Shaandaar Indian Restaurant

Our Original Review 2003

The Shaandaar is a medium to large sized restaurant in the famous Rusholme area of South Manchester. It has no on site car parking but local street parking and off road car parks in the area are plentiful.

The Shaandaar is one of the more recent (last few years) additions to the area and is typified by a pink and blue neon frontage and a busy and vibrant atmosphere. It is licensed unlike some in the area. It is accepted generally as one of the better restaurants in the area. It is a great place to take the whole family to eat out as children are treated superbly.

The menu itself is typical of Rusholme and has the standard Karahi dishes, and a wide selection of the mainstay Indian restaurant choices.

The curries and kebabs are all freshly prepared in an open kitchen area to the front of the restaurant. The Karahi dishes which typify Rusholme restaurants are as good as anywhere along the strip. The portions are plentiful and the fresh spice and herb content is openly apparent.

Starters on the menu are excellent value, and always top quality, Although the main courses are on a par with typical restaurant prices everywhere, the starters are all much less expensive. The Service is good and the food always arrives fresh and hot. The breads (always an indicator) are freshly prepared and piping hot. The nan breads are obviously not cooked in a tandoor, they are the round variety, but still piping hot and fliuffy.

There are no special buffets or other inducements to dine. The restaurant is open at lunchtimes. There is no delivery service

Verdict - A very good quality restaurant that is great value and fun to go to. The atmosphere in the evening is frantic, but everybody is having a good time enjoying great Indian food. Young children are made especially welcome which makes this a tremendous place to bring the whole family and encourage children to experiment and enjoy other foods.

Phil

Updates

February 2007

An evening meal for 4 persons at the special request of my daughter, as I had promised a meal out for her 17th birthday, so it was her choice based on how she recollected the restaurant from previous visits. It used to be a big favourite of the kids' becuase of the hustle and bustle but now we all have a slightly less favourable opinion. The place was certainly buzzing, we were literally surrounded by a huge party of students and asked if we could be moved. Nobody came back to us with a response even and the food just arrived as ordered. To be fair to them, the evening was busy and there were queues to get in and be seated, but they could have just explained. The food was on the poor side.

Starters and main courses were all uninteresting. The kebabs for starters were spicy, the naan breads with the main course were fluffy and hot. The pilau rice was artificially yellow coloured, probably turmeric, and relatively flavourless. My main course of Lamb Roasti (a traditional Indian home cooked dish) was mostly flavourless apart from tomato. I won't describe the other meals as they were equally uninspiring.

My overall opinion, gone down in the world and catering just for the masses and not for any discerning Indian food lover. Recommend you give this one a miss until it gets it's act together.

Phil

Sandro & family try out the Shaandaar.