It's all just one big restau-rant...

Showing posts with label Middle Eastern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Middle Eastern. Show all posts

Monday, 29 June 2009

Falafel - or is it safe to come out yet?

Probably not... but nuts to it. [This is edit #5]

I’ve had a funny few months since the last post, including a number of ongoing changes to my life. However I’ve been pretty quiet here. Why? Because ultimately I’ve been put off by some goings on in my personal life and crossed wires on the internet. To those involved I sincerely apologise for my part in surfacing this all over the last few days. Time to move on.



I figure I may as well review Falafel in Rusholme. Manchester’s curry mile is a bewildering place - full of neon, flashy asian lads driving their souped-up micras and mondeos up and down causing hazards to navigation, jewellery emporiums, sari shops and endless endless restaurants.

I have a very close friend who lives there, someone I've never grown tired of spending time with and think the world of... one of our favourite places among the melee is Falafel - a thoroughly Palestinian purveyor of deep fried crispy chickpea delights. Falafel’s falafel is truly excellent, and while not quite on a par with Hashem in Amman it certainly tickles the spot. It’s a basic cafĂ©-type place, no pretensions of restaurantness here, but formica tables and padded benches and top notch felafel, foul, mutabal and salads.

Also worth a go are the fatyer however DO NOT have the spinach one as it’s rather disgusting and tastes like the spinach has come out of a can; lamb or cheese are both much better. It’s also pretty cheap - for a few quid you can get a felafel wrapped in a soft naan with salad and a pot of mint-infused tea. If you’re not too far away it’s well worth the pilgrimage for lunch or a swift and inexpensive supper.

Friday, 19 October 2007

Kurdistan Restaurant, Bolton

I may have mentioned previously that one of these days I was going to get brave and go to the Kurdistan Restaurant in Bolton. This place is truly in a world of its own - I've never seen any "westerners" in there and sure enough I got a truly undiluted cultural experience. The telly was blaring with a Kurdish news channel, people came and went wishing each other hearty "salam-allec"s either fetching takeouts or sitting down for lunch.



The menu is represented by pictures. I had the Lamb Quzi. When it came I was reassured that all the portly gentlemen at the next table were having the same thing - a good choice is a popular choice.... I got a bowl of soup for starters which was watery, tasty and not suitable for vegetarians. The main course was primarily bits of lamb (with suckable melty bones) and rice (with raisins and bits of noodle). On the side and to provide sauce it comes with a bowl of tomatoey beans. The etiquette is to gradually empty the beans/sauce onto the rice/lamb over the course of eating it. A beautiful bubbly naan came - initially as a kind of lid for it all. Again it took me a few moments to twig - but that is why they have the little wicker mats on all the tables - to put your naan on. And all this for four pounds. Brilliant.