Very tasty kebabs, first time I've found kebabs I like here in Manchester. Family run business and…read morevery clean.

One thing which brings back the memories of being a student for me is being half cut, staggering…read moreback home after a drinking session and stopping off for some cheesy chips (or occasionally something greasier). Having been to many chippies and late night kebab shops, I've had some good and bad experiences with drunken take-out. Recently, I've been stopping off at Heaton's Pizza House. Sat on Heaton Moor Road, and a mere stone's throw from several of the nearest watering holes, it's certainly convenient for anyone who needs a hearty portion of carbs to fend off the impending hangover. The service area is well-lit, and the staff have always been friendly when I've visited. The offerings are pretty standard for a takeaway of this type: burgers, pizza, fried chicken, kebabs etc... So far, I've only had the cheesy chips with garlic mayo. A large portion of these is, I think, around £3.50 which is good value considering that one gets shared between my girlfriend and I. In terms of quality, I would say that "it's chips - how can you really get it wrong?!" but believe me I've been to places where they've been able to do just that. Thankfully, Heaton's Pizza House ain't one of them. The chips, though really they're french fries, have always been hot and crispy, with plenty of cheese and decent garlic mayo. As a takeaway, they also do delivery on any order over £9 though I'm not sure what their delivery radius is. The reason I'm only giving them an A-OK 3/5 is because, frankly, I think I need to order more broadly from their menu when I'm sober to make a better opinion. However, drunk me is happily frequenting them for starchy goodness so that's got them an A-Ooooook. *hic*

It was a red ford fiesta, banged up but our ticket to freedom. My best friend had managed to…read moresomehow keep it running for two years. The year was 2003. Fancy Al Quds tonight he said as we ransacked the fridge at our student house. The rest as they say is history. Since then I have been coming to this humble abode for a kobeda, for what is it now 11 years? How time flies. Every now and then I get the craving and I return for that perfectly baked longitudanal tandoori naan (the size of my forearm) blanketing a juicy Kobeda. The set up is simple, they have a fridge with freshly prepared, perfectly marinated meaty skewers of various varieties. You go in, you point at one and 4 minutes later you can enjoy the best meat in Rusholme. Now if I have previously I don't remember but I recently tried the chicken tikka recently. And low and behold it was one of those rare "Holy moly batman" foodie moments. The sauce they marinated the chicken with was close to perfection, the chicken was tender and cooked with expert timing. It was a thing of beauty, the memory of which still lingers, enticing me back into its delicious arms once again. I have thus far resisted, I'm reserving it for specific moments. Namely special celebratory occasions and those morale boosting occasions when life hasn't been nice. I'm fairly certain I'll be returning when neither are relevant and I just happen to be driving past it. I may even knock myself out cold with food coma by ordering a Kobeda/Chick tikka mix *gulp*. It could be my manvfood moment. Admittedly I don't think I'm that way inclined. Because if it was gonna happen it would've already. It's been on the menu for 11 years. No seriously go check it out if you are a carnivore. Word of warning though, your first Kobeda experience will leave all your hunger concerns dealt with for 24 hours at least. So if you plan on eating three meals a day the next day, take a rain check.

Kebabs! Kebabs! and some more Kebabs! The food here is so amazing that I don't know another…read moreadjective that would exceed amazing! The food is fresh from the clay ovens, and you can see that the kebabs are freshly grilled with fresh sauces dripping from either ends. If you're at this moment, I urge you to go to this place and give their donner kebabs a try! It would reflect curry mile at its best! Al Quds is truly a place for excellence in all of the very competitive Curry Mile!

