This month’s eatery is a particularly good one—it’s the world-famous Mughali Taste located on everyone’s favourite new road... Bury New Road.
There’s two sorts of curry places in the world. There’s the ultra-glam, WAG-friendly, wet-yourself-because-you’ve-had-too-much-Cobra, super-sizzling sizzler menu curry places, and then there’s the rootsier, low-key, rice-and-three curry places. Mughali Taste fits in the second category… it’s more the sort of place you’d go to for lunch rather than at the start of a big boozy bad-boy blowout.
There are quite a few of this level of curry place in Manchester, but this place has a special place in my heart as many years ago I was told by a reliable source that it was the best curry cafe in the region. For some reason I didn’t get round to visiting it until a few days ago, but I’m pleased to say it lived up to my lofty expectations.
I opted for a triptych of lentil, chickpea and okra curries on a comfortable bed of rice, and a cool can of Rubicon (mango flavour). The helpings were plentiful and the flavours were more than flavoursome. This weighed in at just over five pounds, which, although maybe a little expensive for everyday visits, is definitely reasonable when you consider the culinary voyage you’re paying for.
I didn’t get many photos in there as I was lost in a world of aromatic spice, but for those who want to know what it looks like inside… there’s some tables, some chairs, some paintings on the walls and a few plants. There’s also what some people might call ‘a great vibe’. Due to it’s out of town location, it’s not full of the usual high-flying inner-city conference-call crowd, and everyone in there had a story to tell.
One man turned around unprompted to tell me that this was the best place to eat in Manchester, whilst another (pictured above) sat and span yarns about his love of Mughali’s biryani. What a place.
RATING: World class food in a world class atmosphere—I give it five complimentary glasses of water out of five.