in the business. Prior to that he cut his teeth as an outstanding chef in his own right working all over the world (he won the Salon Culinaire Gold Medal four times and has worked with Anton Mossimann). Puff piece over. I don't do his PR, I just think he's a top bloke who does a fantastic job (door policy of Panacea excepted). Credit where it's due.

Greggs chese and onion pastie is indeed a thing of wonder (I scorn you latterday converts to the "steakbake") but for the real deal fellow Mancunians should get themselves along to Linda's Pantry on Ducie St on a Friday for home-made cheese and onion pie chips and gravy. Proper hand-cut double-fried chips, a gorgeous slice of low-fi cheese and onion pie with short pastry freshly cut from an oven-hot enamel plate and lashings of chip shop style gravy. Souse it with vinegar, pile salt upon salt and you have an artery-busting hangover-averting lunch which would feed a rugby team for £2:95. See this is another of my broken record things, but really you should all try it. So back on topic, where are you going for lunch Fisherman? Cheers Thom

Lounge Ten - Some people still swear by it but I find the food good but not memorable. Also, it just feels a bit dark and 'glam' for a lunchtime meal (I like naked murals as much as the next man but maybe not on a Saturday lunchtime. Actually now that I write that...) albeit one which may plough on till the early evening. Both Chophouses are good and both do the corned beef hash which is very good indeed. Steak and Kidney pudding (suet not pastry) is also worth seeking out, as is the 'trolleyed' (word?) roast at the weekends. I prefer the slightly foxed oldey-worldness of Thomas' but Sam's although interior, although not all original is slicker and more confortable. They do both get rammed at prime times but they are generally a haunt for workers as opposed to shoppers so you should be ok at the weekend. Gaucho is actually pretty good, and plenty of people in the know (Eyck Zimmer, chef at the Lowry for example) go there on a regular basis for the excellent Argentinian steaks. That said the room decor can be overbearing and is not to all tastes, the non-steak element of the menu can be weak and service can be fitful. Not sure the wine list is as good as it should be and I'm guessing they probably won't have a cheeseboard. Cheers Thom

Fisherman, To be fair to Bertie I think his 'broken record' schtick was actually self-deprecating on his part as he is a staunch fan of The Market Restaurant (as I am actually) and tends to bring it up, repetitively, at any given opportunity. It's almost Pavlovian. We all have our little repetitive tics, just try asking me about butchers and I'll chew your ear off about Mettricks for hours on end.* Gary, it was Panacea, and to be fair the food there is not bad at all (most of the clientele have loafers, pinstripe suits and red braces, I thought you'd love it!). Panacea itself was a late replacement for the Lowry (kitchen problems at the time?) which I still think it doing great food (with a very decent wine list) if you can cope with the slick anonymity of hotel dining. The Chophouses (Sams or Mr Thomas') are both great so take your pick. It's British stodge not high cuisine but saying that it is generally done very well. As well as being snug places to get settled in for the afternoon (especially the booths at Sam's) they also have excellent wine lists and a decent local cheeseboard. The other place which I keep going back to is Harvey Nichols, particularly the Restaurant (as opposed to the Brasserie). The chef, Alison Seagrave, is a real talent and, if I remember rightly, they also have a decent cheeseboard. I think the wine list is also rather fine, particularly as I have a feeling they might prop up the top end with gems from their great wine shop in the store's adjacent food hall. Downsides are that the restaurant isn't cheap (though the brasserie delivers value) and the hard surfaces and canteen style dining in the Brasserie area aren't to everyone's taste. But get a nice seat by the window in the 'prow' of the Restaurant and you should have a great afternoon with good food and a lovely 'watch the city go past ' view. Oh, puddings tend to be good too as Alison cut her teeth as the pastry chef. Cheers Thom *As we find ourselves on that subject... Mettricks are the subject of a fairly major Beeb programme (3, or possibly 4?) where they take the whole 'field to fork' cliche to new levels. They assembled a varied panel of public/industry bods (including shop customers, journalists, commited veggies etc) and took them from the local Peak District farms, to Mettricks own abbotoir (sp) - where they had built a rather slick temporary studio, so people could see the slaughter process - through to a local restaurant where they ate the end result. I know John Mettrick had been courted by a couple of TV channels (including the production company who did Big Brother) about doing programmes but he was worried about being stitched up in some controversy-stirring hatchet job (pardon the pun) but it seems these guys took the subject seriously and the end result challenged or changed the opinions of virtually everyone present and put local, passionate, small-scale food producers in a very good light. More relevent than ever in these 'Bootiful' days... Cheers again Thom