This place must be an absolute goldmine! Located opposite Manchester's largest student…read moreaccommodation campus and at the bus stop; it is almost impossible to avoid this place after a night out. It is constantly packed with pissed hungry student between 1am-4am on, well, any night of the week. The guy who runs it is an absolute joker and rather than getting annoyed by the pissed rabble he revels in the attention he gets. Girls asking for photos with him, guys shaking his hand. He is a Fallowfield legend and meeting him is a rite of passage for University of Manchester students. The food? Couldn't tell you to be honest. I have never eaten it sober. At 3am after an unholy amount of alcohol it tastes divine. I think I may have once declared "this is the best thing I have ever eaten" of a chicken kebab. But who cares? Half the people in Kebab King aren't even eating, everyone is just there for the "banter"!

Manchester's most famous kebab joint? It must be!…read more This place, located in the student village of Fallowfield, has an unbelievable reputation with the students. Its literally packed out every night of the week. And get this.. one man is literally always there. You will be able to tell who he is by the fact that he says 'anyone else waitin' to orda' in exactly the voice in which you are reading that out in your head right now. He will even say this if you are waiting to pay, or as he hands you your kebab. It may be all he can actually say. As for the all important food, its damn tasty and comes to a few quid or less no matter what you have. All the standard kebabs, pakoras and samosas, pizzas, garlic breads, garlic breads with cheese, its all good, and it's all a couple of quid. Just don't forget the garlic mayo.

It's back! After having it's doors closed for what seemed eternity, Kebabish has re-opened in all…read moreits meaty, food glory. There's a growing trend of places in Rusholme creating a new niche for themselves. It's kind of a take-away/Restaurant hybrid phenomenon. The seating area very much looks like a restaurant, but the front of house still very much resembles a take-away, and it is. Whilst I myself can't bring myself round to seeing it as a restaurant, it's too noisy and the prices don't suggest it. The reality is it's packed with people that do treat it as such. The latest Golf advert on TV (The parachute one) emphasises the idea "You get what you pay for". As a Mancunian foodie I'd strongly testify against that philosophy. Rusholme is littered with places that serve exceptional food at ordinary prices. In contrast I've also paid extortionate prices for below average food in the city centre. The service might not be the best at Kebabish but the food certainly is of high quality. The lamb chops, marinated in a secret spicy sauce and grilled fresh are the best I've tried anywhere for a long time. One of the things you might have to get used to if you haven't been is the lack of, how shall I put this... hmmm let's say it's the equivalent of a Doctor having dreadful bedside manner. If you're expecting an Americanized fake teethy "Hello there how may I help you" approach, it ain't gonna happen. You'll get a very serious, busy and efficient glare the kind you encounter at your driving test perhaps. None the less as I said the quality of the food will more than make up for it. Al Quds and Jaffa have their healthy competition back for my custom and that's not a bad thing at all.

I'll won't exactly be hurrying but I would definitely go back to Kebabish on Hilton Street for some…read moreTurkish and vegetarian grub. You can't really argue with good food and good prices, can you? The restaurant is halal and barbeque style, you can eat in or take away depending on your mood/ the night plus there really is enough here to satisfy vegetarian friends. Great variety but the baby chicken is always a favourite and the mixed meat plate is good too.

