Bundobust Manchester Piccadilly — Restaurant in Manchester

It’s only fair I start off with the good points.

Right now onto the bad points.

The slogan is “The Original Indian Street Food & Craft Beer Hall.” Which is very deceiving to say the least.

Unfortunately as someone who eats an organic (usually) grass fed multi-nutrient dense tastebud galore balanced diet; I was shocked to learn after reading the full menu, there didn’t seem to be any meat options. However I hadn’t eaten much that day, so assumed I was hallucinating. I then asked my girlfriend if she was seeing what I was seeing - the dread hit me as she indeed was. So in short it’s catered towards vegans/vegetarians which is completely fine, I just wish it was more clear on google or their website.

“Original Indian Street Food” should be changed to “Original Street Food”. I’m more Indian than this food and I’m a pale ginger. It’s as if they told one of their apprentice staff members to visit Tesco, close your eyes, spin around and pick random spices from the spice isle. The food just isn’t Indian spices nor spicy in the slightest. As someone who loves Indian cuisine, I actually find it almost insulting. It’s just a mess of random mixed spices put together and hoping for the best.

It’s hard to fit what I’m about to say into a normal sentence. So here goes, one of the dishes we had, had rice crispes. I’ll repeat that again, one of the Indian dishes we had, had rice crispes in them. I could really go in on this and try and be funny but it’s not at all a laughing matter. I’m an adult, I don’t eat that stuff at home, I especially don’t expect to eat it when I’m paying good money for Indian street food. You’d be hard begged to find a box of Kelloggs rice crispes in India, so why on earth it’s in street food - beggars belief.

“Craft Beer Hall” this statement to be fair is true. It’s a nice interior craft hall style place with craft beer and IPA’s. If that is your thing.

Overall this restaurant caters towards you if you are vegan/vegetarian, are into Craft Beer/IPA’s. As someone who isn’t vegan/vegetarian I wouldn’t recommend the place or if you are after authentic...

Sunday lunchtime @ 1:30pm

My first time trying Bundobust; I’m aware that this is a chain restaurant with several in many cities (2 apparently in Manchester alone, though this one doesn’t have the brewery!)

Wasn’t expecting such a unique and ‘street food’ vibe as you walk down the stairs to this venue. Was promptly sat down albeit alongside a bench of other diners; street food style, I guess?

I wasn’t expecting an order-at-the-bar setup but it was all pretty straightforward. Provide table number, order food and drink and wait for the drinks to take back to the table.

The beer was good! The Bundobust own Python is refreshing with a hoppy, sweet aftertaste. The food arrived around 20 mins after ordering and everything was provided on paper bowls/plates for that authentic street food feel. The taste of the dishes were really good, the portions were a little lacking but I would say it opens up for you to try different things. It’s more like Indian tapas and they encourage you to order 2-3 dishes each.

The paneer tikka was really good with the paneer having a bite to it, without crumbling away. It’s skewered with mushrooms and peppers but would have liked to see more variety of vegetables in it! The Chole Saag was nicely spiced and they recommend to pair it with the Cobis nu Shack, which was a cold vegetable dish akin to slaw with some vinegar acidity and sweetness from white raisins.

The highlight of the meal was the Bhaji’s (and Bhaji burger!) which were very well seasoned and perfectly fried with little ‘oily’ residue you get often with them.

I only dock a star as the service was very aloof and would have been nice to have been given a ‘thank you, goodbye!’ as we left. It seemed they wanted to just get the tables cleaned and rotated for the next customer!

EDIT: 22/08/2024 - They have upgraded their paper containers to metal! The dishes now look extra fancy with their etched ‘Bundobust’ signature on the...

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A friend suggested we meet here tomorrow. We went in after midday today to book a table. I asked the female staff member doing front of house to confirm that dogs aren't allowed. She said you do allow dogs, I said that's a shame, my husband's allergic so we can't eat here. She smirked and had a little laugh.

It's very frustrating that many eating establishments take such care with food allergies, but completely ignore about 10% of the population with dog allergies, and/or at risk of dog induced asthma attacks. My husband has both, and has been hospitalised twice, for over a week each time, by dog induced asthma attacks.

It's bad enough being excluded from so many pubs, cafes, and even some restaurants, because dogs take priority. Although they don't buy anything, and get bored sat on the floor. Dogs are not hygienic, and are often badly trained,, especially since covid. So they approach strangers, beg them for food, and all too many owners (and some staff members) find this acceptable. They can even be quite aggressive, if you don't love their dog.

To be laughed at for having asthma and dog allergies is not amusing. It's happened before. Please could you explain what action you are going to take to improve customer service?

And apart from.the behaviour of your staff member, will you reconsider your policy of allowing dogs, thereby discriminating against people with asthma which is...