But I think the money spent so far has been demonstrably thrown at the 'wrong' things. Of course if I could identify the 'right' things then I would be a multimillionaire property developer instead of sat in my office in the arse end of the Northern Quarter choking on paint fumes... The casino site? I would just love someone to open a Michelin star restaurant in Beswick... If Vegas can get Keller, Ducasse, Nobu et al then surely East Manchester can get... Uhmm... Well... There's... The gloss is coming in now, I better go get some constructive work done whilst I still can. Cheers Thom

Definitely Whalley Range. Though if you asked some of the recent influx of 'meeja' luvvies who have paid through the nose for their house after being priced out of buying down the road they would swear it is Chorlton. I think it is now, in a tenous sense, 'Chorlton' in the same way that Urban Splash have comendeered large parts of Hulme as 'Castlefield'... I have to say I always quite liked Palmiro but in the few times I have been it didn't knock the socks off me in the quite the way I had expected from reviews and word of mouth. It was competent, and I liked the low-fi decor and feel of the place, but the food was good without being particularly memorable. I think someone from Palmiro did leave to do Isinglass, and didn't someone also leave and do that weird Middle Eastern place in some unfashionable spot of South Manchester the name of which I always forget? It's a real small scale unpretentious place but always gets fantastic reviews. 'Big' something? I'll rack my brains... Final point, it seems Le Mont has also gone kaput (which was both a suprise and long expected). Two of the most serious attempts at Manchester city centre fine dining are now gone. Cotton House never made the mark, Obsidian seems to be doing ok but has settled for a lower level. Apart from that the refurbed but old-fashioned French at the Midland (the last place to hold a star in the city, some 33 years ago) ploughs on and the River Rooms at the Lowry hotel under Eyck Zimmer continues to pick up accolades (though it doesn't please everyone). I also think Harvey Nichols under Alison Seagrave is actually doing very well indeed though maybe there is still more improvement to come. Why, oh why don't some of these incredibly rich property developers (that means you Allied London at Spinningfields!) just throw a bit of money around to create a great site at a favourable rate for a local, proven chef like Paul Kitching or Nigel Howarth to try and bring a star to the city. I am sure they would both love an opportunity to make as mark there, and any development which included them would gain huge kudos and exposure through having the city of Manchester's only star. Otherwise I can't see a top-drawer place opening in the city, partly as there is a lack of willing talent and partly because the opportunites in new kitchens tend to be at places which open too big and too broad to enable a chef with potential to find his feet and establish his style. The minute covers drop there there is financial meltdown meaning a rebrand or dumbing down is around the corner. The only other hope is for a real star in the making to do what Anthony Flynn did in Leeds in taking on a small and awkward (ie cheap) site and making it work against everyone's expectations through a combination of good financial planning and sheer quality of food and service. Where that diamond in the rough of a site is is another matter of course... Cheers Thom