Atlas Shawarma secures a firm place in my heart for serving some of the best vegetarian food in…read moreManchester for the least amount of money! Find Atlas by looking for the short queue snaking out the door onto Wilmslow Road just before Claremont Road, opposite the renowned Jaffa. Atlas is a takeaway with premises just three metres wide and three stools to perch on by a side-counter. However, this is a very serious food business focused on doing just a few things well - fresh tandoor naan, kebabs and falafel (see photos for the menu). I can't speak for the kebabs, but talking to the Arabs in the queue, there were a lot of not just customers but *big* fans of this place! As cooked to order, the falafels take a little longer to serve but you can be served and out in 5 minutes from the time you order. Broadly speaking, I've found two very different types of falafel in Manchester - the stolid 'staple food' type (which need dips to be palatable) served at places such as Jaffa and Caspian; and the lush, green, melting type typified by Rusholme's eponymous Falafel café - Atlas's are of the Falfel-type! Fascinated, I watched through to the back of the kitchen as the custom falafel-making tool* dipped five times from the chickpea-and-fresh-herb mixture to the fryer. Once cooked, your falafel arrive on a naan bread which has just emerged from the tandoor for you to chose your salad, yoghurt and mayonnaise - I skip the onion and mayonnaise but the rest of it is good, with the tomatoes very juicy. Thing is, with food so clearly cooked to order, I feel it a huge sin to do other than perch on a stool and devour immediately! Such warm, clean, nutritious, juicy goodness! Lastly, at a modest £2 for a falafel wrap and 50p more for a kebab, you only need to be a little convinced by my review to checkout Atlas. Atlas also sells tandoor naan at 4 for £1. In a nice touch, neighbouring Marmara Grill allows sit-in customers to enjoy Atlas breads with their (Marmara) food. So many businesses are named after legends, but how many businesses are actually legendary? Watch Atlas's tandoor specialist at work (making breads in a spotless white dress shirt!), and you can see some of the commitment to hard work that the demi-god Atlas must have had as he accepted his punishment of supporting the weight of the Earth on his shoulders. Feel inspired to go forth into the world with similar integrity. *This is a small metal tool in the shape of a hemisphere on a stick, which seems to operate along the lines of an ice cream scoop.

Er, YUM. William G…read moresaid it all far better than I could, but what a find. I took myself here for birthday lunch thinking, 'Really? Could they be selling falafel sandwiches for a mere two quid? I'm not so sure...' And lo and behold, balls of fresh dough were being placed in the oven, nuggets of fresh falafel were crisping to order in the fryer, and the sign above the counter in this tiny joint read that indeed, they were £2. And it is absolutely four naan breads for a single pound. As you're whizzing by on the bus you might not even notice this place exists, but if you look carefully you're likely to see a queue snaking out of it - as there was when I pointed it out to my boyfriend upon travelling by recently. He noticed the crowd and took it as a good sign, and believe me it is. Gem! It's no frills, no neon, just a simple small Middle Eastern delight serving authentic snacks. I hopped straight back on a bus to the short trip to my house and enjoyed my falafel at home, and it was indeed good. Hot, fresh and made with great ingredients, including oven fresh bread... Between this and Falafel I'm now spoiled for choice for my favourite lunch dependent upon which end of the Curry Mile I'm at. Atlas is closer to my house, Falafel nearer Oxford Road. What more could one ask?

I checked out PTG after finding myself in Levy for a couple of meets and after my best laid plans…read moreto nip into Trove were scuppered by them closing up for the night for a secret supper club. Starving and needing sustenance quickly, my trusty Yelp app directed me for a quick and cheap snack to PTG (especially with a great review from our Elite Yelper John L) and I was really impressed with what I found! While probably not likely to be up for a Michelin star anytime soon, it's a takeaway with a couple of tables meaning you can eat in before heading off! As well as kebabs they do pizza and chips, chicken etc but I wanted something properly authentic of the middle east as opposed to just some fried food for dinner. I opted for the Lamb Tikka kebab in naan which was delicious - really fresh, no fat and this was stuffed with sides and sundries that made this £4.50 meal totally leaving me on the verge of popping! A great selection of hot sauces and chutneys is on offer and to be honest the hot sauce was pretty damn hot! My mouth has just about recovered now 4 days on!

I go down to Levenshulme on a weekly basis for some volunteering that I do, so try and vary where I…read morego and get lunch each time. Are kebabs a healthy thing to eat? Or not? Because obviously the beef ones on the dripping, rotating skewer look very bad and greasy. But sometimes when I've had chicken kebabs it's felt filling but now way near as bad as eating a burger and chips. With this in mind I tried out Persian Tasty Grill. The place smelled incredible, but I soon ordered a chicken tikka kebab and my meat was put on a massive skewer and in to cook. It costs £3.80 for the chicken tikka kebab with naan, and it really was amazing. The meat was tasty and succulent, and the salad fresh and moist. The naan was perfect and was the perfect accompaniment to the meat. The guy serving here is friendly as well, going out of his way to help a Portuguese lady with her order when he didn't have to. I'm a big fan of Persian Tasty Grill.

