Spice of Lahore — Restaurant in Manchester

Thoroughly enjoyable first visit. Clean, bright and welcoming environment, plenty of seating. Staff were polite, friendly and helpful. I completely over-ordered for 1 person but I wanted to try as much as I could. I got a portion of lamb seekh kebabs (4), a chicken curry from the weekly menu, a Kabuli rice and a garlic naan. I think things got lost in translation when ordering the rice, I was after pilau, and the staff member pointed at this amazing looking rice and said the name I didn't quite catch and I said "go for it", love trying new things. Turns out Kabuli is a rice dish made using caramelised carrot, lamb and raisins. It was absolutely delicious, though I looked a bit ridiculous with the amount of food I had. The lamb kebabs were superb, and actually a lot spicier than many I've had and it really worked because of it, they had a real kick. Plenty of flavour and nice aromatics in them too with a nice charred / smokey taste. The chicken curry was just what I was after - nothing too complex, just a hearty and flavoursome authentic chicken curry, would highly recommend. The chicken was soft, there was just enough sauce, and it had just the right level of flavoursome oil to mop up with the naan. The naan was a highlight, both soft and crispy, with a nice garlic flavour and finished with fresh coriander leaves. Came to £27 for one person but could have easily fed 2-3 and half of it has come home with me. 10/10 and I'll be...

Took a random chance on this place late last night as it's new + I'm not aware of many decent curry places in Cheetham Hill itself. Ordered chana, two tandoori roti, rice, bottle of water - all came in at less than £10 and the quality was incredible. A very strong black pepper flavour in the curry, and with lots of lemon juice over the top it was delicious; the roti were fresh and fluffy inside but with a blistered surface; even the boiled rice was good as normally it's tossed in too much ghee but this was loose grains with jeera and no sign of grease on the dish afterwards so it's clearly been done by someone thinking carefully about what they're doing.

Service was also excellent and there is plenty of seating upstairs, - all looking very nice as it's so new.

Very, very impressed with this place, I would instantly place it into Manchester's elite curry house category alongside Akbars and Lahori Butt Karahi. Will definitely be making it my go-to place for a quick, no-fuss meal given that the other two venues are...

Probably the best Seekh Kebabs I've had and the Lamb Chops were nearly as good. The masala/marination was stronger than other places and it made a world of difference.

The Rogni Naan wasn't traditional, like you'd find in Pakistan, but it was still exceptional. The Mango Lassi was light, smooth and refreshing. You could tell it was made using Mango Pulp, rather than off-the-shelf powder.

The big letdown was the Chicken Palak. It wasn't as flavourful as the starters. Even though it did the job, it was satisfactory at best and I wouldn't order it again. The Daal Maash faired a little better. Nothing to write home about on both occasions.

I'd still come back for the starters and I'd like to try their Karahi dishes. My 4* review could go up if my future experiences are better.

UPDATE: We had their Halwa Poori, Nehari and Rogni Naan for breakfast. It was exceptional, so I had to bump my review to 5*. Really felt like I was in Pakistan, it...