Yes, and what's with this whole metric rubbish? Bring back pounds shillings and pence I say; not to mention pounds and ounces. And burning witches. Interestingly (to me at least) Stuart Marconie (sp?) has a new book out specifically about the North of England. It sounds like a good read and although he has a slight North West bias (he's a Wiganer possibly?) he considers Crewe, in Southern Cheshire, the 'gateway to the North'. This debate will rage I'm sure, but I remain adamant that Altrincham is in the North of England rather than the Midlands, and to say otherwise is lazy and incorrect journalism. I stress again this is not an issue on a par with world poverty, it just gets my goat Cheers Thom Probably. I'm almost certainly showing my age here, but remember that historically Warrington was actually in Lancashire and only became part of Cheshire (and therefore in some eyes "posh") in 1974 when they changed all of the boundaries and invented new "counties" such as Greater Manchester. ←

Hmmm... Does that mean the bit of Cheshire North of the Mersey is in the North then? Warrington? Possibly such historical vageries are another argument for sticking with the current government council set definitions. That said, don't try that line of reasoning around Saddleworth, the outskirts of which have been swapped between Yorkshire and Lancashire by overexcited government bods so many times that the animosity barely bubbles below the surface. Actually, I suffer from this regional confusion thing more than anyone. I live in Glossop and you couldn't get a more 'Northern' town - ex-Mill town, grim, forbidding moors, lots of talk of cobbles and pigeons, now slowly gentrifying commuter town for Manchester and Sheffield, the cities between which is sits - but technically we are in Derbyshire. This makes us an 'East Midlands' town, even though we are more Northerly than either Liverpool and Sheffield (and the Mersey!) and on a level with Manchester. Worse still, this means we have Robery Killroy-Silk as an MEP. I feel dirty just typing that out... Cheers Thom

Nooooo this is my point you see. It is a matter of perspective to describe a place as being more Northern or Southern then another place (be that London or Newcastle) but that is a completely different thing to the fixed allocation of counties (and the towns and cities within them) to tightly defined English regions which are pretty much universally accepted. Altrincham, whether Manchester or Cheshire, is without a shadow of a doubt in the North West of England. The North West is made up of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria and to be in the North West of England means that you are in the North of England. (though I accept the North/South divide is not so neatly cut in other places). If every description of a place as Northern/Southern/Eastern/Western etc was purely subjective then for people to get their bearings they would need to know the initial location of the journalist who wrote it. Chaos would ensue. Well more than you normally find amongst in the world of journalism... You can tell I've given this subject too much thought. Interestingly, on a cheffy/Newcastle/regional identity note, I have noticed One NorthEast (the Regional Development Agency (RDA) covering North East England, comprising Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, County Durham and Tees Valley) have been pushing the region as a leisure destination in the national press at the moment using Terry Laybourne as a figurehead much as the NWDA (North West Development Agency) always tend to lead in with Nigel Haworth. Cheers Thom

Not quite on the same scale I admit (and excuse the slight tangent) but I am continually annoyed about how often the (London) media fail to grasp what and where the North is. Yes, world peace and global warming bother me too, but they are over-facing concerns and everybody needs a small scale pet peeve to go on (and on) about as a sort of comforter. Anyway, latest guilty culprit was the normally reliable Olive magazine who listed Juniper as being in the Midlands. Said restaurant is actually in Altrincham which is essentially a fairly well-to-do suburb of South Manchester and is classed varyingly as part of Greater Manchester or Cheshire (depending on snobbishness and/or whether you accept the 70's redrawing of county boundaries) but either way it is firmly in the North. I do remembering another magazine doing a 'Northern special' and then being told that articles about Jessicas and Simpsons (both Birmingham) would not sit quite right within the section. Northern to your average London-based journalist yes, but not 'Northern' per se. Right, time to get off my hobby horse and do some work. Cheers Thom

I didn't think in the heat of the moment, but this is my favourite site for cafe-nerdishness: http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/ Cheers Thom