Aaaah Helen Bakery, the hidden jewel in Manchester's foodie crown. A diamond in the rough. A place…read moreepitomising the don't judge a book by its cover theory. The last decade has seen a steady development of what I call Curry Mile 2! The stretch of Stockport road through longsight, Levenshulme and Stockport is beginning to attract more foodies and resembles the famous Rusholme foodlevard more and more. Like the Curry mile it's never going to be a Michelin 5 star experience. But if amazing food is what you're after there's plenty on offer here. Ever since Nawab opened its doors 12 or so years ago the aforementioned argument has taken hold. Let's talk about Helen Bakery though, which in fact won't take long. Much like Abbaseen down the road there isn't much variety. This is a specialist food place. The former do incredible Chapli Kebabs (I hate using the word kebab because it demeans the quality of the Chapli but hey ho. Real foodies will know that the word kebab is not JUST linked to donner grease and understand the difference between a Kobeda, a Shish, a Chapli et al) and the latter do Naan breads. And let me tell you, the Naans at Helen are incredible. There's basically two varieties. The simple naan (4 for a £1!! YES I know. Given the quality his is day light robbery) Then there's the "Special naan" (at 80p also a steal) which is garnished with sesame seeds and a hint of olive oil. There are a selection of meat offerings to go with the famous naan breads but so tasty are the said carbolicious treats you'd wanna eat them on their own. So stop Yelp wandering and go get some Naan of yo nan!

decent kebab place that hasn't changed over the years for qualityread more

I just had to counter-review this place just because someone has given it a five-star rating…read more This place is awful! Horrible nasty kebabs (I don't like kebabs at the best of times but this place is BAD). The last place you'd ever want to end up in at the end of a night. Bleugh.

My friend used to live in Fallowfield and being a typical single male student, ate at takeaways…read morepretty often. Just as me and my other Whitworth-Park dwelling friends would stop off at Adbuls or Gemini after a night out, he would never fail to stop at Saajan. Fast-forward 5 years. Single male student is still a student, but now, like many mature students has emigrated south to Didsbury. He still has a penchant for fast food, but not many residents of Didsbury share his fondness, therefore he was most upset when he found out that there are no late night kebab houses in Didsbury. So the resolution to this problem is that after a night out in town, he simply gets off the bus in Fallowfield, purchases his Saajan kebab and gets back onto the bus to Didsbury feeling content. It's very rare for such an establishment to survive for so long without even the slightest hint of a rumour about cockroaches, rats or gross staff (a la Abduls and Gemini) to tarnish its reputation, so Saajan must be good. My friend is also generally very lazy, meaning that Saajan must be damn good.

Sajaan is a bit of an institution for me. It's the first Indian/Pakistani kebab I ever had in the…read moreUK when I moved to Manchester over 6 years ago now and I always loved it. The fact you could stuff yourself with deliciously saucy and spicy meat and salad on a bit flat bread for £3 was just brilliant. And I genuinely always liked the taste of all three meats: chicken, lamb and shish. I managed to have a perfectly time opportunity and excuse to go last week after probably about 4 years. I went for lamb. Problem is, and I knew this before, a kebab doesn't travel too well. Before I was only living 5 minutes away but now it had to cope with a 20 mins drive so the bread was saggy and the meat a bit cold. Nothing to do with the Sajaan guys however. My main criticism would be about the quality of the meat. I think it went downhill as my lamb was chewy and full of nerves. I still like the flavours but despite the fact the price has gone up (£3.80 now which is not that exorbitant for a full meal) the meat is not as good as it used to be. Would happily go back for the chicken or shish, hopefully in the near future though.