Fisherman, I'm kind of cut and pasted the post below from another forum where favourite cafes came up (an architecture site would you believe) but it I think it fits your request pretty well and I couldn't face rewriting it... It created a good response and complete agreement which you can read here: www.skyscrapercity.com Here goes: "I'm not followed this thread fanatically, but after a quick skim it seems none of you mentioned Manchester city centres's best greasy spoon - Linda's Cafe? I bring it to your attention firstly because it is a gem, and secondly because it may eventually get swallowed up by the surrounding developments so enjoy it whilst you can. "Linda's" as it is known in the trade is on Ducie St, facing Ducie House (The Urban Splash office refurb) and backing onto the Piccadilly Basin. Barely a minutes walk from the bottom of Piccadilly Approach or a couple of minutes walk from the heart of N1/4 it should be on everyone's map. Basically it is a small, tatty (but suprisingly clean) and 'old style' smoky English cafe which has been a home from home for the people who make this city tick for a good twenty years ago. It has al fresco picnic furniture outside and a mish-mash of formica seating inside. I first started going there around nine years ago when I had a company in Ducie House, but I think us trendy 'media types' were a recent phenomenon. Before that the fact that there was plenty of space to pull over outside and it's proximity to Picadilly, the IRR and the area's industrial estates meant it was a favourite of white van men in all their guises, as well as policemen, builders and taxi drivers (who also had a specialist black cab repair shop just up the road). So what does it serve... You want full breakfasts? You got it? A variety of fried foods? Yep? Baked spuds and buttys? Sure. Old school delights such as 'Steak Canadians'? Done. Coffee without silly names and a good cup of tea? On it's way. Crisps, chocolate and a huge number of cold drinks including Dandelion and Burdock and those weird cheap fruit drinks that builders buy. Sorted. It doesn't stop there though. Do you need cigs? Teabags or milk for the office? Biscuits for same? Maybe a Fox's Teatime Assortment for the managers office? You'll find them all within. Still though, it get's better. I have two words - daily specials. These are simple, home-cooked and 'old fashioned' in both the good and bad sense of the phrase. Dependent on your days you'll get spag bol, lasagne (both cooked English style with big chunks of carrots in etc), steak and onion pie, 'curry' (in the loosest sense of the word), hotpot (with crust!), braised steak and more. Obviously they are all served with chips and an eclectic side of mashed or boiled veg (carrot, swede etc). They also specialise in roasts so time it right and you can have hot roast turkey, pork, lamb or beef, either in a big roast dinner (with mash, veg, chips etc) or just stuck on a butty (barms, or long viennas, the wholemeal variety of which are branded by the bakers as 'brown nudger'. Class. There was outcry about six months ago when prices rose but you can still get the specials (served in a huge polystyrene tray) for been £2:50 and £2:95. Two things in particular need flagging up: Firsly the chips are divine. I'm not even sure they have a chipping machine (though they might have a peeler) as I have seen the guys in the back hand-chipping them with a knife on many occassions. The chips are double-fried, and if done right are slightly soft and browned as the sugars caramelise - just the way I like them. Secondly the holy grail: On a Friday they have home-made cheese and onion pie. I stress here that when they say home-made they mean it. If they get it right (and it's not always consistent) then the pastry is good and short (cooked on round enamel plates) with a great gooey-cheesy centre. Served with chips and gravy it's ther best, and it is a religion in our office that everyone has to eat it. At this point I have to stress, as a food nerd, that this is not in any way, shape or form 'posh' food. It's not even 'quality' post-modern greasy spoon food with rare breed bangers and free-range eggs. The ingredients are as cheap and 'budget-catering' as you can get (vac-pac bacon, scary sausages, fatty bread, tasteless cheese) and the cooking is low-fi in the extreme. That said, there are some times when this is just what you need. The staff there are a little chaotic, but the owners - Harry and Linda - are very nice and it's never less than friendly and welcoming. They have had the place on a lease with the threat of a short notice period and imminent bulldozing for twenty years now but as the surrounding developments pick up speed I do think they might finally be on there way soon. Recent developments include it becoming the canteen of choice for Ilva staff (it recently opened around the corner) and a rumoured purchase of a 'panini' machine (cue crys from the staff of 'what's a panini...?!). Needless to say I think we're still a way away from them carving pata negra ham on demand, offering you olives whilst you wait or hand-making sushi. Pop in soon, but don't eat all the pie. Cheers Thom" On a seperate note the adjacent area around Piccadilly and the Northern Quarter has around eight or ten fantastic curry cafes which you really shouldn't miss. I have waxed lyrical about these before but basically they are Pakistani 'greasy spoons' which traditionally opened during the day to serve the local (laregly Asian) ragtrade workforce but now feed a fantastically wide-ranging clientele. My previous posts cover my likes, dislikes and recommendations in more detail but don't miss The Kebabish (best curries in the area, plus Monday tandoori chops and excellent samosas), Mahabra (best nanbreads - proper tandoor), The Al Faisal, Kabana (brain as a special), New Yagdar, Hunters (venison bhuna and tandoori quail), This and That (3 veg curries and rice - £2:50), Aladdins etc etc... Hope that helps. Cheers Thom

Lenny, My own recommendation would be to go back to Red Chilli once again. I really don't think there is a place to touch it in the city and although you've been there a couple of times surely you can't even have scratched the surface of the hugely extensive menu? If you have you're a better man than me, or at least you have looser trousers. If you haven't there is an extensive thread on here where people outline their favourite dishes (Lamb Chilli Broth!) but generally I would say steer clear of the token Cantonese items and go off-piste with dishes, indeed ingredients, that you have never even heard of before, let alone eaten. The seafood stuff is particularly good. Aside from that Yang Sing may have lost it's feel of authenticity but it is still no slouch. The A La Carte can be a bit pedestrian bit give them free reign to create a menu for a set budget and things improve or hit the dim sum which I still think it pretty good. What else...? Wings is not bad if, as noted, a little stiff and formal and the rest of Chinatown itself is pretty much of a muchness. As noted you can find a great dish in a particular restaurant but the rest of the menu might be bleugh. I think the exception to the rule is probably the New Emperor. I haven't been there in a while but it always used to be a very passable traditionally Chinese restaurant and it also had a good wine list. Oh, and Pacific was pretty good back in the day, albeit in a 'trying too hard trendy contemporary fixtures and white walls' sort of way. It seems to have absolutely dropped off the map though with no-one mentioning it recently so this may not be a good sign. I'd avoid the other places dotted around the city centre such as Sweet Mandarin (though The Golden Ricebowl on Cross St has it's fans) but it may be worth trying the restaurants that sit above the various Chinese supermarkets on the outskirts of the city centre. The Glamourous restaurant (the windows look out on to an internal multi-story carpark) on Oldham road is popular but I've never been convinced. The older and rather unfashionale Tai Pan on Upper Brook St is worth a look though. The food there can be great (and cheap) and as well as being popular with the Chinese community it is a home from home for academics and other employees from the University across the road. Hope that helps and that you get your (monosodium-free) fix. Cheers Thom

Ah... Manchester curries... Let me see. My personal vote for best curry in Manchester? The Katmadu in Didsbury - Nepalese rather than Indian or Pakistani. Very, very good, well spiced, loads of depth to the flavour and nans to die for. The only downside is that they put funny coloured grains in the rice which I thought died out in the 80's. Not a pretty place, but cosy and just kind of 'right'. I rate the place so highly that on discovering it whilst living just down the other end of Burton Road my girlfriend and I ate there virtually every single Friday for two years. And, once we moved to the city centre we drove there most Fridays (15 mins back out of town) to still get our fix. We now live in Derbyshire, 30 mins and 15 miles away, and if ever I find myself in Manchester with the car I still get one and drive home. Bertie, has the other Nepalese place rebranded? It used to be the Gurkha Grill and although it has it's advocates I always found the currries too salty. I think someone related to one of the Katmandu guys did open his own restaurant in Burnage called the Third Eye but as far as I know each stands alone. Rusholme? Grub, it's really not that good. Not the worst thing ever, but just mediocre like many restaurants are mediocre. There is not one place that stands out. I lived 2 mins from Rusholme for years and ate there a couple of times a week. In my additional seven years of living in Didsbury and then the city centre Rusholme was the place that we always seemed to end at for our late night (or up to 5am) curry fix. Why did we still go if it ain't that good? Because it always gets the vote if you're in a mob, it's open (and you can often get a beer) when the clubs shut, and often at that stage you're too drunk to care. Convience and critical mass I reckon. I must have eaten in Rusholme 300-500 times over the years, and the vast majority of those visits were at the late, great Tandoori Kitchen which closed after about twenty years on the strip. Owned by an Iranian family it actually cooked Persian style curries with yellow sweet nans and it was really very, very good. When it shut I have drifted from one joint to another (everyone has their favourite and will swear to you it's different) but I have not found one that would make me seek it out again. The only exception is the chicken tikka kebabs at The Sajaan. Cheap, unrefined, huge, tasty. Kind of hits the spot when you have the need upon you. Now the curry cafes of Picadilly are a very different thing. My mate introduced me to these about ten years ago and since then I have spent most of my life living and/or working around the area and they have become somewhat of an addiction of mine. A period of two years working on Hilton St where I had a curry for lunch about four times a week put on the weight like you wouldn't believe... Again everyone has there favourite, but to me I find the ones down High Street generally pretty poor, and the Al Faisal, The Kabana and the New Yagdar just 'ok'. Aside from that Hunters is worth seeking out for the (ironically) seek kebabs, the weird game curries (venison bhuna) and the fact it is the only one to stay open late (all the others are 9-5-ish). This and That gets press but only because it is cheap. It's claim to fame is for the 3 (veggie) curries and rice for £2:50. On to my favourites: The scourge of Piccadilly curry cafes is the microwaved or grilled nan breads. I'm a bread man, and it pains me to eat such stuff. For that reason I return again and again to the Mahabra which has a tandoor and does outstanding fresh nans (and very nice kebabs too). The other stand-out is The Kebabish. Slightly pricier than most but I think the best curry cafe in town. The curries are excellent (seek out the tandoori chops on Monday) and the samosas are are top-notch with crisp pastry as they sit in hot boxes rather than getting microwaved on request. Just to stress to those not familiar with the curry cafes they are all small, pokey back street sites. They can seem a little rough and ready and food is served from canteen style cans with a every changing set of different curry specials each day. Think Pakistani greasy spoons (complete with fixed formica seating and possibly grubby cutlery) for all-day dining for the local workers and you're pretty much there. Aside from that there are the 'posh' curry places in the city centre. The Radjoot, Shimla Pinks and so on are all fine, and Akbars which recently opened in Castlefield is decent and incredibly cheap. The head and shoulders one for me though is EastZEast. Terrible name, and a terrible attempt at a 'posh' environment (too much mock black marble) but the curries and breads are actually very good indeed. Even the pickles with the poppadoms (including a wonderful home-made garlic pickle) are worth seeking out. Phew... I think that pretty much rounds it up. I realise this is actually a day late (so I hope you found a good place) but hey it's a pet subject of mine and I just like the sound of my own typing... Cheers Thom Edit: Dammit you specifically said 'authentic not best' and yet I yakked on about best the whole time... Hopefully you can pick out the authentic places from my descriptions. In short places like Katmandu and EastZEast have great authentic food (though the decor is late-70's anglicised curry house in the former and small town 90's wine bar in the latter) and the food is maybe more authentic still (rough and ready Pakistani style curries so heavy on the ghee) in the curry cafes where the feel and bustle make the whole experience feel more authentic.

Wise words Mrs Woman. You speak like a lady who regularly braved the pre-makeover Arndale market. Not for the fainthearted; there was no sushi bar or Gastronomica stall in those days... Possibly tarred with the Scouse brush as she featured in chirpy mid-nineties girlband 'Atomic Kitten', along with Liverpudlian starlets Liz and Natasha? Not that I am any expert on such matters. Oh come on, it's not as if I knew their surnames! Cheers Thom

Or, it could be viewed as marketing genius in terms of picking a public figure who resonates with the store's target demographic? Surely the people expected to flood the aisles of Iceland are the same people who voted tabloid-regular Ms Katona 'Mother of the Year'. Twice. With a moral compass like that I think they'll be prime candidates to buy excruciatingly produced, mulch-pumped chicken pieces by the bucketload. On the subject of naff supermarkets, Market Street Manchester has recently gained a rather large Aldi. I thought it might make this fairly grim strip of retail more down-market still, but luckily they opened the store with a live PA by Keith Chegwin. Phew. Enough super-market snobbery for me, back to work I go. Thom

Yes, and it's full of minor celebrities too. You should write about it in OFM Gary, I should have known a laid-back, alternative-lifestyle-leading indie-kid like you would have felt at home in West Disbury. You're right about the Lime Tree, it's been an institution around there for years. I'd say it is still pretty damn good but that the rest of the local restaurant scene has caught up over the years so it seems less special. Well worth a visit if you find yourself in the area, although it's worth booking as it has a very loyal audience who tend to pack it to the rafters most weekends. Cheers Thom

Doh, my opinions would probably have looked more credible if I had refered to 'Gem' as 'Jem' and his eponymous restaurant as 'Jem&I' rather than 'Gem&I' (where's a good sub when you need one...?). Still an awful punning name either way. Good point Infrasonic regarding the Bib Gourmand. The restaurant itself doesn't seem to have a website but Google threw up set of reviews on the MEN website and Sugarvine all of which were overwhelmingly positive. Cheers Thom

Hello there, yes I've been to Gem&I but probably not as recently as I should. The chef-patron, Gem (O'?)Sullivan had a good track record in Manchester (The Lincoln et al) before setting up his own place and at Gem&I he has built the menu around some classic cooking with plenty of British dishes and a nice focus on local ingredients. I ate there some time ago and although I couldn't wax lyrical about specific dishes I certainly recall being impressed with the standard of the cooking and the general experience. It was previously a very pokey little space but the relatively recent refurb makes it feel much more like a 'proper' restaurant. The reason I say I probably should have visited more recently is because it came very close to winning a couple of the Manchester Food and Drink awards in the last year or so and one of the judges (Jonathan Schofield ex of City Life now of MEN) raves about it as one of his favourite restaurants. All in all I would say it is a very decent 'local' restaurant which every surburbanite would love to have around the corner from them. Maybe not worth a major detour but if you find yourself in South Manchester I think you'd have a very nice time at Gem&I. Just try to ignore the horrible pun of a name... If you are in and around Didsbury I would actually steer clear of the village (except for Gem&I) and instead get a mile or so across town to West Didsbury. A more bohemian, creative, independent vibe (The Village is mostly chains) and in Lapwing Lane/Burton Road you have one of the best restaurant areas in Manchester. Within about half a mile try Greens (top veggie), The Limetree (timeless French), The Assembly (competent wine bar), The Metropolitan (competent gastropub in a very nice space), The Katmandu (top Nepelase), The Gurkha Grill (very good Nepalese), Rhubarb (inventive modern British), Cachumba (SE Asian), Thai E-Sarn (good Thai with Elvis) etc etc. There is also a deli or two (including one on the site of the much-loved Bogda's R&M deli), an Asian grocers, possibly still a Japanese, and maybe an Italian place, a new tapas joint and a 'trendy' English cafe. Phew... Enjoy! Cheers Thom

No, nope, absolutely not. Oh ok, then it is. Thanks for that. I should have just Googled it shouldn't I? Awful website but the menu looks good (certainly a godsend for my neck of the woods) and reading between the lines they seem to have the place set up right. Might have to pop down there soonish. Cheers Bap-meister Thom